Iced Out

**"Iced Out"** is the tenth episode of the first season of *Power Players*. It premiered on October 19, 2019, on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

Madcap’s latest creation, the Ice Crusher, puts the whole city in a deep freeze, forcing Axel and the team to face him in a game of high-stakes hockey or risk slip-sliding into another ice age!

## Plot

The episode opens with the exterior of the Toy Store being covered in ice and snow. Masko, thinking that it's a winter wonderland outside, tries to wake up the sleeping Axel Mulligan to come and wrestle with him, but the young human boy refuses since he needs some sleep for school and he also doesn't know how to wrestle. But when Axel notices that the toys are preparing for a snow day, he's very surprised and opens the window of his bedroom, seeing that it's indeed snow outside. Axel realizes that something is up since he wonders out loud why it's a snow day in the spring and Sarge Charge have also realized that it's no ordinary storm since he sees that the buildings around the Toy Store don't have any snow either. Axel transforms himself into Action Axel, and the toys all run down to the porch and get into Bearbarian's Monster Jeep as he starts driving on the frozen tundra. But when the team is all about to leave the yard, they encounter another toy who's introduced himself as Ice Crusher.

Ice Crusher explains to the Power Players that Madcap have sent him to chill out the town so no one gets in his way. However, Ice Crusher has a goal of his own, which is to challenge the Power Players to a game of hockey. He said that if the Power Players could beat him in hockey, then Ice Crusher won't plunge Axel's house into the new ice age. Action Axel, not wanting it to happen, accepts the offer. But when Action Axel notices that it'll be six against one for the game, Ice Crusher creates five clones of himself to make things fair. Action Axel starts to get worried since he doesn't know how to play hockey, but his teammates assure him that they could at least try to prevent the inside of the house from being freeze.

However, in the first round of the game, the Power Players all realize that the Ice Crushers are cheating to win the game by using their ice powers and they have successfully scored their first point as the result. The Power Players don't want to give up and continue to play anyway, but after the Ice Crushers successfully score a 10-0 and Galileo was unable to defend the goal, the team all huddle up to discuss the situation. The Ice Crushers not only cheat to win, but they're also very good at hockey than the Power Players. Action Axel then realizes that "you do things you're not good at to get better at them" and while they have a tough start, they have learned a lot during the game: Masko is not a good skater, Bobbie Blobby realizes that her clay could freeze under sub-zero temperature, and Galileo realized that hockey is a winter sport and he prefers to be a summer player. Action Axel explains to the toys that they'll take what they learned and get better from it.

During the eleventh round, the Power Players all managed to score their first score by using their weapons to cheat in the game and they continue to do so, which lead to the sore for the team is now tied to 10-10. And by the time the final round came, the team all managed to defeat the Ice Crushers when Bearbarian uses his World Breaker to knock all of Ice Crusher's clones away from the Toy Store and scoring their last point, winning the game. This complete shocks the original Ice Crusher who asks the Power Players how they manage to beat him and his clones. Action Axel explains to the villain that "even if you're the best at something, there's still room to get better" and asks him to leave his house alone and go practice somewhere else, which Ice Crusher agrees. The episode ends with the Power Players continuing to play hockey against each other as the ice and snow around them melt.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Axel Mulligan/Action Axel
* Sarge Charge
* Masko
* Bobbie Blobby
* Galileo
* Bearbarian
* Ice Crusher
* Ice Crusher's clones

### Minor Characters

* Madcap (mentioned)
* Civilians

## Trivia

* In the French version, the episode is called "Briser la glace", meaning "Break the ice".
* This is the second episode in which Slobot didn't appear.
* On February 26, 2020, this episode was uploaded in its entirety to the official Cartoon Network YouTube channel in the US.
* Despite the Toy Store building has been froze by Ice Crusher, Uncle Andrew didn't appear in this episode and thus he isn't home to see his house and backyard were covered in ice and snow.
* This is the second appearance of Ice Crusher after "Porcupunk Rock". And unlike the previous episodes where the Power Players somehow recognizes a villain despite they're never seen fought them for the first time on-screen, this is the first episode in which a villain properly introduces themselves to the Power Players on-screen.
* Even though Axel said that the episode takes place on a school day and during the spring season, he isn't seen attending school in the episode because he and the team have to play a game of hockey against the Ice Crushers.
* Even though Bobbie Blobby prefers the cold temperature to prevent her clay from getting melt as revealed in "Attack of Thermometron 9000", she said that sub-zero temperature could jam the clay in her cannon. This could mean she specifically likes cold temperature but not extreme cold temperature that's under 0° Fahrenheit.
* It's revealed that since Galileo is based on a lizard, he's "cold-blooded" and he lacks energy whenever it's too cold around him. This could also explain why he hates the cold temperature in "Attack of Thermometron 9000".
* In this episode, Masko is revealed to be not good at skating and Galileo mentioned that he's a summer player.

### Errors

* Despite the Cartoon Network description states that Ice Crusher "puts the whole city in a deep freeze", he only freeze the outside of the Toy Store and not the rest of the city.
* When the yellow uniformed Ice Crusher and Action Axel are skating onto the ice wall, Galileo isn't wearing his goalie helmet.
* According to Bobbie Blobby, sub-zero temperature could jam the clay in her cannon. However, in some scenes, her clay hands/arms are somehow able to get in and out of the cannon and thus, it contradicts her statement.
* During the scene when an Ice Crusher clone is blasting ice into Galileo's path, the score above them reads 00-00, instead of 01-10.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/power-players/listings/
2. ↑ https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/cartoon-network-scares-up-special-october-toons/

**Future episodes**
*Saving Madcap* • *Impactful!* • *A Noise in the Night* • *When It Itches...* • *Broken* • *What is Happening to Uncle Andrew?* • *Seek!* • *Triple Game* • *Sergeant Lacharge* • *The All-New All Beautiful Power Players* • *Night Operation* • *A Good Spirit* • *No Pot* • *Pyrant Park* • *The Load* • *The Kings of the Jungle* • *Bad Track* • *The Funniest* • *A Maxi Villain - Part 1* • *A Maxi Villain - Part 2*

**Future specials**
A Maxi Villain