BB-8

BB-8, sometimes spelled Beebee-Ate, was a BB unit astromech droid who operated approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor. It had a dome head, similar to that of R2 series astromech droids, with the bulk of its body made up of a ball on which the droid's head rolled. BB-8 was mostly white, with some silver and orange on its body, as well as a black photoreceptor. The droid belonged to Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, whom he accompanied during his flights on his a T-70 X-wing fighter.

Early Life
A BB unit astromech droid who operated approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor, BB-8 became the companion of New Republic Commander and flight leader of Rapier Squadron, Poe Dameron. BB-8 followed Dameron when he left the New Republic fleet and joined the Resistance.

Jakku
"Where do you come from?"

- Rey, to BB-8

After accompanying Dameron on many missions for the Resistance, BB-8 went with his master to Tuanul in Jakku to meet with Lor San Tekka. While Dameron spoke to Tekka in his hut, BB-8 waited outside and saw four First Order Atmospheric Assault Landers approach. He then alerted his master of the Order's arrival, so Tekka handed Dameron a memory drive containing a map to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker's location. BB-8 and Dameron then fled to their T-70 X-wing fighter, but before they could escape, stormtroopers disabled its engines. Unable to escape, Dameron gave BB-8 the map and an order to get as far away as possible, which BB-8 did.

With BB-8's tracking mode disabled prior to landing on Jakku, the droid had no choice but to find his own way, trekking through the desert alone for several hours. BB-8 eventually encountered a Teedo, who proceeded to capture him, but another scavenger, Rey, intervened and convinced the Teedo to leave BB-8 alone. Rey fixed his antenna then gave him directions to Niima Outpost and sent it on its way, but BB-8 insisted on traveling with her. Unbeknownst to them, BB-8 had become the target of a determined search by the Resistance, the First Order and the galactic underworld. Once they reached Niima, Rey went to Unkar Plutt to exchange her scraps for foodstuff, and the Crolute offered to buy the droid; while tempted, Rey declined the offer.

Plutt then sent thugs to kidnap BB-8, but Rey successfully fought them off. Immediately after, BB-8 noticed a man wearing his master's jacket, prompting Rey to chase after the man, Finn. He explained that he had met and helped Dameron escape the Finalizer, but that Dameron had apparently perished during their crash; he also claimed to be with the Resistance. Just then, two stormtroopers noticed BB-8 and called in an airstrike. As two TIE fighters began firing at them, the three fugitives managed to board the Millennium Falcon and escape from Jakku.

Journey to D'Qar
While in the Jakku system, Rey had to repair the Falcon, and asked Finn where the Resistance base was. Not knowing the answer, he admitted to BB-8 (but not to Rey) that he wasn't part of the Resistance and asked where the base was. After some consideration, BB-8 revealed the base's location in the Ileenium system. Just then, the Falcon was caught in a tractor beam and captured by a larger ship. Believing themselves to have been captured by the First Order, the three hid in a compartment, preparing to release gas to neutralize any boarding stormtroopers. Instead, they encountered Han Solo and Chewbacca, the Falcon’s former owners. Rey and Finn recognized Solo and Finn told him about BB-8's map, with the droid displaying the fragmented map in a hologram.

However, Solo and Chewbacca's current freighter, the Eravana, was boarded by members of the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub. While Rey and Finn hid, BB-8 remained with the famed smugglers as insurance, but this resulted in Guavian member Bala-Tik recognizing BB-8 and demanding Solo hand the droid over. But as Rey accidentally released the Eravana's cargo (three rathtars) and a firefight began, BB-8 fled with Solo and Chewbacca to the Millennium Falcon, where they met with Finn and Rey and escaped.

Solo took Finn, Rey, and BB-8 to meet his old friend Maz Kanata at her castle on the planet Takodana. There, spies for both the Resistance and the First Order recognized the droid and alerted their organizations. BB-8 followed Rey into a basement room, where she found the lightsaber that had belonged to Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin before him. Upon touching it, she received a vision, which frightened her and caused her to run off into the woods. BB-8 followed her. Shortly after, the First Order attacked, and BB-8 and Rey were spotted in the woods west of the castle. Rey told BB-8 to go further into the woods, while she attacked, but was subdued by, Kylo Ren. A Resistance counter-attack forced the First Order to retreat, but with Rey having seen the map, Ren decided that they could get it out of her and would no longer need BB-8.

Solo, Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8 were brought to the Resistance base on D'Qar by General Leia Organa. There, BB-8 eagerly was reunited with Poe, who had managed to survive the crash on Jakku. BB-8 also removed the cover off of R2-D2, hoping to get a response, but C-3PO explained that Artoo had been in low power mode since Master Luke had gone into exile. BB-8 wondered if Artoo had the rest of the map in his backup memory, to which Threepio replied that it was unlikely.

Assault on Starkiller Base
BB-8 accompanied Poe Dameron during the Assault on Starkiller Base, navigating for Poe in his custom Black One X-Wing. The X-Wings would attack the base's thermal oscillator after the shields had been disabled by Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Finn, which could cause the charged weapon to become unstable and self-destruct. BB-8 flew with Dameron as he led the X-Wings on an initial attack on the oscillator, but it failed to do significant damage. After the first attack run, General Hux of the First Order ordered all TIE squadrons to attack. During the battle, over half of the Resistance's attack force was destroyed, and the X-Wings failed to do any significant damage to the thermal oscillator. However, Chewbacca detonated several explosives along the oscillator, providing Dameron with an opening. With less than a minute to spare, Poe and BB-8 flew down a trench to the regulator, squeezing through a very narrow opening into the regulator itself, where Poe fired several proton torpedoes into the infrastructure. The damage was enough to destroy the regulator, causing the planet-weapon's core to become unstable, ripping apart the surface and destroying the planet.

After the battle, the X-Wings returned to D'Qar, along with the Millennium Falcon carrying Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey, with Han Solo having been killed during the mission. Upon Rey's arrival, R2-D2 woke up from his low-power state. He revealed the map to Luke's location, with only one piece missing. BB-8 then projected its piece, fitting it into the hole in Artoo's map and revealing Luke's location. With the location discovered at last, BB-8 and the others bid farewell to Rey, Chewbacca, and Artoo as they set off to find the fabled Jedi.

Characteristics
A BB unit, BB-8 had a dome head, similar to that of R2 series astromech droids, with the bulk of its body made up of a dense, well-sealed ball that the droid's head rolled on. BB-8 was mostly white, with some orange and silver on its body, as well as a black photoreceptor.

Though BB-8's self-preservation protocols meant the droid was skittish and easily frightened, its experiences formed a strong loyalty subprogram. BB-8's manifest personality was, to his master and friend Poe Dameron, somewhat of an unpredictable one: While most droids were predictable to certain stereotypes (bossy, sullen, grumpy) within their respective programming, BB-8 was his own case, sometimes childlike, sometimes precocious. In fact, Dameron sometimes wondered if the droid daydreamed, even though that implied the absurd—that BB-8 had an active imagination. When communicating, BB-8 spoke in 27th generation droidspeak code, a compressed version of binary.

Equipment
All of BB-8's equipment was stored within six swappable, circular tool-bay disks embedded in the ball, that could be replaced or upgraded with minimal reprogramming. Being an astromech droid, BB-8 had several features such as an arc welder, a welding torch, and a holoprojector.

Behind the scenes
"They never cease to amaze me with what they’re able to come up with, you know? I said, 'How are you ever gonna top R2-D2, the most adorable droid in movie history?'"

- Mark Hamill on BB-8

BB-8 was first revealed in the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens on November 28, 2014. Its name was revealed by Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive trading card. The character was realized by the Pinewood Studios creature shop as a practical, functioning robot.

BB-8's name was chosen by Episode VII director J.J. Abrams because of the droid's round and bouncy look. Abrams is also quoted with saying, "I named him BB-8 because it was almost onomatopoeia. It was sort of how he looked to me, with the 8, obviously, and then the two B's." The name was conceived early on in Episode VII's production and was one of the few to never be changed.

BB-8 is performed by Dave Chapman and Brian Herring. BB-8's voice includes digitally altered sounds created by actors Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz, who are credited as "BB-8 Vocal Consultants".

Seven different BB-8 units were used in the making of Episode VII. Each was given its own nickname, such as "Bowling Ball" and "the Puppet." Another nickname for the droid was "Surly"

Appearances

 * Before the Awakening
 * Star Wars Special: C-3PO: The Phantom Limb
 * SaBBotage
 * Star Wars: Poe Dameron 1: Black Squadron, Part I
 * Star Wars: Poe Dameron 2: Black Squadron, Part II
 * Star Wars: Poe Dameron 3: Black Squadron, Part III
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Part I
 * The Force Awakens: Rey's Story
 * Rey Meets BB-8
 * The Adventures of BB-8
 * Finn & Rey Escape!
 * Han & Chewie Return!
 * Lightsaber Rescue
 * 5-Minute Star Wars Stories
 * Star Wars: Episode VIII

Non-canon appearances

 * Jakku Spy
 * Disney Infinity 3.0
 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens