Posted: Friday April 24th, 2015
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When I saw the first Force Awakens trailer and he little battle droid goes rolling across the screen, I thought "well that was a cute take on an astromech". But, I dismissed it as a 3D effect and moved on. Then when news started pouring out of this years Star Wars Celebration that not only was it a practical effect but had "performed" on stage, my response to BB-8 changed a bit. By the time I saw a video of that performance, I was a full on adopter.
Then came the news that an officially licensed BB-8 toy was going to cost around $150. $150? That wasn't going to be some simple piece of desk candy. That was going to be a functioning version of the little show-stealing ball droid. I also learned that the company responsible for the technology was one that I was already acquainted with: Sphero. They make these awesome little rolling robots that I've been admiring for a while now. I first saw the company, under the name Orbotix, on Kickstarter years ago. Now, I don't know if they're the ones making the toy, but I sure hope so.
Every day that passes I get a little more attached to this movie. At this rate, I may not make it until December. I'm just going to melt into nerd soup and that'll be that.
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