Three reasons to be going after the treasure:

...let's be honest, I'm a character designer, not a master of hi-res pixel art.

This is supposed to be the backside of a large alien spaceship. It looks too much like a giant escape pod with thrusters. I'm keeping the large tentacles, though.

Whoooooa, we're halfway there!

...in terms of cutscenes.

Don't worry, I backed up the other one, but I'm going with this for the alien spacecraft. Part UFO, part retrofuturist rocket, and only three tentacles for the tripod look.

...well... This is awkward.

Yes, I CAN make an animated background within a matte, with a shifting color palette. However, I realize this doesn't look like lava, no matter which way you shake it.

...the effect's cool, though.

Line work first, then shading.

Also, if you're asking "where's her hair?", that's gonna animate separately.

I might have to put this in a little black box on-screen, but that's no problem for me.

Resistance is futile.

Back in the old days, you could just flash between these two frames to make dynamic lighting, to show something's flashing in front of her.

I'm just gonna use the other frame to indicate the lights are on. No flashing required.

As the first major cutscene, I have to show the scale without going crazy with drawing too much.

As such, these two DemoBots up front do a bit of acting, and we never see them again.

"Sir, is the Super Scaler effect really necessary for a cutscene like this?"

"I coded it, didn't I?"