Now, I'm not here to throw names at Phantom at all. But I have a ton of things I would like to point out.
1. Why cut Duck Hunt Dog in the first place? Since he has been first suggested back on Proboards, he has been supported more than he has been disliked when it comes to adding him on the roster. Since then, there have been more supporters to have him in Crusade.
You should know this as well with that poll you made last year. You know the "How Much Do You Agree With Our Roster Poll?". He was in 6th place tying with Paper Mario, Black Mage, & Simon Belmont. Candidates that are favorites on a real Smash Bros favorites. If you dont remember the poll, here is it:
http://ssbcforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ssbcgcd&action=display&thread=519&page=1
And here is the first poll for Duck Hunt Dog that I made when he was first suggested.
http://ssbcforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tssbcst&action=display&thread=110&page=1
As you can see, he even had more positive votes than he did negative votes the very first time he was suggested. And from looking at the poll You made, he has gained more supporters than he did when he was first suggested.
Here is proof of support for him outside the communities. Here is the FaceBook page I made that currently has over 1,000 supporters.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Duckhunt-Dog-for-Smash-Bros-4/105712672853220
Here is proof of support for him here on the Smash World Forum, Youtube, & GameFaqs combined on Super Smash Bros Fan's "SSB4 Top Roster Candidate Poll". Look at comment #959 under the hidden message. You will see that he is ranked #27 out of 102 characters that are wanted for SSB4.
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=314950&page=64
Not sure if you even follow SSB4 discussion threads on the internet, but Duck Hunt Dog is becoming a reasonable candidate for a retro character.
He has been heavily advertised to be in the 0.8 demo since "Project: Crusade" got started. Thats 3 months of promoting it. Taking him out the demo & roster only concludes to false advertisement.
There is no such thing as a character not being viable for a fighting game. Any statement claiming no viablity only proves lack of creativity.
Not to mention that I spent 5 tireless months working on his sprites. I made the sprites, the move set, custom voice clips, sound effects, etc. Hell, I even revamped DMX Duck Hunt stage and made it tons better. What I added to the stage are: expanding the stage, added more to the background, added the ducks (of all colors and angles), the guns shots, the target, the sound effects, and even had a composer make a custom song for the stage itself. If my efforts and creativity isn't enough, then I honestly dont know what you consider acceptable.
Point is, its clear that the character is well supported to be in the game and upcoming demo. There is no logical choice to cut him out. Nobody supports the cut other than you. If you are going to make a decision that has your personal opinion overpower what the fans want as well as logic, then I'm sorry but your role as head dev is highly questionable. Its not a sign if disrespect, just the truth.
And your say that Dettadeus should have gotten your permission to take charge of this thread. A thread that you yourself don't even keep as updated and organized as Detta has been doing successfully. You said that permission should have been asked, yet you don't even log on to check your PM's or even stop by the forum. As a matter of fact, IIRC you havent visited the forum (Proboards) since September.
The fact that you finally notice the changes to this thread now shows that you have not been checking up on Crusade as much. As a Head Dev, you need to keep focus on every area that is Crusade-related. The project, the teams, the forums, the 3rd party sources like FaceBook, SWF, Youtube, etc.
Another thing also. The fact that you send DMX to make the annoucement shows that you really didn't think twice of the forum. You know DMX's history with mixing up stories and having the wrong details blown way out of proportion. As the Head Dev, you should also stop by the forum and make these major annoucements. But yet again, you didn't even show your face on the forum. Matter of fact, it was DMX who gave us the gmk to begin with. If that is late news to you then that is just sad being that your the "Head Dev".
And here is more interesting info. Since Crusade has been community-based back in October, progress has been very significant. We have half a dozen characters done sprite-wise within just 3 months. More people have been more than happy to contribute to help. We have expanded in many ways. We have coding teams, graphics team, spriting team, balancing team, etc. We have done tons more work than what is expected cause we love working on this project as a team. The current roster has been much more complimented and anticipated than the previous roster back on proboards.
Here is some info no one follows. Proboards (the same forum that had only 3 Devs at the time) took over 6 months to have 100 members in the community. In the other hand, the current one that is community based has over 100 members in a 2 and half month period. Obviously, the current Crusade team is doing something right and has improved this project.
I really don't see the point of Open-Source. It is not user friendly. Do you think a Crusade fan would actually know how to do his own coding, spriting, etc all on his own? It would be a shocker if the Open Source forum even gains 10 active members. Why make an Open Source if there is an active community that is working their *** off to keep the real Crusade project alive? Open Source just sounds like an excuse to put an end to Crusade project in my opinion. If you really want to have Open Source, then go ahead. But don't come on to the Community Crusade project and change everything. Both projects should not be made to please one person.
Another thing. After the 0.7 demo, the community started to die out because of lack of updates and progress. Your inactivity in the forums with no updates, progress, and explanation is what drove people away. A community of over 100 people dont have the patience to wait forever.
You mention in the past that you don't stop by the forum due to many problems with the community. Well here's the thing. How do you expect to be treated with so much praise when you show once in a blue to throw in an announcement and disappear again? If you want to be treated for fairly within the community, then start being active and work with your community. Don't keep them out of distance. This is not the behavior a Head Dev should do.
Phantom, I hope you understand that this is not an attempt to disrespect you directly. This is the whole truth. You want your claim as Head Dev, yet you stay inactive with rarely any detailed updates and you make decisions that are based on directly your opinions rather than the logical ones or the fans.
Trust me when I say this. We would like to have you and your brothers be a part of this project to some capacity. But the thing is that we want to work as a team of 1. Not as a minority that is under the control of 2-3 people.