ORLANDO, Fla. —
When you head off-world to visit Black Spire Outpost, you won’t have to explore the planet Batuu alone.
You can build and customize your own interactive droid at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The new land opens Thursday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Inside the Droid Depot, it takes galactic technology and a little bit of elbow grease to build a buddy to accompany you on your travels.
Before you assemble your own R2-D2 or BB-8, here are some tips to avoid any ship-destroying glitches.
Know your R-series from your B-series
Both types of droids are astromech droids, which are mechanical robots programmed to repair starships and sometimes serve as navigation computers. They’re often used as copilots for Resistance fights, like Poe Dameron’s BB-8.
R-series droids were commonly used during the Age of Republic (Phantom Menace through Revenge of the Sith) and had at least seven types: R0 through R6.
The original B-series robots were battle droids used during the Clone Wars. However, at Droid Depot you’ll make a BB-series droid like BB-8 and the First Order’s BB-9E.
Pick your parts
Each droid requires you to pick out four sets of parts (any color you want) from the conveyor belt moving around the shop.
The R-series droid requires a dome, a body, a smaller center leg and a set of larger side-legs. The B-series lets you coordinate colors for a dome, a dome connection plate, a body sphere and a motivator.
Get creative
The colors available so far include red, black, white, blue, purple, orange and gray. There are thousands of possibilities for creating a unique droid. Purple and white and all black combinations have been pretty popular with some of the first builders at Droid Depot.
Other customization available for extra purchase includes different colored accessory panels, decals and tool attachments.
Pick a side
Beyond the main customizing and building of your droid, you also have the option to buy a personality chip, which lets your droid interact with other droids and with elements around Galaxy’s Edge. If you choose a Resistance chip, the droid will emit scared beeps when you venture near Stormtroopers or Kylo Ren’s ship.
If you install a First Order chip, the droid will emit nervous or concerned noises in much of the rest of the land.
Get your crew together
With the personality chip, your droid can “talk” to other droids around Galaxy’s Edge and even interact with some of the droids native to Black Spire Outpost.
The droid building experience also comes with remote control abilities, so don’t be surprised if you see gangs of beeping, newly-created droids zooming around outside the Droid Depot or in the marketplace.
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