So, I'm a Buddhist now.

[Agent]

Not Cosmos, the thing where he tweets about how Star Wars is unrealistic and stuff like that.

[dexeron]

[Despanan]

[Agent]

[Despanan]

You seem really insecure these days. Is everything okay?

[Agent]

[dexeron]

[Despanan]

I always assumed the head was held in place by a magnetic field, so sand grains couldn't jam it up. The head wasn't stationary, it seemed to bounce off the ball and return at certain times.

[dexeron]

There was one like that - but the one that could go over most terrain had to have the head on a track - and even then, like Agent quoted, really deep very fine sand could stop it.

From what I gather, they used the 7 different BB-8s for different situations: this one for close-ups and "emoting," this one for distance shots, this one for close-ups on rough terrain, etc, etc.

EDIT: my favorite bit of pre-release news was Mark Hamill gushing about being allowed to drive one of the BB-8s around the set. He was totally fanboying, and it was one of those "aw, that's awesome" moments.

[Despanan]

My fiancée calls it "Baby Eight".