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"The Scratch Pack" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Power Players. It premiered on January 3, 2020, on the official Cartoon Network website, and it later premiered on February 2, 2020, on TV on Cartoon Network.
Synopsis[]
Axel and the team must run damage control after a loose spark of Minergy accidentally turns Zoe's old toys - a set of cute squishy kittens - into a pack of snarling beasts.[3]
Plot[]
The episode begins in Zoe's room where Axel Mulligan, Masko, and Bearbarian are being trained by Sarge Charge for a soccer game later today. Masko is excited to play and win the "football" game and when he sees a ball of yarn in a box nearby, he takes it out and suggests to his friends that they should practice by pretending that the yarn is the ball while they wait for Zoe who's on the phone with her mother. Axel transforms into Action Axel and passes the yarn ball to Bearbarian, but Bearbarian accidentally kicks the ball too hard that it smashes through an air vent door above them. After losing the yarn ball, Masko decides to use the other balls he sees in the same box and rolls them out so they could practice. But to the toys' surprise, they found that the "balls" are very fluffy and look like they're made of plushes.
Action Axel tells his teammates that the "balls" are actually toys from a toyline called "The Scratch Pack Cats". Action Axel wonders why Zoe still keeps the Scratch Pack Cats when they're supposed to be "babies toys", but Masko finds the Cats to be cute and asks Sarge if they could keep them. Sarge dismisses the idea of having the Cats joining the troop because of their inability “to stay awake" and he can't resist their cuteness. Action Axel transforms back into his civilian form and informs Masko that he must retrieve the ball of yarn from the vent before Zoe gets back to the room.
But while Masko is having trouble getting the yarn back because of the dust inside, Zoe returns to see Axel juggling with the Scratch Pack Cats and he asks her if the Cats are in her team or his. Zoe stops Axel from continuing juggling the Cats and reveals to him and the Power Players that she played with the Cats a lot since she's a kid. She even warns them that if someone takes away their yarn ball, then the Cats would go berserk. But whenever the Cats walk, their theme song would play, which Zoe sings out loud and Bearbarian starts dancing when he finds it very catchy. Zoe realizes that her friends have been using the yarn ball to practice their game and wonders out loud where it is.
As the Power Players are still waiting for Masko, Axel picks up Brown Tabby to play with him. But Zoe grabs Brown Tabby out of Axel’s hand, which unintentionally causes his right Power Band to fall off and bumps into the bedroom wall. The Power Band falls onto the floor and starts releasing Minergy in the room, causing the Scratch Pack Cats to come to life. The Scratch Pack Cats start becoming angry because they don’t have their yarn ball and start attacking everyone in the room.
Masko, who sneezes out the vent door, arrives just in time to see the commotion and he and Sarge both charge to the Scratch Pack Cats to retreat the Power Band back. But Sarge and Masko immediately get scared of the Cats’ hisses and they no longer view them as cute anymore. Axel tries to calm the Cats down, but one of them scratches his hand, which causes Masko to get scared and hides behind a room divider. Sarge and Bearbarian both try to stop the Cats, but Axel warns them that the Cats’ trance powers are real, since they're animated by Minergy. The Cats hypnotized Sarge, Bearbarian, and Zoe into a trance and caused them to sing and dance to the toys’ theme song. Axel grabs his backpack to use it as a shield and snaps Zoe out of the trance. The two kids are sneaking past the Scratch Pack Cats when Axel briefly gets put in the trance, but Zoe manages to snap him out of it. Axel grabs Sarge and Bearbarian, snapping them out of the trance and places them into his backpack. Axel warns Sarge and Bearbarian about the Scratch Pack Cats’ powers and they should not look at them in the eyes. Sarge and Bearbarian decide not to close their eyes, but instead, they’re strong to deny the Cats’ control.
Bearbarian jumps out of Axel’s backpack and he’s about to land into Orange Tabby who’s wearing the Power Band as a belt. Masko, who’s still hiding, suggests to Bearbarian to curl up into a ball so the Cats would think he’s a ball of yarn, and Bearbarian does what he said. While Orange Tabby is scratching Bearbarian, Sarge takes off the Power Band from his waist and passes to Masko. Masko then kicks the Power Band back to Axel which allows the latter to transform back into Action Axel. As the Power Players start fighting with the Scratch Pack Cats, Action Axel tells Zoe that since they didn’t get much Minergy, they have to try tired them out to make them get back to their dormant states. Zoe, after closing her bedroom door to prevent the Cats from getting out, suggests Action Axel that they should play with the Cats to keep them distracted. Action Axel likes the idea and tells Masko to get the ball of yarn from the vent again.
However, Masko unintentionally unravels the ball of yarn after finding it in the vent, which forces the Power Players to use him as a substitute for the ball to tire the Scratch Pack Cats out. The Power Players all kick Masko around like a soccer ball and manage to lure the Cats back into the box, allowing them to get the Cats to get tired out. Zoe and the Power Players also sing the theme song to calm them down before the Cats get put back into their dormant state. With the Scratch Pack Cats’ defeat, Action Axel apologizes to Zoe for teasing her about still keeping the Cats around and she forgives him. Bearbarian also jokingly said after the incident that led to a part of his plush fur being scratched by the Cats, he should stick with dogs for a while and his friends all laugh in amusement.
Characters[]
Major Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Zoe’s mother (mentioned)
- Civilians
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- This episode takes place entirely in Zoe's room.
- This is the second episode in which Bobbie Blobby didn't appear after "All Trick No Treat".
- This is the third episode in which Galileo didn't appear after "All Trick No Treat" and "Dodge City".
- This is the fifth episode in which Slobot didn't appear after "All Trick No Treat", "Iced Out", "Sand Trap", and "Dodge City".
- Throughout the episode, Masko refers to soccer as "football". This is a reference to the fact that in Mexico, the country where lucha libre is originated from, soccer is known as "association football".
- When Axel transforms into Action Axel at the beginning of the episode, the transformation sequence isn't seen. However, the transformation sequence is seen when he transforms for the second time.
- Before the episode’s worldwide premiere, Jeremy Zag posted a screenshot of it on Instagram on August 29, 2019.[4]
- This is the first episode in which Zoe is seen as a kid in a flashback.
- Bearbarian revealed that aside from scaring the dark, he is also scared of snakes, spider-bats, and human babies.
- Sarge’s lucky bandanna from "Access Denied" can be seen when he is about to cover his eyes to avoid looking at the Scratch Pack Cats in the eyes.
Errors[]
- During the scene when Sarge passes the Power Band to Masko, Axel can be seen wearing both of his Power Bandz in his wrists.
Gallery
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References[]