Have you been binge-watching The Mandalorian? Doesn’t matter. Even if you aren’t following the new Disney+ original live-action Star Wars series, you have undoubtedly been introduced to the likes of none other than Baby Yoda.
Averaging 2.28 million social media interactions on news stories since November 12, Baby Yoda, the 50-year-old (baby) animated character from Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian has had the entire nation clutching its chest since the world was first introduced to “The Child” at the end of the premiere episode.
But don’t take my word for it. As of four days ago, it was reported that Baby Yoda lead all Democratic candidates for the 2020 Presidential bid, despite not running or…being real.
In the weeks that followed, the internet was flooded with multitudes of adorable internet GIFs and equally adorable memes just emphasizing the little green sweetie’s “awww” factor, most recently with one spoof of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, with Baby Yoda replacing 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate crisis activist and the youngest individual to be recognized.
Many of the GIFs were then taken down on giphy after some “confusion over copyrights,” reported Variety. They were quickly restored, further allowing for the GIF-loving internet to continue in its rejoice.
There have been several theories as to who Baby Yoda is and where he comes from. One of which is that he is the lovechild of Yoda and Yaddle — making Baby Yoda approximately 50-years-old.
Another theory accuses the Dr. Pershing character of being a cloning scientist, making Baby Yoda his (presumably) cutest little masterpiece of a clone.
Star Wars fans took to Twitter to initiate a cheeky game of assigning Baby Yoda a voice — “wrong answers only!”
Or me when my cat tries to leave the room…
One Instagram user and artist by the name of @leovitiart went so far as to create a form of Jabba the Hutt and dubbed it, “Baby Jabba.”
Oh, and it even comes with a follow-up video:
Needless to say, hilarity ensued. Some of the better answers included Fran Dresher, Kelsey Grammar, Nick Offerman and Samuel L. Jackson.
Matthew Wood, 28-year Star Wars sound editing veteran and voice actor, quick jumped in and set the record straight:
“How about the REAL answer?!? #BabyYoda is voiced by a combination of baby samples, bat-eared foxes, kinkajous, & the sound design vocal talents of @DaveAcord ! PS, he also voiced baby Rotta the Huttlet for #TheCloneWars”
Merchandisers such as Hasbro did not waste any time banking off of Baby Yoda’s instant popularity, announcing the release of a soft 7.5-inch plushy of the character.
To the immense dismay of holiday gift seekers, the doll won’t be available until May. Funko also released a Baby Yoda POP! Vinyl bobble head, only available for pre-order. Both dolls are officially called “The Child,” which is the actual name of the character thus far, despite the world intentionally choosing to ignore it.
In more recent news, however, The Sims 4 upped their game, so to speak — by incorporating its very own Baby Yoda In game’s update that became available on December 12th, a Baby Yoda “statue” is available for purchase in “build mode,” and costs 504 Simoleons.
This rather clever move by The Sims clearly targets millennials who stayed loyal to the addictive game since its first release in 2000, or perhaps even more cleverly, the ones who forgot that it was even a “thing.” (Oh, it was a thing.)
So, what’s next in the epic evolution of the Baby Yoda craze? As the Mandalorian reveals more truths about just what, why and how we got so lucky as to live in a world that now includes the lovable nugget of a creature, it stands to reason that there could and would be spin-offs and Star Wars by-products abound, centering around the life and times of the world’s favorite — (sorry Ewoks and Porgs!) — Star Wars cutie.
