That surprises me considering how often you dump on other things you hate
I think you're vastly overestimating this. I don't do this that frequently, man
You could say this about almost any Cartoon Network character that isn't called the Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, or Finn the Human. Not saying CN and its IPs aren't influential or popular, that'd be a blatant lie, but it's never really been bothered with keeping alive classic characters until the recent IP boom so only really people who were either kids or parents at the time an individual show aired would know most CN series outside of animation die hards (who would also know the HB characters). I think that's more just a case of how TV cartoon characters, and TV in general, works, they've always had a bit of an expiry date compared to theatrical and comic characters, since episodic TV shows that were made to be watched in random order are harder to pick up and just watch years after they're off the air without being part of a schedule or routine, it says nothing about the quality of the shows one way or another, when I was in my Rocko hyperfixation I had to grapple with RML being a piece of "lapsed nostalgia" so to speak, or at least bordering into that zone - nobody talks about it online outside of "Oh baby oh baby oh baby", and nostalgia merch from Nick is drying up - that status will come for every cartoon on TV some day, and that's OK, because the shows themselves and their documented history won't disappear.
I really don't want to single you out, I know how that feels and it sucks, but you seem really adamant that "objective quality" exists and that someone liking something you don't, or even just dis/liking something you also do slightly more/less, is some ridiculous hypothetical scenario. Especially considering that the 90s/2000s CN shows that make up such a big part of MVS' hype have a distinctive house-style born from love and nostalgia for HB.
I disagree with your comparison to Rocko - I watched the same amount of classic Nick, Disney, and CN as a kid and the shows from those networks always stuck out more. The Flintstones, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry all have remained in the public conscious because they are funny and/or well written. I watched the other cartoons growing up - they're derivative and not as snappily written because of HB's well known practice of consistently rushing out cartoons because they were trying to compete with the other animation juggernauts by replicating the success of their own products. Scooby-Doo wasn't successful because of the talking dog - it had a dynamic cast of personalities and a distincly macabre atmosphere that made it different from other cartoons. The Flintstones was so snappily written because it was designed as a Prime Time sitcom the whole family could enjoy, they needed to be relatable and fun.
You and I have had this song and dance about objective quality before - I know I'm not going to change your mind - but it absolutely does exist. Objectively Scooby and the Flintstones are better made cartoons because they weren't made with the intention of just spitting out leftovers and cheap animation on a plate - they actually gave a damn about making them entertaining, which most of these other cartoons they just didnt and it really shows.
I'm not saying that people can't like them - to each their own - but I do think people shouldn't consider them as realistic options for this game because they just aren't going to get people talking. In a live service game that really does matter. PTE could be weird with it's choices like Toiletnator and Captain Planet because it was a full priced release that didn't need to keep people engaged.
Let me reiterate: If you like these cartoons for any reason, I am glad you find enjoyment in them. But I had my fill of them and their objectively lower quality animation and less timeless humor as a kid, with the exceptions of Scooby, the Flintstones... maybe Yogi, though he was always my least favorite of the three. And to be frank... a lot of them haven't aged well.
Hell, as a kid, when I was watching Boomerang, I dreamed of a crossover starring HB's characters - but this game isn't just HB. It's all of WB. With a net that wide, you can't really prioritize Atom Ant over Freddy Krueger, Ben 10, the Justice League, freaking Daffy Duck, etc.
Aside from the fact that this is a kind of bad faith argument, these “guy on the street” hypotheticals are always pointless, Kabong / Quickdraw is such a sneak here. He’s a character who is actually combat ready, is decidedly a pretty iconic character and if for nothing else is intrinsically tied to one of the most iconic cartoon sfx of all time. I think he would be a very good addition, but at the rate things are going we’d be lucky to get even Yogi.
He was just a name I thought of, but note that I absolutely in a later post pointed out I actually want to see him in the game. The crux of my point is that you can't afford to take these risks on Live Service if you're not Fortnite. You can't charge people $10 bucks a pop and expect them to be hype for characters they don't know. I for one won't be spending 6K of Fighter Currency on Nubia because I don't care about her. I can wait til she goes down to 3K for my complete roster. I didn't spend on Lebron or Black Adam, either.
I want to see this game succeed and have a long life - but they gotta cover the important bases before they start digging. I've said this from the beginning. They've been slowly getting better with the roster - Jason, Beetlejuice, PPG, Jack, and Smith all gave me something I wanted - but frankly... a lot of these should've been higher priority, way earlier.