"If you can dream it, you can build it."
Rusty Rivets is a Canadian All-CGI Cartoon for preschoolers produced by Spin Master and Arc Productions (later bought out Jam Filled Entertainment).
Every episode features two shorts starring the title character Ruston "Rusty" Rivets, his companion Ruby Ramirez, and their team of friendly rescue robots. Together, they use science and technology to help the people of Sparkton Hills, using their knowledge of robotics and engineering to repurpose machinery and create new gadgets.
The series debuted in November 8, 2016 on Nick Jr. in the States and later came to Canada on January 16, 2017 on Treehouse TV. The show ended after three seasons in May 2020 for a grand total of 78 episodes.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Rusty Rivets, Ruby Ramirez, and Frankie Fritz.
- Base on Wheels: Rusty's laboratory is mobile.
- Big Bad: Frankie, whose schemes often involve either stealing one of Rusty's inventions and passing them off as his own, or attempting to Take Over the City For the Evulz.
- Catchphrase: "Modified, customized, rustified!"
- City of Adventure: Sparkton Hills.
- Color-Coded Characters: Each robot has a signature color. Ray is red, Crush is orange, Bytes is yellow, Botasaur is green, Jack is blue, and Whirly is pink.
- Cool Airship: As seen in the opening sequence, Botasaur can become a flying machine and transport Rusty through the air.
- Crossover: One with PAW Patrol in an animated short where Rusty builds a new vehicle for Marshall.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Once again, Frankie. He's pretty tropable overall.
- Evil Redhead: Frankie.
- Evolving Credits: The opening theme is remixed and changed as of Season 2 to reflect the new mobile lab as well as the addition of new robot friends Botarilla, TigerBot and ElephantBot.
- Gender Flip: An unintentional example - the episode "Ruby Rocks" mistakenly appears as "Rusty Rocks" in many TV guide descriptions.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Whirly's goggles have a built-in infrared tracking system.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: In addition to his flashlight power, Ray can shoot a laser beam from his pupil.
- Home Base: Rusty's lab, which is located in a recycling yard.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All but one of the episodes start with Rusty's name, following the formula "Rusty and..." or "Rusty's...".
- The singular exception to this, "Ruby Rocks", suffers from this, being mislabeled "Rusty Rocks" in TV guides.
- Jet Pack: Botasaur has one.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: TigerBot, despite looking masculine, is a girl.
- The Leader: Rusty (Type I).
- Meaningful Name: All of the robots' names relate to what they are. Ray can shine a ray of light from his eye, Whirly has a propeller on her head, Crush is a crushing clamp, Jack's arms work like car jacks, Botasaur is a robo-dinosaur, and Bytes is a robotic dog with a huge front jaw.
- Mr. Fixit: The definition of Rusty's character. The entire point of the show is to inspire viewers to become Mr. Fix-Its as well.
- No Antagonist: Played straight in Season 1. Averted as of Season 2, which introduces Rusty’s archrival Frankie Fritz, the show's BigBad.
- Once per Episode: Rusty and Ruby planning and constructing an invention that solves the problem they have.
- Pink Means Feminine: Emily wears a pink shirt and headband.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Season 2 introduces Frankie Fritz, an inventor who is jealous of Rusty and tries to outsmart him. He's also a rare example, in which the Sitcom Arch-Nemesis in question is genuinely evil, as he not only gets more close to being a true villain as the series progresses, but also tries to rule over Sparkton Hills using his arsenal at least once.
- Smelly Skunk: Frankie's sidekick Frankfurt is a robotic example of this.
- Title Theme Tune: "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, put it together, Rusty Rivets!"
- Theme Naming: All the robot animals have "bot" in their names (Botasaur, TigerBot, ElephantBot, Botarilla).
- Theme Tune Roll Call: "With Ruby, the Bits, and Botasaur..."
- Transforming Mecha: All of the robots.
- Vocal Evolution: Rusty's voice is slightly deeper in the third and final season due to his voice actor experiencing puberty during production.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: While most of the robots' jobs are cool and rather useful (for example, Crush can crush anything, Jack can lift anything, and Whirly can fly anywhere), Ray is...essentially a flashlight.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The exact location of Sparkton Hills is a mystery.
- Youthful Freckles: Rusty and Ruby both have freckles.
