If Gamefreak had went full wrestler or caveman with the design and actually put effort into trying to make the fake maw work, the design still wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be offensive to the eyes.
Something about Feraligatr that gets completely ignored, EVEN BY GAMEFREAK, is that it has fighting and wrestling aspects, Croconaw looks like it has a leotard and Feraligatr has osteoderms that look like protection pads and pugilist gloves, it looks like it's decked out to fight, so the design obviously had some gator wrestling inspiration, albeit subtle. That was entirely forgotten and went nowhere. There's also the Sobek comparison, what it Feraligatr being a feisty bipedal croc warrior, that also went nowhere, sadder still is that Gustave, one of the most famous crocodiles out there was given it's name and notoriety by a Frenchie who moved to Africa.
It's amazing how every singular aspect they could have pulled from would lead to a better Mega, but they said FUCK IT and went full humiliation ritual instead.
>>58623304A crocodile is not a dinosaur, the closest relation they have to dinosaurs is being archosaurian, birds are far more closely related to dinosaurs since they directly evolved from small Dromeosaurs like Archeopteryx around the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous.