even then i don’t think he’s just a proto-shinichi, although he does get a lot closer to it. hakuba plans ahead more than shinichi does, seems to be more aggressive, and is way more obsessed with detail. shinichi can plan ahead (albeit in convoluted ways that tend to not work out quite how he planned) but he’s better at reacting and improvising in the moment than he is at being prepared for shit.
Oh I meant more like he really is, literally, Gosho’s prototype for Shinichi.
Yes, they are very different, agreed with you there. But Shinichi is technically the newer model version of Hakuba in terms of role, if that makes sense.