Palafin Transforms When No Sees Him Is A Superman Reference, Not To Mention That The Level It Evolves

Palafin Transforms when no sees him is a Superman reference, not to mention that the level it evolves from Finizin to Palafin is 38, referencing the year where the first Comic of Superman was published, which is 1938

What are your thoughts on the Finizen line? I like the concept and the gimmick (Palafin gets a second form that only comes out during battle to relate to superheroes and secret identities), but Palafin’s “civilian” mode just looks too similar to Finizen. I mean, I still love them because they’re adorable, but Gamefreak couldn’t have made a few more changes to Palafin’s “civilian” mode?

It's hard to believe it took us this long to get a dolphin Pokemon. It was never something I was personally all that excited for, but I actually have a major soft spot for this line thanks to the silly superhero gimmick.

Finizen itself is incredibly cute (I once heard someone describe it as a "littlest pet shop character" and have never been unable to unsee that since). I'm not much of an IRL dolphin person, but even I'll admit that I find it adorable.

nothing spectacular but nice looking, and a good "safe" design that won't disappoint those who wanted a traditional dolphin. Little details like the wave patterns alone the side and dorsal fine, the ring on the tail, the pink in the eyes and blowhole, and the counter shading going up over the eye add a bit of flavor to an otherwise plain design.

My only tiny visual nitpick is that the countershading on the eye creates this weird little tension point right at the beak where it flares out instead of just seamlessly merging with the underbelly. It's obviously very minor, but it's just a weird enough choice to bug me.

GameFreak I don't think you tried at all with this artwork

I actually think Palafin's zero-form design works. If this was the evolution and there was nothing else to it, that would be incredibly lazy and underwhelming; but we have an entirely different form to accompany it that looks drastically different, so it's more like the "evolution" is hidden behind its ability.

More importantly, it plays into the superhero theme; it secretly gains powers, with this form being its secret identity. You even have to recall it in battle in order for it to switch to its other form, with the pokeball acting as a metaphorical phone booth. The red spot even kind of resembles the Superman logo.

I do wish they went into the lore of this a bit more though; like, why does it refuse to transform in front of people? It's not like it literally has a secret identity or family it needs to protect or something. Saying something like "Transforming leaves it open to attack, so it doesn't like to change its appearance in front of others" would add a lot to the concept.

Speaking of the alternate form, I have... mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, I love fun gimmick Pokemon, and Palafin is no exception—I like it enough that I actually use a Palafin on my main team in SV. But the other hand, the design is a bit... questionable.

Don't get me wrong; theme-wise, it's great. A superhero motif is maybe a little questionable to be put on a dolphin (given that they're basically Ocean Fratboys), but it probably references how they sometimes save people from drowning. Regardless, we haven't really had a proper classic superhero Pokemon before, so it's very much a niche that's nice to fill.

However, in terms of design, I will never forget how leaks were coming out before the release on Reddit at like 3 AM, and the topmost upvoted comment when Palafin dropped was just "am I still awake?", which I think pretty accurately sums it up.

First, the design is weirdly humanoid in a bad way. It's mildly distressing that it sports human fingers and pectoral muscles for no reason; was it that hard to make a top-heavy dolphin with normal flippers for arms?

I also feel like the water (mucus?) accents on the body are a bit too much, and feel pretty forced compared to everything else. The gloves, for example, could've just been white wave-like markings over the lower flipper, similar to Finizen's dorsal fin. I don't think it needed to be this literal to work. I also find the eyes particularly weird; I though initially they were just big ol' bushy eyebrows with squinty eyes, but instead they're these weird goggle things that end up looking somewhat uncanny.

I also think that it has a weird lack of visual connection to its zero-form design; to the point where I'm pretty sure they were designed by two completely separate people. The only visual similarities are the rings on the tail, the chest marking, and the dorsal fin marking (both of which have changed shape). Everything else, from body shape to markings to colors, are completely different. Ideally, you would be able to look at it and see the connection between the two, but when you send Palafin out to battle in its hero form, it feels like you just sent out a completely different Pokemon entirely.

Overall, as a whole, I do really like this line, and it might be one of my personal favorites from Paldea; Finizen is cute and Palafin has a fun gimmick and unique theme. I just wish the hero design was a bit less uncanny and a bit more in-line with the zero form. (I also wish that you didn't need multi-player to evolve it—but that's beside the point.)