I (MtF) had drawn up my first bunny sona as a boy when I was still identifying as male and it was years until I realized I was trans yet. He was a femme-looking pink bunny, so it’s not like he was the most manly of figures, but still. I wasn’t really aware of what that meant in terms of what it was revealing about my inner self. I had created my first other sonas around like…age 14? 15? Most of them were women, and I just thought nothing of it because artists draw women all the time. So, no, my first sona did not start as my preferred gender now.

As time passed and I got older however, I started to become a little more comfortable with expressing and conforming to the feelings and visuals of my gender identity. Eventually, once I started transitioning, I created a female counterpart to my old boy that I use as my primary sona today, and likely will for a long time.

As characters, I consider them (the male and female halves of one central design) to be two separate people, yet they are two sides of the same coin. Despite being a woman today, I don’t want to reject or get rid of that old male version of my character since he was an important stepping stone to the comfort I feel within my identity now. I also am still fond of what I created back then in terms of his design and it’d be a shame to ditch him, I think.