Social "Time to Tip the Scales!" - Robin Social Thread

[Pazzo.]

What happened to adding a page about every hour guys?

Btw, at the moment I'm trying to come up with a reveal trailer for Robin. Yaay.

Attendance dropped. I blame a certain green 'forest master'....

 

[Pega-pony Princess]

Attendance dropped. I blame a certain green 'forest master'....

Robin Hood? Nice.

 

[Pazzo.]

Robin Hood? Nice.

Ironically, that's what we're both right now.

Robin + Hood.

 

[Hong]

I thank all ya'll Robin homies for reppin' up da hood.

 

[GM_3826]

Hey, let's drum up conversation by breaking down something that is constantly criticized about the game.
You know, rather recently, I've realized something. Considering I am not on any other forum where the whole "Awakening's characters suck" thing exists, I decided I should post this here and see if you'll post it to Serene's Forest, which I am not a fan of.
So, Awakening. Filled to the brim with anime stereotypes, right?
Heh, heh.
Let me tell it to you in short: While the setting and characters are indeed simplified, the sheer amount of playing around with those tropes are massive. And as noted before, the story really could have been pulled off well.
Here are what I can see as the full list of examples:
1. Ylisse and Plegia. Good guys, vs. bad guy, right? Heh heh, wrong. Prior to Awakening, the trope was pretty much inverted. Ylisse was the war mongrel and oppressor of it's people, while Plegia despite worshipping an evil god was nowhere near as bad.
2. Pretty stereotypical case of fictional countries meet real life countries, right? Heh heh, wrong. The fictional countries are placed in entirely different places on the map.
3. Walhart is pretty evil, right? Besides his abusive tendencies, which I will forever hate him for, no, he's actually decent otherwise.
4. Chrom. Pretty stereotypical Lord, right? Actually, no. The stereotype for Lords, was, and always has been, "Paragon of kindness and forgiveness." While Chrom is like that, he's not all that afraid of shoving people;s mouths up their throats. Gangrel is the most prominent example.
5. Sumia, Queen of Dojikos. Until you remember the fact that she has severe self-confidence issues because of that. Most Dojikos are just humble. Sumia pretty much hates herself. The only reason the fans seem to forget that is because Cordelia is that magnified without the clumsiness.
6. Maribelle. Stereotypical Tsundere blueblood, right? But people HATE her. Lissa is the first one to actually approach her and be nice. And she's like that to everyone.
7. Cordelia's unrequited crush doesn't even come up outside of S-Supports. The only reason we know it's there is because people are aware of it, as it' can be caught by someone with the proper eyes. It doesn't come up in every S-Support, either. And her mates love more than makes up for it. She then feels the need to prove herself tro her spouse.
8. When was Tharja's Yandereness and abusive tendencies played as a bad thing? Well, it was. I DO agree, however, that it was not played badly enough.
9. Olivia, Olivia. Moe, moe... Oh wait, did you read her support logs? Because I don't think she that close to the stereotype. Sorry.
10. Cherche. Yamato Nadeshiko incarnate... Except that she's very, very snarky.
10. People say Miriel is autistic. I would point you towards Frederick. He's the JAGEN.
11. Virion, so boastful, so cowardly... when you don't consider a lot of what he says and does is rooted in both fact and reason.
12. Stahl, ridiculously average, low expectations. Turns out to be average because everyone strives to at least better him, serving as a human motivational poster for the army. He also is actually pretty good gameplaywise: Which makes sense, story-wise, when you consider that his humbility actually pushes him to strive his best.
13. Vaike. Standard sloth and slob, right? Except... He joined the Shepards because he wanted to be a hero to his people. Suddenly, he's better than Sully, who joined because of tradition: She was part of a family of knights.
14. Kellam. His feelings about his role in the army... Are actually somewhat complex. Hardly anyone recognizes that, though.
15. Lon'qu. Name all the characters who were afraid of girls. Now, ask me this: Were they as badass as Lon'qu?
16. Gaius. Nice thief. ...Certain support logs, such as his with Maribelle, make it rather clear he hates being a thief.
17. Gregor. Stereotypical mercenary, interested in cooking, paleontology, and makeup.
18. Henry was always a subversion of the whole "Girls like bad boys"... thing. In fact, it becomes clearer if you read his Japanese support logs, which are more stereotypical... And even there he's liked because he improves other people's lives.
19. Donnel, a stereotypical farmhand, is a ****ing genius. And it makes sense.

Yes, 19 examples... that are not actually spoilers. Now we get into the spoilers variety.

Spoiler

20. Robin, your player character, is the Anti-Christ. He also subverts the whole, "You are a terrible person" mold by actually being a good person. Also, his amnesia actually is magic.
21. Was Emmeryn's sacrifice invalidated by her survival? Considering that she has the real type of amnesia, no
22. Hey, did you see that guy, Marth? Yeah, how he was so stoic and awesome for the first few chapters? Well, he's a girl. She's also acting. And outside of battle, she's completely adorable.
22. Owain, the largest ham on Earth... Is also acting. And he's doing it for his friends.
22. Inigo is actually kinder to women then men. In fact, while he's a pervert, he actually seems more at home with them.
23. Brady looks and talks like a thug, and is made out of sheer glass.
24. Cynthia is both a picked-on tomboy and the moral center of the team. She's actually a tomboy because when the war came, she wanted to be more then a useless Chick for them. It worked.
25. Severa has more then enough reason for her Tsundere tendencies. Also, while she seems to hate Cordelia, she's something of an obsessive shopper... And she still has not spent the gold Cordelia gave her before she died.
26. Gerome is compeletly adorable when it comes to Minerva, despite the cold tongue he shares with Severa.
27. Morgan is actually fairly intelligent, yet they spends most of their days bopping their head into trees.
28. Laurent is way more emotional then his mother. He's also a masochist.
29. Ah, Noire is absolutely adorable... Until she gets angry. Then she's hammier then Henry.

And yet people criticize Fire Emblem for it's stereotypical characters and settings. I didn't even go into that much detail about the settings, because there are so few, and since Walhart is the king of Valm, he's kinda representative of that nation's good side in general. I'm sorry for ranting so much, but yeah. I may actually go back to Serene's Forest to point this out and then leave again, if you don't have anything to argue. Anyways...

 

[Hong]

So how about that bear meat.

 

[mimgrim]

So how about that bear meat.

Nom nom nom.

 

[False Sense]

So, it seems discussion has died down a bit/went back to bear meat, so I have a new question that hopefully won't lead to another off topic discussion.

What evidence can we find within Smash itself that hints at the possibility of Robin being included in Smash, and by how much does the evidence boost Robin's chances? I think we could get a much better grasp on the situation by compiling all the evidence we can find and analyzing it all at once.

 

[mimgrim]

Have fun with that.

Personally. I'm going to chose to keep what little sanity I have left instead.

 

[Hong]

What evidence can we find within Smash itself that hints at the possibility of Robin being included in Smash, and by how much does the evidence boost Robin's chances? I think we could get a much better grasp on the situation by compiling all the evidence we can find and analyzing it all at once.

There hasn't been anything against Robin, but really nothing substantial for, either. At least more than the Villager.

 

[AustarusIV]

So, it seems discussion has died down a bit/went back to bear meat, so I have a new question that hopefully won't lead to another off topic discussion.

What evidence can we find within Smash itself that hints at the possibility of Robin being included in Smash, and by how much does the evidence boost Robin's chances? I think we could get a much better grasp on the situation by compiling all the evidence we can find and analyzing it all at once.

Well, there is his/her theme in the Trophy Quiz regarding Tiki. But that might just be grasping for straws.

 

[JaidynReiman]

So, it seems discussion has died down a bit/went back to bear meat, so I have a new question that hopefully won't lead to another off topic discussion.

What evidence can we find within Smash itself that hints at the possibility of Robin being included in Smash, and by how much does the evidence boost Robin's chances? I think we could get a much better grasp on the situation by compiling all the evidence we can find and analyzing it all at once.

There is none as far as I'm aware. From what I have heard, about the only thing even close is that Robin's theme was played during the Smash Bros. Direct.

There's no hints at Chrom either, though, and nothing against either of them. Its even hard to suggest there's evidence of an Awakening character. The only thing that remotely applies is Arena Ferox, but that doesn't say much. If anything an Awakening character probably would've been announced sooner rather than later.

There is one thing that could help Robin's chances over that of Chrom. Sakurai has stated he wants to add characters who can bring something new to Smash Bros., and so far every new character has done that. That would certainly help Robin far more than Chrom, although it could be literally any Fire Emblem character.

If we restrict it to just main Lords (not specifically characters with the "Lord" class, mind, a character who is mandatory and death results in gameover is still a Lord), that limits them down greatly, then if we assume Awakening, the only choice for someone who brings something new to Smash Bros. is Robin.


EDIT: In the third paragraph I accidentally mixed up Robin's and Chrom's name in the first sentence, in case anyone saw that. I fixed it now.

 

[GM_3826]

There is none as far as I'm aware. From what I have heard, about the only thing even close is that Robin's theme was played during the Smash Bros. Direct.

There's no hints at Chrom either, though, and nothing against either of them. Its even hard to suggest there's evidence of an Awakening character. The only thing that remotely applies is Arena Ferox, but that doesn't say much. If anything an Awakening character probably would've been announced sooner rather than later.

There is one thing that could help Robin's chances over that of Chrom. Sakurai has stated he wants to add characters who can bring something new to Smash Bros., and so far every new character has done that. That would certainly help Robin far more than Chrom, although it could be literally any Fire Emblem character.

If we restrict it to just main Lords (not specifically characters with the "Lord" class, mind, a character who is mandatory and death results in gameover is still a Lord), that limits them down greatly, then if we assume Awakening, the only choice for someone who brings something new to Smash Bros. is Robin.


EDIT: In the third paragraph I accidentally mixed up Robin's and Chrom's name in the first sentence, in case anyone saw that. I fixed it now.

And what of the Villager? As far as we're aware, the Villager is just a normal fighter that uses various household implements. How is he unique?
Just playing the devil's advocate here.

 

[False Sense]

Well, there is his/her theme in the Trophy Quiz regarding Tiki. But that might just be grasping for straws.

Well, I think there's plenty of reason to believe that the song will be appearing in the game as a result of being used in the quiz, and it may be a little odd to have that song without the character associated with it. Now granted, this isn't particularly strong evidence, as you said, but I think it is interesting that they apparently put that song into the game. They didn't really need to, especially with a lot of other good songs to pull from Awakening, so that particular choice could be a small indicator of what's to come.

So maybe it is grasping for straws just a bit, but I think there's a at least a little merit to it.

@ GM_3826 I'm pretty sure the Villager's special moves, especially his Pocket ability, are pretty unique in how they function.

 

[JaidynReiman]

And what of the Villager? As far as we're aware, the Villager is just a normal fighter that uses various household implements. How is he unique?
Just playing the devil's advocate here.

You've already stated it right there. THAT is how Villager IS unique. NO ONE else plays ANYTHING like that.

 

[GM_3826]

You've already stated it right there. THAT is how Villager IS unique. NO ONE else plays ANYTHING like that.

Well, I think there's plenty of reason to believe that the song will be appearing in the game as a result of being used in the quiz, and it may be a little odd to have that song without the character associated with it. Now granted, this isn't particularly strong evidence, as you said, but I think it is interesting that they apparently put that song into the game. They didn't really need to, especially with a lot of other good songs to pull from Awakening, so that particular choice could be a small indicator of what's to come.

So maybe it is grasping for straws just a bit, but I think there's a at least a little merit to it.

@ GM_3826 I'm pretty sure the Villager's special moves, especially his Pocket ability, are pretty unique in how they function.

They're about as unique as Kirby's. And, to me, someone using household implements doesn't seem unique enough.

 

[Snagrio]

Geez, I don't visit this page less then 24 hours...

 

[False Sense]

They're about as unique as Kirby's. And, to me, someone using household implements doesn't seem unique enough.

Kirby's specials are pretty unique in their own way, so that's technically a compliment.

I can understand that you don't find the concept of using household items to be unique, but I think it is actual fact that the Villager's specials, at the very least, are unique in their function; no other character can replicate what the Villager can do.

 

[AustarusIV]

Speaking of Kirby, if Kirby swallows Robin does this mean he'll get their cloak as a "hat"?

 

[False Sense]

Speaking of Kirby, if Kirby swallows Robin does this mean he'll get their cloak as a "hat"?

Copy the hood, maybe?

EDIT: I just realized that Kirby is going to have three different kinds of blue-hair hats if Chrom gets in.

 

[Snagrio]

Copy the hood, maybe?

EDIT: I just realized that Kirby is going to have three different kinds of blue-hair hats if Chrom gets in.

I know that every time I'm playing as Kirby and Marth is in the same match, I make a beeline for him to gain his fabulous hair.

 

[Hong]

I don't think that the music they chose for the Direct really matters. I highly doubt Sakurai makes the direct... he is way too busy of a person to handle the production side of things. He figures out what to talk about, has it recorded, and leaves his production team to handle the rest. The trophy quizzes were probably handled by the media staff.

That said, of course he would know about the song. I am sure IS invested a lot of heart into choosing that song for the last chapter, and it would be one of the first things they suggested for Smash Bros. It is a very popular piece that does well in incorporating not only Robin's theme, but the Awakening main theme and the Fire Emblem theme as well. Every fan gets sick nerd chills when they hear the Fire Emblem theme.

This is what I have supporting Robin so far.

Exhibit 1) The Villager
The Villager is a pretty good sign of things to come. Sakurai doesn't really care about specific details; he's a man with the mind to make a fighting game. The Villager has no set appearance, has even more customization than Robin, and doesn't even have a default name. But he made a character out of the Villager anyways.

The Villager is also notable in that it shows that the fact that Robin's default name changing between each region is not a problem. Each language of Smash Bros has a different name for the character, and as such they will have to do recordings for both the announcer and crowd alike. I hope they have fun saying "Dorpsbewoner".

Granted, Villager is from one of the best selling games of all time. Villager is not a popular character, but certainly welcome because the character hails from a popular game. Robin is an inverse scenario: I would say there are more Robin fans than Villager fans, but more Animal Crossing fans than Fire Emblem fans.

Exhibit 2) Intelligent Systems
After I posted inquiring if anyone could find any instances of Intelligent Systems vouching for Chrom, I went and checked out interviews myself. My Unit/The Avatar, and especially Lucina, are clearly held at a higher regard by the developer. In Japanese interviews in particular, Lucina is praised. If they really "give" Sakurai characters to choose for Smash Bros, of course any of the three Awakening characters will work. That said, I could argue Robin still advertises the game well enough in Smash Bros... If you are going to ask who that character is and what game they are from, will it matter if they are not explicitly on the front cover? You still have to go out of your way to locate information on the game. In short, I am just saying that even if they wanted a character to advertise Awakening, Chrom is not necessarily an obvious choice. Not after we've had Ike.

Let me remind you that they had been conceptualizing Awakening for almost two years before it even began development. Lucina was among the very first characters... she was slated to be the protagonist, and fighting on Mars for goodness sake! It's not like Chrom was everything they had and was always at the forefront of their vision.

Exhibit 3) The desire for unique characters
Needless to say, this speaks for itself. It's not just the moves they can do; it's also thematic uniqueness. Wii Fit Trainer, for example, isn't actually inherently unique to a great extent. That said, she is from such a drastically different world from the other fighters. She was basically a user-interface, for a product that could hardly even be called a game.

If you want to bring back Marth and Ike, you immediately get someone much less unique by having Chrom. Obviously he could have a unique moveset... anyone who thinks he can't has no respect for Sakurai. That said, why jump through hoops and exude such redundancy just to have Chrom in the game? You can get a lead character from the same product, who is so drastically different from not only Marth and Ike, but the majority of the leads in the series.

That's what I got.

 

[Morbi]

So, it seems discussion has died down a bit/went back to bear meat, so I have a new question that hopefully won't lead to another off topic discussion.

What evidence can we find within Smash itself that hints at the possibility of Robin being included in Smash, and by how much does the evidence boost Robin's chances? I think we could get a much better grasp on the situation by compiling all the evidence we can find and analyzing it all at once.

Edit- This is also the response to your message on my profile, I was too lazy to write this up earlier.

I suppose there is a lot of circumstantial evidence in Robin's favor; however, there is nothing definitive. I am an enthusiast of logic, and I personally find logic to be the best evidence. I understand that is subjective, but I would much rather discuss the logic and intent behind hypothetical scenarios as opposed to asserting every single piece of evidence.

As stated precedent to my arrival, the only definitive evidence that may or may not allude to Robin is the Trophy Quiz theory, something that I advocate as I do not believe in coincidence. It is difficult to fathom that those random references were for the sake of accruing an allotted time-frame for the Direct. Therefore, if we contemplate that with a rational perspective it is overt that something significant is going to happen in terms of those franchises. Unfortunately, that could mean anything. For all we know, Ike was the character correlating to the Fire Emblem section of the Quiz.

*Note: Fi has a correlation with Ghirahim just as the Metroid character is presumably another Pyrosphere boss. I believe False Palutena is easy enough to establish a connection. Tiki does not really have anything to do with Chrom. Albeit, she also relates with Lucina, but Robin; collectively, is more ideal.

While we are on the subject of Ike, it is blatantly obvious that the Ike reveal (when Wario was the most beneficial) from a marketing interpretation, in addition to the Friday prior to e3 show-casing a Fire Emblem stage it is challenging to disregard the plausibility of something pertaining to Fire Emblem during e3. The week was filled with aspects of e3. The first day was a stage regarding the Best Buy Demos available during the event. The second day was a stage figure alluding to the NFC figurines, which are also going to be demonstrated at e3 (by a preponderance of the evidence). The third day was merely an item; however, Robin bias enables me to arbitrary assume that both Wii Fit Trainer's might allude to something relational to gender-swapping (an unbiased perspective would note that the picture mentions Smash Run, so it could be involving the Wii U exclusive variant as well). That is a stretch, but it is the only picture that does not adhere to the observable pattern. The fourth picture was obviously an indication of the Smash Brothers Tournament. I believe we all comprehend the ramifications of the last picture.

"Here's Ike, Marth and..."

So I believe that it is fair to say that a Fire Emblem character is reasonable. I do not want to get into the merits of Fire Emblem Awakening as that is not entirely interesting. It is the preeminent Fire Emblem game, that is enough to presume that Sakurai will implement a representative. Intelligent Systems are not going to request a character from another game based on the principle of res ipsa loquitur. So honestly, that narrows it down to three plausible candidates: Chrom, Lucina, and Robin.

I would assess that Lucina is more likely than we originally anticipate assuming Intelligent Systems will utilize her in the future. For the sake of discussion, this is not going to be the case. Chrom is no doubt the most marketable and recognizable character from the franchise. He is also inadvertently one of the most prominent and demanded based on this notion. Unfortunately, his inclusion is perceived as a detriment to the game as we already have two similar characters. I certainly believe that it will be the case with Chrom, as a Wolf fan, I understand better than most that aesthetics are considered.

*Note: We already have Little Mac who was criticized for his bland and unoriginal move-set comprised predominately of punches. Sakurai is knowledgeable about this, or I would hope he is. I doubt he will leap at the sentiment of doing it once more. Most of the other newcomers offer something entirely different.

With Wolf, he had preconceived notions that he would have to develop him entirely differently to influence our interpretation. As such, he altered his stance, his personality, and his style to accommodate something largely diverse. With one character, he must try and find their differences to keep the consistency. With another he must avoid their similarities to incite creative thought. Aesthetic similarities have a negative impact on the play-style regardless of how unique it is. Chrom's standard blue-haired Lord design is only one of the plethora of problems he has. Robin is the Avatar, she represents the player and has customization because of that.

*Note: We lost Pokemon Trainer as one of the player based characters that represents the consumer base. If this is important to Sakurai, Robin would mitigate this issue by ensuring that it is negligible.

That is one aspect that puts Robin above both of them. Not only could she be a female, something Sakurai cited as a positive attribute, but she can change her hair color via palette swap in addition to having the ability to be both male and female. Aesthetic diversity is key here. Not many people think about Sakurai and what he wants, but I can guarantee that her palettes are much more entertaining to develop, that is an incentive that is often over-looked. I also truly believe that his inherent desire to gender-swap her will be her saving grace.

Contrary to popular belief; sword characters saturating the roster is an actualized problem. It might be fallacious to assert on its own, but it is a contributing factor and many erroneously write it off based on the primary surface message. Sakurai has stated numerous times that the character must offer something different to be considered. Chrom does not. I am merely asserting that this DOES play against him, it does not objectively mean that he cannot or will not be playable. Sakurai will consider his "raw" move-set potential. Again, everyone has move-set potential. That is not material. The character has to have an observable or canon attribute that differentiates them without indirect influence from the creative director. Robin's ability to perform magic is more than enough to satisfy the need.

Lastly, the purple coat. No seriously, Chrom's cape and armor design is fairly equivalent to what we have currently, especially with Ike's redesign being the only thing mentioned about his character. The purple coat is different. Just saying.

Honestly, it is not much. But I would certainly proclaim that she has more "evidence" in her favor than Chrom. Chrom is her only viable competition, so that is all that is required of her.

 

[Weeman]

Edit- This is also the response to your message on my profile, I was too lazy to write this up earlier.

I suppose there is a lot of circumstantial evidence in Robin's favor; however, there is nothing definitive. I am an enthusiast of logic, and I personally find logic to be the best evidence. I understand that is subjective, but I would much rather discuss the logic and intent behind hypothetical scenarios as opposed to asserting every single piece of evidence.

As stated precedent to my arrival, the only definitive evidence that may or may not allude to Robin is the Trophy Quiz theory, something that I advocate as I do not believe in coincidence. It is difficult to fathom that those random references were for the sake of accruing an allotted time-frame for the Direct. Therefore, if we contemplate that with a rational perspective it is overt that something significant is going to happen in terms of those franchises. Unfortunately, that could mean anything. For all we know, Ike was the character correlating to the Fire Emblem section of the Quiz.

*Note: Fi has a correlation with Ghirahim just as the Metroid character is presumably another Pyrosphere boss. I believe False Palutena is easy enough to establish a connection. Tiki does not really have anything to do with Chrom. Albeit, she also relates with Lucina, but Robin; collectively, is more ideal.

While we are on the subject of Ike, it is blatantly obvious that the Ike reveal (when Wario was the most beneficial) from a marketing interpretation, in addition to the Friday prior to e3 show-casing a Fire Emblem stage it is challenging to disregard the plausibility of something pertaining to Fire Emblem during e3. The week was filled with aspects of e3. The first day was a stage regarding the Best Buy Demos available during the event. The second day was a stage figure alluding to the NFC figurines, which are also going to be demonstrated at e3 (by a preponderance of the evidence). The third day was merely an item; however, Robin bias enables me to arbitrary assume that both Wii Fit Trainer's might allude to something relational to gender-swapping (an unbiased perspective would note that the picture mentions Smash Run, so it could be involving the Wii U exclusive variant as well). That is a stretch, but it is the only picture that does not adhere to the observable pattern. The fourth picture was obviously an indication of the Smash Brothers Tournament. I believe we all comprehend the ramifications of the last picture.

"Here's Ike, Marth and..."

So I believe that it is fair to say that a Fire Emblem character is reasonable. I do not want to get into the merits of Fire Emblem Awakening as that is not entirely interesting. It is the preeminent Fire Emblem game, that is enough to presume that Sakurai will implement a representative. Intelligent Systems are not going to request a character from another game based on the principle of res ipsa loquitur. So honestly, that narrows it down to three plausible candidates: Chrom, Lucina, and Robin.

I would assess that Lucina is more likely than we originally anticipate assuming Intelligent Systems will utilize her in the future. For the sake of discussion, this is not going to be the case. Chrom is no doubt the most marketable and recognizable character from the franchise. He is also inadvertently one of the most prominent and demanded based on this notion. Unfortunately, his inclusion is perceived as a detriment to the game as we already have two similar characters. I certainly believe that it will be the case with Chrom, as a Wolf fan, I understand better than most that aesthetics are considered.

*Note: We already have Little Mac who was criticized for his bland and unoriginal move-set comprised predominately of punches. Sakurai is knowledgeable about this, or I would hope he is. I doubt he will leap at the sentiment of doing it once more. Most of the other newcomers offer something entirely different.

With Wolf, he had preconceived notions that he would have to develop him entirely differently to influence our interpretation. As such, he altered his stance, his personality, and his style to accommodate something largely diverse. With one character, he must try and find their differences to keep the consistency. With another he must avoid their similarities to incite creative thought. Aesthetic similarities have a negative impact on the play-style regardless of how unique it is. Chrom's standard blue-haired Lord design is only one of the plethora of problems he has. Robin is the Avatar, she represents the player and has customization because of that.

*Note: we lost Pokemon Trainer as one of the player based characters that represents the consumer base. If this is important to Sakurai, Robin would mitigate this issue by ensuring that it is negligible.

That is one aspect that puts Robin above both of them. Not only could she be a female, something Sakurai cited as a positive attribute, but she can change her hair color via palette swap in addition to having the ability to be both male and female. Aesthetic diversity is key here. Not many people think about Sakurai and what he wants, but I can guarantee that her palettes are much more entertaining to develop, that is an incentive that is often over-looked. I also truly believe that his inherent desire to gender-swap her will be her saving grace.

Contrary to popular belief; sword characters saturating the roster is an actualized problem. It might be fallacious to assert on its own, but it is a contributing factor and many erroneously write it off based on the primary surface message. Sakurai has stated numerous times that the character must offer something different to be considered. Chrom does not. I am merely asserting that this DOES play against him, it does not objectively mean that he cannot or will not be playable. Sakurai will consider his "raw" move-set potential. Again, everyone has move-set potential. That is not material. The character has to have an observable or canon attribute that differentiates them without indirect influence from the creative director. Robin's ability to perform magic is more than enough to satisfy the need.

Lastly, the purple coat. No seriously, Chrom's cape and armor design is fairly equivalent to what we have currently, especially with Ike's redesign being the only thing mentioned about his character. The purple coat is different. Just saying.

Honestly, it is not much. But I would certainly proclaim that she has more "evidence" in her favor than Chrom. Chrom is her only viable competition, so that is all that is required of her.

Robin, Ridley, Black shadow, Hades, Ganondorf, Eggplant wizard #Purplemasterrace

 

[GM_3826]

Honestly, I can imagine Chrom is less of a possibility than Robin. Now that you mention the whole "Possibility for future games" thing, though, maybe Lucina is a little bit more likely than we've thought. The idea that a new game may focus on the children after Ylisse was saved is not entirely unprecedented.

Spoiler

Although I hope it's about the new new children that were just born and not the second generation characters that came from the future.

If handled well, the game could very well redeem Ylisse like how Blazing Sword redeemed Elibe. Just one problem: Will it fix the inherent flaws in Awakening while still keeping the same tone?

 

[False Sense]

I don't think that the music they chose for the Direct really matters. I highly doubt Sakurai makes the direct... he is way too busy of a person to handle the production side of things. He figures out what to talk about, has it recorded, and leaves his production team to handle the rest. The trophy quizzes were probably handled by the media staff.

That said, of course he would know about the song. I am sure IS invested a lot of heart into choosing that song for the last chapter, and it would be one of the first things they suggested for Smash Bros. It is a very popular piece that does well in incorporating not only Robin's theme, but the Awakening main theme and the Fire Emblem theme as well. Every fan gets sick nerd chills when they hear the Fire Emblem theme.

This is what I have supporting Robin so far.

Exhibit 1) The Villager
The Villager is a pretty good sign of things to come. Sakurai doesn't really care about specific details; he's a man with the mind to make a fighting game. The Villager has no set appearance, has even more customization than Robin, and doesn't even have a default name. But he made a character out of the Villager anyways.

The Villager is also notable in that it shows that the fact that Robin's default name changing between each region is not a problem. Each language of Smash Bros has a different name for the character, and as such they will have to do recordings for both the announcer and crowd alike. I hope they have fun saying "Dorpsbewoner".

Granted, Villager is from one of the best selling games of all time. Villager is not a popular character, but certainly welcome because the character hails from a popular game. Robin is an inverse scenario: I would say there are more Robin fans than Villager fans, but more Animal Crossing fans than Fire Emblem fans.

Exhibit 2) Intelligent Systems
After I posted inquiring if anyone could find any instances of Intelligent Systems vouching for Chrom, I went and checked out interviews myself. My Unit/The Avatar, and especially Lucina, are clearly held at a higher regard by the developer. In Japanese interviews in particular, Lucina is praised. If they really "give" Sakurai characters to choose for Smash Bros, of course any of the three Awakening characters will work. That said, I could argue Robin still advertises the game well enough in Smash Bros... If you are going to ask who that character is and what game they are from, will it matter if they are not explicitly on the front cover? You still have to go out of your way to locate information on the game. In short, I am just saying that even if they wanted a character to advertise Awakening, Chrom is not necessarily an obvious choice. Not after we've had Ike.

Let me remind you that they had been conceptualizing Awakening for almost two years before it even began development. Lucina was among the very first characters... she was slated to be the protagonist, and fighting on Mars for goodness sake! It's not like Chrom was everything they had and was always at the forefront of their vision.

Exhibit 3) The desire for unique characters
Needless to say, this speaks for itself. It's not just the moves they can do; it's also thematic uniqueness. Wii Fit Trainer, for example, isn't actually inherently unique to a great extent. That said, she is from such a drastically different world from the other fighters. She was basically a user-interface, for a product that could hardly even be called a game.

If you want to bring back Marth and Ike, you immediately get someone much less unique by having Chrom. Obviously he could have a unique moveset... anyone who thinks he can't has no respect for Sakurai. That said, why jump through hoops and exude such redundancy just to have Chrom in the game? You can get a lead character from the same product, who is so drastically different from not only Marth and Ike, but the majority of the leads in the series.

That's what I got.

That's probably good enough to be put on the OP.

A lot of this sums up my thoughts on the matter quite well. Villager shows how totally customizable characters (more customizable than Robin, even) can get in the game despite that, and can be chosen over other characters from their series. I mean, when you look back, most people who wanted an Animal Crossing character in Smash wanted Tom Nook in, because the idea of the Villager being in was deemed very unlikely. Yet look who got in anyway, and look who ended up as part of a sinister Final Smash? Then of course there's the apparent love that Robin (and Lucina) receives from the developers of the game, which is evident both in interviews and just by looking at the final product. Just look at which character has supports for every single character in the game, and look at how the game can change up according to who Robin marries. All that wasn't just put together in a day, I'm sure. There was genuine effort into making Robin everything that he/she was, and I think that effort should be acknowledged. There's also the matter of Chrom not necessarily being the best marketing option, but I've talked about that enough.

One thing I would like to point out would be regarding the Wii Fit Trainers. You said that the Trainers are not inherently unique, yet are so radically different from the other fighters that they stand out as unique. The second part is true, but the Trainers do have a unique quality in their play style, specifically Deep Breathing. The ability to use a move to temporarily power up your character is something we've never seen before in a character, and Sakurai even points this out in the Direct. So, the Trainers are not only unique thematically, but also in how they play and function, much like every other newcomer we've gotten thus far.

@ Morbi Thank you, that was exactly the kind of response I was looking for.

Though I think there may be one (kind of grasping) piece of evidence that you didn't mention that works in Robin's favor. Well, technically it's a point against Chrom, but that's basically the same as a point for Robin. Anyway, you went into detail about how Chrom does not offer much as a unique character and conflicts with the already present Fire Emblem characters. Something I think is worth mentioning that builds off that idea is that when Ike was revealed, Sakurai went out of his way to mention the return of Ike's signature Aether ability. In fact, he reassures us of its return. This is somewhat interesting as Aether is also the signature ability of Chrom, and is often the basis for many fan-made Chrom move-sets. It seems somewhat odd, to me at least, that Sakurai would draw attention to Ike's signature ability if he was planning on having another character who had that same ability. It might not mean much at all, but it's something to consider.

 

[Weeman]

Honestly, I can imagine Chrom is less of a possibility than Robin. Now that you mention the whole "Possibility for future games" thing, though, maybe Lucina is a little bit more likely than we've thought. The idea that a new game may focus on the children after Ylisse was saved is not entirely unprecedented.

Spoiler

Although I hope it's about the new new children that were just born and not the second generation characters that came from the future.

If handled well, the game could very well redeem Ylisse like how Blazing Sword redeemed Elibe. Just one problem: Will it fix the inherent flaws in Awakening while still keeping the same tone?

Hopefully not, i mean the gameplay is already pretty good, just needs more working in the balance and storywriting. Most characters were good they just needed more space to develop properly.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Dang this thread is moving fast now.
It's hard to keep up.

Anyway, I updated the 'what Are Our Odds?' section. I tried to keep it semi short but it still ended up being moderately long.
If you have any suggestions feel free to shout them out. I'm also thinking of adding a common arguments section to cover Robin's chances more in depth.

 

[False Sense]

Dang this thread is moving fast now.
It's hard to keep up.

Anyway, I updated the 'what Are Our Odds?' section. I tried to keep it semi short but it still ended up being moderately long.
If you have any suggestions feel free to shout them out. I'm also thinking of adding a common arguments section to cover Robin's chances more in depth.

Thank you! I think the update is much more suited for our current situation.

Also, if you want to add a common arguments section about Robin, I made something like that for a massive post way back. If you'd like, I could edit that up a bit and we could use it for the OP.

 

[Morbi]

Dang this thread is moving fast now.
It's hard to keep up.

Anyway, I updated the 'what Are Our Odds?' section. I tried to keep it semi short but it still ended up being moderately long.
If you have any suggestions feel free to shout them out. I'm also thinking of adding a common arguments section to cover Robin's chances more in depth.

Could you do me a small favor and add poor Kellam (me) to the supporters list?

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Thank you! I think the update is much more suited for our current situation.

Also, if you want to add a common arguments section about Robin, I made something like that for a massive post way back. If you'd like, I could edit that up a bit and we could use it for the OP.

Sure, that would be great. I'll be sure to credit it to you.

 

[Weeman]

Sure, that would be great. I'll be sure to credit it to you.

I'm also a full supporter, in case you're accepting.

 

[Snagrio]

A few pages back someone (don't remember who, this thread is moving too fast to go check) made a joke of 4 players in a match with Marth, Ike, and Chrom and they got confused on who is who. Now look at Robin. There's no mistaking that s/he's different from the other Fire Emblem reps. Now Intelligent Systems obviously wants to promote Awakening in Smash, and while we have a stage for it, a playable character is clearly in order.

So if you are a developer of a franchise with many different protagonists which would you pick for Smash; a guy who looks very similar to two others already in the roster? Or someone totally different from Marth and Ike to better separate the distinction between the new and old games?

 

[Weeman]

A few pages back someone (don't remember who, this thread is moving too fast to go check) made a joke of 4 players in a match with Marth, Ike, and Chrom and they got confused on who is who. Now look at Robin. There's no mistaking that s/he's different from the other Fire Emblem reps. Now Intelligent Systems obviously wants to promote Awakening in Smash, and while we have a stage for it, a playable character is clearly in order.

So if you are a developer of a franchise with many different protagonists which would you pick for Smash; a guy who looks very similar to two others already in the roster? Or someone totally different from Marth and Ike to better separate the distinction between the new and old games?

The thing is that we can't assume that is what IS or Sakurai are thinking, it's the most logical choice yes, but maybe they'll opt for the popular choice instead. Granted, a scenario with no FE newcomers is also possible.

 

[Morbi]

If Chrom was the playable character, they should just make Falchion a spawn-able item.

 

[Weeman]

If Chrom was the playable character, they should just make Falchion a spawn-able item.

Brilliant, that way Chrom uses his deadly cooking skills to battle.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Geez louuuees what big conversation was going on here?

 

[False Sense]

Geez louuuees what big conversation was going on here?

Oh, haven't you heard? Robin support has been growing at a tremendous rate over the past few days. It seems more and more people are realizing Robin's potential and viability as a Smash candidate, and now Robin has more support than ever before.

Not that I would expect you to understand it at all.

 

[Weeman]

Geez louuuees what big conversation was going on here?

One so big even Ridley would be proud.

 

[AustarusIV]

Geez louuuees what big conversation was going on here?

We didn't talk about the purple Space Dragon in the room./suspiciously specific denial

Actually, we're all just expressing our support for Robin.