"If I were to design a Super Smash Bros. character, I would look at the abilities they have, the way they play in their games (how their physics and attacks work etc.), and their personality. A good last resort would be something that fits the character's role, even though they've never done it before, like the idea of giving K. Rool a crocodile death roll that I've seen tossed around.
With all this in mind, I would make Dixie a little slower and less agile than Diddy (like in DKC2). She would be around the same size and weight as Diddy and a little bit floaty, but not on the level of Mewtwo, Jigglypuff and Kirby. She would have a lot of recovery options, and would be able to get out of nearly any off-stage situation that doesn't instantly KO her.
Similar to Diddy, she would mess with the opponent, but she would take a more laid back approach to it. I imagine her keeping the opponent at arm's length for a more graceful fighting style, as opposed to Diddy's hyperactive antics. She would accomplish this partially with the long reach that her hair would afford to her basic A attacks (and she would need to accomplish this, as many of these moves would take a moment to start up), and partially with some less offensively oriented B specials.
Perhaps:
- Bubblegum that can trap the opponent in place.
- Using the Gumball Popgun for rapid fire light projectiles, a bit like Falco's blaster but with smaller projectiles to balance out their numbers.
- Planet Cool's wind attack idea.
These could be used as utilities mirroring Diddy's peanuts and bananas in their role, if not in their effectiveness and importance to her success (if you take away his food-based moves, Diddy will have surprisingly little left to work with).
While she should certainly be good in the air, I imagine Dixie as being someone who would use her aerial supremacy to approach and retreat, rather than to pull off combos. Instead, she would do most of her actual fighting on the ground, and would instead use her flight to make her an incredibly mobile character who takes advantage of an airspace few other characters use. Other's would find her difficult to chase or combo, and they would have a hard time keeping her away as well. She would use her aerials primarily to keep herself safe in the air; they would be designed for blocking projectiles and countering combo and edge guarding attempts, as well as to spike opponents down to the ground (or into the abyss if they're foolish enough to follow her off the edge of the stage). Finally, she would make great use of some really good throws using her hair and her smash attacks as her main methods of KOing opponents.
Her biggest disadvantage would be that while she does most of her fighting on the ground, it's also where she is most vulnerable to attack, and while she is nigh untouchable while in the air, she can't accomplish very much from there.
Also, while I mentioned attacks involving her hair and gum, I think that the former has a lot more potential than just the basic grappling and hitting attacks that I implied, and that she could also make creative use of her guitar or some other more obscure elements.
I'm no expert on the metagame or inner workings of the physics or anything, so I'm not sure exactly how feasible (or completely broken/useless) all of this is (looking back, it's kind of... off in some way. Too many options, or maybe not enough?) but I think this might at least be a good basic outline for Dixie... maybe?
I'm not a fan of integrating a big focus on bubblegum into her moves, other than taunts. I don't want Dixie to just be Diddy but with gum, because you know damn well that's what they would do to her if thy added a gumgun of sorts. Hell, as much as I love her portrayal in Tropical Freeze, the bubblegum popgun was literally no more than Peanut Popun: Dixie Edition. Same goes for Cranky's dentures. That is, of course, unless Sakurai comes up with something REALLY clever, like some of your ideas. Ah well, as long as they don't do any lazy Shantae moves, I'm good.
That said, I do hope they have a big focus on her guitar. She can use soundwaves as a projectile, a strong weapon, something like Wario's motorcycle, and plenty of taunts/victory animations. She could also pull some tricks from Diddy's DK64 guitar, which would also feed my headcanon of Diddy learning his guitar from Dixie. Oh, she could smash her guitar as a victory animation. I hope she'll play left-handed, because Tropical Freeze gave her a right-handed guitar for no reason.
I am confident that they would implement her various hair moves from the games, namely her classic glide and her TF propeller. I mean, they would have to be stupid not to include them.
Especially in terms of aerial attacks, there's a ton you can do with her hair.
I suppose I should elaborate on why I think that using her hair as a whip of sorts is a bad idea. It's a pretty lazy idea, as it shows that they can't come up with anything better that involves the hair. Like I said, I would think of Shantae instead of Dixie. It's not a very creative way to integrate hair into her moveset. Using it to create wind or to put an emphasis on making a powerful and fast landing is clever.
Speaking of which, I'll get on that landing move. The center of it would be her DKCTF propeller move rather than the glide. Depending on how high up you go, it controls the speed and the power of the way you land. I think it'd be cool to see it work as a boost for her offense. Her standard kicks and punches would be weak on the ground, but she could be a real pain in the ass for the opponent when you bring the propeller in. She would just do the attack as she lands. The higher you go, the stronger the attack, but it would be slower. If you do a shorter propel, then it will be a weaker attack, but it will be lightning quick. With this fast and weak move, she can also get back into the propeller quickly, which leads to very good combos."
