I like your sentiment, but it sounds like you're talking about a different character, or maybe just about For Glory impressions. All of D3's smashes all have
significant endag, Fsmash included. That move does more damage, so the shieldstun is a bit higher. However it's definitely unsafe against everyone not named Luigi/Ganondorf.
Landing lag: what? 21 frames of landing lag means Bair is quite punishable, everyone in the game can shield and punish once they know the matchup. Nair's 15 frames of ending lag is first not even that good, but meaningless on shield due to horrible range. And lol Uair landing lag doesn't matter, 99% of the time that's not how the move is used. Don't even start on Dair. The rest of our frame data supports the point: we have nothing that's truly safe on shield. Then we also have nothing that truly threatens shield - so we lose both ways.
And yes, D3 is definitely worse than Mac. Mac is incredible, a great Mac player will flat out wreck D3. Same goes for Palutena, you probably just haven't played any legit Palutenas as they're so rare. I could also argue that D3 is notably worse than Zard as well - at least players have to be smart about rushing Zard down, what with his 4-frame disjointed jab, a 6-frame upper body invincible Usmash, a killthrow, and TWO killing armored moves.
Not trying to be a downer, only realistic. We have decent recovery, live forever, and edgeguard like a beast. And we have the only infinite taunt in the game
That's D3.
Okay okay, I'll give you the Palutena. I am a little harsh on her. The problem is that Palutena is much better with customs, but she's not allowed them. Also, what? 21 frames for Bair? OH lord you are right. I'm super confused right now. It always seemed that it was less than 10 frames for me. I am shocked. Like really caught off guard. And Smash attacks have very little end lag. Is there something different with the European version or something?! The smash attacks are hard to punish from my experience from playing with and against Dedede (Well, maybe Up Smash's end lag is pretty bad). Also, Little Mac is a mixed bag. Here's the thing:Little Mac is such a badly designed character that it's hard to say if he is better or worse. Here's why I think Dedede is better. I'm going to list the pros and cons for each character
Cons.:
Little Mac:
1. His imfamous recovery, albeit okay vertically thanks to his Great wall jump.
2. A massive victim to command grabs
3.Again, imfamously bad in the air
4.Side B is pretty punishable
5. His special moves are ridiculously predictable
6. He is bad at gimping unless your name is StylesX2.
King Dedede:
1. He has horrible mobility.
2. He has arguably the biggest hitbox in the game.
3. Unarguably the easiest to combo in the game.
4.Some aerials have bad ending lag. Fair, Dair (and I guess Bair?)
5. His Smash Attacks have horrible startup lag. And Up Smash also has long end lag (The other two don't seem that bad)
6. His frame data is generally bad.
Pro's:
Little Mac:
1. His ground game is absolutely brillant
2. He has the best down tilt in the game
3. He can combo greatly from his down tilt.
4.Forward Tilt goes without saying
5. His specials and smash attacks have Super Armour.
6.The aforementioned amazing wall jump
King Dedede
1. He also has Super Armour, albeit only in Super Dedede jump
2. He may have the best recovery in the game
3. He has the best endurance in the game
4. He has amazing jab cancels.
5. He has brillant setups in Gordo Toss.
6. He can gimp and edgeguard brillantly
7. He has the DededeCide.
8. All Aerials can kill (Even fair)
I think Dedede is slightly better than Little Mac, but that is the word. SLIGHTLY. A good Little Mac will tear any character apart. Sol has shown this time and time again. However, I think Dedede has a "Nearly Unloseable" matchup against Little Mac. The moment Mac is offstage against Dedede, he is dead. Even onstage, where it's more even, I'd still argue Dedede wins by a small margin. Inhale kinda kills the point of having Super Armor, and Dedede's grab out reaches Mac's. Dedede has a projectile that helps him in the neutral and Mac does not. Even though literally a jab from Little Mac can reflect it, Dedede can once more reflect it by using Nair or Down Tilt. I am a little busy now so I'll talk about Charzard later.