Right before the frenzy of “Force Friday” hit, Sphero released a promo video showing off the features of their new app-enabled droid BB-8 to be released with the rest of the Star Wars deluge on Force Friday. Like many who saw the video, it did a great job of reeling me right in and convincing me that THIS was the toy I need to pick up on Force Friday. The Black Series? Pfft! Who cares! This is a read droid! So my plans for Force Friday changed entirely as my Star Wars shopping priorities shifted in this little guy’s direction completely. BB-8 was one of the standouts from the initial Force Awakens trailer because, well, cute droid. Once again, the creative team behind the Star Wars universe seemed to have created a new droid that everyone wanted to take home and play with. R2-D2 saw a similar welcoming in 1977, but aside from the small Kenner toy with a questionable likeness, there weren’t many options for an R2 we could play with at home. This is why the promo video for BB-8 was such a revelation — it was like a chance to take home the exact droid from the trailer, personality and all. It seemed this BB-8 was on everyone’s mind on Force Friday, and whatever retailers were stocking him sold out fast.
So there’s no way this little guy could possibly live up to the hype, right? Well, let’s find out!
BB-8’s packaging is heavy-duty and impressive. It feels like the same sturdy cardboard Apple uses for their iPhones. Considering the cost and the delicate nature of the technology contained within, the box does a great job of keeping the contents safe and secure. The design and graphics are awesome, and this is going to be another one of those cases where it’s going to be tough to toss the packaging in the trash. I’m probably going to keep mine just because I think it looks so cool.
BB-8 himself (herself?) is an adorable little droid and Sphero did a nice job of capturing the look. What you get is the droid itself, which comes in two pieces — the body and a head that connect via magnets. You also get a charging base and a USB cable to plug in said base. You just get a USB cable, though, so you’ll need to figure out how or where to plug it in. I use the wall charger for my iPhone and that works fine. The base is adequately detailed and has that nice, clean “Star Wars” look, which means it somehow succeeds in looking vintage and futuristic all at the same time.
What’s cool is BB-8 doesn’t actually “plug into” the base to charge. He charges wirelessly via an “electromagnetic field,” so the process couldn’t be simpler. It takes about three hours for a full charge, but I’m not sure how you can gauge the progress of his charge because there’s no obvious battery-life indicator. So one of my issues has been my BB-8’s play time has been rather limited because his battery keeps dying because, evidently, I haven’t given him enough time to charge. There must be a way to do this, but you get next to no instructions with the little guy, so you’re kind of in the dark and on your own. They very much take the Apple approach to user-end instructions: just plug in and go.
Most of the details are decals or paint — there’s very little sculpting on the little guy at all. Only his eye pieces and his antennae could be considered “sculpted.” Everything else is either paint or decal. He has a very clean look. In the trailers, he looks a little weathered and grungy, probably because we see him rolling around Tattooine, but here he’s fresh-off-the-assembly-line clean. And I’ve got to say, I love this droid’s look. Unless Abrams totally blows it, this little fella is the new R2-D2, and I think kids (and, heck, adults) everywhere are going to want some representation of him in their homes.
BB-8 comes in at around 5 inches in height, so he’s going to be tough to fudge into a Black Series display since he’s supposed to be smaller that R2. He’s something of a standalone piece anyway, so he’s better off tearing across the floor on his own than on a shelf with other Star Wars action figures.
Enough about his look — his functionality is the real show here, so please check out the video below to get an idea of what he can do. Now, I’m still getting to know him in terms of functionality, so keep that in mind as you watch.
The app you need to control him is free, and it works perfectly fine on my iPhone 5s. It’s intuitive for the most part, but it will take some practice to control him because, well, the little guy can MOVE. He’s fast and it’s easy to lose control and send him flying into a wall, down some stairs, etc. Once you get used to the general controls, however, he’s pretty fun to play around with in “Drive” mode.
The promo vid made it seem as though he can move around of his own free will, and that is true — to an extent. In “Patrol” mode he should be able to move freely around your place and explore, but what I’ve found is he simply goes flying in one direction until he hits something, and then goes flying in another direction until he hits something. It’s not perfect. And all the sounds he makes? They all come from your phone. The droid itself does not emit a single sound, apart from the “rolling” sound he makes as he moves. That was a bummer for me because it kind of kills the illusion that he’s an autonomous little droid who’s going to be your new pet.
And if the app isn’t engaged, then BB-8 is pretty much dead. Unless there’s a way to keep it running in the background, which I haven’t discovered yet, there’s no using him without the app. Even in Patrol mode BB-8 isn’t moving unless the app is fully engaged. So keep that in mind.
At $150, Sphero’s BB-8 was among the more expensive toys to hit the shelves on Force Friday, but that didn’t stop anyone from snatching him right up. I got mine from Barnes and Noble, which I specifically chose because I get a 10% discount with my membership — that dropped his cost to $135. Still hefty, but not as bad.
So is he worth it? I’m having a lot of fun with him, so I’m happy I got him. I think the promo video exaggerated his functionality a bit, so I was initially let down when I first got him up and running and felt he wasn’t much better than any other remote control toy I’ve ever used. But now that I’ve gotten better with the controls and his special features, I’m really starting to like him quite a bit. I do wish I could send him off and running on his own, but maybe that will be possible with updates for the app.
Stores that carry him include Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Brookstone, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Best Buy. He seems to be priced at $150 across the board.