Dodge City

**"Dodge City"** is the fourteenth episode of the first season of *Power Players*. It first premiered on January 3, 2020 on the official Cartoon Network website and it later premiered on January 19, 2020, on TV on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

Axel embraces the spirit of dodgeball to stop Madcap and Princess SugarSalt's battle over who is the better villain from spilling over into Zoe and Cleo's argument over who is the better coach!

## Plot

The episode opens in Madcap's lair, where Madcap and Princess SugarSalt are both having a disagreement over his decoration for his "throne room". Princess SugarSalt criticizes the lair for being dirty and dark, which Madcap argues that it's a point of having an evil lair. Madcap sarcastically said that if she doesn't like it, she could just live in her own fairy-tale kingdom, which she still doesn't have. Princess SugarSalt makes a comeback by saying that Madcap could make her one with Axel's Power Bandz, which he still doesn't have. The two then proceed to bicker again.

Meanwhile, outside of Axel's house, the boy is having trouble winning a game of dodgeball he plays with Zoe against Luka and Craig. He complains to Zoe about it, but Zoe tells him that dodgeball is not about winning and the main thing is to have fun. After Luka and Craig both leave the house, Zoe offers to be Axel's coach to teach him a few skills to make him feel better and Axel accepts. Suddenly, Cleo arrives at the backyard and says that she could teach Axel with her "upper-level skills". This causes an argument between the two girls over who would coach Axel into playing dodgeball, and Axel tries to calm them down by saying that they should *both* coach him, only to make the situation worse. Axel rushes over to Bobbie Blobby and Masko for his help to make both Cleo and Zoe think he's good at dodgeball because of them without getting one of them upset, but the two toys refuse to help since they are both busy tanning under the sun.

While Cleo and Zoe are both competing over coaching Axel as well as throwing various balls at him, Madcap and Princess SugarSalt both arrive to steal Axel's Power Bandz. But the two villains stop their agenda and start throwing the nearby balls at each other, still mad about earlier. As the two parties are still fighting, a ball was accidentally thrown to Masko and Bobbie who're still tanning. Bobbie looks through her binoculars to see what's the commotion about, but she sees Madcap and Princess SugarSalt fighting nearby. While Zoe and Cleo are arguing over whether they should teach Axel the basics or the skills, Bobbie and Masko both alert Axel about the two villains being present nearby, and Axel leaves the girls alone to deal with Madcap and Princess SugarSalt.

After transforming into toy mode, Action Axel activates his Power Drone and flies to where Madcap and Princess SugarSalt are. But someone accidentally throws a ball at Action Axel and causes him to fall. Masko manages to catch him in time, and Action Axel starts questioning out loud how Madcap and Princess SugarSalt are even better at dodgeball than him. While the three Power Players are sneaking to Madcap and Princess SugarSalt, Masko noticed that the two parties in the backyard are coincidentally fighting over who's the best at dodgeball and Action Axel knows that they must stop the villains first before someone gets hurt in their games. After Action Axel nearly gets hurt when the girls unintentionally and the villains intentionally throw various balls at him, Action Axel remembers Zoe's advice that playing a game is about having fun and he concludes that the Power Players must have fun at the villains' game of dodgeball to beat Madcap and Princess SugarSalt.

While the girls are still fighting each other, the three Power Players all manage to avoid the balls the villains throw at them. This leaves one ball left in the toys' field, which Princess SugarSalt and Madcap are both fighting over and Action Axel takes advantage of their fight and blasts a big ball of energy from his exoskeleton at them, creating a huge crater and defeat the two villains in it. Madcap and Princess SugarSalt both leave the Power Players in defeat and Action Axel asks Bobbie and Masko one more favor for them.

Action Axel transforms back to his civilian form and Bobbie and Masko secretly help him throw various balls at Cleo and Zoe. Axel lies to the girls that he wasn't aiming at them and he's only practicing based on everything they both told him. Cleo and Zoe both believe in Axel's lie, and the three kids proceed with playing a game of dodgeball for fun.

## Characters

### Major characters

* Axel Mulligan/Action Axel
* Bobbie Blobby
* Masko
* Zoe
* Cleo LeBall
* Madcap
* Princess SugarSalt

### Minor characters

* Luka (non-speaking)
* Craig (non-speaking)
* Civilians

## Trivia

* In the French version, the episode is called "Touché!".
* Sarge Charge, Bearbarian, Galileo, and Slobot are the only members of the Power Players who didn't appear in this episode. This is also the second episode in which only three Power Players appear after "All Trick No Treat".
* This is the second episode in which it didn't begin in either Axel's house or his room after "Porcupunk Rock". Instead, it begins in Madcap's lair.
* This episode revealed that sentient toys can indeed tan, something that was first hinted in "Attack of Thermometron 9000".
* Throughout the episode, Masko has two hands pattern on his chest because he was tanning.

### Errors

* When Bobbie and Masko are both tanning, there's a slice of lemon behind Masko's lounge chair. However, when a dodgeball accidentally gets thrown to Masko and Bobbie, the lemon slice is somehow moved to behind Bobbie's chair since it gets attached on top of Bobbie's head after she gets launched out of her chair.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/power-players/listings/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/CNVideoUpdates/status/1213207072025784323
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/RegularTweetsUK/status/1207770048288493569
4. ↑ https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81204650
5. ↑ https://www.france.tv/enfants/six-huit-ans/power-players/power-players-saison-1/1330379-touche.html
6. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/france-4/25-04-2020/
7. ↑ https://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/power-players/dodge-city-episode.html

**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