Just thought I'd add something that I was thinking about when I did my edit, and what I've noticed with other edits in this thread. This may or may not sound like a complete load of rubbish, but here goes
I read this article once about how Valve approached the readability of their characters in Team Fortress 2. They used contrast and brightness to push the viewers eye up to the chest and head of the characters. It's something that I've always kind of thought about with characters after reading it. Approaching them like mini compositions.
I've got 3 versions here, with kind of little swatches that (in my interperatation) summarise the value and contrast of particular sections of the sprites, and arrows indicating how these colours lead my eye around the subject.
I think CrazyMLC has done some very nice things with the legs in his 2 edits, particularly around the knees and thighs.
Basically, see how the shoes and shins are dim, and it moves up getting brighter and higher contrast until you hit the point you want the eye to settle at, then start getting dimmer again. Your version is the only one that does any good job of getting the eye to settle on the face, but the eye goes crazy across the rest of the sprite (my eyes do, anyway).
Regarding the issue of lack characterisation, I think its also his pose. Standing around with your hands in your pockets is just about as passive and ambient as you can get with a character. He seems to be communicating "hey, don't mind me, I'm just standing here," which doesn't really seem appropriate for a memorable character, let alone a main character.
