Mashable

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle is available for preorder for $43.13 at Amazon. That's about $35 cheaper than Walmart’s $78.95 listing ahead of its March 27 release.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle $43.13 at Amazon
  Shop Now

It’s a few weeks before Perfect Order releases, but Amazon has come in with a shocking bargain after finally adding the expansion’s Booster Bundles to its storefront. 

The Perfect Order Booster Bundle is available to preorder for $43.13 at Amazon — not only massively coming under the TCGplayer market price, but also deeply undercutting Walmart’s $78.95 price. That's a pretty wild gap for a sealed product this close to launch. And better yet, this comes with Amazon's pre-order price guarantee, so you know you're getting the very best price even if further discounts go live.

Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!

These Booster Bundles contain Perfect Order booster packs in one box, each with 10 Pokémon trading cards. With preorders on new Booster Bundles for new expansions usually going well above $60-70 at first, this is a genuinely low price that will surely sell out soon. Act fast to secure your order.

Amazon is also selling Pokémon TCG: Ascended Heroes Elite Trainer Boxes for as low as $116.85. You can also grab a Pokémon TCG: Perfect Order Elite Trainer Box for just over $105 at TCGplayer.

Netflix has released a trailer teasing BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG, a livestream of the K-pop group's first performance with all seven members since 2022.

Streaming live from Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG will see BTS members RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook performing songs from their extensive discography, as well as some from their upcoming album ARIRANG. The group's fifth studio album is scheduled for release just one day prior to the concert.

This concert will mark BTS' highly-anticipated return after going on hiatus to complete their mandatory military service, with approximately 260,000 fans expected to attend in person. The group will subsequently kick off their ARIRANG World Tour, which has 82 stops planned across 34 cities and is scheduled to run through to March next year.

BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG will premiere March 21 at 7 a.m. ET / 4 a.m. PT on Netflix.

After eight episodes of sexual tension and college scandals, Netflix's Vladimir goes up in smoke. Literally.

The series finale sees Rachel Weisz's unraveling, unnamed professor protagonist finally consummating her obsession with her hotshot colleague, Vladimir (Leo Woodall). The pair have sex at the protagonist's remote cabin, then her husband John (John Slattery) shows up, fresh from his Title IX hearing. (His accusers' complaints were dismissed.)

SEE ALSO: 'Vladimir' review: Rachel Weisz goes full 'Fleabag'

After a messy confrontation, the three retire, all to separate rooms. But while they sleep, a fire starts, caused by the space heaters that the protagonist pushed too close together. She, John, and Vladimir all try to escape. The men struggle with the cabin's stuck door, while she lunges to protect her handwritten manuscript. In a monologue delivered straight to the audience, she reveals that she makes it out alive, calls 911, and ensures everyone gets out.

"You don't believe me?" she asks as the cabin burns in the background, with no escaped John or Vladimir in sight.

Should we? Vladimir has often shown that its protagonist is an unreliable narrator. Remember the salad she made for the faculty meeting in episode 1? She claimed everyone devoured it, when in reality, it went untouched. So, is the cabin fire just a larger, more deadly version of the salad lie, and is she just sanitizing it to make herself look better?

On the other hand, did the fire even happen at all, or is it a fantasy the protagonist has cooked up?

Did the cabin fire really happen in Vladimir? Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall in "Vladimir." Credit: Netflix

Based on its final question, it's clear Vladimir would like to keep things ambiguous. Perhaps everyone survived the cabin fire, perhaps not. Yet there's another option: Maybe the cabin fire is just the climax to the protagonist's book, which would explain the final sequence's dreamlike, somewhat disjointed quality.

Throughout the entire season, the protagonist's desire for Vladimir has reinvigorated her creative juices. It leads her to finally work on a new novel: a familiar story about a professor's desire for a younger co-worker. She just needs to figure out how it ends.

SEE ALSO: The 30 best comedies streaming on Netflix right now

In the cabin, she's faced with two different endings: one with John and Vladimir. John wonders whether the two should revisit their open marriage agreement and recommit to one another. Vladimir wants to set up a weekly cabin hook-up, claiming the protagonist inspires him. Either of these options would have excited the protagonist we met at the start of Vladimir, who's so worried that she's "lost the ability to captivate." Yet neither seem to be what she wants anymore — both for herself, and for the story she's working on.

"You don't like that ending?" John wonders when she admits she's not sure whether she'll go back to bed with him.

So, what ending would she like? What's an author to do when faced with two unsatisfying conclusions? Maybe she blows up her narrative with something beyond anyone's control: a cleansing fire that will give her "a whole new life."

Whether the fire is real, the fantasy ending of the protagonist's novel, or some meta combination of the two, one thing is for certain: These last moments play out extremely differently in Julia May Jonas' original novel.

How is Vladimir's ending different from the book's? Rachel Weisz in "Vladimir." Credit: Netflix

The novel Vladimir ends not with the cabin fire but with its aftermath.

John and the protagonist recover from their burns and move to New York City. Vladimir publishes a fictionalized version of his experience with the protagonist, and while it doesn't sell well, it is long-listed for prizes. His wife Cynthia (Jessica Henwick) goes on to write a national bestseller. (In the show, the protagonist claims that her own book is the bestseller.) Through it all, the protagonist stays with John, essentially ending right back where she started.

The novel doesn't leave any ambiguity as to whether the fire actually happened or who survived it. However, it also boxes the protagonist back in. After all, staying with John hardly seems like the kind of "new life" the show's version of the character would want.

With the series, then, perhaps Jonas (who also created the show) is trying to reshape her own ending and give the protagonist the "options" and "agency" she so desperately craves.

Vladimir is now streaming on Netflix.

Netflix's Vladimir is too cheeky for its own good.

The limited series, based on creator Julia May Jonas' 2022 novel of the same name, combines a heady tale of desire with a #MeToo controversy on a small college campus. In theory, it's a hotbed of lust and controversy ripe for discourse. In practice, Vladimir's flippancy dulls its sharpness.

SEE ALSO: 'Bridgerton' Season 4, Part 2 review: Love does not always look how one expects What's Vladimir about? Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall in "Vladimir." Credit: Netflix

Rachel Weisz stars as the unnamed fiftysomething creative writing professor at the heart of Vladimir. After 30 years of teaching at the same liberal arts college, she's come to a terrifying realization: She has "lost the ability to captivate." (Weisz, on the other hand, is captivating as ever.) Her students consider her out-of-touch. Her husband John (John Slattery), a fellow professor, is constantly seeing other women as part of an open-marriage arrangement that only he takes advantage of. He's also under investigation for prior affairs with students, putting his marriage under a microscope. (As part of the arrangement, Vladimir's protagonist was aware of these dalliances, and she doesn't understand how a consensual affair could be wrong.)

Enter Vladimir Vladinski (Leo Woodall), the English department's hotshot new professor. Young, gorgeous, and considerate enough to give up his chair for Weisz's professor at a faculty meeting, he becomes the object of all of her fantasies. His marriage to new adjunct professor Cynthia (Jessica Henwick) doesn't stop her lust. Nor does it seem to stop Vladimir from being interested. Soon, Vladimir's lead's life is in a double downward spiral as she reckons with both the fallout from John's actions and her newfound erotic obsession.

Are Vladimir's fourth-wall breaks irritating or enlightening? Rachel Weisz in "Vladimir." Credit: Netflix

Vladimir offers viewers a front-row seat to its protagonist's frantic inner monologue by having her deliver her thoughts straight to camera. Look, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag doesn't own the art of fourth-wall breaking, but it's impossible not to see its influence in the professor's asides. If you're going to use a technique that's almost synonymous with another TV show about a spiraling, complicated, unnamed woman, you'd better bring something new to it.

To its credit, Vladimir tries, but doesn't quite pull it off.

Where Fleabag's fourth-wall breaks stem from her intense self-awareness, the protagonist's fourth-wall breaks are all about self-delusion. For the most part, she treats the viewers like students who need hand-holding. She lectures us on why her husband's affairs were actually OK, blaming the victims' anguish on their spending too much time on the internet. She sings her own praises and points out when she's made a pun, ensuring we don't miss a drop of her apparent brilliance.

SEE ALSO: The best romantic movies on Netflix right now

Of course, viewers are able to tell that she is often lying. Sometimes the camera even gets in on the fun of proving her wrong. In Vladimir's first episode, she boasts that her fellow faculty members devoured the "fuck-you salad" that she brought to a department meeting. As she exits, the camera pans down to reveal the salad, untouched. It's a clever technique, one that allows us to inhabit the role of the many skeptical students the professor will cross paths with. Yet Vladimir rarely returns to it. Instead, as the series progresses, the protagonist's asides stray from professorial monologue to panicked, mid-conversation interjections about her talks with Vladimir. Here, the Fleabag similarities become overbearing, and the lighter tone chafes oddly against the show's more intense subject matter.

Vladimir struggles with both sex and substance. Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall in "Vladimir." Credit: Netflix

While the brunt of Vladimir's focus is on its protagonist's obsession with her colleague, the series is still set against the backdrop of a college sex scandal. Since the show is so rooted in her perspective (and since she fails to see an issue with the affairs), there is little examination of the victims themselves.

Looking at every facet of the scandal isn't truly Vladimir's project, yet this one-sidedness is another example of a more aggravating trend in how film and TV portray stories of skewed power dynamics and sexual politics on college campuses. Like 2025's After the Hunt, Vladimir primarily centers how people in proximity to the accused are impacted and how they have to learn to adjust their expectations because they came up during "a different time." Even HBO's new comedy Rooster, also debuting this week, flirts with these dynamics thanks to a professor-grad student relationship. (It dodges several bullets because the professor never taught this particular student.) It's tiring to see these stories be used repeatedly as learning moments for people who are unwilling to learn. In Vladimir's case, it's especially tiring to see them packaged with a slew of winking fourth-wall breaks and lightly ironic girlboss needle drops.

Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.

Heavier subject matter aside, even as a study of a woman's desire, Vladimir is oddly sexless. The show finds some humor in its lead's infatuation. Lingering shots on Vladimir's neck and arms are accompanied by the sound of sparkles and heavy breathing, while her panic over an emoji's meaning turns her from professor to middle schooler in the blink of an eye. Yet her fantasies play out in underwhelming fashion: clichéd sexual encounters, rendered in quick, flashing dream sequences.

It's still tough not to get swept up in Weisz and Woodall's game of cat-and-mouse, especially as the professor makes a series of moves that will have you cringing for dear life. Yet as an erotic thriller and a portrait of the ripple effects of sexual misconduct allegations, Vladimir is just like its protagonist's worst nightmare: It fails to captivate.

Vladimir is now streaming on Netflix.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for March 5, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for March 5, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for March 5 Pips

Less Than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically; 6-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 5 Pips

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 1-6, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 5-0, placed horizontally; 2-2, placed horizontally

Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 5 Pips

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 5-0, placed horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 5-0, placed horizontally; 3-6, placed vertically.

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 0-6, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 1-4, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 2-5, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally; 1-4, placed vertically; 3-4, placed horizontally.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition is for people who understand March Madness.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: A trick up their sleeve

• Green: Catch these in the dugout

• Blue: Recent basketball semifinalists

• Purple: Known Martin's

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Tools

• Green: Found in a Dugout

• Blue: Last Year's Men's NCAA Tournament Final Four

• Purple: ___Martin

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections: Sports Edition #528 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Tools- ARSENAL, BAG, REPERTOIRE, SKILL SET

• Found in a Dugout - BUBBLE GUM, GATORADE, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, WATER

• Last Year's Men's NCAA Tournament Final Four - AUBURN, DUKE, FLORIDA, HOUSTON

• ___Martin - ASTON, CURTIS, KATE, KENYON

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

Now the Full Moon has been and gone, the illuminated portion will gradually fade as the Moon moves towards the New Moon. This is all part of the lunar cycle, the eight distinct phases of the Moon.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, March 5, the Moon phase is Waning Gibbous. According to NASA's Daily Moon Guide, 96% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.

You don't need any visual aids to enjoy moon gazing. With just your eyes tonight you can see the Aristarchus Plateau, Mare Tranquillitatis, and the Mare Imbrium. If you have binoculars, you should also catch a glimpse of the Mare Nectaris, Mare Humorum and the Clavius Crater. A telescope will help you see all this and even more, including the Apollo 11 and 12 landing spots, and the Caucasus Mountains.

When is the next Full Moon?

In North America, the next Full Moon is predicted to take place on April 1.

What are Moon phases?

NASA says the Moon takes around 29.5 days to circle Earth, moving through a set of eight distinct phases along the way. Even though we always see the same side of the Moon, the portion lit by the Sun changes as it travels, which is why it can look full, half-lit, or barely visible at different points in the cycle. These changing views are what we call the lunar phases, and there are eight in total:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

TL;DR: Unblock Redtube from anywhere in the world with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN.

Online restrictions and blockades can be frustrating. We totally understand that there are valid reasons for content restrictions, but there is also something to be said for retaining your right to online freedom. Fortunately, it is possible to bypass online restrictions with a quick and easy hack. And this simple method even works for unblocking porn sites.

If you're looking for the best way to unblock porn sites like Redtube for free from anywhere in the world, we have the information you need.

How to unblock Redtube for free

VPNs can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in another location. This simple process bypasses geo-restrictions to secure access to porn sites like Redtube from anywhere in the world. This might sound complicated, but you can unblock your favorite porn sites in just a few simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that supports access to Redtube

4. Visit Redtube

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By taking advantage of these offers, you can unblock porn sites and then recover your investment at a later date. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it works well if you're traveling or temporarily away from home.

What is the best VPN for porn?

ExpressVPN is the top choice when it comes to unblocking porn sites like Redtube, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy

• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Unblock Redtube for free with ExpressVPN.