Inteleon's issue isn't that it looks too humanlike, its issue is that it's an impractical, goofy mess whose lore jerks it off and pretends it's a sleek and efficient killing machine.
Machop is basically a muscular boy with a tail, but lots of mythical creatures, traditional monsters, youkai/kami, etc. are variants on the human body archetype, like trolls and orcs. One could easily picture a clan of Machop living up in mountain caves just foraging and training. It's a simple design that is extremely easy to read, while also allowing for some personality to be projected onto it. Yes, it gets the conspicuously artificial looking power limiter when it evolves, but at least there was thought put into why it wears/needs it, and I think GF became more conscientious about implementing those kind of details after the concept of a Pocket Monster became more established after gen 1 (e.g. Sawk and Throh are said to craft their clothes out of vines... which is BS, but at least they're attempting a justification).
Inteleon is a mishmash of gaudy details that give it that "anime main character" syndrome. It has a very deliberate and defined "outfit" that offers no lore-informed evolutionary purpose, and is only there to tell the consumer "it's like James Bond, get it?" Speaking of which, I get it when Pokemon have one or two biological niches, and yes, spies are known to have all kinds of tools, but it really feels out of place and almost Mary Sue-ish on this thing. Way too many gimmicks for what should just be a fantasy water chameleon. Hopefully nothing even has to be said about its hideous yaoi proportions, but it seems the designer never stopped to think how something like this could survive without falling over face-first if it really existed, especially in the wild with others of its kind.
You can shout "BUT IT'S A FANTASY WORLD" all you want, but the best fantasy media actually TRY to sell their worlds as somewhat believable for the purpose of immersion.
