>>54232569You're thinking of their size in terms of a full-grown man, but remember, the target audience is 10-13 years old (y'know, like the protagonists). A Charizard will loom over them, but not so much as to not be befriendable.
If you scale them up proportionally (10 year olds are around 4'6", adults let's say 6'0", so +33%), a Charizard would be around 7'4". A starter evo you could imagine being friends with, but who would be pretty intimidating if they don't like you.