But don't the water and grass types always stay as creatures? It was the fire types that seem to become more humanoid as they evolved.
My definition of "creature" is A. not (unnecessarily) humanoid and B. it doesn't look like it has a job.
Being strict, Gen 4's torterra is the last true "creature". Serperior and Samurott aren't strict bipeds but they're obviously based on french royalty and samurai, respectively, (they have jobs) which makes it hard to buy them as a species.
Blazekien doesn't really have a specific "job" other than... Martial Arts guy but it's just way too humanoid to be an animal for a Pokemon based on a rooster.
just because I don't think something fits into it doesn't mean I think it's a bad design. Serperior and Greninja are some of my favorites. I just think those more character-like designs have a time and place, and don't work as well as starter 'mons, which are most appealing as cute but somewhat blank slates for the player to project onto or view as a pet/buddy/single special member of a species. I'm not gonna be legitimately upset either way, if the final designs are really unappealing there’s always the entire rest of the dex