See full gallery on TechnoBuffaloWe absolutely loved the most recent trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not only did it reveal some juicy plot details, but it put to rest any fears that director J.J. Abrams couldn’t handle such a big property. And while it was unquestionably the highlight of last week’s Star Wars Celebration, one of the film’s newest droids might end up stealing the show come December.
Droid BB-8 first popped up in last year’s teaser, and it made its triumphant return on stage during the celebration’s opening keynote. Not only did Abrams prove that BB-8 isn’t CGI, but a real working prop. It was a glorious moment; not since R2-D2 has a robot been so delightful and charming.
The bad news is that you won’t see BB-8 on-screen until Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18, 2015. The good news is that the new droid is being made into a toy. Sphero on Monday confirmed it’s going to make a smaller replica of the awesome new droid, though price or release date wasn’t revealed. You can sign up for updates over at Sphero’s site.
In an interview with TIME, chief creative officer Rob Maigret said Sphero is aiming to get the toy version of BB-8 as close to the one you see on screen. “The relationships that you’ve seen BB-8 have in the film in the world of Star Wars, you can now fill that role,” Maigret said. “BB-8 is now yours.”
BB-8 hasn’t been around for long, but the droid already has a fervent following. And now that it’s being made into a toy? It’ll no doubt be one of the hottest items when it’s released. Seeing as the film comes out around Christmastime, I imagine Sphero will release the toy around then. Sign me up.
Source: Time