Fun fact. Player character originally looked like this. (uniform supposed to look a bit like old Star Trek uniforms)
My 4-year-old daughter was watching and said, "Give her a pinny-tail!" (her word). Then, "Give her a smaller mouth!" And, "Make her hair black!". At that point, it was basically my final sprite, and I realized she was having me make it look like her.
(The proportions and walk animation are inspired by small Mario from SMW.)