I contemplated it a bit and I've come up with the problem with the male: It looks like his arms and legs are completely stretched. They're not bending at all. Maybe if you add that it would come out a lot better. It's still more than what I would first do and I learnt from it!
About the monster looping you could copy and paste the middle frames! It's how I do it in this type of animation. By the way, the missing part of the head looks like it's really a mouth, as if it was some reptilish-agonizing-head. I see what you were doing only when I look up close.
Lastly, about the clothing: no idea, sorry.