(WIP) Magical boy Hyatt: Charming Songbird - reference + lore(OC)

Excited to finally share with y'all something I've been working on for the past few months - Hyatt's new magical boy form!

This is still a WIP as I have yet to draw the back side of his outfit and a few more elements like his staff - but I wanted to share the completed front of the new look, which I finally got to reveal in-game to my TTRPG party last session with a surprise transformation. I'll update with more steps once I finish and post the completed sheet!

This design doubles as Hyatt's magical boy form in Oblivious Dream, the on-going magical girl TTRPG he was originally created for, and whichever other timelines I make up where he's a magical boy - along with magical catboy Zephyr.

His motif is morning bird / songbird, representing his wish to bring hope and enchantment to those around him and his love for singing and performing! And also matches Zephyr's cat motif and the "birdie" ("canarinho", or "little canary" in PT-BR) nickname he got from him.

Let's not forget his special ability which is Charmspeak - i.e., he can bend people's will through suggestion. Pretty much all of his spells are also cast through verbal command or singing - and they're mostly utilitary/supporting, him being the party's healer.

I'm quite satisfied with how it's turning out! The change might be subtle, but I also shaped Hyatt's features to look less juvenile than how I originally designed him (the changes are more noticeable in this portrait WIP) so he looks more like a petite pre-transition young man.

And you bet that just like I did to catboy Zephyr, I'm looking forward to lewding songbird Hyatt at any given opportunity. <3

Now I'll go lenghty with lore reasons behind this design for the interested!
(The text below will have light mentions of transphobia and dysphoria!)

So Hyatt's first magical form was an exaggeratedly tall, muscular, hypermasculine version of himself - which he cheesily called "Angelic Adonis". This magical form represented an ideal self that he believed was only possible through impossible means - literal magic.

He gained magical powers at a time when he had just came out as trans and faced unacceptance and reprehension from his only family, whom he was still dependent on - so transitioning seemed unrealistic at the time. As Adonis, he was brave, powerful and confident; he repurposed his worth in being a magical boy and lived his fantasy of being a princely, greek god-like hero.

However through many trials, challenges and exceedingly traumatic events that the mahou shoujo life encompasses - Hyatt eventually came to realize he didn't need to be Adonis to be himself. He did not want to keep living a double life and delegating his hardest decisions and flagrant actions to another identity. And he definitely did not have be a completely different person through magic to be seen and respected as a man - not now that he could realistically consider transitioning and living fully out, having come into good terms with his family and encouraged by his friends.

This journey of over a year off-game resulted in Hyatt's magical form changing and adequating to his self-esteem; he's now exactly the same as his regular self, save for the ornaments.

I like to think he also felt more comfortable to embrace his gender non-conformity; Hyatt always had the underlying feeling he wasn't supposed to present himself as delicate or feminine if he wanted to be seen as a man - that's why he only had long hair as Adonis, who was unmistakingly masculine. But the truth is he loves frills, ornaments, victorian fashion, getting dressed up and doing hair/skin care. He loves it now, and he will surely still love it post transition. So he might as well allow himself to enjoy it.

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Whew! That was a lot of words. As you might tell, Hyatt's story and development is extremely personal and important to me. I'm thankful to my TTRPG squad for being part of this ride, and to patrons and followers who received Hyatt so warmly - specially in regards to representing a pre-transition trans body in NSFW scenarios, which I was very nervous to at first. Now I feel more encouraged to keep drawing not only him, but different characters too!

The summarized lore above describes his development in the Oblivious Dream universe- how it happens in my own canon differs, but reaches similar conclusions. I hope to share more of Hyatt's (and Zephyr's, and other characters) canon story gradually eventually! For now, thank you for appreciating my birdie. <3