Hm... Okay, I concede that, being a different species, Falco has some more visual distinctiveness (though, Wolf's weird space-biker getup has some potential...)
In the original quote, though, you also said moveset-wise, which I continue to disagree most strongly with.
I have a message from another time...Fox and Falco stand more upright and fight more cleanly. Wolf stands low to the ground and fights with more brutal tactics (like claw swipes instead of martial art kicks).
🏳️⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse AlberiaWolf also barely has 3 moves in common. His Dash Attack is the same as Fox's Up Smash. But they aren't in the same slot, so I don't know if anyone considers that a clone move.
Falco does not fight heavily different from Fox. Wolf does.
And no, Sakurai has not actually said that the Original 12 are safe. Or any veterans. He has said he really likes the Brawl characters, however. So I find them a lot more safe than Melee ones. The only Melee veteran I don't think it truly safe currently is Falco, of the ones that returned to Brawl. And I don't see why he would leave. I also entirely disagree with having franchise representation based upon popularity alone. It should be good characters and having a nice spread out roster. Clones or not, Starfox has a great setup list. I'd like one more at max.
Mario is well-rounded out now with a good list. 5 is not bad. Maybe one more, but it's not needed. Zelda was at 5 characters since Melee, and I don't mind that number either. I would not mind if Metroid got a 3rd playable character.(key term being character, not slot) As for Pokemon, it had a lot in Brawl as is, being 6. I don't mind that myself. I wouldn't mind as long as it doesn't go above 8 total characters.(to wit; I do not count Ice Climbers as two separate characters play-wise, but I would count Charizard and Squirtle as two separate ones. What I mean by total characters is separate ones playing independent of another, strictly through switching them out, transformations or otherwise)
I would love to see another F-Zero, Yoshi, and/or Wario, but only F-Zero feels needed at this point. At least for better roster representation.
Shadow?Wait, how is Rosalina one of the most powerful characters in the franchise in-universe?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Uh...How? He's almost literally a palette swap of Fox appearance-wise, even though he may be distinct otherwise. Falco is, well, a bird person. He doesn't look similar to Fox at all.
Well that's your opinion, it's hardly fact. I think it means he's pretty safe. Of course it's not confirmed, but that's my expectations.
Because he never was a video game character in the first place?
edited 18th Dec '13 5:28:03 PM by CassidyTheDevil