Watch a 1,106 piece Lego BB-8 come to life in 22 seconds
Star Wars fans rejoiced when Lego unveiled its first BB-8 droid-building kit on Force Friday II, but many wondered: Is it really possible to build a scene-stealing sphere from almost 1,106 squares?
Yes, yes it is.
We enlisted the help of mega Star Wars fan and Lego pro Dan Ulanoff (the author's son) to build and document the process of constructing the 9-inch-tall BB-8 replica.
Lego tries to simplify the overwhelming number of pieces as much as possible by dividing them among six numbered bags that you tackle in order.
After approximately three hours, one lunch break, and no significant issues, Lego BB-8 and his tiny, original 2-piece Lego BB-8 were done.
We were struck by the simple, but effective mechanics built into this Lego project. There's a well hidden knob on BB-8's left side for moving its Lego dome head is a very BB-8 fashion, and another on the right for extending the welding torch that BB-8 uses to give Finn a thumbs up sign in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We don't know if BB-8 plans to use that tool again in the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The $99.99 Lego BB-8 is a spherical model -- with many Lego corners -- which means it could roll away. Fortunately, the model includes a stand and placard (the kit's sole sticker) describing BB-8's specs, abilities, purpose and key features.
Now that we've completed this 1,106-piece build, we can't wait to get our hands on Lego's 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon due to ship next month. Wonder if Dan is up for the challenge.
Topics Star Wars
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
