>>54522112because the shillstarters of gen 4 were chimchar and piplup lines, but all 3 lines are well designed, so you can like torterra without feeling guilt of "liking a popular mon". Note that Infernape is also liked on this board depspite the above, however, the actual reason it is liked is for ocntrarian reasons like Torterra. It was shilled in it's gen, but compared to it's fellow fire/fighting starter, Blaziken, it wasn't as popular and later on didn't get a mega or show up in spin offs like pokken, so it can still be a darkhorse pick.
