They aren’t just going to give an important character a bland, simple design. You have to make them unique to make them recognizable.

That being said, it is very funny to see how unique the character is compared to other background characters (though to the credit of the second to last image I can’t pick who’s supposed to be the MC).

Its easy to give someone a unique design without making them look like poptarts
Take the top one. If you made the kid with the blue hoodie the main character you would be able to recognize him BECAUSE he is the main character.