The Expanse just finished its first season—leaving us with ten episodes of a show which beat all our highest expectations and made Syfy a destination in a way that it hasn’t been since Battlestar Galactica. How?

Warning: Spoilers abound.

The Expanse had a doubly difficult job to do. It had to adapt a book to television—not always an easy task—and it was based around a mystery plot. Mystery plots can go very wrong, if things get drawn out to the point where it’s clear that the writers don’t know any more than the fans. In The Expanse’s case, they have a roadmap from the books. But any changes they make to the story also mean some changes to the mystery, which they could then lose a grip on.

It is to this show’s eternal credit that they managed to do both of these things in a compelling and brilliant fashion.

One of the biggest changes the show made to the book plot was to bring in Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) into things from the beginning. This character doesn’t show up in the first book, Leviathan Wakes, but her inclusion in the show is necessary, because the show sets up the three-way rivalry between Earth, Mars, and the Belt from the very beginning. The way each of those places feels about the others drives a lot of the action. And the politics on this show are a big deal.

The book can use narration to tell us background or keep us up-to-date on events in its bigger universe. Otherwise, the broader picture is defined by what Miller and the crew of the survivors of a doomed ice freighter, the Canterbury, know. And since they are very much low men on their respective totem poles, that’s not much.

Avasarala is a necessary addition because her role lets the show naturally bring in political intrigue, without forcing characters who aren’t involved with those kinds of talks to spout exposition at viewers. And it give the show some visual differences. We have three intertwined stories going on: one on ships, one on a station, and one planetside. Which is an excellent parallel to the three factions. It’s thematically nice—and also, a giant red herring.

And while each of these three groups is in a different location, they also cover different genres. Thomas Jane is playing noir to the hilt as Miller. For his plot, episode seven is the epitome of his genre: the cop who gets fired off a case that is too hot to handle, but keeps going anyway. Bogart could take Jane’s place in a minute, regardless of the fact that his storyline takes place on a space station.

Episode seven is also where Holden and company cement their important place in the history of space opera. It’s got revelations about Holden’s past, hacking into the ship to save them all, and an untrustworthy outsider on the ship. Having to decide whether or not to toss someone out the airlock, just in case they provide a threat to the rest of the crew, is straight out of the space opera playbook.

Meanwhile, Avasarala is firmly in the political intrigue and thriller category. I keep going back to her plot in the third episode, where she maneuvers a good friend into the position of accidentally revealing that Mars had nothing to do with the destruction of the Canterbury. You could remove all the “futuristic” parts of the dialogue, and it would hold up. She betrays a friend, but gets the information she needs to keep from starting a war.

The great thing about all of these stories is that they don’t need to be set in the “future” to be compelling. The setting enhances the show, but it’s not the point of the show.

Also brilliantly done by The Expanse is the way that the personal and the grand form concentric circles around each other. Holden and his crew start with the very personal story of the destruction of their ship, the Canterbury, and the fight to survive. Every other group they encounter has a personal tie to someone—Alex having once been in the Martian Navy, Naomi’s nebulous OPA-sympathies—but they keep getting drawn into the larger question of why the Cant was lured to the Scopuli in the first place. These stories started small, and ended up dealing with giant issues.

In much the same way, Miller circles in and out of the personal the whole time. The case has no tie to him, but he starts to care about Julie Mao and what happened to her. It should be just a job, but he can’t stop investigating. But what he uncovers ends up being less personal, and more world-endingly bad.

And Avasarala starts off not personal at all. Her concern is the safety of Earth and the prevention of war. But, of course, by the end of the season, a good friend is dead and she’s telling her husband he has to leave Earth for his own safety. She started off focusing on system-wide political issues, but ends up being personally invested.

The show is a nesting doll of issues, ranging from the very personal to the world-ending.

The show cleverly puts clues in everyone’s hands—each of the three groups winds up with different pieces of the puzzle. And by episode eight, we actually started to get answers that put all of them together. It’s a staggering achievement on the part of the writers that Holden and Miller can meet up in episode eight, and it works. Everyone’s been dealing with Earth, Mars, and the OPA. And each of them has managed to eliminate one of the others from culpability. So when Miller and Holden get their information together, it’s clear at last that a nongovernmental third party is at fault. And, back on Earth, Avasarala is coming face to face with the “advisor” behind it all.

The finale of The Expanse faced an incredible challenge: conveying all that information, and delivering the action sequence of Holden and Miller’s escape from Eros. The result was a thrilling finale, with everything finally coming together. We know what happened to Julie Mao, who was responsible, and even what the thing that killed her was called. But we don’t know what our characters can do about it.

It was really easy to feel as though this show wasn’t moving forward a lot in the early episodes, but the finale proved that the writers knew where they were going all along. The Expanse managed to faithfully adapt a book while make significant changes to it. It also managed to pay off a mystery without running out of enough plot for another season. And none of that includes how beautiful looking the show is. The Expanse is a sheer marvel of amazing production, acting, and writing.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

A young boy who can manipulate machines with his mind finds a massive robot that was built to defend the world from monsters. Together, he and his three friends must band together to pilot the robot—and help save the world!

If that was the plot to a movie, it would almost surely be a big summer blockbuster. But in this case, it’s actually new show coming to Disney XD. The show is called Mech-X4, named after the robot in question, and it was just greenlit for a Fall 2016 premiere.

Though the description obviously feels like a mix of The Iron Giant, Power Rangers and Pacific Rim—with a bit of The Matrix in there too—don’t expect the tone of any of those. This is Disney, after all, so this futuristic adventure premise is primarily going to be turned into a family comedy. But unlike many other shows aimed at that audience, this will be serialized, with lots of special effects and even a dense mythology. Very cool stuff.

Mech-X4 was created by producer Steve Marmel and stars Nathaniel James Potvin, Kamran Lucas, Pearce Joza and Raymond Cham. It’s currently in production.

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

When Once Upon a Time left us in December, it did so with the promise that the main cast would be journeying into the underworld. Now, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, we know what Hades will look like come March. It’s pretty stupid.

In the still above, it looks like Greg Germann accidentally stepped in front of a bright blue light bulb. At some point we’re going to have to confront the completely ridiculous theology of Once Upon a Time. Because either Hades and Satan are the same (which seems to be the route executive producer Edward Kitsis is taking, saying to EW, “Hades is a very dangerous fellow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun being the Devil.”) or Once Upon a Time exists with both Christian stories (KING ARTHUR AND THE HOLY GRAIL) and ancient Greek ones.

However, this blue-flame look is so much like the Hades from Disney’s Hercules, that I assume that’s the character they’re writing. And Germann does have enough smarm to pull off a credible James Woods. Of course, then you’re inviting a comparison to Woods, whose Hades is damn near perfect. Which feels like yet another mistake for Once Upon a Time. Indeed, it seems this show runs entirely on mistakes.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Your favorite rechargeable batteries, a $200 Windows laptop, and one of the best Bluetooth speakers you can buy lead off today’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more.

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It’s not often that Amazon features a laptop as one of its deals of the day, so anyone who uses a desktop at home or work should definitely check out this $200 Lenovo ThinkPad for their portable computing needs.

This model’s 11", 1366x768 display probably disqualifies it from being your only computer, but 4GB of RAM is double what you’d find in most similarly priced Chromebooks, and the 128GB SSD is positively spacious compared to the 16-32GB flash chips included in Google’s alternatives. Is it an amazing laptop? No. But it seems like a hell of a deal at $200. [Lenovo ThinkPad 11E Ultraportable Notebook, $200]

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Pyrex bakeware is up there with knives and skillets on the totem pole of essential kitchen gear, and this three-pan set can be yours for just $12 today. [Pyrex 6-Piece Bake N’ Storage Value Pack, $12]

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Eneloops are your favorite rechargeable batteries (by a long shot), and this discounted 4-pack of AAs comes with a charger, making it perfect for testing the waters. The charger will work with AAA Eneloops as well, if you need some for your rotation. [4-Pack Eneloop AA Batteries With Charger, $16]

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If you missed out on Monday’s Mohu Leaf HDTV antenna deal, Amazon’s custom-branded alternative is marked down to $20 right now, an all-time low. Order quickly to get it in time for the Super Bowl. [AmazonBasics HDTV Antenna, $20]

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Not sure if this is right for you? Lifehacker has a great guide to get you started.

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You guys have bought a ton of these mounts from various manufacturers, but having tried a few of them, TechMatte’s is the one I keep in my own car. [TechMatted Smartphone Car Mount, $5 with code T89L8XQ6]

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If you don’t want to block a vent, there’s also a CD slot model available for $9. [Nekteck CD Slot Magnetic Phone Mount, $9 with code MKMAMIYV]

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$15 Bluetooth keyboard aren’t particularly uncommon, but this iClever model is unique in offering a 7-color customizable backlight. In addition to just looking cool, that could come in handy if you’re trying to get some work done on a dark airplane, or while sitting in bed. [iClever 7-Color Backlit Bluetooth Keyboard, $15 with code LIWBC8VI]

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While I would argue that a good toaster oven is a better overall use of your counter space, I’ve never found one that can toast a piece of bread as perfectly as a humble slot toaster.

This two-slot model from Hamilton Beach is mostly notable for its $20 price tag, but its keep-warm function and seven different darkness settings are also very appreciated. [Hamilton Beach Keep Warm 2-Slice Toaster, $20]

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The Panasonic Vortex nose hair trimmer is one of the best selling items we’ve ever listed, and today, a Philips alternative is cheaper than the Vortex has ever been. [Philips Norelco Nosetrimmer 3100, $9]

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Last week, we posted a $200 deal on the 16-zone Rachio IRO smart irrigation controller. That deal is still available, but if you have a smaller yard, the 8-zone model just dropped to $150 as well.

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The Rachio IRO can control sixteen different zones in your yard, and automatically adjusts watering schedules based on the weather. If you want to keep tabs on it, its iOS and Android app will show you how much water you’re using (and saving), and allow you to make any adjustments necessary, no matter where you are in the world. All of these smarts mean that the IRO can save you 30% on your outdoor water use, so it should pay for itself over time. It’s also EPA WaterSense Certified, meaning your local water company might offer you a rebate for purchasing it. [Rachio IRO Smart 8-Zone Irrigation Controller, $150]

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Note: There’s also a brand new model of the Rachio available for $250, which adds a physical remote, revamped housing, and Amazon Echo support.

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If you have a wedding or engagement on the horizon, or just like collecting loose diamonds, Amazon’s offering big discounts on jewels and jewelry, today only. [Up to 75% Off Bridal Rings & Loose Diamonds at Amazon]

While I definitely recommend owning a large USB battery pack for long trips and power outages, at $5, it wouldn’t hurt to own this pocket-sized model as well to use as a daily carry. [Poweradd Pilot X1 5200mAh Portable Charger Power Bank, $5 code E879NFK8]

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If you never played the first three Uncharted games on PS3, the remastered collection featuring the entire trilogy is down to $29 on PS4 today. [Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, $29]

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And if you have Amazon Prime, you can save $12 on your preorder of Uncharted 4. Discount shown at checkout. [Preorder Uncharted 4, $48 for Prime members]

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Unlike cloth oven mitts, you can use these silicone gloves to handle foods directly when necessary, and since you’ll have the use of all five of your fingers, you should be less prone to dropping your dinner. [Heat Resistant Silicone BBQ Grilling Gloves, $8 with code 9A4D8RME]

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We don’t frequently highlight individual articles of clothing, but this deal is too good to pass up. Tumi’s T-Tech Softshell jacket is simple, practical, and has great reviews around the web. Most stores sell it for $80 or more, but you can get one on eBay today in a few different colors for just $33 shipped. [T-Tech by Tumi Softshell Jacket, $33]

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We’ve seen more Bluetooth car kits than we could possibly count, but this one is unique in featuring a built-in headset. You can still take a call over your car’s speakers (assuming you have an AUX jack), but if you need to be more discrete, you can pop out the headset and transfer the call in seconds. [Omaker Hands-free Car Kit Bluetooth 4.0 Music Receiver Audio Adapter with Headset and Dual Port USB Car Charger & Magnetic Mount, $24 with code HL3LZWIO]

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Blacklight flashlights are great if you want to spot hidden stains on train seats, hotel sheets, or (gasp) even in your own house...if that’s something you want to do.

It may seem silly, but if you find even one stain in a hotel room and complain to management, I guarantee that this thing will pay for itself several times over. [[51 LEDs ] OxyLED Pet UV Urine Stain Detector Blacklight Flashlight, $10 with code XJVNX4CG]

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If your car takes synthetic oil, and you like to change it yourself, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal than $28 for six quarts of Mobil 1 5W-30, complete with Prime shipping. [Mobil 1 94001 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil - 1 Quart (Pack of 6), $28]

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UE’s new Roll Bluetooth speaker is the company’s smallest offering, and early reviews indicate that it lives up to its UE Boom predecessors. If you’ve been waiting for a discount to pick one up, Amazon’s taking $30 off most of the colors they offer right now. That’s a match for the best price we’ve ever seen. [UE Roll Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker, $70]

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If you can’t afford an Oculus Rift and a computer to run it, this Google Cardboard-compatible View-Master headset only requires your phone, and can be yours for just $18 (if you’re a Prime member, that is). That’s only about two dollars less than its previous low price, but this is still one of the best “premium” Google Cardboard viewers out there. [Viewmaster VR With Google Cardboard Support, $18]

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We’ve seen a few great deals on cordless vacuum cleaners lately, but if you’re still tripping over an old-fashioned plug-in model at home, here’s another chance to cut the cord.

The Hoover Linx features an 18-volt battery, a motorized brush that you can turn on and off, and an easy-to-empty receptacle. It normally retails for $130-$160, but today, you can grab one for $90. [Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, $90]

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If winter has cracked your lips and turned your hands scaly, a good humidifier could be just what the doctor ordered. This Air-O-Swiss ultrasonic model was one of your five favorites, and it’s never been cheaper before. [Air-O-Swiss Ultrasonic Humidifier, $115]

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If you want a tablet to basically use as a portable TV (that’s basically what my iPad is at this point), a big screen is important, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal right now than Amazon’s Fire HD 10 for $180.

It’s not as fast as an iPad, it doesn’t have as many apps as a standard Android tablet, and its 1280x800 screen is far from spectacular. But if you just want to binge on Jessica Jones while you cook dinner, it’s tough to beat an internet-connected 10” screen for this price. [Amazon Fire HD 10, $180]

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If you live near a Costco, but never got around to joining, this deal should be enough to push you over the edge. You’ll still have to pay the standard $55 for a new Gold Star membership, but you’ll get a $20 gift card, 72 free AA batteries, a food court pizza, and a big bag of tortilla chips for free, plus a coupon for $25 off a $250 online order. Just note that this deal is valid for new Costco members only. [Costco Membership w/ $20 Gift Card and Three Free Items, $55]

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The Logitech G502 was your choice for best gaming mouse (though you don’t need to be a gamer to appreciate its benefits), and you can pick one up for an all-time low $50 today.

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The marquee spec here is the DPI range of 200-12,000, adjustable on the fly. There are also five easily movable and removable weights, and 11 customizable buttons, along with the classic Logitech dual-mode scroll wheel. Mechanical microswitches and a braided cable are also nice touches. [Logitech G502 Proteus Core Optical Gaming Mouse, $50]

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You can never have too many Lightning cables.

2-Pack RAVPower Lightning Cables ($8) | Amazon | Promo code 4BXRUCZZ

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$20 is a very good price for any 20,000mAh USB battery pack, and this one actually includes a built-in solar panel to recharge itself. While that’s going to be much slower than recharging over microUSB, it can still top off the battery if you leave it out in the sun for a few hours, so it’s a nice little bonus. [ZeroLemon SolarJuice 20000mAh Fast Portable Charger with Solar Charging Technology, $20 with code Z36GZOGN]

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You only really reap the benefits of Qi wireless charging if you scatter the pads all around your home and office for quick charges throughout the day. Luckily, you can afford to do just that with this deal. [TechMatte PowerPod 2 Qi Wireless Charging Pad, $11]

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PlayStation Plus memberships occasionally dip down to $40, but if your subscription is about to lapse, this $43 deal will work in a pinch. [PlayStation Plus, $43]

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It wasn’t long ago that portable, USB-powered external hard drives maxed out at 2TB, but Seagate’s new Backup Plus manages to double that, and you can pick one up for an all-time low $120 today. That price even includes 200GB of Microsoft OneDrive storage for two years, which is a $96 value on its own.

We’re not sure how long this deal will last, so if you need to keep a lot of storage in your travel bag, or plugged into your Xbox One, I’d grab this quickly. [Seagate Backup Plus 4TB + 200GB Microsoft OneDrive, $120]

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This Bluetooth speaker might cost a bit more than others that we list, but having owned it for about a month now, I can tell you the the sound quality absolutely blows away my trusty Jawbone Jambox, and Anker isn’t exaggerating when it boasts about 24 hour battery life. [Anker SoundCore Dual-Driver Portable Bluetooth Speaker, $36 with code NKJTGELK]

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Tech

Storage

• Lexar 633x 32GB High-Performance microSDHC Flash Memory Card w/USB 3.0 Reader ($15) | Amazon

Power

• Poweradd Pilot X1 5200mAh Portable Charger Power Bank ($5) | Amazon | Use code E879NFK8
• Tronsmart Quick Charge 2.0 42W 3-Port USB Wall Charger ($11) | Amazon | Use code 3USBWALL
• DBPOWER 3-Outlet Surge Protector With 3 USB Ports ($14) | Amazon | Use code NKOSXO2J
• 4-Pack Eneloop AA Batteries With Charger ($16) | Amazon

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Audio

• Beats Solo 2 Wireless Headphones ($230) | Amazon
• JBL Charge 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($100) | eBay
• Mpow Armor Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speakers with Additional 1000 mAh Emergency Power Bank Function ($28) | Amazon | Use code VNZDPEWC
• Braven Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($55) | Woot
• Noot Earphone Classic Pro Premium Tangle-Free Earbuds with Microphone and Volume Control ($8) | Amazon
• Darkiron [Kanen] Series Headset with In-line Microphone ($15) | Amazon | Use code MY549HQS

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Home Theater

• Refurb VIZIO D43-C1 43-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV ($240) | Walmart
• Samsung 40 Inch LED Smart TV w/ $100 Gift Card ($330) | Dell
• Roku SE Streaming Player ($25) | Best Buy
• WALI Floating Shelf with Strengthened Tempered Glass ($16) | Amazon

Computers & Accessories

• Lenovo ThinkPad 11E 11.6" Ultraportable Business Notebook, Intel, 128GB SSD, 4GB DDR3, Win10Pro ($200) | Amazon
• HP 14" Chromebook, Intel, 2GB, 16GB ($229) | Best Buy

Mobile Devices

• i-Blason Armor Box Kido Series Light Weight Super Protection Case for iPad Air/iPad 5 ($19) | Amazon

Photography

• Refurb Nikon Super Three Lens Starter Bundle - 35mm, 50mm, & 55-200mm Zoom Lens ($329) | Amazon
• Lowepro Urban Reporter 250 Camera Bag ($40) | Best Buy

Home

• Select Laminate Flooring is Deeply Discounted Today at Home Depot
• [51 LEDs ] OxyLED Pet UV Urine Stain Detector Blacklight Flashlight ($10) | Amazon | Use code XJVNX4CG

Beauty & Grooming

• Panasonic ES-RT77-S - Arc3 3-Blade Electric Shaver with Built-In Trimmer Wet/Dry ($70) | Panasonic | Use code NEWYEAR
• Philips Norelco Nosetrimmer 3100 ($9) | Amazon

Kitchen

• Several K-Cup 48 Packs are $20 Each | Best Buy
• Take an Additional 20% Off at Oneida with Code EXTRA20
• Heat Resistant Silicone BBQ Grilling Gloves ($8) | Amazon | Use code 9A4D8RME
• Stainless Steel Foldable Food Steamer Basket with Extendable Handle ($5) | Amazon

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Fitness

• Tone Fitness Kettlebell Set ($18) | Walmart
• Gaiam Thirsty Yoga Mat Towel ($15) | Amazon
• Silicone Swim Caps with Ergonomic Ear Pockets, Set of 2 ($7) | Amazon | Use code 6CHWDUPL

Apparel

• Native Eyewear Itso Polarized Sunglasses ($58) | REI
• T-Tech by Tumi Men’s Softshell Jacket ($33) | eBay
• Up to 75% Off Bridal Rings & Loose Diamonds at Amazon

Camping & Outdoors

• OxyLED MH20 LED Headlamp with Motion Sensor ($11) | Amazon | Use code 29BA9PX2

Tools & Auto

• Etekcity S9 Layout-Smart Class II Laser Distance Measurer, Bubble Level, 130-Feet (Green) ($36) | Amazon | Use code 6DL3DXF7
• 12000mAh Portable Auto Car Jump Starter Power Bank ($33) | eBay
• Omaker Hands-free Car Kit Bluetooth 4.0 Music Receiver Audio Adapter with Headset and Dual Port USB Car Charger & Magnetic Mount ($24) | Amazon | Use code HL3LZWIO
• Craftsman 6-in-1 Screwdriver ($6) | Sears
• Craftsman 18.0 Volt Cordless Drill Driver ($25) | Sears
• Kawasaki Heavy Duty Reciprocating Saw ($32) | eBay
• Mobil 1 94001 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oil - 1 Quart (Pack of 6) ($28) | Amazon
• DuroMax XP4850EH Hybrid Portable Dual Fuel Propane / Gas Camping RV Generator ($325) | eBay
  

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Media

Movies & TV

• Sideways 10th Anniversary Edition ($10) | Amazon
• Werewolf: The Beast Among Us ($5) | Amazon
• Cinderella Man ($5) | Amazon
• The Sword in the Stone (50th Anniversary Edition) ($13) | Amazon

Books & Magazines

• Car and Driver Magazine Subscription ($4) | Topmags | Use code 21589
• Road & Track Magazine Subscription ($4) | Topmags | Use code 21589
• Cat’s Cradle: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut ($2) | Amazon
• On Silver Wings Audiobook ($3) | Audible

Gaming

Peripherals

• Microsoft XBox One Controller + Cable (Wireless or Wired) for Windows USB ($35) | NCIXUS
• 111 Vault Sneakers ($40) | The Bethesda Store

PC

• Batman: Arkham Knight ($24) | Steam
• Fortified ($12) | Steam
• Wolfenstein: The New Order ($9) | Best Buy

PlayStation 4

• Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ($29) | Amazon
• Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth ($48) | Amazon Prime
• Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition Starter Pack ($34) | Amazon
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege ($40) | Amazon

Xbox One

• Microsoft XBox One Controller + Cable (Wireless or Wired) for Windows USB ($35) | NCIXUS
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege ($40) | Amazon
• The Wolf Among Us ($8) | Best Buy

Wii U

• Shovel Knight - Wii U ($20) | Amazon
• Preorder Ryu amiibo (Super Smash Bros Series) ($10) | Amazon Prime
• Preorder R.O.B. Famicom Colors amiibo (Super Smash Bros Series) ($10) | Amazon Prime
• Preorder Kapp’n amiibo ($10) | Amazon Prime
• Preorder Rover amiibo ($10) | Amazon Prime

Vita

• Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls ($25) | Amazon

3DS

• The Legend of Legacy ($21) | Amazon
• Preorder Kapp’n amiibo ($10) | Amazon Prime
• Preorder Rover amiibo ($10) | Amazon Prime
• Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. ($15) | Amazon

Board Games

• A Game of Thrones LCG Second Edition The Road to Winterfell Card Game ($14) | Amazon

Toys

• MJX X101C Wifi FPV RC Quadcopter Drone with HD 720P Camera, One Key Return Function, Headless Mode ($139) | Amazon | Use code 3F59VN8F
• Newisland Detachable Blasters Toy Guns with Foam Darts and Dartboard ($11) | Amazon | Use code 2LVNG9TX
• LEGO Creator 31037 Adventure Vehicles Building Kit ($20) | Amazon
• LEGO City Space Port 60080 Spaceport Building Kit ($94) | Amazon
• Learning Carpets, Giant Road ($27) | Amazon

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Something strange has been happening on the surface of Pluto. There’s a series of hills, each about a couple miles across, and they appear to be moving.

NASA has an intriguing new explanation for the phenomenon: Those aren’t just hills that we’re seeing—they’re also icebergs. It’s certainly a tidy explanation, except for one issue. That surface that they’re floating on is also ice. So how does ice float on ice?

The theory of ice-on-ice movement on Pluto has been floating around NASA’s New Horizons team for over a month now, but this is the first time it’s been used to explain the movement of these particular hills. Essentially, this explanation works because there are two different types of ice that we’re seeing here: The nitrogen ice that is the most commonly found ice on Pluto and then something a little more familiar to us, water ice. The nitrogen ice is considerably denser than the standard ice.

What this means is that the hills can “float” in their positions, moving in a way that NASA researchers compared to icebergs in our own Arctic Ocean.

Follow the author @misra.

Top image: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Villains from movies come in all shapes and colors and quirks and motivations but they all have one thing in common: their smile. They all smile that same maniacal howl where they’re in a joke that no one else is on. It’s proof that they see the world completely different from the rest of us. It’s that crazy darkness that pushes them. And to watch all these super villains from movies smile that same smile one after the other in this video by Semih Okmn, it’s almost sickening to see (even though we know it’s fake, duh).

The Joker, Agent Smith, Gollum, Norman Bates, they all have the most twisted smiles.

SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

We love to think our favorite fictional characters live happily ever after. But if we’re being realistic about it, there’s no way every single prince and princess who ever got together, stayed together. On that note, Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint has bad news about his character, Ron Weasley.

“I would expect Ron has probably divorced Hermione already,” Grint told the Huffington Post recently. “I don’t think that relationship would have done very well.”

Before Harry Potter fans start lighting up the torches and sharpening their pitchforks, realized this is Rupert Grint, not J.K. Rowling. Rowling is God in the Potterverse and unless she says something about a character or relationship in that world, it means nothing. Grint is obviously going by general cultural trends, as well as the movie’s interpretation of the Ron and Hermione relationship. In the films, their relationship feels a little more surprising than it does in the books.

Rowling’s books set those two up to be together pretty early on and weaved it through the story every so carefully. The movies certainly follow suit, but Grint and his co-star Emma Watson turned in performances that may have made the two seem less likely to succeed: he being a bit too aloof and nasty at times, she being a bit too kind and forgiving, things like that.

So yes. In Grint’s mind, Ron and Hermione being divorced or separated may make sense. But he doesn’t have a say in the matter. Plus let’s be honest. If anyone was going to break up this relationship, it would be Hermione. Ron is batting way out of his league with her.

[Huffington Post, H/T Nerdist]

Image credit: Nan Lawson for Gallery 1988

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

For the past few months, Marvel Comics has been covering some of its comics in images that reference album art from old- and new-school hip-hop classics. This week, you can get a bunch of those variant covers for free.

The new Hip-Hop Variant Guide doesn’t have all of the boom-bap/House of Ideas mash-ups on its rap pages. But you can still see artwork that pays homage to beloved releases from artists like Dr. Dre., Tupac, and De La Soul. The initiative came about after an enthusiastic response to a Run the Jewels variant program last January. The Variant Guide has an introduction from Killer Mike, the MC who’s one half of the popular rap duo.

It hasn’t been all good with the rap-centric homages, though. Some fans thought Marvel’s use of iconic rap album cover art was at odds with their spotty relationship with black culture and black creative talent. Writer David Brothers offered commentary in that vein in a widely read essay:

...you can’t celebrate and profit off something without also including the group that you’re profiting off the back of. Marvel has made a lot of money off brown faces. A portion of X-Men’s juice is from the struggle for civil rights, and we all know what the phrase “black Spider-Man” has done for the perception of your company. (He’s Puerto Rican too, tho.) So to see Marvel continue to profit off something very dear to black people without actually giving black people a seat at the table…I was going to say it “stings,” but in actuality it sucks. It makes Marvel look clueless and it makes black people wonder why they bother with your comics.

You can get a free digital version of the Variant Guide here.

Contact the author at evan@kotaku.com.

The zillions of tie-in stories for The Force Awakens revealed there was going to be a scene in the movie where Leia acknowledged that her former colleagues in the Senate were just as likely to want to have her killed as they were to ignore her. A new Star Wars novel is going to explore why that’s the case, and why Leia had good reason to be wary.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-11-biggest...

USA Today has revealed a first look at Claudia Gray’s (writer of the excellent Lost Stars) next Star Wars book, Bloodlines, and it’s all about Leia Organa. Set around a decade before the events of The Force Awakens, Bloodlines sees Leia begin to realize that there’s a new generation of people who have grown up after the Rebellion, the Empire, and galactic civil war, and are thus ignore the dangers of the Imperial remnant that would be become the First Order.

She finds herself slowly dismayed by the Senators around her, but also facing new foes, like a mysterious political rival named Ransolm Casterfo, who disagrees with her at every turn and has a habit of collecting relics related to Emperor Palpatine.

But the most interesting part of the Bloodlines is that it actually shows us that Leia wasn’t just exaggerating her soured relationship with the New Republic. In an extra debuting over at USA Today, she actually is the target of an assassination attempt (with a few other senators) when she holds a meeting on Hosnian Prime to try and rally the Senate to her cause:

Leia settled into her chair, picked up her napkin — and stopped.

Something was written on the paper streamer on her plate. Actual writing. Virtually nobody wrote any longer; it had been years since Leia had seen actual words handwritten in ink on anything but historical documents.

But today, someone had left this message on her plate, only one word long:

RUN.

Leia shoved her chair back, instantly leaping to her feet. “We have to get out of here,” she said to the startled senators at the table. “Now. Go!”

But they didn’t move, even as she dashed toward the door. Varish said, “Leia? What in the world’s —”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Damn fools who had never been in the war, who didn’t know an urgent warning when they got one. Leia held up the paper so they could see it. “Run! Everyone get up and run!”

With that, she took off, running as fast as she could, finally hearing the others stir behind her. Maybe they thought the note was only a prank, but Leia knew better. The inchoate dread that had swirled inside her all morning had solidified; this was what her feelings had been warning her about.

Man, someone really doesn’t like Leia Organa. I wonder if that Ransolm Casterfo guy—who might as well be called Badguy Villainos or something—has anything to do with it? But it seems like Bloodlines will be delving into Leia’s tetchy relationship with the New Republic more and more, and we’ll get some insight into just how the Resistance came together before the events of The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: Bloodlines hits shelves May 3rd—head on over to the link below to read the entire excerpt.

[USA Today]

So you’re heading to Frisco to experience the glorious splendor of Super Bowl City, but you waited too long to find a place to stay and now all the hotels are booked! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, bro.

We scoured the internet to find the best the sharing economy has to offer. Rentals are listed here from most outrageous to still pretty outrageous. Price gouging? What price gouging?

3 miles to SuperBowl 50 — $6000 per night

80" 4K UHD TV for SB50 viewing pleasure, large family/living room with audiophile stereo system, and large kitchen.

Nope, no interior photos here, but why do you need them? You’re spending $6000 a night to watch the game in the living room of a Santa Clara McMansion that’s three miles away from the stadium—and the game isn’t even being streamed in 4K.

Super Bowl Celebrity Dream Loft — $5000 per night

(Personal Butler 24/7)

Urban Fabulous 4,000 sq ft warehouse loft featuring 4 Br, 2.5 Ba. Amazing space featuring 3 huge projectors, hot-tub, and a rooftop. 101 & 280 freeway access, 1 block walking distance to Caltrain station for Levi’s Stadium.

So—is this the hot tub?

Or is this the hot tub?

Luxury Yacht,Sleeps 8 — $3000 per night

This is a luxury Yacht with 5 in suite cabins. You can reserve the Yacht as a Bed & Breakfast or request pricing to sail The Bay or the Sacramento river to Napa or Sacramento. Price includes a one hour Bay cruise. Day cruises are available. Inquire.

The boat was a brilliant idea—until you and your friends realized the game wasn’t being played at AT&T Park.

Full Ser Super bowl Apt w/Transport — $2500 per night

No other apartment in San Francisco will you be provided with your own personal concierge on call 24 hrs during your stay I will take you wherever you need to go answer all your questions and needs, Pick up to and from airport and to and from game!

Let’s see. A taxi from SFO to Alamo Square is about $55 each way. An Uber from Alamo Square to Levi’s Stadium is about $85 each way, but let’s assume there will be surge pricing and triple that. Total transportation costs for your weekend will be about $620.

But no other apartment in San Francisco offers all this:

Sweet Entrepreneur Loft in SoMA SF — $2000 per night

BillysCrib is a creative offsite meeting space for entrepreneurs, executives and startups to conduct day-time business meetings for up to a maximum of 12 guests in the heart of SoMa San Francisco (no overnight stays!)

Okay, so you can’t sleep here, but why are you wasting your time watching sports anyway when you could spend Sunday on this couch with 11 of your most trusted investors to brainstorm new anus-themed logos for your startup?

*ENTIRE* JETSETTER Soma 5starView! — $1750 per night

NO CLEANING FEE, “BRAND New Luxury” NESPRESSO Coffee & Espresso Machine straight from cafe! Best locationSF-SOMA. 1 block away from At&t park. The best restaurants/Wine bars/nightlife is in SOMA. AmazingArt, Eastern King Platform Bed,Apple&CableTV

& don’t forget this:

Superbowl 50th 2016 House On TV — $1500 per night

It’s 5 min from the stadium event no need to drive you are literally in front of the stadium! Want to see the biggest Superbowl event of history! That is the place to be! 2 bedrooms 3 full bathrooms a kitchen living-room enjoy the Superbowl with your family and friends. Do a BBQ in the backyard and walk to the biggest event of the year it’s 5 min walking distance!

I am not sure if the name of this listing means that you or your house are going to be on TV. Regardless, it is booked every day this week but not on the night of the Super Bowl, so if you act now, you could check in Sunday and walk to the game walking distance 5 min!!! Or just watch the game here. For $1500. Update: THIS PAD HAS BEEN RENTED

Spacious LVR in 3 BR Apt w/Extras — $1000 per night

Air mattress in safe living room as part of a spacious 3 BR shared apartment. Access to kitchen, shower, TV, & fridge. Free access to pool, hot tub, & 24hr gym. Close proximity to Levi’s stadium (15 miles). Breakfast and snacks are offered.

Sure, you’re sleeping on an air mattress 15 miles from the stadium. But if your bedroom is the living room then you get to control what you watch on the TV, right? No talking during commercials!

Walk to the Superbowl @ Levis - Rm2 — $350 per night

Rent your Superbowl suite by booking both rooms in our home close to Levis.

This listing is for one bedroom in our home.

Please note: We will only accept bookings from fans of the same team.

Except... they never say the team.

Super Bowl Pad - .5 miles away — $300 per night

This place is a “Man Cave” it’s very cozy but the kicker is that I am only .5 miles away from Levi Stadium.

Their is a walking trail that will get right to the stadium. It’s a single room with a sofa bed or Futon if you will and it has a BBQ.

Only $300! Wow, that sounds too good to be—

Oh. Ok.

San Jose Super Bowl Couch — $100 per night

We have a pullout queen sized ikea couch and a couple of queen air mattresses available for rent for superbowl weekend. You’re welcome to use the kitchen, bathroom, backyard, and whatever else we have available.

“Extra people: No Charge”

Top art by Adam Clark Estes

Follow the author @awalkerinLA

The stars are hyping it. The director has been teasing it. It’s really not that far off. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode VIII will be going into production very soon, and as that date approaches, we’ve already started thinking about what we’d really love to see in the movie come December 2017.

1. A New Structure

One of the biggest complaints about The Force Awakens is how liberally it borrowed from A New Hope. Story beats, character arcs, even the ending are pretty much straight from the original movie. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? That suggests Star Wars: Episode VIII could mirror The Empire Strikes Back, especially since our main hero, Rey, has already gone to her own version of Dagobah.

Well, we don’t want that. We don’t want to have any idea what major strokes the story could explore. If a big surprise ending is inevitable, it would take away from its emotional impact. Obviously the film can’t totally avoid similar tropes, but we’d love to be put off-guard by it. Fake us out with “Empire” and give us something fresh. One great idea came from the gang at /Film—to make it like The Godfather Part II, half flashback, half new. Whether that happens or not, Rian Johnson’s movies are anything but conventional. He’ll nail this one.

2. New Environments

The Force Awakens took place on a desert planet, a jungle planet, a snow
planet and a weaponized planet. Pretty familiar stuff in the realm of Star Wars. In Episode VIII, we’d love to see environments unlikes we’ve seen before. What does that mean? Well, anything really. It’s hard to totally avoid everything Star Wars has ever done before, but there are surely twists to be made. We just want Episode VIII to look different.

3. Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker is a full-fledged Jedi Knight for all of... 10 minutes? Maybe? The whole point of those films was for him to reach that status, which he did at the very end. Then when The Force Awakens started, he vanished. Now that he’s back, we really hope we get to see Skywalker not just as the mentor figure, but as the full-fledged Jedi badass he know he is. We don’t know for sure, but odds are he’s now the most powerful being in the entire galaxy. What does that power mean? How does it affect him? We want to see all of that and more.

We want to see Luke showdown against an entire armada of Stormtroopers and wipe them out with no effort whatsoever. Throw his nephew, Kylo Ren, aside like he’s nothing. Solve every problem in this universe in the first act, and then things really get started. The one danger in this is that if Luke becomes too powerful, it could take away from Rey, and no one wants that. On that note, we’d also love to see...

4. The Dark Side Within Rey

When Rey defeated Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens, it appeared she gave into anger and tapped into the Dark Side. Letting that seed grow could be a fascinating storyline in Episode VIII. Patience is a Jedi virtue, and yet Rey was picking up the ways of the Force very quickly in the last movie. Was it too quickly? Will she trust Luke’s methods? Any of these things could start a path to the Dark Side. From there, she could either go all the way bad setting her up for an Episode IX showdown with Finn, or maybe she falls in VIII and gets redeemed in IX. Rey is simply too good a character for her to go the easy route to saving the galaxy. Something we firmly believe she’ll do. Eventually.

5. Finn and Poe, BFFs

Rey is off training to be a Jedi, Kylo Ren and Snoke are licking their wounds, where does that leave our other two favorite new characters, Finn and Poe? Hopefully becoming the bestest of friends. Tumblr memes aside, these two wise-cracking Resistance soldiers need to spend more time together in Episode VIII. Each is heroic, hilarious and purposefully thin when it comes to an on-screen backstory. No matter how Johnson decides to split up the film’s characters, Finn and Poe not being together would be a tragedy.

6) More BB-8

BB-8 is a vital part of the story in The Force Awakens but, after the first act, we don’t really see him do much. Hopefully in Episode VIII we can see more of what makes BB so special. What other gadgets does he have under all those panels? Can he fly? How deep do his emotions and understanding of this conflict go? And how can all of that be used to assist Poe, Finn and whomever else to further their journey?

7. The Redemption of Captain Phasma

Before The Force Awakens, few characters were as anticipated as Captain Phasma. Then she gave up everything she stood for in a heartbeat. It was a weak showing for the First Order leader, so Episode VIII has to redeem her. Whether that means she gets a full storyline to herself, or if she just plays a more crucial, powerful side role, we have to see Phasma as a frightening force. On the other hand, we heard a theory we really love from a friend on Twitter, who suggested Phasma gets ousted by the First Order and becomes a bounty hunter with a vendetta for Finn. Now THAT’s a movie we’d be interested in.

8. A Deeper Understanding of the Dark Side

It goes without saying we want to know more about Supreme Leader Snoke in Episode VIII. So to add onto that, we hope to learn more about the nature of his, and Kylo Ren’s, interactions with the Force. As they’re neither Sith nor Jedi, their mere existence raises questions about who can use the Force and how they tap into that. Learning more about those issues could illuminate why Luke Skywalker went into hiding as opposed to confronting them, how Kylo Ren can stop a blaster bolt with the Force, what the Knights of Ren are and so much more.

Star Wars Episode VIII will open on December 15, 2017.

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

Drones and GoPros have been responsible for some of the most amazing footage of extreme sports over the past few years. But Nicolas Vuignier has come up with a brilliantly simple way to use his iPhone to capture some truly remarkable footage of him skiing down a snow-covered mountain.

Vuignier plans to release a follow-up making-of video revealing exactly how his setup works, but from wathing the video captured by his “Centriphone,” we can safely assume that it’s probably nothing more than an iPhone on the end of a long rope that he swings around his head. Centrifuge, Centriphone, get it?

Presumably Vuignier’s creation is a little more elegant than how we’ve described it, obviously he developed a mount that ensures the iPhone’s camera is always pointing in his direction, and that the phone stays securely attached. No matter how it works, there’s no denying it produces some fantastic footage.

[YouTube via Twitter - David Smith]

Strong winds caused a colossal crane to collapse in downtown Manhattan on Friday morning. Someone in a nearby office caught in on tape from above, and holy shit is it scary to watch.

One person died, and a dozen were injured in the accident.

Here’s an unedited video:

And an equally horrifying clip that appeared on NBC News:

Contact the author at adam@gizmodo.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: 91CF B387 7B38 148C DDD6 38D2 6CBC 1E46 1DBF 22A8

Apocalypse is weird. He’s arguably the X-Men’s most powerful foe, but he’s not the most famous; he has a generic name, hard-to-defined powers, and his motives change a lot. And now he’s also going to be the big bad of the next X-Men film! Here’s a helpful primer before Apocalypse (the movie and the character) arrive this May.

1) He’s old as heck.

The boy who would take the name Apocalypse was born 5,000 years ago in an area of the Middle East called Aqaba (in modern Jordan). He was born his grey skin and his weird blue lips, which led the superstitious villagers to abandon the baby in the desert. He was found by a tribe of raiders called the Sandstormers, who gave him the name En Sabah Nur—“The First One.” He may even be the world’s first mutant.

2) His main goal is making sure only the strongest survive.

Although his name makes him sound like he wants to end the world (or at least kill everyone on it), Apocalypse is really much more interested in evolution—specifically, making sure the strong survive and the weak die. As a mutant himself, he believes mutants are superior to humans much like Magneto does, but Apocalypse also really wants to create a world where everyone is fighting all the time so the strong are forced to get stronger and the weak get killed off. As such, he’s into putting humans in death camps and forcing mutants to fight each other, and he figures he’s doing everyone a really big favor by doing this. Of course, he also thinks his job would be easier if he had supreme power and/or ruled the world, so he spends a fair bit of his time trying to achieve that, too.

3) He’s one of the most powerful mutants ever.

Besides having extra-super super-strength, Apocalypse can alter his body to suit any need. He can change his mass, size and weight, allowing him to grow the size of the Statue of Liberty. He can turn his limbs into weapons ranging from swords to laser cannons, he can pop out extra arms, he can sprout wings and grow gills… and he can disguise himself as pretty much anyone. It’s like he can evolve himself to survive any situation. (Get it?) He has a crazy effective healing power, which makes him almost invulnerable. He can fire energy blasts out of pretty much any part of his body. He can fly, he has super-speed, he has both telepathy and telekinesis. It should not be a surprise that he’s held his own against an entire team of X-Men on numerous occasions.

4) He’s not just a mutant, though.

When Apocalypse was still a young En Sabah Nur, he was taken to a cave containing devices left by the Celestials, who are a race of super-powerful beings who are basically the gods of the Marvel universe (and not like Thor and Loki are “gods”—these guys created life, death, and the multiverse). Not only did the technology give him Celestial armor, it gave him new mutant powers while augmenting the rest. Not only does Apocalypse get more powerful as he gets older, he’s pretty sure he has plenty of powers he doesn’t even know about yet. The only downside to his Celestial improvement is that his body can barely handle it, forcing him to switch human hosts regularly (although his tech makes transferring his consciousness and powers pretty simple). Also, he needs to recharge his insane powers periodically by taking years-long naps, which is pretty much the only respite the X-Men get from him.

5) He has a fondness for selecting four minions and dubbing them Horsemen.

Hey, you know that whole “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” part of the book of Revelations in the Bible? As the most recent X-Men: Apocalypse movie trailer pointed out, it was inspired by the villain. He’s been taking four powerful minions and dubbing them Death, War, Famine and Pestilence for his entire career as a supervillain. He gives them special powers and, in the chance they don’t want to serve him willingly anyway, enslaves their minds. Famous Marvel heroes who have become one of Apocalypse’s Horsemen include the Hulk, Wolverine, Gambit, the Sentry, and more (especially in alternate Marvel universes). In the upcoming movie, it appears Apocalypse’s riders will be Angel, Storm, Magneto and Psylocke.

6) He has a very intense relationship with the Summers family.

My apologies, because this is the point where the wrecking ball that is X-Men comics continuity comes in. In the modern Marvel universe, Apocalypse first woke up—about a century earlier than planned—when he felt the arrival of a strange energy. That energy was the hero Cable, who had traveled back in time to stop Apocalypse from conquering the planet and ruling it for the next 19 centuries. Cable is the Nathan, the son of the X-Men Cyclops and Madeline Pryor, who was secretly a clone of Jean Grey; Nathan was infected with a techno-virus as a baby—by Apocalypse— and sent to the future to cure him, where he ended up growing up under Apocalypse’s nightmare regime. Cable hates Apocalypse. In the future, someone cloned Cable and Apocalypse stole that baby, raised him, and he ended up the as the insane X-Men villain Stryfe, who hated both Cyclops and Apocalypse because daddy issues. Whew! And this is legitimately just the beginning of their crazy, messed-up relationship.

7) He’ll fight anybody, including other villains.

Apocalypse is not much for a team-up, and since other villains plans to kill so-and-so or destroy such-and-such would invariably get in the way of his plans to do the same, he’s taken on more than a few bad guys, too. He fought Kang the Conqueror back in ancient Egypt. He kicked Dracula’s ass a time or two. He’s battled both Thor and Loki to standstills. He helped stop Onslaught, although he was mainly doing it to kill Franklin Richards. He held his own against the High Evolutionary, a supervillain with the power to rearrange sub-atomic particles. And the Eternals, who were created by the Celestials and are basically demigods, simply call Apocalypse their “Ancient Nemesis.”

8) He conquered the world for a while.

When Professor X’s troubled son Legion—yes, the guy who’s about to have his own show on Fox—decided to travel back in time to assassinate Magneto, he accidentally shoots and kills his dad before he can form the X-Men. As a result, Apocalypse wakes up early and there’s no one to stop him, even though Magneto creates and leads the X-Men in Xavier’s place. The end result was 1995’s Age of Apocalypse storyline, in which Apocalypse has killed most of humanity, enslaved the rest, and only a few groups of mutants resist him. AoA is most notable for some pretty insane changes to the X-Men, including Rogue becoming Magneto’s wife, Colossus killing a lot of X-Men including his beloved Kitty Pride, and the existence of Nate Grey, who was created with the DNA of Cyclops and Jean Grey (making him Cable’s half-brother twice removed, or something). Anyways, another person from the future has to travel back in time to erase this mess, but this time is happens to be Bishop.

11) He created Mr. Sinister, and it was a huge mistake.

In 1859, Apocalypse used his Celestial tech to turn Victorian scientists Nathanial Essex into the supervillain Mr. Sinister, and has basically regretted it ever since. Sinister was supposed to help the ancient mutant kill all humans, but Sinister thought this plan was dumb and managed to put Apocalypse back into hibernation. Since that point, Sinister has fought Apocalypse many times, impersonated him a few more, and is the guy who cloned Jean Grey and sent her to Cyclops for the express purpose of them having sex and her giving birth to Cable, the biggest thorn in Apocalypse’s side. Mr. Sinister happens the next biggest X-Men foe that hasn’t appeared in a movie yet, so if there happens to be another movie in the current continuity, he’s probably a lock.

12) He is not celibate.

Also, he’s apparently not a big fan of birth control, because he’s spent 5,000 years sleeping his way around the world, and he has thousands of descendants, most of whom have no idea they’re related to the genocidal maniac. He has an entire clan that has done his bidding over the centuries, and they’re all related to him.

13) Sometimes he can actually be helpful...

In his desire to create his perfect minions, he’s accidentally managed to help the X-Men on several occasions. When Angel had his wings ripped off, Apocalypse gave him his shiny metal ones; after Wolverine had his adamantium ripped off his bones, Apocalypse put it back. He even grew Sunfire’s legs back. Obviously, these gifts all came with a price, but the heroes also managed to get out of their deals eventually. I have no idea how healing X-Men jibes with Apocalypse’s mantra of “only the strong should survive,” and I doubt he’s thought much about it.

14) ...and sometimes he is petty as hell.

When Apocalypse was a young lad in ancient Egypt, he fell for a girl who rejected him on account of his grey skin and weird blue lips. En Sabah Nur patiently waited until the girl grew into an old woman, and, once she was in her death bed, visited her specifically to insult her as she lay dying.

15) He was very upset about “House of M.”

So remember in “House of M” when Scarlet Witch went crazy, muttered “No more mutants,” and then all but 190 or so mutants were depowered? It was a big deal, and Apocalypse did not care for it one bit, because he felt it tipped the scales too far in humanity’s favor over mutants, survival-wise. So Apocalypse went to the United Nations and politely requested that they kill 90% of the world’s normal human population to even the score. If they didn’t, he would release a plague that would kill all of humanity. Apocalypse didn’t manage to pull this off, but it’s still impressive that he was polite enough to ask first.

16) He was recently a chill little kid.

Actually, he was a few children. He was recently reincarnated as a child, at which point the ostensibly heroic X-Man named Fantomex murdered him. Apocalypse had another son that was hidden from him. And then Fantomex also raised a clone of Apocalypse into a rather pleasant teenager named Evan Sabahnur who he enrolled in the Jean Grey School for Hire Learning, where he used his powers for good. Evan was kidnapped, tortured, given his own pile of Celestial armor, grew into an adult, and flirted with evil a few times, but he’s generally stayed good, calling himself Genesis instead, and is currently living in Deadpool’s apartment in Queens.

17) He’s being played by Poe Dameron.

In case you didn’t know who Oscar Isaac was before he stole your heart in The Force Awakens, that is indeed the same dashing Resistance pilot playing the ancient X-Men antagonist in X-Men: Apocalypse (or possibly he’s merely cosplaying as Ivan Ooze). Isaac is very excited about playing the villain, but if you’ve seen the beloved X-Men cartoon of the ’90s and remember Apocalypse’s appearances on it, you know Isaac has a lot to live up to:

Contact the author at rob@io9.com.

For the second time in a single week, there’s news of a MacGyver project. Different MacGyver projects. One a TV show and now a movie. And we’re kind of dumbfounded.

The first news was an update on a story from last year. In October, news broke that Furious 7 and Saw director James Wan was working on a TV reboot of the hit ‘80s TV show. Then, earlier this week, that show was sent to pilot by CBS. Now, Lionsgate has announced they’re working on a MacGyver movie.

The TV show is going to center on MacGyver in his college years, while the angle for the new movie is a mystery. All we know is Neal Moritz, producer of the Fast and Furious franchise, is on board for the film along with the creator of the series, Lee David Zlotoff. Moritz also helped turn 21 Jump Street into a hit movie franchise.

Sure, MacGyver was a huge show when it aired in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The idea of a man who could get out of any situation using science set up pop culture references that can still be made today. It’s also been hilariously parodied in works like MacGruber. There’s some cultural recognition there so making it into a movie or TV show makes some kind of financial sense. But both? That sounds... excessive. Especially if they are different versions. Which is sounds like they are.

Or maybe, everyone is just so confident MacGyver is the man to usher in a new era of multimedia franchise connectivity, the movie version of the new TV show is preemptively moving forward. But I don’t think so. I’d imagine we get one or the other. The world simply isn’t big enough for two MacGyvers.

[Deadline]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

On Tuesday, the tenth book in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series was published. It is not for casual readers. It is really just for fans.

Games Wizards Play concerns a competition called “the Invitational,” which takes place every 11 years and is explicitly compared to a science fair, but with wizardry instead of science. Nita, Kit, and Dairine are all assigned as mentors to (slightly) younger wizards hoping to win a year’s apprenticeship to the “Planetary” wizard.

As world- and universe-ending as the events of other books have been, the focus on the Invitational in Games Wizards Play is a welcome respite. Duane uses it as a chance to explore the characters and how wizards in other families with other backgrounds work. It builds on the world of wizardry that’s mostly on Earth, which is nice and a good vehicle to give depth to everything that’s gone before.

Games Wizards Play brings back everyone and everything from the previous nine novels. If there is a character still alive, they warrant at least a mention. If there was a plot thread dangling, it isn’t by the time this book wraps up. At over 600 pages, this thing is a continuity bomb. Some series are connected but easy to pick up or put down. This is not one of them.

It relies on readers knowing the past so much that I recommend re-reading at least the last few books before starting this one. It’s been six years since A Wizard of Mars, and I didn’t remember enough of the details to get as much out of Games Wizards Play as I think I was supposed to.

Since most of the first half of the book consists of explaining the projects the mentees are building (futzing with the sun and stopping earthquakes) and the mentors making suggestions, there is a lot of stuff that is dense as hell. Duane has had this universe up and running for over 30 years, and it shows. How wizardry works, who has what power, what things should look like, the science of it all—everything is delineated in excruciating and somehow casual detail. Which is fine, you’re not really supposed to understand it as much as you are supposed to to revel in the competence porn of our heroes.

And that’s the most satisfying part of the books, character-wise. Even though a chunk of the book is devoted to Nita and Kit’s newfound romantic feelings toward each other, the reward for fans is the acknowledgement that our characters have grown into their wizardry so cleanly. Since the Young Wizards books are based on the idea the younger you are, the more powerful you are, aging into positions based on something other than raw power is a concern. At the end of the day, Games Wizards Play leaves readers with a sense that everyone is all right and where they are supposed to be. It’s not a hastily done epilogue, but a fully realized journey. Satisfying for fans, but not meant to stand by itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Games-Wizards-...

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Let’s be very clear here: There is simply no possibility that Asteroid 2013 TX68 will get close enough to hit Earth when it flies by on March 5th. What it may do, though, is come close enough to be visible.

What would it look like? That mostly depends on the trajectory the asteroid takes, which NASA researchers are still trying to figure out. The most likely path has it at just over 1 million miles away. But it could also follow a trajectory that spins it much further out so that, even with the aid of a telescope, it would be too far out of range to glimpse at 9 million miles away. But if conditions are just right, the asteroid could come within 11,000 miles, easily catchable with a telescope.

Top image: Artist’s concept of an asteroid family / NASA/JPL-Caltech; Chart: Possible paths for Asteroid 2013 TX68 NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers only discovered the 100-foot asteroid two years ago, and with so little data there are several possible orbits for the rock.

Asteroid 2013 TX68 is scheduled to come back around again in September 2017—and when it does, it will come with a 1:250,000,000 chance of impacting Earth. NASA, however, called the possibility “too small to be of any real concern.”

Lionsgate, the studio behind The Hunger Games, puts Star Wars in the same category as terrorists in terms of screwing its bottom line. Wait, what?

Yesterday, Lionsgate had a brutal earnings call. Its third quarter profits were nowhere near what investors expected, and it blamed a disappointing performance from the final (and good!) Hunger Games film, Mockingjay Part 2. According to Lionsgate, the movie’s box office of about $650 million “[underperformed] their profit margins by over $100M.”Wall Street reacted terribly to the news, with shares in the studio down over 30 percent.

Lionsgate is responding by upping the amount of cheaper movies it releases in the next year. Oh, and by whining that The Force Awakens and terrorists—ACTUAL TERRORISTS—stole about $100 million from The Hunger Games at the box office. Here’s Rob Friedman, Lionsgate’s co-chairman:

I think the combination of circumstances was unique between the terrorist attack in Europe and Star Wars... hit our numbers by somewhere between $50M and $100M.

The terrorist attack in Paris happened a week after Mockingjay Part 2 premiered in Europe, and a week before the movie was released in America. It seems more than a little ridiculous to complain that the success of Star Wars and, oh, global terrorism stole money from your young adult action movie franchise.

Like, okay, the money-sucking void that is Star Wars is an easy target, but going “If only those bloody terrorists didn’t murder people so our movie would do better, grr!”? That’s either ballsy, stupid, or a damn good mix of both.

[Deadline]

I used to be the slowest XCOM player on Earth. Then XCOM 2 happened.

You know the type. Hell, you probably are the type. I played previous XCOM games in inches, not miles. I’d move my characters forward a few spaces, hunker down behind cover, and wait.

I played patiently because of how XCOM works. Like its predecessors, XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game about fighting a mysterious, ever-evolving alien force, but the real sun of its solar system is permadeath. If a member of your squad dies in the line of duty, they don’t spring back from the grave and say, “Hey guys, what’d I miss?” to the sounds of canned studio audience laughter. Their body just lays there, occasionally twitching, and the studio audience gets really uncomfortable. They are dead and gone.

The more you use and customize and rank up your individual squad members, the more you come to love them. The idea of letting them go toward the light (the one presumably made by god; not, you know, aliens) becomes heartbreaking. That, in a nutshell, is why I used to play XCOM like a turtle who was also somebody’s dangerously near-sighted grandparent attempting to drive in rush hour traffic. In my mind, there was no such thing as an acceptable loss. Firaxis’ first XCOM game, 2012’s XCOM Enemy Unknown (and, to a lesser extent, its expansion) enabled my hyper-cautious playstyle. My approach might not have always been glamorous, but my troops survived, damn it.

XCOM 2 changes all that. It makes me play like a cornered rat. I bite and scratch and claw my way forward, with no guarantee of safety or sustenance. And I love it.

That might sound like a big change from the game that Kotaku already gave one of its last singular Game of the Year Awards , but it’s really not. XCOM 2’s evolved mechanics mirror its story. It’s set 20 years after the first game. Earth’s been taken over by aliens, and everything’s evolved a bit: Aliens, technology, society, and the “you” character, a faceless entity known as “The Commander.”

You and your private army are not part of The Establishment this time around. Rather, you’re heading up a ragtag resistance effort from inside the cold, glowing innards of a stolen alien megaship. You’re like a vulture, circling and swooping, picking over the remains of your own planet.

Evolution is funny in that it sometimes turns predators into prey. In XCOM 2, that dynamic flip-flops, oh, every few turns. It leads to some amazing emergent stories. Case in point, a totally wild encounter where I nearly lost all of my best units in one go:

Every move you make in battle is one of calculated desperation. You’re almost always outnumbered and outgunned, and unlike in Enemy Unknown, many of the missions funnel you forward with various objectives: civilians that need rescuing, bombs wired to destroy important items, and evac time limits. You can’t hunker down, you can’t hold back. You have to plunge on, albeit cautiously, into the shadowy unknown. In the process, you will frequently stumble upon new aliens that keep you on-edge. Most don’t come at you with overwhelming power, but rather with tricks that trip you up in the heat of battle. You never know what new terror is lurking just around the corner. Or even closer.

The underdog arrangement has its advantages, though. In many cases, XCOM 2’s alien overlords aren’t expecting you to come a-knocking, let alone a-bulldozing their dystopic pain paradise to rubble. It’s understandable that they’d grow complacent given that they’ve achieved a victory on level with an extinction event. When your soldiers land in a new area, XCOM 2 recreates the dynamics of guerilla warfare with a clever (though fairly simplistic) stealth system. You start most levels with your squad “concealed,” which basically means that enemies aren’t actively looking out for you.

Many are on patrol, sometimes not even bothering to stay behind cover. As long as you keep out of their immediate line of sight, you can maneuver your squad as you please and plot ambushes. This is where you can get a lot of mileage out of Overwatch, an ability that allows squad members to fire during the enemy’s turn and not, in this case, a hot new team-based shooter from Blizzard. Lining up perfect shots with a couple squad members and then putting a few others on Overwatch to deal with aliens trying to dart for cover? Glorious. It’s one of the easier things to do in many levels, and taking out an entire alien squad before they have a chance to shoot back makes you feel like a goddamn tactical genius.

These systems enable fantastic micro-stories, and they’re successful on a level that makes Firaxis’ first XCOM feel ancient by comparison.

Like, OK so, here is this guy:

He’s a grenadier and his name is Kylo Gusev, but it wasn’t always. There was a time when he was named Viktor, and not an impossible Star Wars name (or a possible pop star name, depending on who you talk to). In the midst of one battle he was mind-controlled by a sectoid alien, and he went into a wild rage. Using his sedan-sized minigun, he mowed down the better part of a building’s first floor. Thankfully, he missed my Ranger, Jane “Ice” Kelly, a badass ninja lady and one of my favorite video game characters in years. I quickly had her slaughter the alien controlling my grenadier, because she is very good at slaughtering things. That’s when I realized what I wanted to name him: the tantrum, the flowing brown locks, the nasally voice, the significantly more capable woman next to him, wielding a cool sword—the game had randomly given me Kylo Ren for one of my heavy assault troopers. After that mission, I changed his name to make it official.

These are the sorts of stories that have given me an unusual bond with my soldiers. They start out as faceless drones—randos with a sliver of backstory—but soon they become yours. I remember Kylo for his tantrum, I remember Ice for the number of times she’s saved everybody else’s asses, I remember my best sharpshooter, Val Killer, for the time she took out a powerful teleporting alien and reinforcements after everyone else was rendered dead or unconscious.

When you’re not in battle, you’re struggling to forge relationships with other resistance groups, advance your own tech past the (relative) stone age, and stay one step ahead of an alien doomsday research project intended to, pardon the jargon, Fuck Humanity Into Quivering Oblivion. Everything you do takes time, and all the while aliens are making moves of their own, reacting to your victories and advancing their tech to keep those puny hyyyyyyuuuumans from getting a leg up. That last part is super cool, because the aliens react to the specific things you’re doing. In a way, it feels like being up against a live opponent, except they play by very different rules and want to cut you open and inseminate you with The Ultimate Lifeform or some shit.

The game’s interface is clean and fairly intuitive, considering how much information it has to convey at any given time. It keepsyou up to date on the progress of your projects and what little you know of the aliens’ goals. In a change from Enemy Unknown, the aliens actually have specific short- and long-term goals that are shown to you in cards. It brings another element of tabletop gaming to a series that already borrowed liberally from the world of dice and pewter miniatures.

The whole setup looks like this:

Management is always a juggling act, and the majority of things you’re juggling are chainsaws. Consider the following situation: you’ve built out your base to include multiple types of research labs and a place to heal your troops, but now you need a structure that’ll let you communicate with a larger number of resistance groups in other countries. If you don’t build that soon, you won’t be able to make contact with the resistance in a nation where the aliens are hard at work on a portion of their mega-project that will—I can’t stress this enough—doom all of humanity.

You’ve already let it linger for too long, and the doomsday bar at the top of the screen is filling fast. However, you’re super low on supplies (currency, basically) because you recently researched armor that will hopefully keep your low level troops from getting one-shotted by The Big Shapeshifting Assholes, The Robot Assholes, and The Assholes Who Can Fucking Teleport Are You Fucking Kidding Me. Meanwhile, your strongest troops are in the infirmary after an especially gnarly mission, so all you have to go out on new missions are some spunky yet squishy B-teams led by a psychologically damaged A-teamer. You are not optimistic about your prospects.

You don’t have time for doubt, though; gotta keep moving. You can’t slow down and untangle the aforementioned world’s-largest-yarn-ball-from-Cawker-City-Kansas of problems. There are too many clocks ticking, too many people relying on you. In XCOM 2, you have to find creative new ways to keep pushing forward.

Limp to an evac point with barely breathing squadmates slung over your shoulders. Make peace with the fact that some won’t make it back at all. Accept that you might have to turn down a rescue mission in one country to pick up supplies and new troops in another. It might be frustrating in the moment, but when you get a chance to look back on it, you’ll find a personal story fraught with intrigue and drama. Twists and turns. Momentum shifts.

You can’t win ‘em all, but you can win enough. You can make the aliens fucking pay for the times they backed you into a corner, for the times you put yourself in that corner with dumb decisions, for the deaths of your best and brightest. Your big ship is called The Avenger. There’s a reason for that, I think, and it’s not just a Marvel reference (though I do think it is partially a Marvel reference). It’s thrilling when you succeed. It’s morale-pulverizing when you fail. If you’re not playing on Ironman Mode, you will be tempted to load and re-load old saves to erase moments of loss and bring back fallen soldiers. Don’t.

OK, don’t do that most of the time. I have to admit, XCOM 2’s aim percentage system can do some seriously wacky stuff, and on multiple occasions it got precious troops of mine slaughtered to pieces in dumb ways. I’ll take a miss on a tricky long shot, but are you telling me my expert marksman whiffed a point-blank shot to a whale of an alien’s horse-sized loaf of a cranium? I refuse to believe this. I REFUSE.

Moments like that made me curse up the kind of storm that would make a sailor blush and then drown. On multiple occasions, my girlfriend was like, “Do you actually like this game?” Absolutely, I would tell her, after taking a deep breath. It’s just bullshit sometimes.

What astounds me about XCOM 2 is how often it’s not bullshit. With such high stakes and so many intertwining systems constantly pushing the player forward, it could easily have devolved into a hair-trigger, save-scumming frustration fest. It doesn’t. XCOM 2 masterfully creates the illusion that the odds are completely against you, while giving you numerous opportunities to Rocky your way back to the top. You’ve just gotta stay nimble. You’ve just gotta think. Get your head on straight and watch your corners; those wily E.T. bastards are gonna pay.

To contact the author of this post, write to nathan.grayson@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @vahn16.

I don’t know if any of you guys have heard about it, but there’s a Deadpool movie coming to theaters. Just so you know. They’ve been pretty restrained in promoting it.

But I jest. The Deadpool marketing has been good, but for me (and I get that my job means I am exposed to it more than most), it’s also very close to becoming annoying. It feels like the movie has been releasing new videos of Reynolds in character every single day. Not new footage, mind you, which I would have pored over with the dedication of a paleontologist trying to excavate a brand new fossil, but quick hits of Deadpool being Deadpool.

Now the Wrap reports that on Monday, MTV, VH1 and Spike will run nothing but custom ads for the movie for three hours. And starting today, MTV, VH1, Logo, Comedy Central and Spike will start airing spots warning viewers that the takeover is coming. That’s just too much. It’s textbook “too much of a good thing.” Three hours of nothing but Deadpool on three networks is a lot, but adding commercials about having nothing but Deadpool commercials is a whole new level of marketing hell.

Oh, and that’s not all! The networks have also changed their schedules so the “right shows” are targeted. On the one hand, that means that a special Deadpool ad will air during Golden Girls, which Deadpool follows on Instagram in the movie. That’s funny. On the other hand, Deadpool is going to show up during Teen Mom and have a dedicated @midnight segment.

It’s too much, and it’s probably going to be confusing for at least some viewers. Obviously, the studio hopes that repetition is the key to beating ad fatigue. But there is every chance that this ubiquity turns it into white noise that’s easy to ignore—or worse, it may start getting on people’s nerves. Which is tragic, because Deadpool looks like it’s going to be a blast. It’s a minor miracle that it got made at all!

Just... settle down, guys. Don’t blow this in the movie’s home stretch.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.