I think you should stop listening to this "authority" of yours, you're either misinterpreting what they're saying or the person is giving you advice on techniques which aren't applicable to what you're working on. Drawing isn't like grinding in an RPG, just because you read a tutorial a few years ago doesn't mean you've actually mastered it. Look at any fighting game not using pre-rendered sprites and you'll find the "wood-like" form you're criticizing is exactly how the professionals draw everything. That is, unless it's a blob monster where squash and stretch animation is appropriate.

When I look at your sprite I see a dislocated jaw, breast implants, a broken forearm, stretch pants, a rubber belt, and finally a bouncing toupe. This is focusing on the animation alone, not the poor color palette or anatomy problems. Your Disney approach to pixel art may work in some cases, but you must realize there's a reason cartoons don't all look like Steamboat Willie anymore.

You have to admit there is a line between making a well built human animated, and over animating the same human to a point where his normal features and limbs are changed so much they are anatomicly impossible; unless as SuperAntX wisely said, his jaw is completely dislocated(Because how you show it move is humanly impossible, unless he's getting hit by some invisble force with 200 pounds of pressure). His beret flops around when realisticly they are washed with starch and made very stiffly. I've handled many of them, and unless his is made of rubber, a real beret would never make those durastic type of movements. The chest bouncing is possible, unless the human is flexing, which this is a fighting sprite, and how you display his muscles it shows he is flexing, so the amount of movement is exagurated a tad bit. The forearm bone also can't move, only the elbow can move, so how you display it sliding to the left does look sorta of like he has a broken arm.

Livelyhood and animation are great, but when you go into over-animation and turn a realistic fighter sprite into pop-eye the sailor man from the 1920's is a bad problem. You are a talented artist, but take the critique we give you, if everyone is saying something then you should listen because probably(99.99% chance) they have a good arguement with you. Noone is insulting your work, which it feels like your trying to defend anything anyone possible says. Take the critiques and possibly use or try them, your art has a better chance of improving if you do. You posted it as a Work In Progress, so we are helping with the progression. If you are going to fight us for helping, then this isn't the place for you sorry, and it'd be bad to lose such as a good artist as yourself just because of your attitude towards people trying to help you.

If you want to keep this style and advance in it though that is all on you. We are just trying to tell you that the style and art you are trying to create are clashing. The style provides more cartoony, 'animated' art, while the artwork you look like you are creating is a more realistic, gritty, fighting/war style. So all we are saying, is your style, and art design are clashing in the piece, so you should either choose to work with the style, or work with the design, or you will keep getting complaints of such clashing. I've been working with pixelated art for ~7 years too, so i'm just stating this from experience. You can choose to listen to me or any other artist on here if you wish, all we are trying to do is help you. Thanks for reading and hope you take at least some of the critique to heart!