For the record IRL I have met (of the players) HugS, PewPewU (multiple times), Milktea, Lilo, MacD, and Toph, and of the commentators IRL I have met Scar. They're all super nice folks.
Online I have spoken to everyone else I've listed (sans aMSa, Peachy, and Crismas), and from what I can tell, they are all also nice. This includes D1 and Prog.
[collapse="My thoughts on the list of players:"]For those who don't know, here is stuff about the players I know from my experience within the competitive community (mostly Melee, so sorry if I'm lacking Brawl knowledge guys):
Ken - The best melee player from 2002-2006, who teamed with Isai to win essentially every singles and doubles tournament for over 4 years. He was the first face of competitive smash, and his rivalry with Azen and PC Chris is that of legend. He invented the famous "Ken Combo" for Marth, and is probably the 2nd or 3rd most historic Melee player ever. He also was on one season of Survivor. But more importantly, he represents an entire generation or two of Melee's competitive history.
Korean DJ - One of the best players for over half a decade in Melee. A top Sheik/Fox/Marth player who dominated with his aggression. He goes all out for the KO and almost always get it. He's beaten many top players, and was the best Fox for a long time. He came in 2nd at the MLG 2006 Series Grand Finals at Las Vegas after an amazing run. Like Ken, he is sponsored by Team Liquid.
HugS - The top Samus player in Melee for over a decade, who has beaten pretty much every top player in tournament. He has been a top 10 player in SoCal, the most talent rich region for Melee for over a decade as well. He is one of the few characters that has been a top player in so many eras of competitive Melee. He's also a very open, extremely nice guy.
Zero - A top Melee and very top Brawl player, who came in 2nd at APEX 2014 in Brawl (the biggest Brawl tournament of the year). He is pretty good at all the smash games, actually, but obviously Brawl is where he made his mark. Also, he might be the biggest Nintendo fan on the planet.
PewPewU - Best Marth on the planet in Melee now, and is considered one of the top 10 players in the world at Melee right now. He's a rising star who is only going to rise higher. For a while he was the top rated player in all of NorCal, the 2nd deepest region in all of the world. He is fun loving and a very exciting player to watch and talk to.
Hungrybox - The best Melee Jigglypuff on the planet and one of the best 4 or 5 players in the world at Melee. He won APEX 2010, and has been a force for years and years and years. He also came in 3rd at EVO 2013 in Melee, the biggest Melee tournament ever (until at least this year's EVO). He also might be the best Jigglypuff ever and the best player on the East Coast currently (along with the next person I'm going to mention). He's also good on commentary.
Dr. Pee Pee - The winner of APEX 2014 (the biggest Melee tournament of the year so far), and the best Falco in the world, or really, ever. He's one of the 3 or 4 player players on the planet, and has been so for quite a while. His technical skill and reads with Falco are the stuff of legend, and he has beaten all the top players in the world today at some point, including sending Mango and Armada to the loser's bracket at EVO 2013.
Milktea: A top teams player and a pillar of the Melee community. She has been around for a good long while, and is quite the underrated player, and is extremely smart.
Lilo: An underrated underrated fun loving, nice, and good player in SoCal, the most stacked region for Melee since forever.
aMSa - The best Melee Yoshi player in the world who made a character that looked like one of the worst look like one of the best. He might be the most exciting player to watch ever. His combos with Yoshi look like he's playing another freaking game. He's also the only Japanese competitor in the field, and probably the best Melee player from Japan, and the most well known since at least Captain Jack.
DJ Nintendo - One of the best Mario/Marth/tons of low tier character players ever. He's awesome in every way imaginable. Literally he pulls out Bowser, a notoriously weak character, at tournaments, just to prove he can. He is so hype to watch, I cannot explain. He's also a fantastic guy and super duper nice. He also is insane on commentary, has great quotes like "DEE EYEEE" (DI; look it up), and "YOLO'ing Through the Game."
MacD - Possibly the best US Peach player. One of the best players in SoCal, the most stacked region for Melee. He's also insanely talented at Melee teams play, and is a very nice guy who is good on commentary.
Toph - One of the best Melee players in NorCal, the 2nd most stacked region for Melee. Also one of the best commentators for Melee. A very nice guy and a very important part of the Melee competitive community, especially for the West Coast and in California.
TheRapture - I don't know him, but my brother told me he's one of the best Brawl commentators and apparently a good Brawl player.
Crismas - I don't know them, but according to my pal @
~automatic , they co-hosted the first 2 APEX tournament series (a huge tournament for multiple fighting games with Melee and Brawl as the marquee games, and sans EVO and MLG is the biggest tournament for both games) and runs the Zenith tournament series (also a very large tournament series, mostly involving Brawl). They are a top tournament organizer (TO) on the East Coast for Smash.
(I don't know Peachy, sorry)
Announcers:
Prog - THE VOICE OF SMASH!!! HE'S THE BEST AT EVERYTHING!!! HIS PASSION IS ADDICTIVE!!! POSSIBLY THE BEST VIDEO GAME COMMENTATOR IN THE BUSINESS!!!
Scar - He killed Mufasa. One of the best Captain Falcon players ever and a great guy. HE'S ALSO SELLS MOMENTS SO WELL AND LOVES THE GAME!!! As a side "awww" note, he got married earlier this year, so congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Scar.
D1 - THE LEGEND! HE'S SO AWESOME AND HAS THE SWAG!!! HE'S GOT ALL THE HYPE!!!![/collapse]
