Objectively correct tier list here
Explanation:
>Charizard
I know people meme about KANTOOO dev favoritism, but Charizard is the shill pick for a reason. It's a fucking fire breathing dragon with a simple but great design. Plus while it was mediocre before, now it's actually a great fighter (especially with all the new forms it has to play with).
>Blaziken
The OG Fire Fighting starter and the first one that became a top-tier battler. People tend to have mixed opinions on his design, but personally I like it. Emerald had to change the Champion because Blaziken could sweep most of the E4 plus Steven (nice going ORAS lmao)
>Infernape
No other starter has been as core to your playthrough team than Infernape was in Gen 4. The design and Wukong inspiration are also great. While it is quite outclassed nowadays, it's bound to get some more love with BDSP right around the corner.
>Typhlosion
Relatively good design, but has become a bit of a meme with its stats and lack of moves. Highly overrated by Gen 2 fans who treat HGSS as the second coming of Christ, but still more preferable than...
>Incineroar and Cinderace
Both are obvious shillmons. Both are excellent fighters. Both have atrocious designs, but at least they aren't...
>Emboar and Delphox
Completely unsalvagable. Emboar looks like shit and is why people started to hate the Fire Fighting type spamming. Delphox is outclassed in popularity by it's own middle evolution, and if that isn't a sign that the designers fucked up then I don't know what is. The worst part is they aren't even good enough battlers to compensate for this.
tl;dr It was fine until Gen 5 when things went downhill.
