Yeah, for the starters it was often the case, actually... Until Pignite and Quilladin xD But apart from those, I like a lot of middle evos. Some of my favorites that I think are better than the first and final stages are Charmeleon, Wartortle, Grovyle, Combusken (even though Blaziken is totally awesome as well!), Monferno, Dewott, Braixen, Flaaffy, Haunter, Seadra, Dragonair and Vigoroth.
Especially Grovyle I consider a lot better designed than Sceptile. Likewise with Dragonair and Dragonite though xD
In general I think many middle evos get the short stick because they are made to be too much of just a transition between the initial and final stages. What happened with Pignite and Quilladin and Servine, I mean? ._. The former two just bulkied up before their final, large forms. Servine has almost-hands before they eventually retract as Serperior. That just seemed a bit silly to me, so I haven't really been able to appreciate Servine much at all...
And don't get me started on Magneton and Klang >.<