>>11546099
>How much longevity do you think the new characters introduced in the modern era will have?
>Will any of them become franchise staples going forward, or will fans and Mattel alike just forget they ever happened?
Has anyone become a franchise staple in the 21st century?

The 2002 cartoon tried to make every B-list Heroic and Evil Warrior from 1982-5 more prominent (no Jitsu or Spikor), and King Hiss and Rattlor got a lot of attention. But those were all 80s toys.
Oh, they created King Grayskull.

The DC comic? That was mostly Teela and the heroes in the Filmation opening sequence vs the Diamond Ray of Disappearance baddies with lots of cameos, right? King Grayskull was back for flashbacks, and King Hiss and Rattlor were the most prominent snakes again?
Once the Horde showed up, I remember Hordak, Shadow Weaver and to a lesser extent Catra and Scorpia getting like 95% of the faction's dialogue (not counting the defector Despara, and Skeletor in flashbacks). Imp got a scene of He-Man ordering his life spared while Mantenna, Entrapta and Dylamug each got one word balloon as I recall.

The Powerhouse cartoons made Scare Glow much more prominent.
If you look at the CGI cartoon, the writers felt they only had enough space in 26 episodes for 5 heroes, Adam's father, Teela's mother and foster father Man-E-Faces, the DRoD baddies (with Mer-Man independent), Tuvar/Baddra and the team Stratos assembles (with Webstor, Rule 63 Mosquitor and Gary the Living Fright Fighter).

Games are one place you might see obscure troop types get used enough that, in combination with mute cameos in cartoons/comics, you might call them franchise staples.