Kelvin Shadewing's Pixels

[Kelvin]

Well, most of his animations are based on Megaman; I just don't want his basic design to look like Megaman. Anywho, bit of a problem here with this guy:



So, yesterday, I came up with a game design, and had a flood of ideas for this game that I call Peck 'n' Chomp. It's kind of like Banjo Kazooie or Yooka Laylee where it's about two animal buddies that cooperate, but the difference being in this that Peck the Oxpecker and Chomp the Alligator could separate from each other to do things the other couldn't do, but at the same time, Chomp would get a slight mobility boost while Peck was riding him.

The problem I'm facing, however, is I can't really seem to give this guy much of a visual identity. Apart from being a cute, pudgy gator with big goofy eyes and deceptively friendly smile... I just don't feel that there's much character in his appearance.

He's a pretty good swimmer, takes out most enemies in a single gulp, is very strong, and not the brightest guy, so your typical brawn character. I just feel that his appearance isn't very identifiable. I tried a few alternate color palettes, but still, I need some advice. Any ideas you guys might have?

Funny thing to note about Peck is I've already imagined him looking nothing like a real oxpecker, and more a different type of bird entirely.

Anywho, gimme some feedback, because I already like this character a lot, and I wanna make him good, because I also wanna see this game idea through.