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They did it to force any new players to learn about type matchups. All those pokemon have neutral matchups against the 3 elemental monkeys and your starter will always be weak to the monkey the first leader uses. So its to incentivize you to get the monkey from the dream yard that covers your starters weakness. Or you can just challenge yourself and take on the gym without getting the free monkey like a badass.
In other words, its soulful as fuck. Good game design that teaches the player, and lets the player have an extra challenge if they so wish.
