>>35771036>>35771059>>35771126It's a matter of degrees. Just as a quick example, take the Charizard line.
Charmander has a few obvious noteworthy traits. It's a lizard creature. It's orange. It has a flaming tail. Three major aspects two it. Fairly simple.
Charmeleon gets larger, but also changes one of those major traits while gaining a new one. It turns red and grows a horn. Four traits total, two changes from the base stage.
Charizard gets larger still, and has more drastic changes still, getting an extra horn and a pair of wings. That's two new traits, but it also goes back to being orange. That's five traits total, but still only two changes total from the basic stage.
So the Charmander line goes from three to five traits, with a fairly steady progression of changes. This makes it feel natural and connected.
Compare that to the list of major traits for Electabuzz/Electivire here
>>35770479And you see that there's a lot of things that shift in regards to both visual theme and details, ending up with a lot more major traits than the initial stage.
Becoming more complex is not the problem. It's doing so while still fitting in with what has already been established. Electivire having 8 major traits compared to Electabuzz's four is not the issue. Electavire having most of those traits be entirely new replacements for what Electabuzz had is, as it makes it look less like an evolution.
