Access Denied

**"Access Denied"** is the fifth episode of the first season of *Power Players*. It premiered on August 30, 2019 on the official Cartoon Network website and it later premiered on October 5, 2019, on TV on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

When Axel and the team try to figure out what Sarge Charge's secret weapon is, they get ejected from the house by his newly upgraded security system and must fight their way back inside before Madcap does.

## Plot

The episode begins with Porcupunk spying on Sarge Charge in Axel's room as he carries his suitcase containing something inside to a compartment of the communication monitor. After Sarge places his suitcase inside the compartment, Porcupunk rolls away to report his finding to Madcap. Inside the room, Axel has arrived home from school and he notices Sarge on the communication monitor. He asks the military toy what he's doing and he stammeringly responds that he's upgrading the house security system but he accidentally reveals to Axel that he's doing it to protect his "secret weapon". This sparks interest to the rest of the Power Players team when they all overheard him and start questioning Sarge about his "secret weapon". Sarge refuses to tell them his secret even when the toys are about to tickle him to make him spill the beans, and he leaves the room to install one last component for the security system. But before he leaves, he warns the rest of the Power Players to not mess with the new security system or the whole house would go on lockdown. Once Sarge is out of the room, Galileo suggests that they should give the security system a trial run, and Axel transforms into Action Axel to give it a try. Once transformed, Action Axel messes around the security system before realizing what he's doing is a bad idea and that Sarge trusts his teammates. Just when the Power Players are about to rethink about their actions, the security alarm goes off and teleports them out of the house.

While the Power Players are all about to fall down from the sky, Madcap has arrived with Porcupunk and Orangutank and he witnesses the toys being ejected out. Masko manages to save everyone by using his arms and legs to catch his teammates and forms his body into a parachute to land safely on the ground. Meanwhile, the villains are about to enter the Toy Store but because of Action Axel tampering with the security system earlier, numerous hatches have closed all the doors and windows, locking everyone out of the house. The Power Players all realize that they'll be in serious trouble once Sarge finds out they messed with the system behind his back unless they could get back inside to fix it. The six toys all head to the backdoor that doesn't get lock by its emergency hatch yet and they try to lift it up so they could get inside. After Action Axel's failed attempt to call Sarge to tell him about the truth since Sarge is busy cleaning up the second-floor bathroom, Madcap and his henchmen arrived, having overheard Galileo mentioning Sarge's "secret weapon" to his teammates. The Power Players are all forced to let go of the hatch they're trying to lift to fight the villains before they could enter the house.

But while the Power Players are fighting against Madcap and his henchmen, Madcap notices Sarge closing the second-floor bathroom windows and starts walking on the walls to get to the bathroom. Seeing that Madcap is about to break into the house after seeing the only opened-window the house has left, Action Axel activates his Power Drone and he flies himself up to start battling Madcap while the rest of the Power Players are taking care of both Porcupunk and Orangutank. During their battle, Action Axel falls into a pink alligator house decoration and Madcap causes it to fall down to the ground as he makes his way up to the bathroom windows. After Action Axel and the house decoration land on the ground and on top of Porcupunk and Orangutank, Bearbarian arrives and tosses Action Axel up into the air when Madcap almost makes it to the windows. Action Axel lands on his Power Drone and it carries him to the bathroom windows. But just when Sarge is about to finish cleaning the windows, Action Axel activates his Power Shield and charges to the window, breaking the glass and knocks Madcap inside. With Madcap now inside the house, the villain heads to Axel's room while Action Axel explains to Sarge that Madcap is about to get his tentacles on Sarge's "secret weapon".

In Axel's room, Madcap is about to get to Sarge's "secret weapon" when Action Axel arrives and knocks him off the communication monitor before he could open the compartment. Sarge arrives to intervene in the fight by throwing a canister at Madcap, but the villain knocks it away and the canister lands onto Action Axel instead, trapping him in goo which prevents him from stopping Madcap. Sarge tries to assure Action Axel that Madcap won't be able to crack his code to open the secret compartment, but Madcap smashes one of his tentacles through the compartment and grabs the suitcase out. Just when Madcap is about to achieve his victory for getting Sarge's "secret weapon", he realizes what he came for isn't what it seems to be. It turns out Sarge's "secret weapon" is actually nothing more than a bandanna that Sarge considers "lucky". This infuriates Madcap when he realizes his mission is all for nothing and starts battling with Sarge. During their fight, Sarge activates the emergency evacuation button and it teleports Madcap out of the house, sending him flying down from the sky similar to what happened to the Power Players earlier.

With the security system being fixed by Sarge, the rest of the Power Players made it safely inside Axel's room and Action Axel transforms back to his normal self. Sarge apologizes to his teammates for not telling them that his secret weapon is actually his lucky bandanna and he was worried it would get damaged. Axel tells him that it is his teammates who owe him an apology for not listening to him when he told them not to mess with his security system. Sarge and his teammates all forgive each other and in return, Sarge gives them their very own good-luck charm: their own credo. The Power Players all promised themselves that they would stay away from what’s not theirs and respect someone else's personal belongings and the episode ends with everyone laughing at Slobot when he's unable to catch up with chanting the credo.

## Characters

### Major characters

* Axel Mulligan/Action Axel
* Sarge Charge
* Madcap
* Porcupunk
* Orangutank

### Minor characters

* Galileo
* Masko
* Bearbarian
* Bobbie Blobby
* Slobot
* Uncle Andrew (mentioned)
* Civilians

## Trivia

* In the French version, the episode is called "Accès refusé".
* A picture of the Brooklyn Bridge can be seen attached to a wall outside near the Toy Store.
* This is the first episode in which the Power Players are seen outside the Toy Store.
* Both the back of the house and the second-floor bathroom is seen for the first time in this episode.
* This episode revealed that Sarge Charge is superstitious and he owns a bandanna that he considers his "secret weapon".
* The song that Sarge Charge hums while cleaning up the bathroom window is a tune of "I Don't Know But I've Been Told", which is a call-and-response work song that's used during the military.

### Errors

* Despite one of the suction cups on Madcap's tentacles got cut off by Action Axel's Power Sword, Madcap is seen using all four tentacles to crawl on the house wall to get to the bathroom.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/power-players/listings/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/CNschedules/status/1167510410335068162
3. ↑ https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81204650
4. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/france-4/28-03-2020/
5. ↑ https://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/power-players/access-denied-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