Hey all- long time lurker, even longer-time supporter of Isaac in Smash. (Pre-Brawl days, voted for Isaac in the ballot, etc.) It's to the point that even my fiancé (also a Smash fan) gets me a Golden Sun themed birthday gift each year. (On that note- I have no idea how to tag you, True Blue, but I would greatly appreciate it if I could be added to the Supporter's list.)
I was *finally* compelled to join the conversation today because of the Min Min presentation. Although it's easy to be pessimistic because Spring Man was passed over, Sakurai did touch on the reason being the developer's request. He felt the need to explain the absence of Spring Man because Sakurai, like the rest of us, viewed him as the face of the franchise. If anything, this reinforces the fan "rule" that the chosen representatives will be the main protagonist of their series/ game. If the developers wanted Spring Man, he would have gotten in and who knows what would have happened with the AT.
Isaac, as a result, now has competition between Felix, Matthew, or any potential new protagonist for the theoretical new game. It would come down to who the Takahashi brothers (or Camelot I guess) preferred to represent their series. If they say "Yeah, Isaac is IT", Sakurai would make it happen. If they preferred Matthew, we would have to live with that. However- I feel like after all is said and done, the majority of us would just be happy to see Golden Sun get some love in Smash.
I get the reason why people feel less confident about AT "promotions" after today, but ultimately it comes down to semantics. Sakurai didn't rule Spring Man out because of the AT, he chose someone over Spring Man because it was what the game developer's will and he had no reason to disagree. That's from the word of the guy who literally has the final say on every character that makes it into Smash. You can view it as an excuse but what reason would Sakurai have to lie? He knows we cling onto his words- he said as much in his most recent Famitsu column. If he wanted to use the opportunity to say "AT promotions can't happen", this would've been the time. He is choosing to leave the door open to speculation. We're talking about a game where Rathalos is a boss and AT, Min Min is a fighter and base-game spirit, Chrom is a Mii costume, fighter, and part of another character's final smash. Roles are never definitive if Sakurai envisions something more.
I genuinely believe that roles were decided for the base game and first DLC pass back in 2017, while the decision for a second DLC pass came to fruition in 2019. Therefore- the roles that were decided literal years ago may have been subject to review. We already saw the first character in this pass broke what many assumed to be a "rule". Given that Isaac's support was at an all-time high between King K. Rool's reveal in August 2018 and his AT confirmation in November 2018, he very well may have been on the dev team's mind when they were deciding on the second season of DLC. I'm not saying he is definitely happening or even has a good chance, but I do believe we shouldn't write him off yet.
I'll work on making my posts more concise in the future. This one was a long time coming.