User blog comment:Varzan Deodinm Beldinm/Search and Destroy: Ooh, Oobleck you're Amazing!/@comment-173.58.251.107-20141003005935/@comment-10390252-20141003112129

They're stylistically similar to some 'switching to fight mode' cut scenes in JRPGs (which, in turn, are based on something common in 1970s-era pulp action movies). It might be where the animation team got the idea.