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Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs  It could be to do with royalties or it could be the merchandise reflecting major characters, so BB-8 and not R2-D2.
If you remember the scene I described a couple of weeks ago where there were people in the cinema foyer dressed as Chewbacca, a storm trooper and (I think, though I saw his back and not his face) Darth Vader, they had a remote-controlled BB-8 which fits the new film much more than a mobile R2-D2. |
The thing is the major characters are all new Disney creations rather than old Lucas ones. Surely if you want to sell something you'd go with the iconic and cute R2D2. However seeing as Disney will have to continue paying Lucas for R2D2's image rights then it will get phased out to be replaced by a Disney only robot.
It's all about the mighty $ with Disney. Especially Disney.
Basically if Disney bought the rights to James Bond, around two films down the line Eon trademarks such as 007, SPECTRE and the theme tune would be ditched in favour of new brand Disney ideas.