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What's to stop a player from encasing every enemy they meet in iron every time they go into combat besides like.... ethics? I have a player who last session encased an enemy's hands and feet in iron by turning the air around their hands into iron. are there any rules preventing this? or is this Rules as intended?

There are a couple of elements to the rules that will help with some of the expansive powers like TRANSFORMATION, so no, you don't have to rely on any ethics.

The first one I'll mention is in TRANSFORMATION's power description itself: "This power is very versatile – the GM has final say on the limits for its use." So you can start with "does this make comic book sense?" and go from there.

In the example you shared, I think it makes at least comic book sense that air could be turned to iron within the power's weight range, so we can move on to another general rule for power use that is present on page 61 in the 'Expansive Power Effects' sidebar:

Expansive Power Effects
Some powers offer a wide array of possible effects – MATTER CONTROL, SORCERY, and TRANSFORMATION to name a few – which are only limited by your imagination. This open-endedness is intentional, as creativity in using powers is a key part of the game.

However, the GM should feel free to limit what is possible to do with powers during play. This might involve inflicting stress or simply denying the possibility of certain actions, depending on what best supports the flow – and fun – of the game.

If the GM is ever on the fence about whether a power effect is possible, a great way to make a call is to require an attribute roll for the power to determine if the hero is successful. Read more on page 48 about making attribute rolls for powers.

And to close the loop on that, page 48 says: "If you use a power to achieve something beyond the basic stated effect of the power, you need to make an attribute roll to succeed."

So in your example with iron casing on enemy hands, what the hero is trying to do isn't "just" transforming matter - they are also attempting to do it in a way that traps an opponent's hands. As the GM I would allow it if the hero succeeded on an attribute roll - and in this specific case I would say it requires an AGILITY roll like with a shooting attack since it would require the hero to "target" the air specifically around the enemy's hands successfully, or otherwise they would whiff and a lump of iron would clang onto the ground. I would also allow the enemy to use an interrupt action to dodge if they had an action available to do so.

Thanks!