Mark Hamill expressed some surprise that anyone could manage to make a droid cuter than R2-D2, whom he considered "the most adorable droid in movie history."
I gotta call him out on this one.
Let's be clear about what constitutes a spoiler. (Spoilers under the fold, of course.)
Way back when I was very little, Mom and Dad recorded a VHS tape of little computer animated shorts produced by Pacific Data Images and some other artists. It was a much-loved tape, and a few of the things on it were obscure enough that I still haven't located them on YouTube. In many cases, it took a little detective work to find the title of a piece, especially when human error in recording cut off a title card or other details.
It was sort of a domino effect. First I got a bento box for Christmas, then I started hunting for appropriate recipes (and scheming how one could construct a BB-8 droid out of a hard-boiled egg and carrot slices) and that got me thinking about eating more vegetables, and then I decided to see if Google Fit was better at handling cycling than the simple step-counters I've rejected in the past.
Go ahead and see it, if you haven't yet.
For an observation about BB-8's design, head under the line. I won't say much else.
You can watch the evolution of special effects in movies, if you like, but the passage of time is clearer if you listen...and consider how you listen.