@CaptainD: Interesting, thanks for the input! Yes I was going for fearless distrust. 
@Frikker: Also interesting. It is supposed to be a kid -- 'youth' -- to be exact, around 15. Hopefully the voice acting will sell his gender better, although that's not really the most important thing given he is a robot.
@Selmiak: Yeah, that was one reservation I had about the second version. More cyberpunky pizazz, more robotic detailing, but also less relatable, possibly. And he is a fairly central sympathetic character, so if he is too alien, too "Terminator 1", cold-blooded Terminator, that could be an issue.
Thanks all for the feedback, this helps a lot with my chronic decision paralysis!

@Frikker: Also interesting. It is supposed to be a kid -- 'youth' -- to be exact, around 15. Hopefully the voice acting will sell his gender better, although that's not really the most important thing given he is a robot.
@Selmiak: Yeah, that was one reservation I had about the second version. More cyberpunky pizazz, more robotic detailing, but also less relatable, possibly. And he is a fairly central sympathetic character, so if he is too alien, too "Terminator 1", cold-blooded Terminator, that could be an issue.
Thanks all for the feedback, this helps a lot with my chronic decision paralysis!