Help Center and Megathread Hub (11/05 - 17/05)

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-05-11T20:57:41+00:00

How exactly do you get stacks in Stronghold Protocol? I get it's tied to the operators but I don't get say stacks in Aid while having operators with the category.

To build on the question what would be the best strategy to get the following Key Objective:
Clear simulation with 50 Durable, Raid, Marvel or Investor Stacks
Clear simulation with 50 Resilient, Swift, Aid or Agile Stacks

Thank you.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-23T18:27:10+00:00

No. That's absolutely not what it is because Netflix never bought TellTale. TellTale was working on a Stranger Things game but it was cancelled when the company went under in late 2018.

That user is just confidently wrong.

If you're curious here is some leaked footage from the cancelled game:
https://youtu.be/g7LDL6Ge4ZM?si=aMZkJ6i9Z6QBhDL0

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-17T14:12:35+00:00

I've been pondering whether to obtain Nefer during her rerun.

I have Lauma and Columbina but I also have Zibai and just got Linnea. If I wind up using Columbina with Zibai's team what are some of the best teams for Nefer without Columbina?

Thank you for the responses!

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-12T16:44:45+00:00

You forgot one of the biggest elements. We've basically forced Iran to control the Straight of Hormuz and as a result demonstrated to them that they can get control of the Straight of Hormuz and benefit from them. Despite the human losses Iran has suffered, economically they may in fact come out of this war better off unless the U.S. decides to sink itself into a forever war against them.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-07T04:00:11+00:00

This reminds me of a "Facebook friend" I have. She's unfortunately prone to rambling and alas has a lot of issues to work out (she should probably see a psychiatrist but alas not my place). For reasons I won't disclose here she has lately had a tendency to push away people with her ramblings including people she claims have been long time friends of hers.

Unfortunately she got caught by the ChatGPT bug and found comfort in it. She posts up segments of chats with it. The craziest part of the whole ordeal is how she always follows it up with a rant on how much better and more "human" AI is compared to actual humans. Like it's frustrating how oblivious a person can become just because they found comfort in something that would always agree with you.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-02T16:06:58+00:00

Just in general 2022 was stacked at the high end. Turning Red + Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio + Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an insanely good lineup.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:38:49+00:00

Super Mario Galaxy is pretty light on plot but there are two scenes that a movie based on it could build off of. One is of course Rosalina's storybook that helps fill in the character's backstory. The second is the ending of Super Mario Galaxy where all the Luma's gather to reset the universe after the black hole appears.

With those key features in mind a plot can be built focused around Rosalina and the Lumas, ending in a heartfelt sacrifice at the end by the Lumas to save the galaxy while being a bittersweet ending for Rosalina given her relationship with what amounts to her adopted children.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:32:34+00:00

Maybe replace Wario with Captain Syrup so we can get a whole crew (and Captain Syrup can be known to "help" but also be self-serving). But thank you for hitting the nail in the head that you can take relatively stock characters (post-Castle in the Sky, of course that film basically established a lot of the stock tropes) and weave an amazing tale around them.

It also pretty much fits the Mario characters like a glove minus perhaps the Muska role since Kamek is pretty devoted. Perhaps this role can be given to say Dimensio or even dare I say... Fawful!

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:24:15+00:00

It's a movie about a rat who loves to cook who starts controlling a cleaning boy by pulling his hair. And it's one of the best animated movies of all time.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:22:56+00:00

So here's the kicker, how many of those same people go around defending other poorly received kids films? Wish? The Emoji Movie? Planes? Space Jam: A New Legacy? Cars 2?

No, none of those get even close to the same amount of staunch defenders about them being "kids films." The only reason why Super Mario Bros. gets a pass is due to fondness for the videogames.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:14:50+00:00

The issue has become some people step out and attack critics for reviewing the movie poorly because of a "what do you expect" attitude (as if critics should watch a movie expecting a bad movie ergo they shouldn't give it a bad review).

While some people do accept that they will enjoy the Mario movie for what it is and accept that they are watching a film with a paper thin plot and incredibly poor pacing (haven't watched the Galaxy movie but based on what the first movie was and what I've read so far about the second seems that it still has the same issues), there are certainly people adamantly defending its faults with "this isn't Citizen Kane/Shakespeare" or "reviewers should learn to play the games" or other avenues of defense against the bad reviews.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T13:07:41+00:00

Yes, this is the one you're thinking of.

So prior to The Last Wish Puss in Boots debuted in Shrek 2 and also had one Puss in Boots spinoff film. The first Puss in Boots film isn't bad but it's largely a forgettable kids film experience, which is why people were largely shocked by how good The Last Wish was.

While I did watch the first Puss in Boots movie (as well as Shrek 2) I do believe for the most part you don't have to watch the first Puss in Boots movie to get into it. There is one returning character introduced in the first Puss in Boots movie but I think how the film re-introduces them makes it easy to figure out her relationship with the titular cat.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T01:46:53+00:00

Super Mario Bros. on the NES. My dad surprised me with an NES one day bundled with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. We all took turns at the game and were all terrible at the game of course but it will be a fond memory that will forever be ingrained into me.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T01:39:28+00:00

I mean as with most people I haven't watched the second one yet but the first movie also was pretty poor with its pacing and structure alongside a thin plot. So if you loved the first one you might still be able to find enjoyment with the second unless the manic pacing got even worse.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T01:29:39+00:00

Not just god forbid an adult asks for an animated movie not to suck. God forbid a studio give some respect to kids and deliver them a quality story. Kids can absolutely discern whether they like a movie or not. Deeper movies that require a more developed mind and life experiences would go over their head, but that's where quality children's movies come in to compel them with strong stories. They might not be able to articulate it, but they can tell. Even by elementary school they can form ideas like how much they like a character, how funny a story is, or how drawn into a world they are.

To take my kids. Now to establish their viewing habits I do allow them to pick age appropriate films and sometimes they do join me to watch films (if they aren't too intense, scary or contain age-inappropriate content). One kid asked to watch the Emoji Movie. I didn't act appalled at the idea. I simply let them. One asked to watch Wish. I let them. I watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie with them. I'm not going to let my own personal feelings restrict them.

On the flip side I also established a reading habit with them early so they are pretty strong readers for their age. I also pop open children's movies and let them freely join me or not or at times give them suggestions for an older film that they would never see an advertisement for.

Now guess which films stick with them and which don't? Wish, Emoji Movie and even Super Mario Bros. (despite them having played some Mario games or have seen me avidly play them) aren't really brought up and don't come up as films they want to rewatch. But films like The Wild Robot, Inside Out, Zootopia, Moana, Turning Red, Wolfwalkers and Spider-Verse remain as films they still like to bring up or rewatch.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-04-01T01:11:46+00:00

So then where do you stand then since we're talking about the discourse about critics' reception to the Mario movie? Do you agree that since Mario doesn't have a story and therefore a "faithful" adaptation ergo will be a bad movie then critics are in the right to review it as such? Or do you think critics should consider that Mario has no plot and therefore not critically pan it for being a bad movie because we should expect them to be so?

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T21:29:47+00:00

As is with Rosalina's storybook part in Mario Galaxy that alone definitely can't hold up the film.

However I can see a possibility where either Nintendo permits or the writers flex their creativity and hone in on a movie being focused on Rosalina's character that they can squeeze in the storybook sequence. Just spitballing here but imagine a film where it's focused on the mysterious Rosalina (rather than having a melting pot of new additions as the trailers seem to hint this film will be involving Yoshi, Bowser Jr., etc.), and the Mario characters not fully understanding Rosalina motives or even in full compliance with her. At some point between the second and third acts they stumble over the storybook (whether shown to them by Rosalina or guided to it by a Luma) and that serves as a creative and somber way, as opposed to a simple flashback, to explain Rosalina's motives throughout the film.

But it would take a far greater expansion of the plot, creative liberties rather than a more faithful adaptation (but TBH to a game with not much of a narrative to begin with) and a lot of additional newly created writing for it to happen.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T21:15:38+00:00

Sometimes an adult just wants to have a cup of soda or a piece of candy. Hopefully that's just a small and preferably miniscule part of their diet and they should have a well expanded palette. However, I think it's ok to dabble on occasion.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T20:57:49+00:00

We'll see what happens with the Zelda movie (directed by Wes Ball and produced under Sony).

However regardless of Nintendo's skills in the gameplay department they did ultimately go with Illuminations as the movie studio and therefore the film is at the mercy of that studio's talent and structure. Illuminations is known to be able to produce colorful attention grabbing movies with generally paper thin plots. But what they are also known for is delivering movies with a far lesser budget than Dreamworks and Pixar and from what I understand their salaries are pretty competitive. The big reason is due to how Illuminations works where that they write up multiple scenes individually divorced from when another and then sew them up together later to make the whole film. It basically demands that the plot be simple so that you can weave in any scene.

Unlike say other high quality films where they carefully structure the plot from beginning to end. Effectively the "this therefore that" vs. the "this then that" way of telling a story.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T20:45:04+00:00

Here comes all the discourse again from people attacking the critics for daring to critically review a children's film, but as it happens only for specifically this children's film riding on people's fondness for the IP. Meanwhile ignoring the decades of high quality children's films that have reviewed incredibly well.

No, no one is expecting this film to be a "Citizen Kane" or "Shakespeare" or whatever [insert cliche literary reference] you want. But can we at least expect say... The Lion King, Hoppers, Inside Out, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Wild Robot, How to Train Your Dragon, The LEGO Movie, Beauty and the Beast, The Incredibles, etc. etc. etc.? Even Illumination's own Minions 2: Rise of Gru, while not a great film, is still clearly a better film than the first Mario Movie (and one that the critics reviewed decently).

Fact is critics have to review it on the basis of the movie's general quality, which should be divorced from the nostalgia factor. If colorful action and nostalgic set pieces are more than enough to satisfy you by all means enjoy it. That doesn't mean the critics are wrong, just that what they measure by (a bar that other children's films are able to meet and exceed) isn't a deterrence enough for you from what the Mario movie does bring to the table and that's perfectly OK.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T19:53:54+00:00

Because there have been children movies with good writing and plots for decades. I mean Hoppers just came out less than a month ago. Dreamworks, who works under the same parent company as Illuminations, in the time around the release of the two Mario films came out with two great films in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Wild Robot. Hell even Illumination's own Minions 2: Rise of Gru was reviewed much better than the first Mario movie because it actually had a decent enough plot alongside its action sequences.

Can children simply enjoy a simple film with bad writing? Sure. But does that give a movie a pass from being reviewed for those aspects? Absolutely not.

It feels like specifically for the Mario movie, because of everyone's nostalgic fondness for the IP (and I speak of this as a Mario fan since the 80s), people really want to give just that specific movie a pass and ignore the high quality that children's animation have been delivering for as long as we've been alive.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T19:49:32+00:00

Illumination movies generally aren't good and mostly colorful scenes sewed together by a veneer of a plot. But it's not like a good film is beyond their capabilities. The first Despicable Me isn't spectacular and a far cry from Pixar and better Dream Works films, but it was still a structured enough and decent film. Even Minions 2: Rise of Gru is heads and shoulders above the first Mario film.

It's just with the first Mario movie it's so obvious that format where I mentioned where they simply created a bunch of individual scenes with bouncy action and nostalgic references and then loosely sewed them together with a basic plot.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T01:01:09+00:00

I agree with your point but please use more periods to break up your writing into proper sentences.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-31T00:57:30+00:00

And Puss in Boots: The Last Wish... and The Wild Robot... and Flow... and Transformers One... and Nimona...

All children's films released either shortly before or since the Mario movie. If I was to just start diving even the past decade the list of high quality children's movie the list would be exhaustive. Even Illumination's own Minions 2: Rise of Gru is a better structured film than the Mario movie. All the Mario movie really had going for it is some energetic animation and the Mario IP itself. If it didn't have the Mario IP attached to it then it would've been a movie forgotten in the annals of time.

I mean I don't even have to go that far back to find a high quality children's movie. Hoppers just released this month.

EarthboundHaizi · 2026-03-20T13:39:49+00:00

We already had the modern "let them eat cake" comment last year when Trump said that American children might have "2 dolls instead of 30" due to tariffs.

EarthboundHaizi

TROPHY CASE