You guys get an Ike vibe from Krom? Okay, maybe appearance-wise they're similar, but Ike and Krom are very, VERY different people from what I get in-game. And Ike's not the only one he gets similarities in looks- I see some Ephraim in there, too. Maybe a bit of Sigurd as well.
[spoiler=Masked Marth's identity]Having Lucina as a separate character would do good for Smash Bros., too- we need more lady Smashers on the team, and really, I can see the FE team growing. And we really need a female FE character on the next Smash roster.
Really, when Ike was announced for Brawl, I was totally blown away because I'm a huge fan of Ike and wasn't expecting him to end up in Brawl. I was introduced to Fire Emblem via Melee, but I found the games in which Marth and Roy weren't playable to be enjoyable.
But if they are appealing for the Smash Bros fans, they're going on the right route for me. They're also gonna introduce a whole bunch of unknown characters to those who doesn't know about Fire Emblem's past before Melee and Brawl were created. Heck, the fact they brought a song from FE Gaiden in Brawl really surprised me- it was a pretty catchy song and it ended up being a favorite!
So I think Awakening's really going for fanservice, but it's not just fanservice for the Smash Bros. fans... it's also fanservice to those who have played the games before Melee and Brawl came out. It's fanservice for people who's only heard of the gameplay. It's also fanservice for people who plays game for their gimmicks, because OMG the gimmicks in the games are plentiful.