Found at a Meijer in Ft. Wayne, IN. I know this has been up on Hasbro Toy Shop for a bit but this is the first time I've seen it in a store.

 

Does anyone buy these?

Really. Cause my kids can't be bothered with the discount flip changers I bought. Partially, it's because the RB cartoon bores them (even though they're literally the prime demographic). They prefer Batman and Iron Man (currently), and the onus of getting the kids into these is on me, the parent. But considering how inane I found the program (personally), I'm not motivated to get them excited about RB.

But I do see a ton of RB product, and clearly stores are interested in stocking it. Any good anecdotes about how great RB is for kids? Cause... yeah... RB is news?   Maybe it's a passing fad and everyone has already moved on? They are re-launching the show as RB Academy, after all, which is probably because of declining viewership...

 

We got the Optimus Prime racetrack during Christmas for deep discount and my daughter loves it. But it’s more a car racing thing than transformers specifically to her.

 

Sorry, I have to disagree on the passing fad part. Rescue Bots was introduced in 2011 and has seen releases every year, it's approaching Generation 1 in terms of duration as a continuous toyline (though it is still quite distant in terms of toys released).

Also, the show? It ran for four seasons of 26 episodes each, a total of 104 episodes, which means it has the greatest number of episodes out of all Transformers shows, exceeding even Generation 1. Generation 1 probably still comes out first in terms of total minutes animated, but it's going to be close. In fact, that's extremely respectable for any animated cartoon show. The shift to Academy, a sequel / spinoff series, is more a mark of the show's success in my eyes. If that's a decline, then I wish more Transformers shows would decline like that.

Yes, Rescue Bots is not for everyone, though I would suggest more people watch a few episodes. The few I've seen were actually quite smartly written, with good characterisation and some interesting situations.

 

My three-year-old nephew is currently obsessed with Rescue Bots, and by association Transformers in general.

His folks have Netflix, so through that service he has watched every episode of the first three seasons multiple times. I hope seasons four and five make their way to Netflix soon, so he can see the rest.

Based entirely on how they are portrayed on Rescue Bots, he loves both Optimus and Bumblebee. I find this interesting, because those two aren't particularly over-exposed in the show. I guess Hasbro are onto something with those bots, if a kid in a relative vacuum away from all other Transformers media, likes those two so much.
He also likes Heatwave quite a lot, as he likes gruff characters, and he really likes bad guys so Dr. Morocco is a favourite.

He immediately gravitated to G1 Ironhide after his mum showed him the results of a Google image search.
I was asked to find him an Ironhide toy that looks like the G1 cartoon portrayal, which is a pretty tall order.
Back in late March I gave him a Mech Planet Hot Soldiers HS-07 Iron Tin. I'll never forget how he damn-near exploded with excitement, kissing the picture on the box when I handed it to him!  

Sadly, despite not being much older than three when I got a G1 Ironhide toy, Iron Tin has proven to be a little advanced for him for now.
Fortunately, that same weekend I had also brought along one of my copies of the Rescue Bots Morbot figure. I let him keep Morbot as well and that toy has been a huge hit. He loves to transform it back and forth and zip the car mode around on any flat surface.

At least I'll always know the first Transformer I ever gave him was an excellent 3rd party figure, even if he's not quite ready for it yet.  

As gifts for him this year I have already bought an Optimus Prime (the 2015 Rescan series semi-truck mold), a Blurr (purple show-colours version) and a Quickshadow (another reason I hope he gets to see season five, so he'll know who she is.)
I'm sure he's gonna be super-excited to play with all of them.

I guess if there is anything to take away from all this it's that even if not all children in Rescue Bots' target audience like it, there are probably just as many who think it's the tops, and it seems to be doing exactly what its meant to do- providing a gateway for little 'uns to discover Transformers.

One more thing, before he saw the show, I gave my nephew a t-shirt with the faces of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Hot Rod and Soundwave all over the front and back. Now he won't leave the house if he isn't wearing his Transformers shirt.  

~L~