EPISODE VIII: GOING EYE-TO-EYE!

Our lovable Resistance droid BB-8 squares up to his First Order counterpart in BB-9E, for a great toy marketing image. Though we had seen Astro Droids fight in The Clone Wars animated series first season of 2008, the chance for a big screen, live-action conflict between this unique duo for The Last Jedi was, surprisingly, an option not taken by the film's production team. A shame, as it would surely have been a crowd-pleasing extra moment...

At least there was some special footage for this Verizon ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHDNS8TFW8o

EPISODE VIII: DROID OF THE RESISTANCE!

His appearances in The Last Jedi may now be relegated to acting as nostalgic/comedic character support to our key legacy heroes of the Classic Trilogy, but let's hope, with the upcoming EPISODE IX, that J.J. Abrams and the rest of the creative team can give everyone's favourite 'Golden Rod' - a droid blessed with unique skills (communication, programming, code-breaking, etc) - one last (?) memorable outing, preferably in a key or heroic moment, and once more alongside Artoo.

Artoo and Threepio, as seen together for a Verizon US TV advert.