Game Changer

**"Game Changer"** is the second segment of the twenty-ninth episode of the first season of *Hamster & Gretel*, and the fifty-seventh episode overall. It is paired with "Flake It Till You Make It" and premiered on Disney Channel on December 2, 2023.

Kevin, Fred, Hiromi and Anthony are offered to test a new video game at an abandoned cassette tape warehouse in exchange for a prize. As Fred and Anthony get a turn to play first, Kevin and Hiromi investigate the suspicious place.

## Plot

While playing the video game *Thrashball,* Kevin, Fred, Hiromi, and Anthony encounter an advertisement inviting them to a beta test for a new video game. They accept the offer upon learning that they will receive a top-secret prize. While on the way to the testing site, an abandoned cassette factory, Kevin wonders if Hiromi has romantic feelings towards him, with Fred noting that he will not know unless he asks her out, which Kevin is hesitant to do out of fear that Hiromi will make fun of him. Kevin and company are introduced to game designer Wallace, who provides them with *Jellyfish Realtor*, while Gretel and Bailey attempt to win prizes from a claw machine.

Suspecting something is amiss, Hiromi does some research on Wallace and finds that he is connected to a shady organization. She and Kevin sneak into the testing room via the air vents and find Fred and Anthony being sent into a truck on remote-controlled chairs. Kevin and Hiromi then learn that Wallace is actually Tina, Grobla, and Gerbil in disguise in an attempt to bring Fred and Anthony to Bolgylvania as part of their plan to improve their video games and win back their honor.

Hamster and Gretel, who overheard Kevin and Hiromi's discourse with "Wallace," arrive to battle Tina and Gerbil, while Kevin and Hiromi prevent Fred and Anthony from entering the truck by entangling the chairs' wheels in cassette tape film. After being launched outside, Tina notices a crowd surrounding the claw machine, which is apparently a decommissioned Bolgylvanian training arm used to train dock workers, and decides that she and Grobla―who went to get smoothies with Bailey instead of fighting her―will take it back to Bolgylvania with them. Meanwhile, Kevin finally decides to ask Hiromi on a date, to which she says yes.

## Cast and characters

* Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
* Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
* Beck Bennett as Hamster
* Joey King as Fred Grant
* Hiromi Dames as Hiromi Tanaka
* Akintoye as Anthony
* Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
* Stephen Root as Wallace
* Camryn Grimes as Tina
* Tiana Camacho as Grobla
* Brock Powell as Gerbil
* Keith Ferguson as Principal Funderberk

### Additional voices

* Abby Espiritu as Naya
* Dan Povenmire as Male Alien
* Joanna Hausmann as Female Alien
* Phil LaMarr as Thrashball Announcer
* Tiana Camacho as Astronaut

## Songs

* Bolgylvanian Force
* How You Feel About Me (instrumental)

## Transcript

*Click here to read the full transcript of **"Game Changer"**.*

## Background information

### Trivia

* The title of this episode references the term "game changer", which usually refers to something (or someone) that completely alters the way of thinking in a certain situation. The term could also refer to something (or someone) that alters the direction in a narrative or alters the rules or results in a game.
* This is Anthony's final appearance in Season 1.

### Allusions

* **Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned** - Before entering the cassette factory, Fred utters a bowdlerized version of this line from the 1697 William Congreve tragedy, *The Mourning Bride.*

## References

1. ↑ https://www.dgepress.com/disneybrandedtelevision/pressrelease/december-2023-programming-highlights/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/disneytvanews/status/1720282094398558690