Star Wars The Force Awakens RC BB-8

Star Wars The Force Awakens RC BB-8
From Hasbro

About the toy

Launch into action and adventure in the world of Star Wars! Discover the exciting stories of good versus evil in a galaxy of starships and vehicles. BB-8 is the spherical, loyal Astromech Droid of the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. Picture new moments of adventure! This RC BB-8 figure rolls in any direction and makes expressive droid sounds as you lead him into adventure. Collect and battle with this and other figures and vehicles from Star Wars. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)
Star Wars products are produced by Hasbro under license from Lucasfilm Ltd. Hasbro and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.
• Includes BB-8 body, BB-8 head, remote control, and instructions.
• Movie-accurate appearance
• Create adventures and scenes from the Star Wars Universe
• Makes expressive droid sounds
• Rolls in any direction

My Thoughts

I am so looking forward to the new Star Wars movie to come out in theaters on December 18th.   We are planning to bring all the kids to see it and let me tell you that they are looking forward to it as much as us the parents are.    As soon as the trailer was released, I immediately fell in love with the new Astromech droid BB-8.    And to be honest, I fear that R2-D2 has been replaced as the cutest droid of all time…  BB-8 is the spherical, loyal Astromech Droid of the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron.

Before receiving the Hasbro version of the BB-8, I had seen some reviews about it saying that the head would pop out and so forth.   I usually don’t care much about these kind of reviews and wanted to test it myself.   Apparently, the head stays on top while rolling, can roll in any direction, makes expressive droid sounds.   To allow this functionality, the body and the head contain magnets in order to hold them together.  

So this morning, I proceeded to product test the BB-8 I had received.   After inserting the batteries in the body part, the droid was making sounds already without having the body fully assembled.   Once I put all the parts of the BB-8 together, I followed the steps to make is roll.   At first, I didn’t wait enough to make sure that the head was aligned properly on it.  The consequences were disappointing because as soon as you make the robot move, the head would fall.   But I decided to wait a little bit more before repositioning the head on it and I was rewarded.   As soon as I made the droid more, the head would reposition itself immediately.  Gently droid noises were heard too.  Even my husband thought it was cool.   The control is limited on the directions you can do with it – one side will go forward and backward and the other side allows the head to change direction which in turn will move the droid in that direction next time you move it.   Bottom line, it was fun to control the BB-8 and I can see that this less expensive version of the BB-8 would make a great gift this Christmas for children.

The installation is quite easy.  All you have to do is open the body sphere in order to insert the section that will contain the batteries.   Insert the batteries and close the sphere.   Once this is done you can position the head over the sphere in order to complete BB-8.   Insert batteries as well in the remote control and voilà BB-8 is fully operational.   Note that you will need 6 batteries to operate this RC – 4  AA for the BB-8 and 2 AAA for the remote.  To turn BB-8 on, you have to gently shake the main sphere, set the body down and position the head on top of it.  The head should align automatically.    With the help of the remote control, you will be able to roll forward and backward, rotate the head left or right, as well as roll left or right.  To stop BB-8, all you have to do is hold it upside-down for 2 seconds.   Note that BB-8 will go to sleep mode when it is inactive for 5 minutes. Sometimes while you play with it, the head might fall do to impact.  To re-attach the BB-8 head, set the body down and allow it to settle.  Then you can place the head back on place and it will align automatically.  For best performance, the remote needs to be aim directly to BB-8.  Be aware that the remote control operates on infrared frequencies and that sunlight and or some indoor lighting may interfere with communication between the controller and BB-8.  This RC is recommended for indoor use only.  It is strongly recommended to keep it away from dirt and water.

The Star Wars The Force Awakens RC BB-8 from Hasbro is a fun gift for the young Star Wars fan in your life.  It will definitively provide hours of fun in the months to come.

The Star Wars The Force Awakens RC BB-8 from Hasbro is available for purchase at your favorite store, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hasbro Canada for sending me the above mentioned products for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.