Think about it

It’s clever using the telepathic link so much in the Young Justice - Invasion animated television series. The link, which I first recall seeing used a lot in the X-Men comic book years back, is a science fiction device that allows covert communication between team members and information dumps. It is used to great effect in the YJ show, more so than in any other media I've seen. In X-Men and any number of other similar print and video series once the link was comprehensively Claremonted onto the continuity and back story it was just a given that the characters were using the telepathic link. In Young Justice the mental interaction between the characters is integral to the pacing of the show. One of the aspects that is clear about the teen team is that they don't want to share very much with the adult members of the Justice League. This is very much in keeping with the premise of the show of the junior league chafing at the leadership and their perception that they are together only at the sufferance of the elder heroes.

The big deal about the link in Young Justice is not in driving the story but that the animators and presumably the budget really gets some breaks when the characters are able to just  stare at each other without moving during expository voice-overs. Did the creative team understand at the start how much time and money would be saved per episode from not animating the characters speaking, including all the realistic body gestures that would have to accompany such scenes? I wonder if cost considerations come into play and the use of the mental link to cover the majority of the animated speaking was the solution or was that just a beneficial circumstance of a plot device.

Edited from original post June 6, 2012 at the LTMS Tumblr.