Pokémon Starters Kanto

your not allowed to like charizard

Charizard gets a ton of love because it, along with the other Gen 1 starters, has gotten big buffs since their inception. Specifically, for Charizard, +24 to SpA, better movepool including Dragon + Flying moves and two Mega Evolutions. That's in addition to being a cool looking Pokémon. Smart people would take Charmander in Gen 1 despite its early struggles because that forced your rival to take Squirtle at the expense of taking Gyarados. Gyarados in Gen 1 was truly busted so avoiding a 125 Attack/100 Special monster in lieu of the starter was a big blessing while also having Exeggutor and Arcanine(with bad moveset) be his Grass and Fire picks respectively.