#HSS

[highlysuspiciousstew]

[raziiyah]

hey! this is actually something i've thought about quite a lot before so here's how i see it:

since monsters are so diverse in the monster world, there are a vast amount of factors that are considered beautiful. some monsters may like 1 eye, some like 3 eyes and some like 8. some like feathers, scales, or fur. it just comes down to preference. but for monsters, generally, scary = beautiful

firstly, for the teeth thing, i imagined that just like human beauty standards, monster beauty standards can change. perhaps yellow teeth used to be the standard, but then it was discovered that whiter teeth made them more visible and gave them a scarier appearance. also, maybe they discovered that poor dental health caused monsters to lose their teeth sooner, which is a problem if you rely on them for scaring. proper dental care allowed you to stay healthy and kept your teeth in good condition, keeping you in the scaring career for longer. like when sulley is brushing his teeth in mi, mike really emphasizes getting rid of plaque

this change could also be why randall's teeth in mi are visibly whiter than they were in mu

as for female monsters, i see it sorta like how jessica rabbit from who framed roger rabbit is in toon town. she's regarded as very beautiful, but not as desireable or successful (to other toons) as roger rabbit, someone more cartoony and goofy looking

so though the more humanoid looking monsters could be considered beautiful, since being a scarer is known as the biggest achievement a monster could have, if you're scary, you're considered beautiful on a whole other level.

another idea i had is that scaring could be considered as a male dominated career, so the scary/beauty standards for female monsters aren't as scrutinized as much as male monsters. this could be why there are more female monsters that aren't necessarily as "scary looking"

this could also play a role into why the pnk's are so cutthroat- with a more conventionally beautiful appearance, they might not be considered the most successful in monster society. sure they could be models and movie stars

(though i can still see """scary/conventionally unattractive""" monsters being just as viable as models and moviestars in the monster world, maybe even more so),

but since scarers are the creme de la creme, "prettier" monsters could sometimes be seen as beautiful but maybe not typically the image of someone "successful" or "desireable" (my oc lia is a scarer and has a body type similar to the pnks so i made this an insecurity of hers hehe)

but monsters can combat this by showing their scariness through their glowing eyes, teeth, claws, etc. this could be valuable as well as there's a scary/surprising factor to appearing "innocent" at first, which could be advantageous in scaring, if you know how to use it (like the pnk's in the toxicity challenge or terri and terry in the scare simulator)

also considering the movie poster seen in maw; it's about monsters in space, likely referring to aliens. humans could be considered aliens/alien-looking to monsters because they come from another world, and heather has a more humanoid appearance

on the other hand, hss is more favored as "one of the most powerful, scary monsters in campus, and they have a more traditionally "scary" appearance. and in monsters at work, of the female monsters in the mu sororities, rosie levin was the one who made it to the same scare/(laugh) floor that sulley/(mike) are/(were) on, at monsters inc.

so really i think beauty is subjective in the monster world since everyone is so different. conventionally beautiful monsters are still beautiful, maybe even some monster's preference, but scary monsters are generally favored most, because of how much monster society is centered around scaring. after all, "scariness is the true measure of a monster."

@moonlight-monster @randall-simp-nadt88

[hss-appreciation-events]

HSS Appreciation Week 2025: Intro, Prompts, and Guidelines

Welcome!

Welcome to HSS Appreciation Week, the event for appreciating all things High School Story, be it the original HSS Prime mobile game, the original HSS Choices trilogy, and/or the High School Story: Class Act spinoff!

This event takes place from January 10, 2025 to January 18, 2025

Hosts: @cadybear420 and @lover-also-fighter-also

Also tagging: @choicescommunityevents

Prompts

These prompts will likely be year-round, but if you have any other ideas or suggestions for possible prompts, feel free to drop them and we might use them in the future!

Jan 10: Meet Our MCs (and OCs)

Jan 11: Fresh Starts and Growth

Jan 12: Favorite Characters

Jan 13: Friendship, Family, and Berry High Unity

Jan 14: Favorite Ships/Pairings

Jan 15: Pride, Welcoming, Acceptance

Jan 16: Antagonists

Jan 17: Favorite Scenes/Moments

Jan 18: Wildcard/Free Day

See Prompt details and Guidelines below!

Prompt Details

Day 1 (January 10): Meet our MCs (and OCs)

HSS has given us three memorable MCs over the years! The monumental HSS Prime MC, the wildcard OG HSS Choices MC, and the adorkable HSS:CA MC. This day is for any works centric around any HSS MCs you have. Feel free to even introduce us to your HSS MCs with a profile or profiles!

If you also have any OCs or fancharacters that aren’t meant to be versions of the MC characters, including any students you enroll in Prime, feel free to post about those too!

Day 2 (January 11): Fresh Starts and Growth

“That’s the great thing about a fresh start. You can be anybody you want to be”, said by Principal Hughs in OG HSS Book 1 Chapter 1.

As such, many of the characters we know get to have a fresh start at Berry High, and grow into better, stronger people from it. What might the fresh start mean for any particular character(s)? Do they go through any personal growth? This is the prompt to explore that!

Day 3 (January 12): Favorite Characters

The HSS iterations have given us a multitude of vibrant and compelling characters. From the shy wallflowers to the ever-confident cheerleaders, from the supportive jocks to the clever nerds, from the party-loving preps to the creative musicians, from the logistical gamers to the expressive theatre club. The uniqueness is captured in the faculty of Berry High, as well as even the rival Hearst kids. Let us hear about your favorites from these characters and why they are compelling to you!

Day 4 (January 13): Friendship, Family, and Berry High Unity

A core theme of HSS has always been how students of different cliques/social groups can come together. Since the foundation of Berry High, a lot of strong friendships have been formed among its students, including our main characters as well as outside their friend group.

From there, the students are able to get stuff done like a team and and uplift each other like a family. And along with that, we get to see a lot of familial relationships outside of school as well. This day is to highlight and celebrate all these relationships which were compelling to you, as well as any you want to see more of!

Day 5 (January 14): Favorite Ships/Pairings

HSS gives our characters all kinds of opportunites for relationships. Tell us about your favorite pairs and ships in HSS! Pairs between a MC and another character, pairs between two canon characters, pairs between OCs, pairs between canon and OC or a MC and an OC, maybe even pairs between two MCs. Whether they can be paired in game or not, whether they're monogamous, polyamourous, strictly romantic, queerplatonic, long-lasting, short fling... no matter what, show us those ships!

Day 6 (January 15): Pride, Welcoming, Acceptance

“This school began as a bunch of empty plots of land and a promise to be open to everyone. A promise that ensured no matter who you were or what you liked, you'd always be included and together we can accomplish anything”, said by the HSS Prime MC in HSS Prime Friendsgiving and as shown on the statue of Ollie the Tiger.

From the very beginning of HSS Prime, Berry High was built with this promise. This is the prompt to celebrate and explore that! This can include cultural/ethnic celebration, queer/gender pride, disability and neurodivergence pride, etc. How is this welcoming and acceptance meaningful to any particular character(s)? How does it influence their identity?

Day 7 (January 16): Antagonists

Nothing comes without difficulties. Berry High has always had its fair share of challenges from the beginning. From keeping the school open, fending off bullies, sabotages from rival schools, and corrupt principals, and more. Show us who is your favourite antagonist and spill their beans!

Day 8 (January 17): Favorite Scenes/Moments

From the beginning of the Prime game in 2013 to the end of Class Act in 2020, HSS has given us nearly 7 years of stories What are those moments in any of the games that really stuck with you? Made you laugh, made you cry, had you on the edge of your seat, or were just overall really powerful or memorable? Tell us about them here!

Day 9 (January 18): Free Day/Wildcard Prompt

This one goes without saying. Are there any HSS themes we didn’t cover? Anything more you love about HSS? This is the day for that! Go wild! Be creative!

General Guidelines for Submission:

TO SUBMIT: A) mention this blog (or at least one of the hosts) and B) specify which prompt or prompts you’re submitting for.

Submissions should lean into being HSS-appreciative/positive.

The tags #HSSAppreciationWeek, #HSSAW, #HSSAW2025, are highly recommended, but not necessary.

If your post is very long in length (eg. if it’s a long fic, has images that take up a lot of length), we highly recommend putting a “Read More” button in your post.

Any submissions that lean into NSFW or suggestive territory, and/or feature sensitive topics should be tagged accordingly.

You don’t have to create for each prompt or each day. Create for as many prompts and days as you like.

You don’t have to create for a prompt on its respective assigned day. Eg. You can create for a Day 1 prompt on Day 4.

You don’t have to create only one piece per prompt. If you have multiple pieces you want to create for a certain prompt, then by all means, go for it.

You don’t have to use only a specific day’s prompts together Eg. You can have a piece that uses a Day 1 prompt and a Day 4 prompt together.

We will still accept submissions even after the event dates have passed. You will have until the HSS Appreciation Week 2026 announcement to submit posts/creations for the current prompts!

What IS welcome:

Any medium of human creation. Art, fanfic, poetry, edits, animation, picrews/meikers* moodboards/stimboards/gifboards, icons, memes/shitposts, gifs, AMVs, playlists, headcanons, character recreation in another game (eg. The Sims), etc!

Meta posts. Eg. screenshots of favorite scenes/moments from the games themselves, essay/analytical writing, even just simply gushing/rambling over any of the games nonstop!

Pieces or posts that you made prior to this event and/or initially not for this event, but you've decided you want to submit them!

WIP/unfinished pieces.

Submissions can be works that you have made yourself, or works that you have commissioned from someone else.

*If you’re submitting a picrew or meiker piece or anything similar, please link to the template in your post!

What is NOT welcome:

Bigotry of any kind. Posts of a nature that is sexist, racist, queerphobic, ableist, xenophobic, etc. are obviously not allowed.

AI-generated material of any kind. This includes images or writing made by genAI, ChatGPT/character.AI screenshots, etc. Feel free to let us know if we accidentally promote AI generated material. We support human creators here!

Just don’t be a dick, tbh.

Previous Years’ Masterlists

[Will be linked here]

[cadybear420]

HSS x BOLAS: Orc!Evie! edits by me

I've been keeping this in my brain for far too long lol.

I don't yet have my own Blades MC figured out yet, but I do have orc!Evie! Pretend this is my Blades MC for now if you wish lol. I think her favorite LI would be Mal and she would be huge besties with Imtura. Of course, in my hypothetical HSS x Blades AU Evie would not be the only HSS character lol.

I'm also considering making versions with one of the actual orc!MC bodytypes, I just wanted to try and transform the one I already use for Evie :3

Tags for those who might be interested:

@choicesmc | @lover-also-fighter-also | @loreofyore

@rjschoicesstuff | @aria-ashryver | @somerandomjewelleryonthefloor

@biglenny93

Also tagging: @choicesbookclub

Bonus: Underwear/base sprites below the cut. Warning for top nudity

Given both male and female orcs can get pregnant it's probably fair to assume that Evie has a penis here. That makes her happi. Now to just make Aiden an orc as well

[sapphoschoices]

How it feels every time I play High School Story...

[triciabeloved]

checkmate!

[moonamite]

It’s done YIPPEE

Close ups under the cut

[playchoicesconfessions]

Sent by anonymous

‘The only time PB handled a larger cast of characters and treating them equally regardless of whether they are an LI or not was in OG:HSS, It Lives in the woods, and endless summer.’

POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!

[somerandomjewelleryonthefloor]

Also how are they gonna do this yet make us the main character for the musical. Babe.

I'm rewriting HSS:CA to attune to what would be more right because BRUV this book is really itching me.

This spinoff is like a tag at the back of your shirt that's itchy in the sides but smooth on the front.

It isn't the worst thing, but it rubs it's sides on your skin sometimes and itches and it hurts yet it only does it every so often and not constantly, so you can deal with it but MAN is it hard to not rip it off in public and look crazy.

[storiesandfolklore]

Mini Rant here...

I don't think Pixelberry realises what a Gold Mine its sitting on

The potential for Choices stories that are adapted into other games/media like movies or TV shows is endless. Fantasy stories like Blades would do really well. Crime of Passions would probably be a hit if given to the right person to direct since it's got literally everything - cults, murders, an exiled Prince. Haven't played HSS story yet, but the way the fandom is so enamoured with it makes me think that the younger Netflix-orientated post gen-Z (or even Gen-Z, which I am) would love it. Don't even get me started on 'The Royal Romance.' The first three books alone would probably fuel the main cast into super-stardom. Endless Summer would probably go down in history, though a few things might need to be changed so they don't get sued by the people who made Lost.

Alastair's dad is literally evil Tony Stark for crying out loud!

(I mean....look at him!🤯✴️)

Side note: And just in case anyone cares... would love to write a script for/direct/act in/produce any Blades Live Action material. Love that series with all my heart. I'm really into film, so I would love to bring that to life.

[ryp3004]

Mia is absolutely one of my favorite characters. She's so interesting. She's a cheerleader, she's a lesbian, she was named after her older brother, she never thinks she's enough, she has Daddy Issues™, and she's rich!

-

Mia would dress wealthy. Not Gucci and Supreme everywhere wealthy, REAL wealthy. Like she belongs on a yacht drinking champagne

[highlysuspiciousstew]

If I can't have you, no one can then I'm backflipping off the Empire State Building.

[they-callme-ami]

The HSS Mitchell Brothers spending time together.

Sure, Caleb may not be good at music, but I like to think he's a little artsy in his own way and doodles while Ezra practices new music.

Bonus below the cut

Caleb's doodles of his lovely girlfriend, Rose.

[cadybear420]

Aiden in OG HSS f!MC's Pool Party Outfit! drawing by me

This is actually an older drawing I did before I joined Tumblr. But I liked it a lot ofc, so I made it into a completed piece. Obviously it's based off of the below edit, one of my oldest and most favorite edits :3

Background is obviously from the Choices assets.

My art tag: @lover-also-fighter-also / @lilyoffandoms / @choicesficwriterscreations

Other tags: @hss-appreciation-events

WIP/Process Pieces below!

Left: Initial pencil drawing on paper. Right: Cropped drawing with colors, lighting adjustments, and position adjustments for a few details done in Photoshop/Photopea.

Bottom: Flat color version because I liked how it looked

[hsslilly-blog]

my manic pixelberry dream girls.

ive never properly introduced them. so here i am three years later: ms. claire swanson from hollywood u (movie star, she/her, 24) and mx. blair stewart from high school story (nerd, they/she, 16). they’ve been my mcs since the dawn of time. whatever you liked at age thirteen stays with you forever etc etc

[highschoolstoryliveson]

So...Wes definitely smokes, right? Like we can all agree on that? He knows its bad for him but also doesn't care kind of vibes. Bad boy with a heart of gold starter pack.