Freeze!

**"Freeze!"** is the thirty-first episode of the first season of *Power Players*. It first premiered on February 28, 2020, on the official Cartoon Network website, and it later premiered on April 5, 2020, on TV on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

Axel and his team find themselves in a tough position after Ice Crusher makes it too cold for them to fight back at full speed.

## Plot

The episode opens in Zoe's room where Axel notices his friend is setting up a makeshift bowling alley in her room. Zoe tells him that the reason she's going to set up is so she could practice bowling at home whenever she wants so she could never lose to Cleo LeBall again. After Zoe reveals to Axel her plan, he thinks her plan is way too detailed and wants to do it his way in a "quick and easy-peasy" way. Zoe tells her friend that he doesn't need to help her, and Axel tells her that the reason he wants to help her set up the makeshift bowling alley quickly is so he could get back to his house for any super-important mission waiting for him at HQ (i.e. his bedroom). While lifting a storage chest, Zoe sarcastically tells Axel that if he doesn't want to help her, then he could just go to his "super-important mission" while she can clean up her room herself. Axel, oblivious to Zoe's sarcasm, immediately leaves the room and thank her for "understanding" him, much to Zoe's chagrin.

But unbeknownst to Axel as he runs from the backyard to get to his room, Madcap and Ice Crusher are both hiding behind a trash can at the driveway of the Toy Store to plan their next strike against the Power Players. Ice Crusher, not remembering why they're doing at the Toy Store, asks his leader what they're supposed to do and Madcap reveals to him his plan: Ice Crusher must distract the Power Players long enough, while Madcap go plunder Andrew's toy shop for more toys that he could awake them with Minergy to force them into joining his army.

In Axel's room, Axel notices that his toys all need his help, so he transforms himself into Action Axel. Action Axel asks his teammates what is their problem and Sarge Charge explains to him their mission, which is to get his grappling hook off the top shelf above them. Slobot tries to warn Action Axel to not use his Power Drone, but Action Axel doesn't listen to him in time and activates it so he could fly up to get the grappling hook. However, Slobot reveals before he got interrupted that he hasn't finished repairing Action Axel's Power Drone yet and as soon as he finishes his warning, the Power Drone malfunctions which cause Action Axel to fly out of control in the room, but Bearbarian manages to catch him. While Slobot leaves with the broken drone to repair it under Axel's bed, Action Axel suggests that there should be another way to the grappling hook back. Masko questions why Action Axel couldn't just change back to his human form and get it easily, but Action Axel tells him that since he's a living toy, he should try to do it in toy mode and the team just gotta think of a plan through. Bearbarian suggests hitting the wall using World Breaker to cause a vibration to knock the hook down, Bobbie Blobby suggests blasting clay to make footholds to climb up, while Sarge suggests using his launcher to pulverize the shelf and grab the hook from the rubble. Action Axel tells his friends that their plans are too complicated and knows that any of those plans would have caused damages to his room, so he suggests they should form a toy ladder.

Later, the Power Players have form themselves into a toy ladder and Action Axel is about to grab the grappling hook off the shelf. However, their mission gets interrupted when Ice Crusher arrives in his room and freezes the floor under Bearbarian's feet. Bearbarian, who is the bottom of the toy ladder, slips on the ice which causes the Power Players to all tumble down to the ground, bouncing off Barbarian’s fluffy bulk one after another. Action Axel demands to know why Ice Crusher shows up at his house again and tells him to get out, but Ice Crusher challenges the Power Players to another hockey match. Masko wonders if they have already won against Ice Crusher last time when he showed up at the house and froze the backyard. Ice Crusher, having trouble keeping the secret of Madcap's plan, tells the Power Players that he came on his own to beat them again before asking if he doesn't sound suspicious to them. The Power Players, not suspecting anything, decide to fight Ice Crusher anyway. Action Axel directs his team to pursue, but Sarge thinks they should take a moment to forge a plan. However, Action Axel dismisses the idea and they follow Ice Crusher in the hallways.

In the hallways, the Power Players are having trouble balancing themselves on the icy floor Ice Crusher made and they ended up slipping and hitting into the wall. Ice Crusher, while taunting the Power Players, unintentionally gives away that he's only here because Madcap told him to keep them distracted from his real plan. When the Power Players once again try to charge to Ice Crusher, they clumsily slip on the ice and they all fall down the staircases to the living room.

After they painfully land on the floor, Action Axel gets a call from Slobot who's still in his room to tell them about his plan for Ice Crusher. But once again, Slobot gets interrupted by Action Axel and ends their call before he could finish give them his plan. Ice Crusher slides down to the living room and freezes the sofa before he heads to the kitchen. Action Axel wants to know what Madcap has to do with Ice Crusher showing up at his house all of the sudden, but Sarge tells him that they must think up a plan again which Action Axel dismisses it since they must battle Ice Crusher first before his uncle gets home to see the mess. The Power Players all charge to the kitchen and Action Axel demands Ice Crusher to freeze what he's doing, but the villain takes his demand too literally and freezes the entire living room and kitchen with each of the Power Players get frozen into a huge block of ice.

While Madcap is having trouble opening the front door of the toy shop because it's locked, the Power Players all manage to free themselves from the ice blocks. With the second floor freezing, the Power Players have no other option but to stop Ice Crusher immediately. But because of the extremely cold temperature, they're unable to beat the villain and Ice Crusher traps them with an ice blast. Just when the Power Players are about to surrender, Slobot arrives in the living room and accept Ice Crusher's challenge. Slobot reveals to his teammates that his plan, which he was supposed to tell them earlier before Action Axel interrupted him, is not to beat Ice Crusher at his own game but to slow him down. Ice Crusher refuses to play any games that substitute ice hockey, but Slobot teases him that he might be afraid he'll beat him at a game of curling, which isn't Ice Crusher's sport. But because Madcap still having trouble opening the front door of the toy shop, Ice Crusher has no choice but to play curling against Slobot to continue stalling the Power Players long enough until Madcap gets inside.

After Ice Crusher freed the trapped Power Players, he and Slobot are about to play curling on the coffee table in the living room. While both Action Axel and Masko are using a toothbrush to sweep the table, Slobot goes first and manages to get his curling stone in the center of the target. Ice Crusher, not wanting to lose against the slow-paced robot, goes next, but because he doesn't come up with a plan for a team to brush the table for him and he wants to win as fast as possible, he ends up falling off the edge of the table along with his curling stone which didn't reach the target. Slobot, who's the winner, tells Ice Crusher that curling is not about speed or improvising, but he has to think it through in the game. Since Ice Crusher lost the challenge, he has no choice but to retreat from his plan, unaware that he was supposed to distract the Power Players and not challenge them in the first place while Madcap tries to break into the toy shop.

Outside, Madcap finally manages to break the front door open and he's about to get inside, but Ice Crusher jumps out of the second-floor window, and because of him losing against the Power Players on the ice for the first time is a big deal for him, he tells Madcap to retreat from their plan. Madcap is completely unaware of what's going on inside, but Ice Crusher drags him away from the Toy Store and starts crying for his defeat, totally oblivious that Madcap has already broken the front door open and he unknowingly foils his own leader's plan. Inside, the Power Players notice Madcap's "defeat", courtesy of Ice Crusher's idiocy, and they all cheer Slobot for his victory.

Later in Zoe's room, Axel has returned to help with Zoe's plan with making her makeshift bowling alley. After getting a gutter, Axel asks Zoe if she could try curling since it takes a lot of patience, concentration, and planning. But Zoe tells him to stay the course and follow the plan at hand instead and the episode ends with Axel playing bowling in Zoe's room so he could practice his skills.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Axel Mulligan/Action Axel
* Slobot
* Sarge Charge
* Bearbarian
* Galileo
* Masko
* Bobbie Blobby
* Ice Crusher

### Minor Characters

* Madcap
* Zoe
* Uncle Andrew (mentioned)
* Cleo LeBall (mentioned)
* Civilians

## Trivia

* Before the episode premieres, part of the summary for the episode was first revealed on Tennessee Maciol's profile on ProZ.com. As revealed in the synopsis of the episode, there're several things that didn't make it to the final version:
	+ The episode would have open with both Zoe and Axel arriving at Zoe's house after school to move some of her furniture to set up a practice bowling alley in her room.
	+ When Axel and Zoe are at the latter's house, there would have been a fantasy sequence of Axel hanging out with his team.
	+ Zoe's mother's voice would have been heard in the episode. It also revealed by Zoe that her mother works in night shifts at her job.
	+ The Power Players' fantasy sequences of their idea to get Sarge's grappling hook from the shelf are very different than in the final version.
	+ The Power Players and Ice Crusher were originally going to play curling in the hallways instead of in the living room.
	+ Orangutank was originally going to appear in this episode, along with some of the members of Madcap's army.
* The episode might have taken place before "Bowling for Ballers" since Zoe mention at the beginning of the episode that the reason why she sets up a makeshift bowling alley in her room is so she could never lose to Cleo again. And in "Bowling for Ballers", Zoe said that Cleo is better than her at bowling and always wins.
* This episode takes place after "Iced Out". In "Iced Out", Ice Crusher threatened the Power Players that he would freeze the inside of the house if they lose him to a game of hockey. Even though the Power Players won the match, Ice Crusher had returned in this episode to freeze the inside of the house anyway as part of Madcap's plan.
* This is the second time the living room of the Toy Store had freeze after "Attack of Thermometron 9000". However, this is the first time the kitchen had freeze.
* The episode revealed that Slobot knows how to play curling.
* When Slobot arrives in the living room, Bobbie notices and asks how he is talking "too fast" than normal which Slobot reveals that he isn't and because of the extreme cold in the living room, the toys have all slowed down. This is true in real-life when a person gets hypothermia which causes their thinking and movements to slow down because of the lack of heat and the cold temperatures slow down muscle reactions and nerve signals, which makes it harder to move the body.

### Errors

* Despite Slobot takes the Power Drone away from Action Axel to repair it under Axel's bed, some shots would accidentally show the Power Drone is on Action Axel's back.
* Just like in "Countdown", Slobot is able to get downstairs all by himself, but it's unknown how he is able to get down without fallen off because he has wheels at his base instead of feet.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/power-players/listings/
2. ↑ https://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/power-players/freeze-episode.html
3. ↑ https://www.proz.com/translator/2490572?show\_mode=profile&float=&no\_arrows=y&forceview=&show\_mode=portfolio

**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