--- title: Star Wars Cover: R2-D2 or BB-8? description: It's a classic face-off of old versus new. canonical: https://time.com/4133476/poll-star-wars-the-force-awakens-cover-r2d2-bb8/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-03T12:30:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:17.237Z og:title: Vote Now: Which 'Star Wars' Cover Is Your Favorite? og:description: Meet the droids: R2-D2 vs. BB-8 og:url: https://time.com/4133476/poll-star-wars-the-force-awakens-cover-r2d2-bb8/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3524987872b24ad7/698873902dce01016b9e6bfb/droid-time-covers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: droid-time-covers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vote Now: Which 'Star Wars' Cover Is Your Favorite? twitter:description: Meet the droids: R2-D2 vs. BB-8 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3524987872b24ad7/698873902dce01016b9e6bfb/droid-time-covers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vote: Which _Star Wars_ Cover Is Your Favorite? > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Photographing TIME's Star Wars Cover [Watch (HLS stream): Photographing TIME's Star Wars Cover](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KXrQmNTF.m3u8) (3:31)  _Published 2015-12-03. For the latest issue of TIME, Marco Grob photographed the cast members of_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 3, 2015 12:30 PM UTC  R2-D2 and BB-8 on the cover of the Dec. 14, 2015 issue of TIME. R2-D2 and BB-8 on the cover of the Dec. 14, 2015 issue of TIME. Marco Grob for TIME  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 3, 2015 12:30 PM UTC It’s a classic case of old versus new. The Dec. 18 premiere of _The Force Awakens_ is just over a week away. In anticipation of the film’s release, [TIME hits newsstands](http://time.com/4134371/how-j-j-abrams-brought-back-star-wars/) Thursday with two different covers. Each one features one of the galaxy far, far away’s mechanical characters, R2-D2 and BB-8\. Of course, this split raises an important question: which droid is more deserving of the vaunted spot? **MORE:** [How J.J. Abrams Brought Back _Star Wars_](http://time.com/4134371/how-j-j-abrams-brought-back-star-wars/) On one side of the ring there is the lovable R2-D2, introduced in 1977’s _Episode IV:_ _A New Hope_ and a fast fan favorite. On the other there is BB-8, an adorable new addition to the _Star Wars_ world who will appear in upcoming installments of the series. Cast your vote now. ## Transcript If you would have told me a couple weeks ago that I was touched by a robot I would have laughed, I think they scare me more than anything else. Well, when I met BB- 8, it's even weird to say that, when I met BB- 8, whoever designed that thing They are geniuses. Hello. They almost build up some form of real human connection. It has an eye, one eye. It has this really cute way of looking at you. It's just incredible. As a result, the photo of course brings over that character. [ MUSIC ] You get almost starstruck when you meet R2- D2. You have seen that thing since the beginning of my life almost. It was really special. My name is Marco Grab. I'm a photographer. I'm contract photographer for Time Magazine. And I had the honor to photograph all the cast members of the new Star Wars movie. [ MUSIC ] When I got this assignment, I kinda had to think of how I wanna do justice to every single person and then still within the legacy of Star Wars. After all, it's about the actors more than about the characters they play in the film. [ MUSIC ] At the last. Let it go. I like to play with psychological barriers often. Not to expose them at all. It's more how is it to be so close to Harrison Ford? And in order to show the person that looks at the photograph, I have to be physically so close to Harrison Ford. That is the one chance photography has to show us something we would not have normally access to. [ MUSIC ] So we have all a built in default position for how far we wanna stand in front of somebody to have a conversation with him or her. And if you go closer than that, that always results in some form of reaction. It's somewhat going into their defense sphere. It makes people extremely vulnerable. I kind of like to play with that sometimes. To photograph Daisy and John, the youngest of the two actors, They have more attention right now then probably any other actor has or will have in the next couple years. It showed when you worked with them they were very open and giving and it was fun to work with them, and it's also nice to be there in a very specifically important time in their life. For me Star Wars is hundreds of people trying to push the envelope. People take enormous risks in creative and in technical aspects to do things we've never seen before. In a way nobody would have imagined to ever seen. That is for me the most important about it because I love when people take leaps into the unknown. [ UNKNOWN ] touches millions, millions of lives over the next decades. 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