Star Wars is about droids. Specifically, it is the epic journey of one R2-D2 from lowly astromech droid living on Naboo to galactic hero. Oh sure, the Skywalker family is involved too. But Artoo is the driving force of the narrative. Without him, the Skywalker clan would be dead a dozen times over. But despite being a lynchpin of the franchise, Star Wars has rarely focused on the intrepid droid. We know he’s loyal. We know he’s smart. We know he really hates Chopper from Star Wars Rebels. But what does Artoo do in his spare time? Hangs out with his new BFF, BB-8. Duh.
As part of a new, cute initiative Star Wars has been putting out #StarWarsBlips. The most recent one shows the struggle of getting into rooms that don’t have astromech ports when you don’t have opposable thumbs. Teamwork!
This isn’t the first animated short to feature the droids. Star Wars has been quietly releasing these at irregular intervals for months. One short focuses on the two droids battling it out for who has the coolest abilities, while another shows BB-8 playing with a misplaced lightsaber. Maybe these animated blips are a grassroots attempt to see if fans would be interested in a spin-off show starring Artoo and BB-8? I know it’s not, but one can dream.