History WesternAnimation / TransformersRescueBots

* WhipItGood: Heatwave is shown in "Bot To The Future" using his fire hose as a whip. (When it lands in a Morbot cannon, he uses a KillItWithWater to flood the Morbot inside.)

** Bumblebee likewise has a big presence in the toy-line, despite appearing less often each season: three episodes in Season One, just one in Season Two, and not even ''mentioned'' in Season Three.

* MerchandiseDriven: This is ''Transformers'' we're talking, about after all.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to Griffin Rock, the most accident-prone town in America!]].]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:350:0 Days Since Someone Set Themselves on Fire]].]]-]

** In "New Normal", Mayor Luskey remarks "This is why I hate nature", which is an apparent play on Carmine Fanzone's catch phrase of "This is why I hate machines" from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Both Luskey and Fanzone were voiced by Creator/JeffBennett.
** In the Season 4 episode "Enemy of My Enemy", Heatwave retorts to Kade "you were expecting Starscream?". Which is appropriate as ''Creator/SteveBlum'' has [[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime voiced both of them]]

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Kade sees Cody's attempts at trying to join the family on their assignments to be this, while Cody sees ''him'' as a milder BigBrotherBully that's trying to keep him out. Nevertheless, they do care about each other, as shown in "Under Pressure."

* BadPresent: Cody, Frankie, and the Bots visit one in "Bot to the Future." [[spoiler:Dr. Morocco has taken over Griffin Rock and rules with an iron fist, with the intention of eventually [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]]; Chief Burns is a museum janitor; Kade, Dani, and Graham are auto mechanics; Cody doesn't exist; and Doc Greene doesn't live in Griffin Rock (at best - where he is is never made clear).]]

** In "It's a Bot Time," when confronted by several Morbots, [[spoiler:Bumblebee]] initially assumes the Morbots are Decepticons, judging by Heatwave's response to him.

** Chief Burns during the Flobster parade: "At least it wasn't livestock this time."

*** The episode about fixing a BadFuture is titled "Bot to the Future."

** In "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock," one of the panicking citizens' phone calls causes a character to retort that her husband Edgar is not a giant cockroach from Mars. Edgar, the villain in the first ''Film/MenInBlack'' film, was a giant cockroach alien.
*** In the same episode, a character runs down a street claiming, "They're everywhere, they're everywhere," from ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''.

* StealthPun: "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock" features movie night for the Rescue Bots. What does Chase want to watch? "I vote for an action film. Preferably with high-speed pursuits." Meaning he enjoys [[spoiler:''[[ChaseScene chase scenes.]]]]''

** Doc Greene finds one in "It's a Bot Time." It was built in 1939, but couldn't be powered until the present day, with nuclear power (or energon, as the Bots find out).

* CheerfulChild: Cody and Frankie.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** The ''Griffin Rock Safety Board'' was created in place of the Burnses after they were suspended from rescue duties [[DisproportionateRetribution due to being related to a pirate]]. This eventually spiralled into chaos as the board were heavily inexperienced in said duties and were often unable to respond to ''any'' emergency or cause even more damage. It got so bad to the point where Milo ([[{{Irony}}a member of the board and fully aware of it]]) spearheaded a revolution to end the board itself and bring back the Burnses.

* HarmlessFreezing: Slightly justified in "Did You See What I Thaw?", a frozen caveman is thawed out with no ill effects. It's explained that the piece of energon he wears as a necklace helped keep him alive.

** The writers further included additional gaming references, such as the line "AWinnerIsYou" and "AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs." Blades also takes an arrow to the knee.

** Cody wonders why ''none'' of the tech sent to the ''Island of Misfit Tech'' were switched off before being sent there.

** Mayor Luskley develops this when it comes to protecting Griffin Rock and its citizens.

* QuirkyTown: Griffin Rock.

* TakeThat: Possibly on the live-action movies in "Rescue Boy".

** Considering [[Creator/MichaelBay who usually directs them...]]

* TimeMachine: Doc Greene finds one in "It's a Bot Time." It was built in 1939, but couldn't be powered until the present day, with nuclear power (or energon, as the Bots find out).

* TransformationDiscretionShot: In "Feed the Beast", Graham and Mayor Luskey are turned into Sasquatch-like werebeasts after eating Fo-Foo. While Graham's transformation occurs on-camera, Mayor Lusky's transformation occurs offscreen.

* UnusualEuphemism: From "A Virtual Disaster":

* TransformationDiscretionShot: In "Feed the Beast", Graham and Mayor Lusky are turned into Sasquatch-like werebeasts after eating Fo-Foo. While Graham's transformation occurs on-camera, Mayor Lusky's transformation occurs offscreen.

* TransformationDiscretionShot: In "Feed the Beast", Graham and Mayor Lusky are turned into sasquatch-like werebeasts after eating Fo-Foo. While Graham's transformation occurs on-camera, Mayor Lusky's transformation occurs offscreen.

*** TheMcCoy: Kade or Danni

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Blades develops a slight bit of it after getting his absurdly useful scoop claw in the third episode.

* HilarityEnsues: After Quickshadow finds out that Maven Danger is making a visit to the island, she quickly tries to leave due to her vehicle mode. Unfortunately, Maven spots her and is forced to stay for the remainder of the episode.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: By season three, both Boulder and Optimus [[spoiler:and after them, Heatwave, Chase and Blades]] gain a dinosaur mode.

* NamesTheSame: InUniverse and PlayedForLaughs: After Huxley reports over the news that transformers (electrical equipment) are down all over the East Coast, Blades confuses them for the Cybertronian variety.

* TransformationDiscretionShot: In "Feed the Beast", Graham and Mayor Lusky were turned into sasquatch-like werebeasts. While Graham's transformation occurs on-camera, Mayor Lusky's transformation occurs offscreen.

* MechaExpansionPack: At the start of the second season, Boulder and Doc Greene use Cybertronian tech to create Energize Tools. They consist of a grappling claw, [[AnAxetoGrind an axe]], [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe a shield]], a hook ,[[ThisIsADrill a drill]], a [[PlayingWithFire fire]]/[[KillItWithWater water]] cannon and [[spoiler:according to the toys, a disk saw for Optimus Prime and a jackhammer for Bumblebee]].

* ContemporaryCaveman: "Did You See What I Thaw?" has the Rescue Bots and the Burns family thaw out and befriend a frozen caveman wearing an Energon shard around his neck, who is dubbed "Ira".

* CoolCar:
** Chase, the police car of the team. He's later joined by Blurr and Quickshadow in the later seasons.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Captain Ambrose realises this happened to his fiancee decades ago when he was convinced that he was waiting for hours. Thankfully, he manages to get back to his own time.]]

*** Finally, Boulder is clearly based on [[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Bulk]][[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime head]], right down to his colors, similar design, and being a GentleGiant who loves Earth and is all-around smarter than he looks.

* FictionalSport: Rescue Ball, a ball-and-net game without any ball-handing rules.

* HarmlessFreezing: In "Did You See What I Thaw?" a frozen caveman is thawed out with no ill effects. It's explained that the piece of energon he wears as a necklace helped keep him alive.

* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Heatwave, Blades, and Boulder for almost all of one episode, courtesy of a ShrinkRay.

* AdaptedOut: The original toyline and its associated storybooks that were released shortly before the television series was developed originally gave Blades, Chase and Boulder the respective human partners Sawyer Storm, Jack Tracker (aka Billy Blastoff and Hunter) and Walker Cleveland as well as a TeamPet consisting of a Dalmatian named Sparkplug. The animated series replaces the human partners with Dani Burns, Chief Charlie Burns and Graham Burns, while Sparkplug was left out entirely[[labelnote:*]]Amusingly enough one episode of the animated series has Cody take care of a dog whose real name is ''Buster''[[/note]].

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Blades develops a slight bitof it after getting his absurdly useful scoop claw in the third episode.

* ActorAllusion: In "New Normal", Mayor Luskey remarks "This is why I hate nature", which is an apparent play on Carmine Fanzone's catch phrase of "This is why I hate machines" from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Both Luskey and Fanzone were voiced by Creator/JeffBennett.
* AdaptedOut: The original toyline and its associated storybooks that were released shortly before the television series was developed originally gave Blades, Chase and Boulder the respective human partners Sawyer Storm, Jack Tracker (aka Billy Blastoff and Hunter) and Walker Cleveland as well as a TeamPet consisting of a Dalmatian named Sparkplug. The animated series replaces the human partners with Dani Burns, Chief Charlie Burns and Graham Burns, while Sparkplug was left out entirely.

* GrumpyBear: Heatwave is notably the grumpiest of the Rescue Bots in one of the more lighthearted ''Transformers'' shows.

** The episode title "[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory To Infinity ... and Back]]".

** BaitAndSwitch: In "Virtual Disaster", when Cody and Blades are being attacked by a video game dragon, they come to what looks like a sword embedded in the ground. Instead of it being a weapon, it's a lever that makes the platform it's on float into the sky.

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:Blurr is presumed dead when he flies incredibly close to a falling satellite to compensate for the Sigma's underpowered laser cannon so he can destroy it. The Rescue Bots believe that he died in the explosion until Blurr asks them how to turn off a cloaking device that turned on by accident.]]

* MythologyGag: This being a ''Transformers'' series, the show is already accumulating quite a few of these.
** Heatwave's alternate mode is very similar to that of Optimus Prime's in ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' and ''[[Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise Robots in Disguise]]''.
** The first episode features malfunctioning, rampaging robot dinosaurs, in a story that is similar to the plot of the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' episode that introduced the Dinobots.
** And, as noted above, the first episode features the Rescue Bots picking up a message from Optimus Prime calling them to Earth, much like the ones spoken in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and in [[Film/{{Transformers}} the first movie.]]
*** They also have an ElaborateUndergroundBase left over from the Cold War, just like the Autobots do in ''Prime.''
** The Rescue Bots are first shown in "blank", featureless forms prior to scanning alternate modes, similar to the "Protoforms" from the movie and ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' series.
** One episode involves a "dinobot". However, this type of dinobot is just a pet, with "dinobot" simply being the nickname for it.
** The Rescue Bots have screens inside their vehicle modes that display their faces, like in ''Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise.''
** [[spoiler:The Morocco virus' toy form closely resembles Morocco's Playskool action figure.]]

%%* FiveManBand: The Burns family, meanwhile, fit this trope in full.
%%** TheLeader: Chief Burns.
%%** TheLancer[=/=]TheBigGuy: Kade
%%** TheSmartGuy: Graham
%%** TheChick: Dani
%%** KidAppealCharacter: Cody