Our experience with BB-8 has been downright magical. Before The Force Awakens even hit theaters, we were amazed that the droid was a practical effect, loved watching him roll around on stage with R2 at the Star Wars Celebration, and tried to find $150 somewhere in our budgets to put a tiny one in our homes. Soon, we can have (almost) the real deal.
At the New York Toy Fair last weekend, Spin Master revealed an upgraded version compared to Sphero’s initial offering with some notable features. The most easily noticeable is the size, as theirs stands a full 16 inches tall (about 19 inches including its antennas, according to Gizmodo). In addition, it also sports voice control, so you can call your BB-8 over to you just like your favorite Star Wars characters.
It’ll roll right over when you do, too, as he has the ability to track your location built right in. For all other control, the Spin Master model comes with a remote featuring a joystick to direct your droid on whatever important missions it might undertake. It can also turn its head to follow your voice while you talk to it and follow you around on autopilot like the loyal sidekick it is.
Of course, with all these extra features, the price tag has also gotten a bump from the Sphero version, but if you already managed to scrape together $150 for the smaller one, you might want to just go the extra $30 to make it to Spin Master’s $180. You’ll have plenty of time to pick up whatever extra chores you need to around the house (or somehow finagle a tax refund) to scrap together the extra dough, as we’ll be waiting until sometime in the fall for this new model to release, undoubtedly due to potential holiday sales.
Start your holiday gift campaigns now, kids.
(image via Disney/Lucasfilm)
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