BattleBots: Bounty Hunters was a spin-off of the traditional BattleBots format, which originally aired on the paid streaming service discovery+ in January 2021 before eventually being aired for free on Discovery several months later.
The series saw the return of a straight knock-out tournament, with eight teams fighting through a bracket to earn the right to become the "Bounty Hunter". From then, the Bounty Hunter would fight the Bounty Holder - an iconic bot from BattleBots past or present. The winner of this final fight earned a share of $25,000, as was teased in a discovery+ promo for the series.[2] Rules otherwise followed those from the main 2020 season.[3]
Airing parallel to World Championship V on discovery+, BattleBots: Bounty Hunters had twelve episodes in total, with each tournament bracket split into two 30 minute episodes. The first episode would cover the four first round battles, whereas the second episode would cover the bracket semi-finals, the bracket final to decide the Bounty Hunter, as well as the Bounty fight itself.
The concept for the show was an evolved, but unused idea which spawned during the 2018 season, where it was pitched that anybody could put their name forward to take down Ray Billings'Tombstone for a quoted $1,000, but nobody took the offer.
"They tried to put a bounty on Tombstone in S3, I think a grand, and not one team said they'd take it."
— Kyle Awner of HyperShock explains the original idea which evolved into BattleBots: Bounty Hunters
There were six Bounty Holders in total, three of which fought exclusively in this spin-off series: Icewave, Bronco and Son of Whyachi. The other three, Tombstone, Witch Doctor and Beta, also fought during World Championship V.
NOTE: This Bracket was aired in the UK by ITV4 on August 22-23 2023, during the channel's broadcasts of World Championship V. In the ITV4 versions, Episodes 1 and 2 were erroneously listed as Episode 9 ("Hullabaloo") and Episode 10 ("Desperation") of the main season respectively.
NOTE: This Bracket aired in the UK on ITV4 on August 24 and 29 2023, during the channel's broadcasts of World Championship V. In the ITV4 version, Episodes 3 and 4 were erroneously listed as Episodes 11 ("Sparks Will Fly") and 12 ("Master Versus Pupil") of the main season.
HyperShock vs. Sporkinok became the only highlighted battle of the 2020 season and BattleBots: Bounty Hunters never to be shown in full on Discovery.
In February 2023, it was revealed via Reddit that the fight was broadcast in full on the Italian television channel BLAZE.[4] The lost battle was uploaded to YouTube by user AmongArrow.[5]
HyperShock vs. Sporkinok was also broadcast in full by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, premiering as part of the first Icewave bracket episode on August 24 2023.
Kraken, Tracer and Deadlift were allowed to fight in multiple Bounty Hunter brackets, though none of them made it as far as to fight the Bounty Holder of their respective episodes.
BattleBots: Bounty Hunters marked the final fights for Bronco and Son of Whyachi, who were effectively retired afterwards.
Icewave was the only Bounty Holder who returned for World Championship VI after competing exclusively in the spin-off in 2020.
The Tombstone bracket saw the brief return of Gemini after their demolition at the hands of Uppercut, which was their one and only fight in the main season.
A selection of Bounty Hunters medallions.
BattleBots: Bounty Hunters saw the only televised appearances in their debut seasons for rookie teams Rampage, Deadlift, and if you exclude its exhibition match versus Mammoth, Black Widow too.
Icewave and Son of Whyachi were the only two original Bounty Holders not to have been released as part of HEXBUG's lines of toys.
Tombstone and Witch Doctor were the only Bounty holders to successfully defend their bounties in 2020.
Between seasons, medallions were produced to commemorate fight winners during the first BattleBots: Bounty Hunters brackets, Designed by Isaac Lubarsky and produced by Collin Royster of Team HyperShock with the help of Roysters Machine Shop, Signs Design and SendCutSend.
