While they may not be as popular as their cuter base or cooler evolved forms, let's take a moment to appreciate some middle evolutions.
I dunno what it is about Charmeleon, but I actually like its design just slightly more then Charizard itself (still love my boy though). I think it has to do with it having a slicker build compared to Charizard's bulk, or maybe that smug attitude.
Grovyle is kind of a weird case where it's midform is super popular with some crowds, largely due to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but I still love its design for its own merits as well. It's feathery leaves looked more like a blue-green back then and I'm kind of disappointed that they changed them to be more green going forward, but I still love its design nonetheless. It looks so much more swift then its fully evolved counterpart though, and I could easily imagine it effortlessly hopping between trees.
Then of course there's my boy Grotle. Torterra is cool and all but something about Grotle's design just speaks to me. Perhaps it's that it looks more like a proper anklyosaurus, with its slimmer shell and larger head? Not that I don't like tortoises, but their giant shells combined with tiny heads
can look kind of silly.
Here goes the obvious shout out to
![Ivysaur :ultivysaur: :ultivysaur:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
while I'm at it. A lot of people hate her for her spammable projectile, massive Uair and Dair, and kill confirm off a grab that works at 80% but as a PT main I relish in that kind of salt. Keep it coming.
...Man a lot of Pokemon gain chub when they evolve. Anyway I'm tired and just randomly decided to ramble, but thank you for coming to my Ted Talk or whatever.