Apparently this is the new “Han Shot First.” People on the internet are wondering whether BB-8’s lighter represented a thumbs up or something a little more… uh, rude. A few days after The Force Awakens came out, some of the earliest theories stated that BB-8 was actually angry at Finn and was flipping him off after revealing the location of the Resistance base.
But the debate seems to have heated up since then, with some people even suggesting that BB-8 was threatening Finn with the lighter. A lot of ad hoc fan polls on Twitter show that the majority of people believe BB-8 was giving Finn a reassuring thumbs-up.
To be frank, when you consider the context, that really seems to be the right answer. If you needed more proof, consider this answer from Industrial Light and Magic’s Patrick Tubach. He essentially confirmed the thumbs-up when he described the creative process they went through to design the moment. He said:
One of the difficult things with animating something like that is you have to be very careful that it doesn’t look like he’s giving you some other sort of gesture! We moved all the pieces around to make sure it was very clearly a thumbs-up over any other kind of ‘salute.’
So I mean, there you have it. They tried really hard to make sure it didn’t look like a middle finger. Given the debate, it’s clear that they may not have exactly succeeded. But at least we know the intent and what they were going for when they made the moment.
Regardless of what you might think BB-8’s lighter means, it’s clear that this moment really resonated with fans.
What do you think? Do you think BB-8 has chill or nah? Tell us in the comments!
(via The Daily Dot)
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