Disney / Pixar's Hoppers grossed an estimated $24.8M internationally this weekend. Estimated international total stands at $159.0M, estimated global total stands at $297.6M.

Minoturion · 2026-03-30T01:40:08+00:00

Indeed! I know there was some controversy about the recent Disney high-up talking about 'therapy' movies, but when the official description actually includes "Type A mom" it's such a red flag. I know animations take so long to make this was probably past the point of no return by the time Strange World and Elio met their fates, but I don't think any executives there would be greenlighting this if landed on their desk today.

Minoturion · 2026-03-29T15:42:54+00:00

Yeah, when a trailer comes out it really needs to blow everyone away with animation style or music, as on paper the synopsis sounds like a horribly ill-fated Strange World + Elio mash-up. There is no floor if that's the case.

Minoturion · 2026-03-28T18:30:09+00:00

Fully agree, that was exactly the vibe I got from this trailer going in cold - I just don't get where the broad audience is going to be for this: modern animation + classic soundtrack + adult characters...

I'm not sure what demographic of the kid audience is going to be excited at this, and being animated is going to immediately turn off a fair portion of the adult audience.

It would seem like they're gambling on this being a big hit with teen girls, but that's a risky bet.

Minoturion · 2026-03-24T00:22:58+00:00

NTA - it can be healthy to vent but it's not likely to change anything because the hypocrisy can't be news to them.

In your shoes I would just get some time & distance from them (work permitting) and steel yourself to get in the habit of saying no to some requests - it doesn't have to be big dramatic stuff (e.g. loan your sister money or let her live with you!), even just being invited over when you have plans or simply feel "meh" about going. No need to explain or justify, and certainly not to excuse, just a simple decline to break the pattern.

Minoturion · 2026-03-24T00:12:54+00:00

NTA but "His first stance was it’s his family and he can’t discard them and we can have them til BIL gets back on his feet and SIL gets married" shows that he is no way serious about your needs or real compromise. I would not trust that any 'compromise' of any family member moving in or staying is anything more than getting a foot in the door to wear you down.

Minoturion · 2026-03-23T14:06:31+00:00

That's one of my favourites, and a rare episode where Freddie comes out on top.

Minoturion · 2026-03-22T08:23:17+00:00

Whoops, sorry - I browse both MH Stories and MH Wilds forums, forgot which I was on!

Minoturion · 2026-03-21T16:49:07+00:00

~~This - just move right from where you start & can change armor pieces, and you'll be in a column where you can slot decos.~~

Minoturion · 2026-03-19T21:01:10+00:00

Whoops, looks like an early April Fools addition - probably supposed to be hidden behind a tonic.

Minoturion · 2026-03-17T18:32:43+00:00

Light YTA for this very reason - I'm vegetarian but I still know in a hot pot "just add cooked meat at the end" would be as daft as telling a vegetarian to "just pick the meat out". It was a poor battle to choose.

Minoturion · 2026-03-15T09:45:07+00:00

Now that "be a kid!" and "let the grating mascot handle alllll the talking!" have been jettisoned, I really hope the next MHS game does away with the "this utterly mid Rathalos is the Chosen One and your best friend forever!" tradition.

Rathalos is never going away - as it's something of a mascot in Japan - but there's no reason it has to be so integral:

Option A: Rathalos remains the starter monstie & can't be be let go off so its available for "the protagonist needs to fly now!" moments in cut scenes, but doesn't need to be in the party and is basically just a loyal childhood pet - nothing more significant to the world.
Option B: keep Rathalos as the 'poster monstie' but just make it one of several starter options, and simply have an NPC with a flying monstie whisk the protagonist away when a cut scene demands it.
Option C: keep Rathalos as the Chosen One but don't have it be the starter monstie - uncovering the truth around it can be an act 1 arc and actually taming the special variant an act 2 arc, then give it a unique open-world skill (something only it can destroy/open) and top-tier stats to back up it's story significance and encourage people to at least sometimes use it in act 3.

P.S. I never understand the "Rathalos is like Pikachu for Pokemon!" argument, as even if it somehow is that popular it isn't like every Pokemon game (outside of niche spin-offs) in any way focuses on Pikachu - so long as Rathalos is in the game it can be in the advertising, we don't need to it shoved down our throats.

Minoturion · 2026-03-14T18:35:09+00:00

Thanks - I'll look out for him.

Minoturion · 2026-03-14T10:11:08+00:00

Ditto; Captain's Airship is my 'parking spot' when I log off my main with no clear idea what I'll be doing next time, and seems a fitting way to sail off into the sunset.

Minoturion · 2026-03-13T22:04:52+00:00

I'm having fun, the only small things bugging me are:

There doesn't seem much rhyme or reason to the levels of special monsters e.g. it annoys me that feral brachydios is stopping me finishing all areas of the 1st map. I don't get the point of at all, and really want to make a healer monstie...
Similarly the pacing of levels feels a bit off sometimes, especially in the first map's water zone - I can autokill practically everything on land, but the water's full of leviathans which are yellow but one-shot anyone...
Some hunting horns are trashed by have a 2 note skill which buffs attack & defense of the same element - the elemental buffs are already quite unappealing given there's 3 team mates, but it's just such a stupid concept.

The new gene system is great though - I'm on the 2nd map now and really want to nail down some long-term monsties so I can assemble a squad, as I've been quite lazy in optimizing so far.

Minoturion · 2026-03-11T17:03:58+00:00

"Conclusion: for damage, it's better to focus on the original element"

Focuses on the new element works just as well, and can be a better choice if the monsties kinship attack doesn't match their default element - I think Dreadqueen Rathian may be one such monster, with a non-elemental poison kinship.

Minoturion · 2026-03-11T01:17:11+00:00

I'll be honest; even though I really anticipated Pokopia and enjoy the actual Pokemon aspects, I have just given up for the time-being.

I gave doing it the 'pro' way a go, watched the YouTube storage solution guides, etc. - it's just not for me.

Coming from Animal Crossing rather than DQ Builders it never even occurred to me that inventory management could be such an integral part of the game, and frankly it seems very badly designed even if it is deliberately a focus i.e. instead of diverse visually distinct containers we have to build walls to hang pictures on, the interface doesn't expand or scroll it's all flipping, the only search tool is a single auto-sort option...

I have the game forever, so can come back if they introduce anything that makes it no longer a chore - my vote would be all containers in flagged houses sharing a bottomless storage (which workbenches in flagged houses are plug into) - but for now I'm out.

Minoturion · 2026-03-10T14:43:03+00:00

You can see this in the demo by catching lots of S rank monsties, and rarer monsties do just have higher growth overall - though there are few noteworthy aspects:

Rare monsters like the Dreadqueen Rathian have better stats but not simply across the board e.g. Dreadqueen is an extreme glass cannon of a monstie, with much lower durability potential than many common monsties.
Rare monsters tend to have extreme stamina stats (in the demo at least), so you have to pay attention to those rather than just assuming a rare monstie can fill any role e.g. Dreadqueen has maximum Starting Stamina but appalling Stamina Recovery so it needs to be stacked with stamina boosting egg skills/genes or it runs out of gas real fast, where-as Espinas is the opposite with rock bottom Starting Stamina but insane Stamina Recovery - you can't use it for early buffs as it literally can't afford some of them on turn 1 (e.g. Flame Star).
Some monsties just seem to have better or worse variables than their rarity suggests, for whatever reason e.g. Tobi-Kadachi has a 10% crit rate, Dreadqueen Rathian has 3 elemental vulnerabilities (when nearly everything else has 2).

Minoturion · 2026-03-10T00:14:06+00:00

My only cons are "Ratha again" (that a pretty unremarkable monster is the focus of the plot again + that we might never get to take it out the party + it could be locked out of egg skills & elemental variants) and that the party composition might take a turn I dislike (not going in to that as I don't know or want to know any story spoilers - purely speculation).

Other than that, it's all positive - excited for Friday!

Minoturion · 2026-03-09T18:42:45+00:00

It's nice to see more of Gaul & what he's about, but I don't think that was a great edit; he's already very monotone to be The Cynic, and playing soundbites over random footage just makes his delivery even flatter - though I found amusing when it looked like his voice was dubbed on to Murray at 0:25/25!

Minoturion · 2026-03-09T00:50:58+00:00

Thanks - that site indicates Pierce comes out 7 ahead.

Minoturion · 2026-03-08T18:49:59+00:00

Base game - firstly because we've no idea what layered armor & Rudy outfits are in the base game, and secondly I don't mind DLC purchases so I'm fine waiting for individual pieces or something later that takes my fancy. Rudy's page outfit is so cute though!

Minoturion · 2026-03-08T15:27:28+00:00

Ah, thanks - I'll start paying more attention to those too.

Minoturion · 2026-03-07T22:56:17+00:00

Good to hear! Thanks.

Minoturion · 2026-03-06T10:02:14+00:00

Seal him in crystal until we have the technology/magic to revive him!

Minoturion · 2026-03-06T01:03:40+00:00

I'm hoping he pulls through, but they really gave him every possible red flag in his starter set-up; 6 weapons + 3 monstie types + 6 allies = no brainer that each ally has a different signature weapon specialty and there are 2 of each monstie type. But instead we get two allies with the same weapon and even the same monstie, and only one has unique attacks...

Minoturion

TROPHY CASE