Honestly, that is a DAMN well animated 16x16 character. It's sprite clarity is not at all lessened by the fluidity of its animation, but actually heightened by it! Just looking at him gets me hyped!
As for the "Generic-ness" of it, I don't think there is anything you can do aside from color curving it. Maybe make the hair highlights baby blue with the shaded parts of it being pink hair. Going from average brown to a bubblegum/cotton candy hair coloring would be one idea to separate this specific lil guy from the pack. Bubblegum could be a cool nickname for him.