On April 5th the Star Wars Force Awakens Blu-Ray released. I wasn't able to get a copy however during that day. Why? Well Target had given pre-orders from their online/web store that came with a $5 gift card if you ordered it the month prior. It sounded great, it'd have extra behind the scenes content of making the movie and such and "special packaging". I was excited! I pre-ordered it thinking Target's pre-order delivery guarantee would have the copy at my front door delivered to me. However, that was not the case.
On April 6th I went to Facebook to complain on Target's social media. Why? Because my copy was sent on the 5th by UPS to be delivered to the Post Office instead of my house that day, and there it sat for 2 days (release and the next day) and didn't move. I found out many had the same issues, and that the packaging was card board and some even had broken Blu-Rays! Not even that, the "exclusive content" was download content, from the web. You didn't have it on disk. So I decided to look up what other stores had for exclusives. Walmart had a sleeve that featured BB-8, but it was cardboard and sleeves don't always look the best. So I went with Best Buy's Steelbook feature. I figured I was ordering the original and prequel trilogy in Japanese recently and got the steelbooks for them, so I thought I'd get the Star Wars Episode VII steelbook to go with them. A better deal and it was a physical item.
When I went into Best Buy to get the Steel Book Force Awakens Blu-Ray I was greeted with a huge BB-8 holding the movies. It was a neat thing to have in the store I thought.
I love it, but I don't want it as nearly as much as Target's animatronic one!
Two days later, I got the Target one in the mail. Three Days after release! No gift card was ever delivered. I took pictures for you to review. After that, I returned it to Target, and while there I found a pleasant surprise. A BB-8 figure bundle pack released along with a coupon deal!
Front Cover of, Target left, Best Buy Right
Back side of Blu Ray cases, Target left, Best Buy Right
Inside of Best Buy's Steelbook Case. Pretty clean and neat!
Just thought I'd share my experience with you and how different the movies are. If you want to see the insides of the Target version of the Blu-Ray, Tyler has an excellent video showing you the guts. Check it out here.
Quick Update on the Sphero BB-8. On the release of the movie or shortly after my iPhone got an update for the Sphero app. It added some new moves to Sphero such as figure eights and other cute little movements. The only other update I've seen is the sounds sound a lot closer to the film than they did before. In fact he sounds a lot more like his big hasbro brother.
It also has been brought to my attention the Sphero had nothing to do with the Stage BB-8 as once thought. It has now been confirmed to be made by Lucas Film after the film was created, for promotional purposes.
The Stage/Red Carpet BB-8 is also to be believed to be axle driven as opposed to hamster driven like the Sphero and Hasbro models. This information comes from the BB-8 builders club that I have joined on Facebook for the past two months.
I will update my blog when I get around to building BB-8 in the near future. It is one of my goals for this year.
On Force Friday September 4th I had gotten the two BB-8's that launched in the United States that day. There was one from the U.K. that was sold through their version of the Disney store that was not sold to the U.S. I had contacted the U.K. and U.S. stores to inquire about their BB-8 because it was the cheapest BB-8 out there that could light up or beep. At the time I was not able to purchase the Disney Store BB-8. That is why it was not in my original review.
That all changed on September 11, 2015. That is when BB-8 went on sale on the US Disney Store online. I went the next day to try to purchase it, but the two they had in-stock had already been sold out. So I ordered from them in-store to their online website through the cashier and got free shipping! BB-8 arrived four days later on Wednesday, September 16th at my front door.
Here is my Unboxing Video I made on September 16th.
It's a toy recommended for ages 3 and up. However it has two small antennas that you attach after opening, and they easily come off if pulled, so if you have a kid that sticks things in their mouths this toy is NOT recommended.
Check out BB-8 in Action
Here is some great things about this BB-8:
The head lights up and *boops* & *beeps*.
It expresses emotions.
It's head does not fall off!
It moves around easily on most rugs, as long as they don't curl up.
It can take a beating.
It has nice details.
It is the cheapest BB-8 on the market. About $35.
It is huge! And looks great next to my Hasbro Interactive R2-D2 from 2002.
They are pretty close to scale if compared to the movie versions.
Here is the Bad:
It does not move like in the movie, it has a wheel built in that goes forward and back.
It can't be controlled, no remote controls.
It moves where it wants too and sometimes keeps backing up into things, although it has a button sensor in the front oddly enough.
It is very noisy when moving around or moving it's head.
Still a great looking toy and fun too!
How does it rate compared to the other BB-8s?
The BB-8 Brothers!
Against Sphero, Disney's wins as a toy to get your child. It is significantly cheaper and comes with batteries in it, while Sphero's is expensive and like I have said before Sphero's feels like an adult collector toy, not a toy for a child.
Against Hasbro, Disney's BB-8 loses. Although it is still significantly cheaper and comes with it's own batteries, Hasbro's still feels like the best toy on the market, and has nicer paint job than Disney's in my opinion. Also, it is nice that Hasbro's is controllable and moves like he does in the movie.
I wish Disney's BB-8 and Hasbro's where combined. I love that Disney's lights up and that Hasbro's moves like the movie version. I wish honestly that we would get a full-sized replica of BB-8 from the movie at some time. Maybe by the 2nd or 3rd film with BB-8 in it we will? Until then I do not regret buying any of my BB-8s! I do however still love Hasbro's a little more then the rest.
Thanks for reading. May the BB-8 be with you!
-Bordon
If you'd like to purchase the Disney Store BB-8 it can be found here: http://bit.ly/1iFdIq1
If you haven't read my comparative review of the Hasbro and Sphero BB-8 you can read it by clicking here: http://bit.ly/1UHrST4
Minor UPDATE (9/28/2015):
Andrea in the comments asked where the battery compartments are, I've included a picture of my thumb and finger touching their locations. They should be easy to spot once you know what you are looking for.
On the Left is Sphero on the Right is Hasbro. Who will win?!
Today I will be reviewing the two remote controlled Star Wars BB-8 toys that where released on Force Friday, September 4th. Both were bought by me on Force Friday. For this blog post only one shall be the winner for the best BB-8 Toy for kids on Christmas. So keep in mind when I review these toys I am thinking which one would be best for a child to play with. It was a tough choice with a lot of factors for me. I had 5 factors that I considered while comparing them: Cost, Box Presentation, Ease of Putting it together, Size and Look, and Usability. Each characteristic was judged with clear winners, which in the end helped me determine the final verdict. So let's begin shall we?
1. Cost
Sphero:
What you pay for is the box presentation and all that technology inside.
Sphero costs about $150 before taxes. I think my total with state tax was around $159. It's very pricey, and that doesn't include the Smartphone required to move BB-8. That's right, this little guy has no remote that comes with it.
Hasbro:
A good representation of all you need to make this guy run. It's definitely a toy box.
Hasbro's which is a Target Exclusive in the US costs around $80 before taxes. However, unlike Sphero who has a built in rechargeable battery this BB-8 does not have one. It requires 4 AA Batteries in the robot itself and 2 AAA Batteries for the remote that comes included with the toy. So factoring that all in you are spending about $94 for the two packs of batteries.
Winner: It's pretty clear in this case who won. Hasbro did. Although they require batteries for their BB-8, they do include a remote and don't require the extra cost of a smart device. For a toy for a child I'd rather have them use a remote than a smart phone to move a robot around. It also helps that you are saving $60 when getting the Hasbro BB-8.
2. Box Presentation
Right away you can tell Sphero has the slickest box.
Sphero:
The box was slick, and it's packed like an iPhone.
Here's my unboxing video if you are curious!
Sphero's box as you can see form the unboxing is really well designed. When you open it up it pretty much is all in one piece. In fact it reminds me of unboxing a brand new iPhone. The fact that requires a smart device makes it all the more apparent that this is a really sophisticated robot.
Hasbro:
It's a typical Hasbro boxed item. Lots of cardboard inside.
Here's my unboxing video for Hasbro as well:
I took an after shot of opening the box. As you can see from the un-boxing video and the picture Hasbro expects you to treat this like any other toy they have sold in the past. I think the only time a Star Wars toy had really fancy packaging in my youth from Hasbro was when I got my Interactive R2-D2, but even that was close to bare bones and not as fancy as Sphero's box.
Winner: Sphero. They really cared about presentation. Remember you are paying $150 for the toy, instead of $80 though.
3. Ease of Putting Toy Together
Sphero:
Sphero made it pretty easy. You get BB-8 all put together, all you have to do is put on it's head and put it in the charging station and wait for it to charge before booting up your smartphone BB-8 app and starting up your new robot toy. Oh you do have to hold the smartphone next to it really close for it to lock on to the robot. That was a bit annoying, and expect an update to download to the robot at launch. It's nice though that BB-8 is pretty much in one piece.
Hasbro:
You have to put BB-8 together for the hasbro one. It's neat to look at the guts, and the instructions included with it is pretty easy to get the hang of. Don't forget to put the batteries into the black part that moves the whole droid around! Also, have to use a screwdriver to put in the batteries into the remote as well. This step pretty much takes a parent to do.
Winner: Sphero. It was close though, the app for Sphero was annoying to wait for, but as far as putting together the droid, Sphero already did it for you.
4. Size and Look
Winner: Hasbro. This picture pretty much sums it up. Sphero is the smaller of the two. Sphero's look is smooth and shiny. However, it looks painted on and flat. Hasbro's has more details, even a bit of dirt here and there in it's paint job. It looks like a prop from the movie. It has character. Size matters not, but as far as character, Hasbro's BB-8 has it and Sphero's doesn't.
5. Usability:
Sphero:
Here's a video on how Sphero's BB-8 is controlled.
Sphero's usability feels limited. It needs pretty flat carpeting so it got stuck in parts of my apartment that has thicker carpet. You need to re-align the blue light constantly while it moves to where you are to make it move right. The control stick on the app is weird and wanky. You only get one control stick that controls movement. He does have great little head bobs that you can input in, and he can explore on his own if you wish. The one feature it does have is a gimmicky hologram that shows up in your smartphone's screen.
Here's one annoying thing: You need the app for him to make sounds, it all comes from your smart phone, and some of the sounds are very annoying. Such as the lightsaber sound that it makes every time you have to point the blue light back at you to re-calibrate where you are in relation to BB-8. Something just feels off about Sphero's BB-8 right now. I know that the head of Sphero announced pretty quickly that we will be getting updates, patches, and more in the coming months and after the release of the new Star Wars film. He can free roam while Hasbro's can't. However, he didn't free roam well on any of my carpets, where Hasbro's got around mostly fine. So for me free roam hasn't worked real well and should probably be done on a flat service such as hardwood floors. The AR message system that the app can do to make BB-8 have his own "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi" message mode. The Hologram message mode is neat, but feels gimmicky. It's not something you'd use a lot while playing with him. Sphero BB-8 feels like a toy meant for an adult collector, not a kid. Nothing wrong with that, but for my review I am thinking of what you'd want to get for your child.
That dang cat hair gets everywhere.
The head has wheels that collects dust. Mine having only been used a few times had already started to collect stuff in the wheels.
Side-Note: My cat loves chasing this one!
Hasbro:
Here's a Video on how Hasbro's BB-8 is Controlled.
Hasbro's controls are pretty easy to figure out. Turning him on is easy too, just shake him awake, or turn him upside down. You get 2 pads to control BB-8 with. One for head movement to point him in the direction you want him to go, and the other for forward and backward motion. You can also make him move pretty well for angles and such by pressing both controls down at the same time. You have to remain closer to BB-8 than the Sphero one but it wasn't too bad. Even though he can't explore on his on like Sphero, mine moved at times on it's own free will. He emits all the beeps and boops from himself, not from the remote like Sphero. He also has a cute personality that I assume his "voice" sounds closer to the film version of BB-8 than Sphero's chipmunked R2 chirps.
Although it sometimes falls off, there is no way cat hair can get in it!
Also, the head has no wheels so no dust collection! The magnets control it's movement at all times and stays on pretty well.
Side-Note: My cat was curious about this one but ran away because it was too big and scary.
Winner: Hasbro. It just seems like a toy meant for a kid.
SO WHO WINS THE SHOWDOWN?
Don't feel too bad for Sphero BB-8, he's still a great toy.
The Winner is: Hasbro.
Although Sphero is a pretty great toy and is fun to play with, at launch it has many faults. It feels like it's not fully released yet, because it hasn't really. We will see when the movie launches how BB-8 Sphero is then and I'll probably make a new post on the updates then. For now Sphero's feels like an adult collector toy. While Hasbro's is clearly meant for a child.
Hasbro's also feels like it just popped out of the movie. It has character. It is easier to control. It's priced way more reasonable. It doesn't require a smart phone. It is just simple to use and control. A beautiful and simple child's toy that has pretty much everything Sphero does great right now, but in it's own unique way that feels more real. Hat's off to you Hasbro you made BB-8 proud!
Don't let my review choose for you though, both these toys are excellent! I just felt that if you were to buy one of these toys for a child, Hasbro's is the most sensible and suitable choice. If you do want to purchase either Hasbro's or Sphero's BB-8 I have included information below.
Hasbro's BB-8 again is a Target Exclusive and can be bought online here. You can also find it at your local store while supplies last.
Sphero can be found in many stores in the US. I got mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. You can also find it on Amazon, Gamestop, and Disney Store. Although a lot of stores are trying to get it in stock, so check your favorite store for availability!
I hope this review helped you make a future purchase of your BB-8 for yourself or a loved one.
Until next time, May the Force Be With You.
-Bordon
Update: On September 11th the US Disney Store has started selling an Interactive BB-8 that lights up and beeps. Since it has way different features to the BB-8s in this review I have made a review for it on its own that can be found here: http://bit.ly/1F8C7y4
