Lots of posts to reply to, this is going to be a long one.
Regarding your big post ChronoBound, we're going to have to go on GameFAQs if we are truly going to try to convince people that Roy is the best choice for a third Fire Emblem character. The site has a lot more detractors and what supporters are there are immediately drowned out by detractors (Kooky can't even hold his ground, last time he tried to argue for Roy his arguments weren't taken seriously).
Not saying to neglect Smashboards, but GameFAQs is going to be a pretty important site for our battleground and we need to try to focus most of our efforts there, especially when E3 is looming.
I know about the situation on GameFAQs. I have been a member there for over 11 years (the reason I even joined there was to discuss Melee's potential roster). GameFAQs used to be a tolerable place to do discussion, but once it was merged with Gamespot it got much, much dumber over night.
There has been a contingent of vocal Roy haters at GameFAQs even during the pre-Brawl days. It was also the place with highest number of Sigurd fans and a large contingent of "we need a femalez" FE bandwagon (its the worse there than anywhere else, they have jumped from Lyn to Micaiah to Caeda/Sheeda to Lissa to Anna/Lucina/Female My Unit).
When all the statements that the Sigurd fanbase was making up finally got disproven, you did not think all those people just instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke did you? Keep in mind many of the lies about Roy originated from the Sigurd fanbase, so although they have given up their support for him, I doubt their animus against Roy has abated.
However, despite all this, like everywhere else, Roy has more supporters than any other potential FE newcomer at GameFAQs. There was a "rank your most wanted characters for Smash 4" topic going on, and Roy ranked higher than any other FE character on the list.
As with other places, its not a matter of whether Roy does not have much support (he is the most wanted FE character), but rather his detractors are very vocal and voice their opinion whenever Roy comes up.
There is A LOT of Roy supporters at GameFAQs, but they are usually not as active or engaged in voicing their opinion. It is from here where I think things could be changed at GameFAQs. Once Social Groups start up again, and I re-form the Knights of Elibe, we will start cooking a war plan to make things much more amicable for Roy supporters at GameFAQs (I already got an idea or two).
While those are nice battle videos, I am curious to know why you posted them here. Would you like to see Roy return for Smash 4, and if so what changes would you like to see done with him?
Pretty much the same argument that Smashboards gives, but because GameFAQs are a lot more likely to follow bandwagons than Smashboards, the majority support Chrom (though I would wager most of the support is based off the expectations of getting a FE newcomer rather than actually wanting it).
Oh and they like to argue that Roy is irrelevant, despite many of them not understanding what relevance is and having double standards on relevance as well.
You are right that the bandwagon mentality is much worse at GameFAQs. Keep in mind that characters like Caeda/Sheeda and Lissa used to be the most wanted FE characters after Roy at some point there (now support for them is non-existent).
While Chrom may seem to have a plurality of support there, its actually Roy. Chrom, like everywhere else, does get a lot of topics with people complaining about how bland/boring he is, which shows that even if there does exist a lot of support for him there, there is also a lot of scepticism about him.
As for the "relevance argument" I don't think there is anything you can say do to convince those sort of people. Keep in mind at GameFAQs there is a large amount of people that still think Ridley is "too big" despite all the argumentation for years saying otherwise, and even Sakurai himself saying Ridley could work.
Best argument to try to convince them otherwise is Marth. Did not have a game for nearly eight years, yet due to importance and fan demand, showed up in Melee. If someone said that Marth is the mascot, therefore, he was an exception, point out a case of special pleding and mention that Roy is the most popular Lord of the Elibe arc as well as the most important Lord of the game.
Oh and the bolded, know that when people mean by irrelevance they usually mean lack of recentness. In other words, not understanding that relevance is actually synonym to importance, which is in turn not correlated to recentness
That is a very good argument to use.
C-convince people on gamefaqs that Roy is the best choice for a third FE rep? Yikes...It's true, lot of people on gamefaqs like to jump on the bandwagon and a lot of people there support Chrom. And I have seen people put down Roy with absurd reasons. It's going to be a tough battle over there, but I do have a gamefaqs account and I'd be more than happy to help.
Things seemed intimidating on even SmashBoards during pre-Brawl, but once I actually set up a proper support topic for Roy and the Knights of Elibe, Roy quickly became the most wanted character for a third FE character here for the remainder of pre-Brawl. A lot of Roy fans came out of the wood work.
There is a lot of Roy supporters over at GameFAQs, they just are quiet and don't have the patience to debate loud mouths.
I am glad that you are willing to help. We are probably going to need all the help we can get.
I wonder if they'll do a 180 on Roy if he's confirmed to playable, or say he's a wasted slot?
There will most likely be a celebration topic. The only character I saw whining about when they were confirmed for pre-Brawl was ROB and Wolf (though that was mostly Krystal supporters who convinced themselves that she was good as confirmed for Brawl).
There might be 1-3 whiners, but otherwise most people would be happy about Roy's returns.
Also here in the west when non Fire Emblem fans think about Fire Emblem they think of Marth and Roy. Not Ike, lyn, Chrom, or anyone else.
I would say they also think of Ike too if for nothing else that Brawl sold 11 million copies worldwide. However, overall you are right, Marth, Roy, and Ike are pretty much the faces of Fire Emblem in the West, and no other characters come close to them.
I think it depends on how decloned he is. If he becomes completely unique, most will do a 180 degree. If he has even one or two similar moves, I'd expect them to cry clone, and say he was a waste.
I never got the people who whined about Wolf and Lucas being clones even though they only share five moves with their original counterparts (and even though those five moves are pretty different than what Fox and Ness have).
I think even if Roy is only a semi-clone, most people will welcome his return.
Well it's GameFAQs. They are going to **** all over anything that has a sword. Once tried to argue about Takamaru, but people thought he was lame and would introduce more swords.
Look, I'm not usually the guy that supports people forcing others to change their opinions. But in the case of GameFAQs, yes you can screw with them all day. Idiots deserve a good slap to the face.
Yesterday, I saw 3-4 Ridley size topics on the first page. A lot of people there are brick walls (and about as smart as one too).
I don't think they'll listen to anyone. They are also the ones who believe Ridley didn't get in because he's too big. Despite the fact that Sakurai said the roster was finalized in June 2005, and Ridley's support didn't take off until after the first brawl trailer.
But, if Roy is confirmed expect a lot of flame wars.
Ridley has been a popularly supported character for Smash Bros. in the West ever since the E3 2001 Melee unveil in May 2001. Ridley became even more popularly requested after the release of Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Zero Mission, to the point where he was within the Top 5 most wanted characters for Smash Bros. 3 in the West. He was still in the Top 5 most wanted characters in the West after the Brawl unveil, so Ridley has been a popularly requested character for the longest time.
Due to how few Nintendo "all-stars" there are left, I think Ridley's time is now. I have a good feeling that Ridley will be confirmed at E3 2013. Just two more months to go.
Also, I highly doubt there will be flame wars if Roy is confirmed. In general, there are more tears usually about character de-confirmations than there is about character confirmations