6. Charmander
There’s an argument to be made that the reason Charmander is iconic is only that its final evolution Charizard is iconic. But I’m not sure I agree. Charmander is one of the simplest designs in the starter Pokémon, but that simplicity harkens to a simpler time in the Pokémon franchise. Sometimes Pokémon were literally just real-world animals that said their name and had a slight twist. And Charmander’s burning tail being its life force is such a harrowing take on what makes a Pokémon different from real-world creatures that it’s stuck with me and the rest of the fandom for over two decades. Charmander is elegant in its simplicity, but still such an interesting Pokémon in concept. It doesn’t need to evolve for those things to be true.
