I think the biggest problem with the crocodile is that it's being pulled in six different directions.
- The "omg hes heckin cute i want to protecc him" fangirls would pick him as a starter expecting it to evolve into a Big Hero 6 style dumb fat cartoon animal
- The apple/pepper theme suggest something in that direction similar to Applin -> Flapple (hence a number of fanartists drawing plant themed concepts for it)
- They wanted to make just the final stage skeleton themed out of fucking nowhere, except the top white part of its head doesn't even become a proper skull element, it gets a white JAW instead with a strange tank railgun mecha dome thing on top
- The egg it gets in its second stage is extremely prominent and suggest that something similar to Bulbasaur is going to happen where the egg eventually blossoms/hatches into something even bigger on its head, but the bird is a miniscule formless pixie wisp that blends in with the giant flame streams
- It's supposed to be an opera singer to fit in with the theme of the trio, which is a feature that you need some level of anthropomorphism for, which the design is trying HARD to steer away from by making it look as much like a realistic wild animal as possible
- They wanted the fire aspect to be even more prominent than you'd see on a stereotypical dragon, to the point where flames are just pouring out of its mouth uncontrollably, which is an extremely strange thing to have in an aquatic singer
