Firebuds

Firebuds, an animated children’s comedy from Craig Gerber and Disney Television Animation, debuted on Disney Jr. and Disney+ on September 21, 2022, with Electric Emu Productions. Its second season hit on November 1, 2023, and the third landed on Disney Jr. on September 15, 2025, and Disney+ on October 29, 2025. In a vibrant world where humans team up with chatty rescue vehicles, the series follows young heroes—kids of first responders—led by Bo Bayani, a Filipino-American boy with firefighting dreams, and his trusty fire truck, Flash. Together, they race through bustling Gearbox Grove and Motopolis, tackling daring challenges like saving stranded pets, fixing blackouts, and freeing stuck cars.

Firebuds Mini-Review (S2: E1, 2, 19, 20, 24)

Firebuds is an even more soulless, less engaging Paw Patrol knockoff. Covering virtually the same topics —friendship, teamwork, etc. —it merges PP’s pups and fun vehicles into bland, shapeless sentient cars, trucks, and helicopters with as much personality and visual flair as the computers that generated them.

                   

It’s also yet another empty program that’s truly nothing more than a way to smooth our children’s brains 20 minutes at a time.

Sell some plasma and buy them a tub of Legos instead.

P.S. Although seasons 1 and 2 can be found on the paid service Disney+, all of the seasons, including the one released this year, can be found for free on the Disney Now website.

PARENTAL NOTES

Rounded Corners

• If it weren’t for the hidden agenda, Firebuds would be too safe for your kids.

WOKE REPORT

Osteoporosis for the Soul

• This might seem minor, but I thought it was a striking example of how many modern programs leech away the human spirit, creating generations of conformist neuters. More than that, it’s the kind of softening up that leaves our children susceptible to more extreme indoctrination.
  • There’s a scene in which the gang is hiking, and when one of them strays off the trail to explore, he or she (I don’t recall which) is gently reprimanded, and an entire musical number ensues about staying on the trail and restricting your curiosity and sense of adventure to the pre-approved path. Because, and I kid you not, you wouldn’t want to step on some wild flowers.
    • I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and the best thing about the woods was going off-trail to explore and find new cool spots or spot animals that would otherwise have stayed hidden far from the trail.

Just the Two of Us, Me and I

• The only white kid who is one of the good guys, Cory, is a mentally ill child who believes that his gender is a fictional one (non-binary). He’s voiced by a biological male (as far as I can tell) and generally looks male, but wears catty eyeliner and has an ambiguous haircut that I’d say leans to the feminine.

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  • Here’s where the show is at its most insidious. It never uses the term non-binary, and after watching virtually every episode that featured this character, I couldn’t definitively pick out an instance in which any third-person pronouns of any kind (ex: he/him, they/them) are used in reference to him. He is always paired with a helicopter character, so when “they” or “them” are used in reference to him, it is grammatically correct. However, there’s significant evidence that the character is intended as a gateway to acceptance. The creator has said that the character is non-binary and was created as a tool for “inclusion” indoctrination, and the official Wiki lists it as such.

Disney’s Not So Secret Gay Agenda

• In another episode, Eli, a rather masculine-looking child in a black leather jacket, is paired with a laser-pink Jeep. There’s no mention of either character’s sexual identity; however, it’s impossible not to see this as a subtle attempt to blur the lines of traditional gender norms.
• In season 2, ep 24, ‘Mothers’ (not a typo) Day Mess’. Violet doesn’t know what to buy her mothers. The whole episode is about having two moms.
  • She refers to them as “Mommy Val” and “Mommy Viv.”
• I didn’t find it, but there are reports of another episode featuring two dads.

Vanilla Wokeness

• Of the episodes that I watched, the only white people were the mentally ill one and a group of villains.