The roly-poly little droid you've seen on screen is adorably cute and cool. It's no wonder Star Wars fans love the baby-faced robot. But do we know if it's a girl or a boy? What does the birth certificate under the hood say?
Neal Scanlan, the big guy behind The Force Awakens creatures, tells us how BB-8 came about and what kind of personality do we expect? Is he or she an apple far or near the R2D2 tree?
Let's talk about birth. BB-8 was born from a drawing by Star Wars director J.J. Abrams. Scanlan says Abrams' drawing was a very simple sketch, "... beautiful in its simplicity of a ball with this little dome on top." He discusses that the base was designed with panels on each side so the audience can see the movement of the droid. That would enable viewers to track BB-8's direction when traveling, creating a cleaner pattern.
So, let's talk about gender. During the design phase, everybody debated as to BB-8's gender. Does the droid have a female or male personality? Until now, Scanlan is still not sure. Initially, she was female in their eyes but then switched genders, and maybe back, again. However, Scanlan claims it's all part of evolution. Officially, BB-8's profile is still unknown but for the purpose of the movie, they call BB-8 a "he".
Apparently, they created BB-8 as not only cute but manipulative, too. Scanlan says he thinks BB-8 knows he's cute. "... he can win people over and he uses that like children do to get his own way." In the film, the droid has a very important role so we get to see his personality in order to achieve his goal.
Everyone will get to see BB-8's hidden secrets in the film. I guess, you just have to see the movie this December to fall inlove with his puppy dog eye, as told by EW.
