Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my third Orbotix remote control something and my first of their branded Disney products. I've got a Sphero and an Ollie. Somehow I've avoided the branded stuff to this point and I do not know how or why because I love Sphero and Ollie. So here are thoughts in a bit of detail because this isn't exactly inexpensive but it's totally awesome... The Dark Side (The Good!) -The unboxing experience is really impressive. I don't know what I was expecting but the sleeve cover over the clean, minimal box opening up to the droid was solid. Quite the introduction to BB-9E. -The little antennas on its head are a hard rubber. When I got it open and saw BB-9E my first thought when the sense of being impressed was over was that the little antennas would break off in no time. I thought they'd be plastic. They're a hard rubber. Flexible and resilient. I don't know why I had this sense of disappointment when I thought I'd break them off but when I discovered I wouldn't I was probably happier than i should have been. But that's how one of the longest bullets in my review gets written. -It's small but heavy! I remember being a kid and buying something I thought was expensive and then handling it and feeling how "cheap" it really is but not this. It feels like a little weight in your hand. I'm not sure if they actually added weight for some purpose but I appreciate it. -The lights in the head. "Head" is probably the wrong word but you know what I mean. BB-9E has little lights in it's head that area really pretty darned bright. My wife and I put him in our hallway with all of the lights off and it was just "looking around" and you could see the lights going everywhere and illuminating the walls. It was impossible not to believe it was actually looking around and "blinking" when the lights would turn off for half a second. Very fun. Feels like it really has a personality. And, best of all, the lights are powered with inductive power so there's no batteries or anything in the head to deal with. The whole thing charges on its base through inductive charging, same as their Sphero. Best use of the technology I've encountered. -The app. From the little animation when you load it up to the music and connecting with the droid it's great. Super solid in all regards. I've had zero issues connecting. Probably one of the best experiences with an app that I've ever had and that even goes for previous Sphero products which were not bad at all. I haven't watched a movie with this yet but I'm looking forward to it. My hope is it cheers really loud every time the Empire is on screen. (Go team Dark Side!) The Light Side (The Bad) -We have laminate flooring that's a little on the slick side for this guy. If I drive him a little slower it's fine but there's that. We have rugs that he does a whole lot better on but if yours is a house of non-stop laminate flooring without some degree of texture, be aware, I guess. Super small thing. The Palpatine (The Ugly) -My son is literally terrified of BB-9E. He's 2.5 years old and he was totally fine with BB-9E until it started rolling around. Then he screamed, cried, and ran to me or his mother. The lights probably don't help. Now he doesn't trust the thing at all and when we saw the display of these toys at a store in the mall he actually hid behind my wife. I tried to show him BB-8 thinking maybe the lighter version would be better but he wouldn't take his eyes off of BB-9E. So it's official... my son's part of the rebel alliance. And that's hard for me because the Empire did nothing wrong.