The bots are back! ABC has announced that it has picked up the series BattleBots, which originally aired on Comedy Central in the early aughts. This "reimaged" version will run for an initial six episodes, and comes from Whalerock Industries and the creators of the original show, Ed Roski and Greg Munson.

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This time, though, the emphasis will be more on the design and build elements of the robots, as well as builder backstories (which is more in line with other ABC competition series; although, I'm not sure if anyone wants to hear something really sad or affecting before getting revved up to see bots crush each other).

Anyway, because it's on ABC now, expect more budget (maybe -- there are only cash prizes for Championship Round winners) and more spectacle, but hopefully nothing that will take away from the awesomeness that are bot cage battles. (In the future, this will probably be used by our robot overlords to point out how we cruelly abused them, and deserve our subjugation. Simply barbaric!)

According to an ABC press release, the former bot weight classes have been eliminated, meaning that any robot can battle any other of any size (a la the opening scene of Big Hero 6). It's a curious choice in some ways, but the bot battles will now be done March madness-style, so there you have it. Also, there will now be "enhanced viewing" and combat analytics. Battle on.

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