>>45985873>>45985909The only starters that partially ignore that core are Empoleon and Torterra (Grass is neutral against Water/Steel), but it's made up for by Torterra's Ground typing being strong against Empoleon's Steel typing. Yes, Infernape is also strong against Empoleon and Torterra is also strong against Infernape thanks to their secondary typings, but the all-important "Grass type beats the Water type, Water type beats the Fire type, and Fire type beats the Grass type" circle is still there despite two of them going against the grain.
I think Gamefreak has made a conscious effort to keep this circle in tact. If Gamefreak wanted Charizard to be a Fire/Dragon type, they probably would've designed a hypothetical Water starter to be Water/Rock or Water/Ground to keep that circle in place.
