This dissection of the costume was posted in the Dixie thread, but I feel as though it warrants posting in here in the thread with more traffic so it can get responses (just keep them civil, of course).
Few issues with that critique:
- Inklings, as you say, were massively advertised due to pre-
Splatoon hype; the fact that the main character(s) appeared as DLC costumes is hardly a surprise. Nintendo clearly wanted to promote the game in every way possible - it would be outright foolish to pass up on a quick shout-out in their all-star money machine.
- The Inkling scenario is totally different context entirely. Inklings are from a totally new game that, at the time, hadn't even been released: ballot votes had absolutely zilch to do with the decision to make a costume. In much the same way, K. Rool has been requested for years, consistently placing in the upper ranks of popularity polls since at least
Melee - why would Nintendo decide, out of the blue, to create a costume of a character this oft-demanded by fans and reveal it two months before the end of the ballot itself? More likely, if you want to cite the Inkling incident as a comparable context, is that Nintendo decided to cash in on K. Rool's popularity by releasing a costume totally incidental to the ballot. I don't think Inklings are out of the picture with the ballot in consideration, definitely no more or less than K. Rool is.
- "People should consider K. Rool out of the running". Right, like Ridley fans, Inkling fans, Chom fans, even Goku fans? People are going to vote for whomever they want to vote for. Denying fans the chance to vote for their favourite character undermines the very essence of the ballot itself. There is no
objective reason to verify that K. Rool is out of the running. Why should this individual care if the K. Rool fanbase is ostensibly "setting itself up for disappointment"? We're used to disappointment. The costume just further demonstrates the fact that, right now, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We aren't gonna cut our losses and jump ship before the ballot even comes to a close. Thanks for the concern, but we can take care of ourselves. We could have considered him "out of the running" when he wasn't revealed in the base roster, or when it seemed a likely scenario that Mewtwo would be the only DLC character released - we sure as hell aren't gonna stop now.
- If we don't feel satisfied with the product, we have a right to petition Nintendo to address our concerns. Whether it makes any difference is beside the point: the real crux of the matter is that we, the consumer, have a voice, and a means to make it heard. We can and will exercise that right. The costume is very cool and well appreciated, but we have a request that we wish to make heard, and make it heard we will.