Pokémon Starters Kanto

both blastoise and charizard are cool but i find charizard cooler

enlighten me on this rule

If Evolutions are considered, Eevee should win in a landslide given you can evolve it 8 different ways. Even the LGE Eevee that you can't evolve is OP since it has not only a higher Base Stat than a typical Eevee but it learns stupidly broken unique moves with a STAB Headbutt after defeating Brock while still being useful in the late-game to counter Agatha's Ghosts/Poison types with Dark/Psychic attacks.

Coincidentally, I contemplated starting a discussion involving the Gen 1 starters because specifically in Gen 1(not the case in the Gen 3 FRLG remakes), the Kanto starters are "replaceable". What I mean is that for a final team, you can swap your starter out for someone else. For Charmander, Fire Types in Gen 1 are just bad. Their movepools are poor and what they're strong against in Bug + Grass + Ice can be handled by other Pokémon Types(like Flying). Charizard may be a Flying Type, but he doesn't learn Flying Type moves(only Fly in Yellow version where he's not a "starter"). Only redeeming quality for Charizard is that his movepool is arguably the best among Fire Types(learning Earthquake being a big plus) and that he's a reliable counter to Lorelei's Jynx.

Bulbasaur is in a similar boat in that what it's strong against, other Pokémon Types do an equal or better job(Electric against Water, Water against Rock + Ground without any Resistance issues against Poison types) while simultaneously having Poison as a secondary Typing in a Generation where Psychic Types dominate. The lack of Water/Ground or Water/Rock(despite it being on the regional Fossils) really diminishes his value. I often find myself using Oddish, Bellsprout or heck Paras(he's underrated btw) due to them learning Status moves earlier while also being able to use Cut.

Finally, with respect to Squirtle, his biggest issue is that Kanto has tons of Water Type options with the game literally giving you one as a gift in Lapras. Yet the Gen 1 Elephant in the room is Gyarados where in RBY, he just dominates with a 125 Attack AND 100 Special. There's also Tentacruel(120 Special in Gen 1), Vaporeon and Starmie as potential Water Type options that makes choosing and keeping Squirtle a really difficult decision.

That's why after 25 years of playing Generation 1, I've concluded that when it comes to the original Kanto trio, Charmander is the best one but not out of necessity. He wins simply because he's the last starter standing while forcing your rival to take Squirtle(allowing you to avoid Gyarados), a Pokémon you can easily counter with a Viridian Forest Pikachu or ideally Jolteon(Gen 1 Crit for the win).

If I was basing this decision on FRLG, I'd still hold the same viewpoint on Bulbasaur but it'd be a two starter race between Squirtle and Charmander where I'd probably lean Squirtle this time around.

I voted considering eevee's evolutions, I find that Charizard is cooler than all of the eeveelutions combined.