Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-3095286-20170121174428/@comment-24426880-20170122183652

SomeBritishBloke wrote: No, not every character is important, especially if they happen to be minor characters like the Goth Kids. They are minor characters who pastiche the stereotypes of the Goth culture, but otherwise don't really play an important role in episodes that don't focus on them.

In terms of important characters to the series as of late, those would be characters like Kyle, Cartman, Randy, Butters, PC Principal, Heidi, Lenart Bedrager, basically any character that has impacted the story of the last two seasons, which the Goth Kids have not done (though that said, Stan and Kenny have barely impacted Seasons 19 and 20, despite their supposed "main character" status). It'd be really difficult to make every single main or minor character play a large impact on the story in one season. So I'm not surprised they haven't used a couple characters lately.

So deciding what characters are important in the series overall is difficult. Because the line between main and minor has blurred. And there are so many characters to decide go where. PC Principal is only significant as of now. In the series overall he was absent for 18 years, and could be considered very minor. He could be killed off next season, and never appear again. In season 25 he'd most likely have no relevance.

Although this season. Like you said, the most important is probably Kyle, Cartman, Heidi, Randy, Garrison, PC, etc. In the series overall however, could be reordered several times and still be arguable correct. And the Goth Kids would be among the least important minor characters. But since they had so many major roles, and between so many seasons, they would be considered recurring/supporting minor characters. Like Towelie.