>>32261166Charmander was another innocent Pokemon, much more naive than most and he loved his trainer as much as anyone can. But because he was naive and not strong, he was abandoned. Charmander didn't know he was abandoned and still believed in his trainer, only to be betrayed. He goes with Ash afterwards.
As he continues to grow, his original trainer's influence becomes much more clear on him. As Charmeleon, his pent up anger came out and he became violent, and hated being weak like he used to be so much that he literally forced himself to evolve to become stronger.
As Charizard, the influence from his original trainer was still there. Now, much like his original trainer, he also now only cared about the strong and was an asshole, not at all caring about the weak. The only exception to this was a Charmander, the only weak Pokemon he willingly fought, because it reminded him of his own past. At one point, though, even after growing so strong, he was almost completely destroyed in a battle. He was still weak. This was the very same thing his original trainer abandoned him for, but Ash stood by his side through it all, which was what really opened his eyes to what he's been and he caused him to change.
This is a very simple character arc, but it's also really effective. It takes the basic concept of childhood environment influencing adult behavior, a very real thing, and mixes it all to match Charmander line's Pokedex entries. It might not be the most unique arc, but it was PERFECT for Charizard line. Despite Charizard's popularity, this one aspect gets overlooked, as most simply write it off as an asshole character. The first episode of Charmander gets more attention than this arc, simply for being a sob story.
Most might prefer Chimchar, which had a bigger emotional punch, and it is my second favorite for that reason, but this was my personal favorite arc. It's the only reason I started to like Charizard, despite getting into Pokemon as an adult.
