HZ042

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, !) 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, in Australia on September 27, 2024, in sub-Saharan Africa on October 8, 2024, and in the United States on November 22, 2024.
==Blurb==
<I>The Rising Volt Tacklers are visiting an ocean beach, but most of the adults are busy with errands or chores, so Liko and Roy go exploring as Ludlow watches. Suddenly, a man nearby almost falls from a rooftop, but he’s saved by Palafin, a heroic Pokémon who is able to transform and become more powerful in a pinch. No one has ever actually seen Palafin transform, and a trio of young photographers is determined to get a photo of it happening, but Liko realizes that Palafin probably wants to keep it a secret. And when trouble strikes again, Palafin faces a dilemma…</i>
==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. , meanwhile, notices a Pokémon similar to a white , but with a longer body. Roy's Rotom Phone reveals that the Pokémon in question is actually a , a Pokémon that is similar to Diglett while still being a completely different , fascinating the children. Liko admires how clean the beach is, and an enthusiastic suddenly appears behind them, introducing himself and his partner 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 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 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 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 , transforming into its previously seen 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 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 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 es, 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 . 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 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 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 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 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 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==
* The Rising Volt Tacklers arrive back in Paldea.While this is left ambigious in the episode itself, it was confirmed in a tweet of the episode summary by the animated series's official Japanese Twitter account, and later stated in the recap segment during the next episode.
* Liko and Roy learn about ecologically similar Pokémon.
* Ludlow is revealed to have a superhero alter ego called "Mighty G" and own a .
* Friede is informed of the existence of a mysterious tower.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* Professor Willow
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
* ()
* 
* 
* 
* ()
==Characters==
===Humans===
* Liko
* Roy
* Friede
* Mollie
* Orla
* Ludlow/Mighty G
* Murdock
* Dot
* Professor Willow (Japanese version bonus scene only)
* Snap Boys
* 
* Trainers
* Citizens
* Captain
* 
===Pokémon===
* ()
* ()
* (Roy's; Rotom Phone)
* (Friede's; Captain Pikachu)
* (Mollie's; Rotom Phone)
* (Ludlow's)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (Dot's; Rotom Phone)
* (Professor Willow's; ; debut; Japanese version only)
* (Snap Boys'; ×3)
* (Snap Boys'; Rotom Phone; ×3)
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* ('s)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainer's)
* (Trainers'; ×2; one in an image)
* (Trainers'; ×2; one in an image)
* (Trainers'; ×2; one in an image)
* (Trainer's; debut)
* (; )
* 
* (×2)
* 
* (×2)
* 
* (×2)
* (; ×5)
* 
* (debut)
* 
* (multiple)
* (; debut)
* (image; ×2)
* (image; debut)
* (multiple)
* 
* (×5; debut)
* 
* (multiple; Japanese version bonus scene only)
==Trivia==
* Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar: "What powers does gain when it transforms?"
** Choices: Flight, super strength, jet propulsion
** Answer: All of the above
* The first eyecatch features Roy and his , and the second features Ludlow and his .
* 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.【公式】アニメ「ポケットモンスター」にウィロー博士が登場！
* This episode marks the first time that a human character introduced in Pokémon GO appears in the .
* When 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 : "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.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b73yN7n5sg
===Errors===
===Dub edits===
* After Liko ends the recap saying "The Rising Volt Tacklers are heading to Paldea", in the Japanese version, Roy says "We're here!" after arriving on the beach, thus implying the Rising Volt Tacklers have reached Paldea. In the English dub, Roy instead says "A day at the beach!".
* 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==
==References==
042
Category:Episodes written by Kimiko Ueno
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Ayumi Moriyama
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Ayumi Moriyama
Category:Episodes directed by Ayumi Moriyama
Category:Episodes animated by Natsumi Hattori
Category:Episodes animated by Megumi Matsumoto
Category:Episodes animated by Yūhei Takaboshi
Category:Episodes animated by Kurika Yamagata
Category:Episodes animated by Makoto Shinjō
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in Australia before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
de:Held der Meere, Delfinator im Wandel!
es:EP1278
fr:LH042
it:OP042
ja:2023年版第42話
zh:宝可梦 地平线 第42集