Hello Aminnation.
First of all, thanks for sharing your opinion about the new sprites, constructive criticism is always welcome. These new follower sprites are not a final version, they can still be improved in future updates, so any kind of feedback can help the artists to make them look better.
As for the guns, cannonicaly Blastoise don't use them outside of battle, that's why we decided to let them out. Although, if community don't agree we will consider put the cannons again.
Regards.