Granted, I haven't looked much, but I've mostly seen people saying "Who is this" in terms of "I don't know them," it's everyone else that morphs that into "Literally nobody knows who they are." Probably because the latter is a strawman and is easier to attack than to admit that maybe there are people who don't know certain characters and that's okay.
It seems like most of the arguments coming from the "try it, you'll like it" crowd so far revolve around the idea that if someone tries the game, then they'll 100% love it, so anyone who doesn't like it just hasn't played it enough. Even just reading the last pages of arguments has gone that way.
"I don't like character X"
"But you don't have the right to an opinion since you never even looked up who they are!"
"Ok, I googled them and read their Wiki article. Still not a fan."
"Obviously, you can't get that from reading it. You need to see the game!"
"I read the game reviews and watched some Youtubers go through it. Now I confirmed that I don't like the character."
"You need to experience it yourself or else your opinion is invalid!"
"So I bought the console and game and forced myself to play through it. Now I hate it more than before."
"You just don't know them like I do!"
It seems that there's no line where the argument of "I don't like it" becomes valid. And it's an opinion anyway, so it's inherently personal.
I feel like this is where the 'anime swordsman' came from: someone doesn't like a character, but the peanut gallery doesn't accept "I don't like them" as an excuse, so they need to come up with a fully-referenced thesis on what they don't like. It's an opinion, people are allowed not to like things. People are allowed to like things. But none of that changes who's in or not. If I say I don't like a character in the pass, I'm suggesting that I'd prefer someone else and that I'm not going to buy them since I don't think they're worth spending money on. I mean, yeah, I'll be frustrated that I didn't get a character I'd like to see, but there's not much I can do about it. It is a bit disappointing to me that almost every one of the characters I did want got shot down one by one while there are people who are shouting "All 3 of my top most wanted got in as DLC!" Congrats to them, but can I have a turn please?
Again, the idea of "I don't know them" becoming "I'd rather someone else" is directly related to the limited number of slots. Yes, we could open our minds to other characters, but of course we'd prefer a character we wanted in the first place. Even if we use Snake as an example, I didn't really care much when they announced him in Brawl. Yeah, no clue who he was at the time. But that was Brawl, so I didn't really have a list of characters I wanted. Snake's absence in Sm4sh didn't really affect me, though.
...and yeah, it does seem a bit lopsided that most of the non-Nintendo third parties so far have been PS exclusive or focused. Understandable, but still feels lopsided.
Let's face it: If by some miracle I get my most wanted in, I know exactly what I'm gonna hear. "Ugh, another swordie! Too many disjointed hitboxes!" "Ugh, ugly Western character contaminating my Japanese game!" "Ugh, Todd Howard is just like EA. Worst company ever!" "Ugh, that game is so old and irrelevant now. Who cares about Skyrim anymore?" "Ugh, Doomguy deserved it so much more!"
Yeah, it'll be annoying, but I'll be too busy learning a new main to care. I'd love it if people would see him and go "Wow, so cool, I want to get involved in this series. Can someone give me the history of this game?" (PS don't ask me this, I don't have time to write a 200 page thesis, but I probably would do that as a response). But I can't expect everyone to like my favorite. I can't be mad if people don't like him and don't want to buy him.
