i don’t like it when people characterize hal as just being a younger version of dirk who’s forever trapped at the point when he cloned himself to be AI. he’s not stuck in a perpetual void where growing isn’t possible for him b/c he’s not human anymore, as he does mature and change (while still making it his mission to be an immature jackass of course, don’t get me wrong) due to their varying circumstances, over time he becomes someone different than what dirk does starting at the point where they split @ 13; he becomes someone who isn’t dirk anymore. after the point of AR accepting himself as being hal, watering him down to being another version of dirk that hasn’t grown since becoming AI kinda destroys the entire point of him becoming and being hal. it completely ignores the progress he’s made as his own person. as hard as it is for him, hal is able to live with himself as someone new and attempts to seek out a way to live that life nearing the end of his arc (i.e. dirk and hal’s emotional rollercoaster of a final pesterlog). i understand the comic drives home the fact that they are the “same dude” in different forms, but that’s from dirk and hal’s perspective and they are both a little silly and need therapy. to summarize, he’s not stuck being 13 y/o dirk forever, b/c he’s hal