I love how DE really push hard on the narrative that the Operator is still entirely a child and the Drifter is more mature and adult and the entire fandom basically just said "yeah no" because we read the Halo novels and know what a super soldier with the physical maturity of an 8 year old thinks like let alone a teenage one who is actually mentally hundreds or thousands of years old.
Like I understand 100% that DE can't treat operator exactly like the Drifter both for all sorts of reasons. Ratings, content warnings, general backlash/uproar, and usually I'd agree. I hate the "immortal who looks like a child" trope... when it is used to sexualize the physicality of children. But this is not that!! I just want Operator to be allowed to act like the grizzled, cold as ice war veteran and/or the EXTREMELY disciplined and scholarly monks that they are!! I want to see Operator struggle with their physicality. See it as a weakness, or a reminder of their traumas, or even as a barrier to forming friendships or relationships with their peers. You know, like literally every single fan work I've ever seen has them do. Because it makes sense. And fits the character and the narrative.