The Mandalorian is off to a great start as the de facto flagship series on Disney+. We loved it, we can’t get enough of Pedro Pascal in the titular role, but what we love even more is what we and fans are referring to as “baby Yoda”.
As it stands, Yoda’s history, race, and origin are all a mystery. We never really got a lot out of where he comes from or where he has been. We don’t even know what his race is even called. And now, after all this time, we may finally get some answers to these questions in the 8-episode first season of The Mandalorian.
The Mandalorian features a presence in the form of a baby of Yoda’s race (and possible relative?), though we do not know anything beyond that he is easily the most adorable thing within the entirety of the Star Wars universe. And since his introduction in episode one, the internet can’t stop talking about baby Yoda or posting memes about the character. But despite the character’s massive popularity, there is no merchandise for baby Yoda yet, and that is simply because the show’s creators wanted to avoid spoilers.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, The Mandalorian showrunner, Jon Favreau revealed that the reason they were holding off on releasing ‘baby Yoda’ toys was because they did not want to leak any details about the series as it was just getting started.
“The way the cat usually gets out of the bag with that stuff is merchandising and toy catalogues and things like that. We really wanted to have it be that you had to watch it yourself, so that every time you watched the show there’d be new twists and secrets coming out. But that requires a lot of restraint from the people footing the bill. Part of that was holding back on things like merchandise.”
Favreau is right, as we have seen countless leaks throughout even the most tight-lipped franchises. For example, the MCU, which Favreau is no stranger, saw many leaks leading into End Game due to action figures showing off character suits and costumes. And there is no way they wanted the same thing to happen to The Mandalorian.
Toy-makers are very much aware of the insane amount of money to be made with baby Yoda, but with Disney having decided to be super secretive and avoid that for the start of the series just means that fans will be throwing their money at the merchandise when it becomes available (we half expect baby Yoda to become this year’s ‘tickle me Elmo‘ or ‘Furby‘ for the 2019 holidays).
Currently, there are three episodes of The Mandalorian that have debuted so far, and we do not know anything about baby Yoda (such as its actual name or gender), except for that he is obviously of the same species as Yoda. Perhaps episode three dives deeper into it (we haven’t seen it yet), or perhaps we will have to wait through the remaining five episodes towards the end of the 8-episode first season. Regardless, we love baby Yoda and we want to get a plush of it on our desks as soon as possible.
