| Transform! Hero of the Seas, Palafin
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変身！海のヒーローイルカマン!
Transform! The Hero of the Sea, Irukaman!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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March 8, 2024
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| United States
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November 22, 2024
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
| Animation
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Team Kato
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| Screenplay
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うえのきみこ Kimiko Ueno
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| Storyboard
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森山愛弓 Ayumi Moriyama
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| Assistant director
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森山愛弓 Ayumi Moriyama
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| Animation directors
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服部奈津美 Natsumi Hattori
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| 松本めぐみ Megumi Matsumoto
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| 高星佑平 Yūhei Takaboshi
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| 山縣クリカ Kurika Yamagata
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| 新城真 Makoto Shinjō
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| Additional credits
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Transform! Hero of the Seas, Palafin (Japanese: 変身！海のヒーローイルカマン Transform! The Hero of the Sea, Irukaman!) is the 42nd episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,274th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on March 8, 2024, in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2024, and is scheduled to air in the United States on November 22, 2024.
Plot
Having finally arrived back in Paldea, the Rising Volt Tacklers decide to stop on a beach to relax. Liko, Roy, Friede, Murdock, and Ludlow arrive ahead of the others, with Friede and Murdock heading off to prepare for a barbeque later that day while Ludlow stays behind to watch after the children. As the adults head out, Roy asks Liko if Dot is coming, but she responds that Dot had found the idea of going to a beach repulsive and refused the offer to join. Sprigatito, meanwhile, notices a Pokémon similar to a white Diglett, but with a longer body. Roy's Rotom Phone reveals that the Pokémon in question is actually a Wiglett, a Pokémon that is similar to Diglett while still being a completely different species, fascinating the children. Liko admires how clean the beach is, and an enthusiastic Swimmer suddenly appears behind them, introducing himself and his partner Trubbish as the ones responsible for keeping the beach spotless, before rushing off to pick up a piece of trash in the distance. The children then spot a group of Finizen swimming nearby, with Ludlow behind them remarking to himself that it's been a while.
Liko and Roy take a swim with the Finizen. While doing so, Liko spots one with a heart shape on its chest. As she surfaces to wonder about this out loud, a cry for help is heard; a man has been left hanging from a rooftop after his ladder fell over and broke. A group of photographers accompanied by a trio of Patrat aim their cameras at the sea in preparation of something they know is coming. Just at the moment when the man falls off the roof, a Palafin emerges from the sea and catches him mid-fall, with the photographers going wild at the sight of it. After Palafin has returned to the sea, the Swimmer from before introduces Liko and Roy to it, explaining that Palafin usually stays in its unremarkable Zero Form, transforming into its previously seen Hero Form only when there's trouble. However, no one has actually ever seen its exact moment of transformation. The photographers from before introduce themselves as the Snap Boys, their passion being to take photos of Palafin's heroic deeds with the help of their Patrat. However, when they display interest in capturing a photo of the elusive transformation sequence, the Dolphin Pokémon displays its disapproval by splashing them with water. Liko figures that since no one has ever seen Palafin transforming, it must want to keep that moment hidden. She figures that she doesn't mind not seeing it, as seeing something that Palafin doesn't want to be seen wouldn't feel right to her. Sensing Liko's considerate feelings with its ultrasonic waves, Palafin starts taking a liking to her.
A sleeping Fuecoco is washed into the open water while resting on a float. Once he wakes up, he starts panicking and accidentally punctures the float with his toenail, causing it to start sinking. Roy tries to help his partner, but Hero Form Palafin shows up first, rescuing Fuecoco and creating a new float for him from its water rings. Palafin then proceeds to perform a number of other heroic deeds while the Swimmer narrates about its abilities: flight using water streams, bubble lenses that allow it to see things from kilometers away, 50-knot swimming speed, super strength, lightning-fast Jet Punches, water-propelled super jumps, and powerful kicks. While everyone else celebrates the Hero of the Sea, one of the Snap Boys is feeling frustrated as Palafin's transformation sequence had just occurred right next to them without them being able to capture a photo of it. His companions tell him that getting a photo of the exact moment is very difficult, since Palafin only transforms when there's trouble. This, though, gives the first photographer an idea, so they set up a fake emergency by having one of them sit on a cliff while pretending to be hurt and calling for help as the other two are hiding below to capture the crucial moment of transformation on camera. Meanwhile, aboard the Brave Olivine, Dot is reading posts sent for Nidothing. One of them asks if she has heard of the legendary Hero of the Sea, but she's surprised when the post specifies that they are not talking about Palafin.
While continuing his fake calls for help and starting to doubt the morality of their idea, the Snap Boy on the cliff suddenly finds himself surrounded by a group of Klawf. He tries to distract them with his camera flash and run off, but ends up running into a palm tree while dodging a Diglett, causing a bunch of coconuts to fall on one of the Klawf and making the whole group angry. His cries for help become genuine, though his companions think he's still just acting. Palafin hears the cries for help, but hesitates upon noticing the cameras attempting to take a photo of it transforming. Liko and Roy also hear the photographer's distressed calls, but while Roy and Fuecoco run off to help, Liko stops when she notices Palafin hesitating to do anything because of the presence of the Snap Boys. When Roy and Fuecoco also start to get overwhelmed by the Klawf, Liko realizes she must do something. Sprigatito comes up with an idea, so Liko has her use Magical Leaf to cover the Snap Boys in a cloud of leaves, blocking their field of vision. As Liko turns to face Palafin, she's stunned to see it starting to transform before her eyes.
Roy, Fuecoco, and the photographer suddenly find themselves saved by Hero Form Palafin just as Liko joins them. Palafin strikes one of the Klawf with its Jet Punch, but another Klawf's X-Scissor strikes it on its weak spot on its chest, causing critical damage. On the beach, Ludlow decides to step in, pulling off his usual clothes to reveal a muscular body and a superhero outfit. He grabs a Dive Ball, sending out his Sharpedo and jumping into the sea with it. While Palafin is getting cornered by the Klawf, Ludlow, now in his superhero persona of "Mighty G", emerges from the sea on his Sharpedo, landing before the distressed citizens and addressing Palafin as an old acquaintance of his, much to Roy's surprise. "Mighty G" relays his plan to Palafin through vague instructions, which it nevertheless understands. "Mighty G" encourages everyone to cheer for Palafin, which successfully restores its strength. With Palafin's power restored, it and "Mighty G" perform a bunch of double hugs, successfully calming down the Klawf before posing for a group photo with them and then jumping back into the sea. Meeting up with the Snap Boys, Roy and the Swimmer are angry at them for faking needing help, and they promise to stop trying to take a photo of Palafin's transformation sequence. While Liko and Sprigatito actually saw the transformation, they decide to not tell anyone about it, feeling it's for the best that way. Liko and Roy return to Ludlow, who says he threw out his back to hide the stress that being a hero for three minutes has inflicted on his old body. Aboard the Brave Olivine, Dot receives the group photo featuring the "Mighty G", but since he's not a Pokémon, she does not care.
Later, Roy shows Friede various photos of Palafin that he got from the Snap Boys, impressing the Pokémon Professor. Ludlow notices an odd structure in the background of one of the photos, and the Swimmer tells them that it was built recently by a group of suspicious people who suddenly showed up there, causing Friede to suspect it being connected to the Explorers.
Bonus scene
While the Rising Volt Tacklers are having their barbeque, Friede receives an unexpected phone call from his colleague, Professor Willow. He says that a bunch of Pikachu wearing hats have started to show up all over the place, specifying that they look like Captain Pikachu's hat when Cap jumps on Friede's shoulder. Willow tries to ask Friede's help in getting to the bottom of this, when one of the Pikachu suddenly electrocutes him, causing the call to disconnect.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Humans
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar: "What powers does Palafin gain when it transforms?"
- Choices: Flight, super strength, jet propulsion
- Answer: All of the above
- The first eyecatch features Roy and his Fuecoco, and the second features Ludlow and his Quagsire.
- As of this episode, Mollie is the only member of the Rising Volt Tacklers who only has one known Pokémon in their party.
- For the initial airing of this episode, Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar was replaced by an announcement about the collaboration between Pokémon GO and Pokémon Horizons: The Series, which included a bonus scene featuring Professor Willow. This scene was cut from the YouTube and VOD versions, but was uploaded to the official Pokémon YouTube channel.[2]
- This episode marks the first time that a human character introduced in Pokémon GO appears in the anime.
- When Hero Form Palafin first appears, Liko asks if it is a boat or a submarine, which seems to be a reference to the iconic quote from 1940's The Adventures of Superman: "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"
- This occurs again when Roy and one of the Snap Boys spot "Mighty G" emerging from the sea, with them respectively asking if it is a boat or a ship.
- This is the second episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series to have its Indonesian dub released before the English dub, being released on August 30, 2024.[3]
Errors
Dub edits
- Liko trying to guess the emerging Palafin's identity changes the mention of a yacht to a submarine in the English dub. Likewise, Roy and one of the Snap Boys' guesses on the Mighty G's identity are changed from a yacht and a boat to a boat and a ship in the English dub.
- The bonus scene featuring Professor Willow was excluded from the English dub.
In other languages
| Language
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Title
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 Indonesian
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Berubah! Hero Laut, Palafin!
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References
Indonesian
