Spoilers follow for the two-episode premiere of Young Justice: Phantoms, "Inhospitable" and "Needful," which is now streaming on HBO Max.

The relationship between M’gann M’orzz/Miss Martian (Danica McKellar) and Conner Kent/Superboy (Nolan North) has been one of the most well developed plots throughout Young Justice’s run, a complicated romance that was broken off and then resumed as the two characters grew and changed for the better together. Young Justice: Phantoms opens by addressing the different opinions M’gann and Conner had about the question at the center of Young Justice: Outsiders — should superheroes try to do good secretly or out in the open? — and then comfortingly acknowledges that they can have different philosophies while still being very much in love.

The idea of embracing their differences together is at the heart of the two-part surprise premiere of Young Justice: Phantoms. While Conner just wants a simple civil wedding ceremony on Earth, M’gann wants to return to Mars for a complex religious ritual involving her huge family. So M’gann and Conner set out with M’gann’s adopted brother Garfield Logan/Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) and her uncle J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter (Kevin Michael Richardson) on a month-long trip to the Red Planet, leaving the rest of the show’s huge cast behind in favor of really delving into M’gann’s backstory.

Young Justice has always combined traditional superheroics with space opera, drawing heavily from the cosmic conflicts imagined by Jack Kirby, but these two episodes owe more to Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom stories than anything published in DC Comics. There’s even a nod to Robert A. Heinlein’s story of a Martian-raised human coming to Earth, Strange in a Strange Land. It’s an ambitious way to start a new season, but co-producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman have found huge success in pushing animation to new frontiers, and they’re continuing that strong work here.

M’gann is a White Martian, a persecuted minority, and racial tensions have only escalated since she fled to Earth ahead of the show’s first season. While White Martians were previously depicted as more physically monstrous than Green ones, this season, all varieties of Martians are depicted as equally unsettling to human eyes. It’s made very explicit they are all the same species, though intermarriage is a major taboo.

The premiere provides commentary on race as a construct while also tackling nationalism. Mars is in the midst of political turmoil following the assassination of the planet’s reformer king, with both the Green and White Martians blaming each other for his death. The other cause of conflict is the increasing influence of Earth on the planet’s culture. It seems M’gann wasn’t the only Martian teen who found comfort in television from another planet and used it to craft her identity. Martians are natural shapeshifters, and conservative Martians are disgusted with how many kids seem to prefer to walk around looking like their favorite human celebrities.

Grounding the story in real-world conflicts helps make Young Justice’s journey to Mars feel authentic. The writers have done a phenomenal job introducing a whole new cast of Martian characters, terminology, and beliefs in such a short period of time. The complicated feelings M’gann has for her home planet and family feel earned after seasons of development, including the introduction of her radical brother M’comm (Ben Diskin) in Outsiders. The animation of the planet’s underground cities and rivers is also spectacular, providing a visual allure that helps explain why M’gann would risk so much to come home.

Martians primarily communicate telepathically, and the writers have also richly fleshed out how that would impact their culture. Lips rarely move in these episodes, creating a visually unsettling touch that adds to the feeling of alienness. Conner was created alongside numerous telepathic creatures at Project Cadmus and is very comfortable with telepathic communication, often talking with M’gann that way, but Garfield is experiencing significantly more culture shock as psychic attacks and even information downloads meant to be helpful take a huge strain on him. As fascinating as it is to see a political protest take the form of a massive mind link, the true impetus for this exploration seems to be a way to comment on mental health and how Garfield is dealing with psychic strain that’s as much internal as it is external. Garfield’s long been a source of comic relief for the team, so seeing him struggle hits especially hard.

There’s plenty of intrigue and mystery unfolding on Mars, including the introduction of Legion of Superheroes members Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl (both voiced by Kari Wahlgren). The writers of Young Justice have made major changes to DC characters before and it seems like they may be doing the same for the time-traveling young heroes who have historically counted Superboy among their members.

This season, the writers have also found a clever new storytelling technique to make the most out of every second of episode time. Throughout Season 3, each episode ended with a sort of moment of Zen, rolling the credits over a serene image like Conner’s pet Wolf dozing while soothing music played. In Season 4, those static moments are accompanied by dialogue that provides a bit of insight into what’s going on in a character’s head that wouldn’t fit easily within the main plot.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

People paying in-game money for powerful players to "carry" them through top-level World of Warcraft content has been a common practice in the game for years, but the revelation that Blizzard's co-lead is participating in the practice has sparked a new flurry of discussion about "raid boosts" within the community.

The chatter kicked off when recently-instated Blizzard co-lead and former Xbox VP Mike Ybarra tweeted a few days ago that he would be streaming his WoW guild's "heroic SoD sales run." For those who don't play WoW, this is Ybarra advertising that he would be streaming his guild playing through the game's most recently released raid, Sanctum of Domination, on heroic difficulty.

The "sales" bit indicates that his guild group will include a few folks who had paid in-game gold to be there, as opposed to joining or assembling a high-level group of their own to clear the challenge themselves.

Likely streaming our heroic SoD sales run and high'ish end m+ tonight (20-23) starting at 5pm PT. 👍👍🎃😍

— Mike Ybarra 🎃 (@Qwik) October 16, 2021

What Is Raid Boosting?

This practice is known as "raid boosting" and has been common in World of Warcraft for years. Like most MMORPGs, WoW has multiple levels of difficulty to its raids. And while options have been added over the years for players who don't necessarily have highly-skilled guilds at their back to at least see the story and boss content available, the higher levels of difficulty — Heroic and Mythic, currently — require serious coordination and specific numbers of people playing certain roles to finish.

Unless you're in the upper echelons of WoW players, finishing a raid on this level can cost a guild lot of in-game gold to buy potions and other necessary items, not to mention the weeks and weeks of preparation and practice required to fell a raid's most difficult bosses.

For those who can manage to clear them, the rewards for high-level content are substantial: stronger equipment, other cosmetic rewards like mounts, prestige in-game achievements, and sometimes even bonus story content, dialogue, or extra boss encounters you might not see on easier modes. So it's natural that players covet them.

But if you don't have the time, skill, interest, or energy to put into finishing these time-consuming raids, then paying in-game gold for those who do to carry you through a raid once or twice to get the things you want seems like a reasonable solution. It benefits the guilds as well, which empty their coffers raid after raid to finish them the first few times and necessarily will need to refill them before the next raid releases.

But there are a few reasons why raid boosting and Ybarra's participation in it has turned people sour. The first, somewhat less common opinion, is that raid boosting cheapens the experience for those who get "legitimate" kills through skill, time, and teamwork. It can be frustrating to watch someone pay their way into the same rewards you took weeks to earn.

Another issue is that the in-game "group finder" tool, intended to be used by players to find others of similar skill and interest to clear raids or dungeons with, tends to get bogged down in advertisements for raid boosts, making it difficult to use. But while annoyance at these issues is certainly valid, they're not the main reason some members of the WoW community are raising their eyebrows at Ybarra.

The WoW Token Conundrum

Back in 2015 during WoW's Warlords of Draenor expansion, Blizzard added a controversial new item into World of Warcraft: the WoW Token. The WoW Token is an item that players can purchase with real money, which can be exchanged for a month of game time. It can then be sold within the game to another player for in-game gold, essentially allowing players to convert real money into gold, or spend in-game gold to maintain their WoW subscription. The real money price for a WoW Token is set at $20, while the in-game gold selling price is set by the game, but fluctuates depending on supply and demand. In the US, it's been sitting in the vicinity of 200,000 gold lately.

Jokes aside boosting isnt really a horrible thing but you shouldnt be required to boost to be able to compete. Also something about people paying to skip content tells me something is off. Should try to remove the incentives to boost and to get boosted imo

— Scripe (@ScripeWoW) October 18, 2021

A post on the World of Warcraft forums from Ybarra's guild, Denial of Service, indicates that taking someone through a Heroic Sanctum of Domination run costs the individual 300,000 gold, with an additional 75,000 gold per boss for the group to "funnel" loot to the payer, or essentially have everyone in the raid group give them any items the boss drops that they can reasonably use, instead of just letting them roll the dice on what they individually pick up.

A player could certainly earn that amount of gold themselves, but a much faster way would be to buy WoW Tokens, effectively paying Blizzard $40 or more just to raid with its co-leader's guild and receive certain desired items from the bosses they kill.

Denial of Service does disclaim in their post that they do not sell runs for real money, as accepting real money directly for a run would be a violation of Blizzard's terms of service. The WoW Token system somewhat allows players to get around that — and has for years now. While some argue that the WoW Token is essentially legitimizing an illicit practice, others point out that the existence of the WoW Token has helped curb shadier practices, as those who want to buy and sell in-game gold for real money have a safe, legitimate place to go to do it. As opposed to resorting to shadier websites or tactics.

Raid Boosting's Mixed Reputation

Ultimately, Ybarra's guild is doing something that has been incredibly normal in World of Warcraft for expansions now, especially as the in-game economy has made it increasingly expensive for guilds like Denial of Service to finish raids at high levels. As their post puts it, "We do these sales to help with mythic progression, as the gold goes towards creating flasks, feasts, vantus runes, potions, and BoE gear. Every run you book with us goes towards killing new bosses, so thank you for supporting us!"

People going crazy cause Mike is doing sales runs, and I agree – I don't like boosting much and wish it was less lucrative/incentivized.

But I am at least happy that @Qwik is a player who boosts rather than getting boosted 😄 https://t.co/M1Spsj63V4

— George (@RogerbrownWoW) October 18, 2021

Some players aren't just indifferent to Ybarra's participating in raid boosting, they're thrilled. After all, a member of Blizzard leadership is publicly, actively playing the game at its highest level, streaming it, and engaging with the community as they do. To them, this means that the top levels of the company are engaged with the community and aware of the struggles that top-level guilds face, an awareness that may one day translate into positive changes for players like them.

But Ybarra, a top-level Blizzard employee, specifically participating in raid boosts has reopened a pre-existing community debate around whether boosts and how gold is exchanged for them are healthy for World of Warcraft's experience as a whole, as this Reddit thread on the subject demonstrates. This is also all coming at a time when Blizzard is already under intense scrutiny from every angle due to an ongoing lawsuit targeting toxic company culture and harassment allegations.

Common practice though they may be, Blizzard's co-lead actively participating has players who already disliked the practice frustrated with the more active endorsement of it, and despairing that anything will ever be done to tackle the issues of game design, balance, and economy that surround it.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

A new trailer for Pokemon Legends: Arceus shows off a fresh glimpse of the Hisui Region.

The video is presented in an eerie found-footage format as seen in horror movies, showing off some snowy terrain surrounded by rocks and trees. You can check out the trailer below.

In the trailer, the narrator describes a Pokemon he sees by saying, "The tip of its tail is red and swaying," and, "the white fur on top of its head and around its neck is so fluffy." He also says it's not a Vulpix or a Growlithe, so it's probably a new form of an existing Pokemon, or a new Pokemon entirely. The Pokemon Twitter account is asking trainers to examine the footage and report back with their findings.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set to be a big departure from the standard Pokemon formula. While the game won't be open-world, it will feature a handful of open areas to explore, similar to Monster Hunter: Rise. The game is also introducing a new class of Pokemon called Noble Pokemon, as well as a revamped battle system where Pokemon's stats and other factors may allow them to use multiple moves in a row.

If this sounds like too much change, Pokemon purists can look forward to Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which we called "the old-school Pokemon games we've been missing" in our hands-on with the remakes.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Black Friday starts early this year, and Best Buy is already getting in on the fun. The big box retailer has plenty of Black Friday prices on a dozens of video games, including many PS5 and PlayStation games and subscriptions. Even better, Best Buy has guaranteed these prices won't go lower, even on the big shopping day.

So grab what you want now, and rest assured you won't find better prices later this year, at least not at Best Buy. Here are the best deals on all things gaming, including items for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Get 12-Months of PlayStation Plus for $39.99 (Save $20)

You won't find a better deal than this anytime soon. It works for new members and current members alike. If you're already subscribed to PS Plus, it'll just add an extra 12 months onto your current subscription.

Best PS5 Game Deals at Best Buy

It's all-time low prices galore on PS5 and PS4 games at Best Buy. Aside from the PS Plus deal, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ratchet & Clank have been the two bestselling deals so far.

Best Xbox Game Deals at Best Buy

Some terrific deals on Xbox games as well, including Guardians of the Galaxy for half price and deep discounts on new releases like Riders Republic (also half off), Back 4 Blood, and many more.

Best Switch Game Deals at Best Buy

The official Switch game discounts start on Sunday, November 21. For now, though, you can save a bundle on the games above.

If you're shopping for loved ones ahead of the holiday season this year and you're not sure what video games to get them, you'll want to start by determining which console they primarily play on. The latest consoles that released last year are the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S. Despite being a different platform, PS4 games also work on PS5, and Xbox One games will play just fine on Xbox Series X|S, too. However, games made exclusively for the new consoles won't work on the older hardware.

The Nintendo Switch is also an extremely popular console for gamers of all ages as it features more family-friendly games from Mario, Animal Crossing, and more. So, consider picking up a Switch game if they have a Nintendo Switch OLED, standard Nintendo Switch, or a Nintendo Switch Lite as all the games will work – regardless of which model they play on.

For more great deals, check out the Black Friday PC gaming deals if you're in the market for a gaming rig or accessories. We're also tracking all the best Black Friday deals overall and Black Friday TV deals as well, so hop over there for the guaranteed lowest prices of the season.

In celebration of the release of Halloween Kills, we thought that we'd revisit the original film that started off the terrifying tale of Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode and tell you seven things you (probably) didn't know about 1978's Halloween.

From Michael Myers' mask being a transformed mask of Captain James T. Kirk to the film's iconic music only happening thanks to an unimpressed executive, we're confident you'll learn something today that will make you appreciate this classic horror film even more.

1. Many of the Names and Locations Are From Co-Writers John Carpenter and Debra Hill's Past

Halloween was co-written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and damn near everything in the movie is named after something from their personal lives. For instance, Haddonfield, IL was named after Haddonfield, NJ, Debra Hill’s hometown, and Smith’s Grove was named after a town near where Carpenter grew up.

Laurie Strode was named after Carpenter’s first girlfriend and Michael Myers was named after the European distributor of Assault on Precinct 13 as sort of a weird thank you. Sheriff Leigh Brackett is a reference to writer Leigh Brackett, who wrote Rio Bravo, a film that inspired Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, and Laurie and Tommy watch The Thing From Another World, one of Carpenter’s favorite movies.

2. Halloween Pays Homage to Alfred Hitchock's Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho plays a major influence on Halloween, from the camera movements to creative bloodless murders. The homage doesn’t stop there though. Carpenter went so far as to cast his own Hitchcock's Blonde – Jamie Lee Curtis, whose mother, Janet Leigh, played the iconic Marion Crane in Psycho. Casting Jamie not only paid tribute to Hitchcock’s famous muses, but also launched the era of scream queens and final girls in the process.

And how's this for another Psycho reference? Donald Pleasance’s Dr. Sam Loomis is named after John Gavin's character in the film. Boom, bonus Hitchcock thing.

3. Michael's Mask Was a Transformed $2 Captain Kirk Halloween Mask, But It Could Have Been Another Star's Face

Now, you may already know that the infamous Michael Myers mask is actually a transformed $2 Captain James T. Kirk Halloween mask. What you may not know is that there were other options for the famous facade: such as Richard Nixon, Mr. Spock, and Emmett Kelley’s “Weary Willie”.

The script specifically called for “the pale, neutral features of a man weirdly distorted by the rubber” and Captain Kirk’s expressionless face fit the bill. Production gave the mask a makeover by teasing the hair, ripping off the sideburns, widening the eyeholes, and spraypainting it white to create one of the most iconic horror figures in movie history. And while William Shatner had no say in his contribution to the film, he has admitted that he’s actually gone trick or treating with the infamous Michael Myers mask on.

4. The Myers House Was Literally an Abandoned House Due to the Film's Low Budget

Speaking of transformations, at the time of filming, the Myers house was literally an abandoned house. With the film’s small budget, finding this house was a Halloween miracle by providing a proper spooky production value that the film literally could not afford. However, that meant that the opening tracking shot of the house had to be filmed on the last day. It took the crew all day to clean and paint the exterior of the house.

Production could only afford to decorate what would be shown in the frame, meaning that the Panaglide operator had to be precise or else any movement in any other direction would show a dusty, broken down corner… or a ghost of the last low budget film that used the house?

5. Halloween's Iconic Music Only Happened After an Unimpressed Executive Saw an Early Cut

Everybody knows the score. It’s one of the most iconic pieces of music in movie history and it’d be hard to imagine the film without it. However, you may not know, it came after Carpenter screened the film to an executive who was not impressed with the film and said that it wasn’t scary. So Carpenter played octaves on a piano using a 5/4 time signature his father taught him as a child and wrote the score in just 3 days, and later the same executive told Carpenter the film was terrifying.

In the credits, Carpenter lists himself as The Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra, a reference to his hometown in Kentucky. But, that’s not the only place you can hear Carpenter’s musical prowess in the film though. The band playing in the car in this scene is his band, the Coup De Villes, composed of himself, and Nick Castle, and Tommy Lee Wallace.

6. Production Designer Tommy Lee Wallace Had to Paint Three Trash Bags Worth of Leaves Brown to Make the Movie Feel Like It Took Place in Fall

With a $300,000 budget and a 21-day shoot, the filmmakers had to find creative ways to sell the story of a Halloween haunting. Amid a lot of usual budget shortcuts, like John Carpenter’s own car doubling as the Strode’s car here, maybe the biggest challenge for Wallace was that production took place in March IN California.

You can see green trees and palm trees in some of the shots. Wallace had to paint three trash bags worth of leaves brown and reused them throughout the film, with crew scrambling to collect the leaves after each cut, and I bet Wallace let Carpenter hear about what a pain in the ass that was at the Coup de Ville’s next rehearsal.

7. Five Different People Played Michael Myers/The Shape in Halloween

Five different people played The Shape in the film: Two-thirds of the Coup de Ville’s including Nick Castle and Tommy Lee Wallace pulling double duty, stuntman James Winburn, co-writer Debra Hill and actual actor Tony Moran, and all for different, practical reasons. Nick Castle played the role through most of the film, and had that specific body language that’s made The Shape so terrifying even all these years later.

Tommy Lee Wallace, the production designer slash editor, by the way he edited the film too, stepped in during scenes where The Shape had to break stuff because he was good at breaking it correctly on the first take. Cheap movies can only afford to break stuff once after all. James Winburn was the stuntman who literally took the fall off the balcony after being shot by Dr. Loomis in this scene. Debra Hill not only stood in for The Shape in this shot, but she also lent a hand playing young Michael’s… well, hand in the opening sequence POV shot. And Tony Moran took the honor of being the face of Michael Myers for the few split seconds you can actually see it.

This all just reinforces the idea that Michael is not a normal man. He’s actually four men and one woman. Or an editor, a production designer, a co-writer, a bandmate who went on to direct The Last Starfighter, a stuntman and briefly an actor's face. Which is why he’s inspired nightmares for 40 years.

For more, check out our Halloween Kills review, how the film fared in its weekend box office debut, our explainer of the ending, and director David Gordon Green's thoughts on what makes the perfect Michael Myers kill. You can also see a full list of everything Halloween here.