Star Wars BB-9E and new R2-D2 droid toys unveiled by Sphero

UPDATE: Australian pricing has now been added. Details below.

Sphero has announced two new Star Wars droid toys for Force Friday II, with Star Wars 8 character BB-9E and old favorite R2-D2 likely to be hot new toys in 2017. 

Sphero’s new offerings will follow in the footsteps of the hugely successful BB-8, with the dark counterpart BB-9E and R2-D2 arriving in plenty of time to make people’s Christmas wish lists. 

Starting - quite rightly - with the most famous droid of the Star Wars world (pffft shut up C3-PO), the R2-D2 App-Enabled Droid offers up both bipod and tripod stances and an integrated speaker, which along with the working front and rear lights, give the toy a bit of authenticity. 

For the older Star Wars fans, this might well be the must have Sphero, not least because the famous R2-D2 waddle has been included and is significantly larger than its brethren at 12 inches. 

Next up, is the BB-9E, a new character on the side of the First Order - described as a ‘rolling menace’. Like R2, this will respond to the app and each other and this droid features nifty lights from within the body and from the head.

Another benefit of the new droids is a peripheral that allows them to sit in a cradle and roll on the spot, allowing you to explore new AR ships (some very new indeed) without crashing into walls. 

Indeed, for those who have not yet snapped up the BB-8 Sphero, a new version will be available that includes this special cradle or 'trainer'. 

BB-8 ($149/£149.99/AU$249.99), BB-9E ($149/£149.99/AU$249.99), and R2-D2 ($179/£179.99/AU$299.99) will be available for retail worldwide starting at 12:01am local time on Friday 1 September. 

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Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.