Question

Why did Turtonator get Dragon as a secondary type?

Comments

It's probably because Turtonator looks reptilian and a bit scary.

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A lot of reptilian Pokemon tend to be able to learn dragon-type moves, so I'd say it's because of its reptilian appearance.

Answer 1

Turtonator is a reptile. Reptiles can be dragon types. Also, he has scales and a long neck. Those are signs of dragon types. Also, it is a counterpart to drampa.

Comments

The only thing you didn't duplicate is the characteristics of most Dragon-types.

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Eh, clearing flags. It's at least originally written.

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Well, at least I made legitimate reasoning, as being of cannon reasons, not just "It looks like a dragon". It looks like a turtle, and Gyrados and Charizard look like a dragon, yet they aren't dragon types. Also, Vibrava, Flygon, Goomy family, and Reshiram don't look like a dragon, yet they're dragon type.

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Staka~ I never saw you so salty lol.

Vibrava and Flygon are a pun on ‘*dragon*fly’

Goomy is a Dragon because Goodra looks like a Dragon. Just like why Shellder is a Dragon. Reshiram literally is a Dragon lol.

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Yea because Reshiram is a wyvern which is a type of dragon

Answer 2

Turtonator is likely based on both Tarasque, a hybrid dragon from French culture, and Dragon Turtle, from Japanese culture.
There is also the concept of it being Drampa's counterpart in the game versions, and also the general base concept.

Answer 3

I don't see any reason for Turtonator to be dragon type except it is Drampa's counterpart:

Turtonator can be seen as a counterpart to Drampa. Both are Dragon-type Pokémon with the same base stat total. They also share the same stat values, but with the exception of Speed, these values are assigned to different stats. While Turtonator is exclusive to Sun, Drampa is exclusive to Pokémon Moon.

Source