Well, I was a little hesitant to double dip on this game at all, so when it went on a decent sale, I figured that was the perfect compromise.
I think I was being a little too harsh on the DLC for HGH. It's fine, and the other characters are fun to use. The main issue I have with HGH in general is just that I don't like the choice to go with a linear level design + lots of backtracking, and I think that was coloring my feelings on the DLC.
Marcus Sellers has a pretty mixed record from what I understand. Heavy third party representation certainly bodes well though, assuming this one's legit. If they are ramping up on third parties, at least one indie rep seems quite likely, and two seems pretty plausible. If you combine this with the assumption that they are relying on the Smash Ballot data to make decisions, then things are looking really good.
What are your guys' most wanted characters, aside from Shantae?
For me it is definitely King K. Rool. I like villains and big heavy characters, so he is right up my alley. Plus I have a lot of nostalgia for DK64, and to a lesser extent the classic DKC games. Beyond that I don't have any characters I am dying for. I would like to have Wolf back, and Shovel Knight would be cool too, so long as he doesn't take Shantae's spot.
EDIT: I just checked out that Nintendo Life top 10 most wanted characters video. I'm glad Shantae made his list, but I had to chuckle when he said that like Diddy Kong prior to Smash, she doesn't have that many moves to work with yet. I guess he needs to get a little further in Pirate's Curse, or try the original out. I seriously challenge anyone to name a potential newcomer who has as many moves to work with in their games as Shantae does.
If you guys like top 10 lists though, here are a few other recent top 10 most wanted newcomer videos I could find that feature Shantae:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pwN2mfFG1o timestamp 3:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aHHd4wDcMY timestamp 12:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMaNIz3qVw timestamp 11:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPcmedAL-pk timestamp 8:35