LATE TO MARKET
Sure Baby Yoda toys missed the holidays, but it prevented spoilers
NEW YORK Greatly anticipated, this moment has been.
The Baby Yoda toy void, the destroyer of many 2019 holiday shopping hopes, is officially coming to an end this spring.
That was the word from the galaxy far, far away known as the Big Apple recently, as Disney and Lucasfilm gathered journalists days to show off their Baby Yoda wares of all forms, from pyjamas to Popsockets.
The event was officially described as a showcase for merchandise inspired by the live-action The Mandalorian and the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, two Disney+ hits that represent the best of the fictional universe after the polarizing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
But there was no denying that everyone was here for products tied to the most famous 50-year-old child in Hollywood — which were strangely unavailable in shops in the wake of his viral fame in the fall. That child, by the way, is officially just the Child, having yet to be named on The Mandalorian despite fans affectionately dubbing him Baby Yoda because of a strong likeness to the legendary Star Wars Jedi master. After the show ’s debut in November, “the Child” became a sensation through memes and GIFS, especially one that showed him sipping soup.
And at the event in Manhattan, the Child was everywhere. Legos, action figures, costumes, backpacks, hats, shirts, wallets and socks were all on display. An image of the now-classic moment in The Mandalorian when a young Baby Yoda reaches out of a capsule and extends the cutest finger in the universe for the first time? Framed and ready for your wall. The capsule itself ? Also available, and featuring an animatronic Baby Yoda that blinks, coos and will melt your heart, for US$60.
Build-a-bear employees were there to show onlookers that if you squeezed their soon-to-be-available plush Baby Yoda’s left hand, he made baby noises. Squeeze the right hand, and Ludwig Göransson’s earworm theme song from The Mandalorian begins to play.
One thing you wouldn’t find was a mea culpa from Lucasfilm and Disney for seemingly missing out on millions by not having product ready for the 2019 holiday season. Bootleg product ended up appearing on ebay and Etsy, and Disney made efforts to remove them.
But attendees got confirmation of what was already assumed: The only way to keep Baby Yoda’s end-of-episode-1 debut a secret was to not have any products ready for purchase. Those products would have been seen online months ahead of The Mandalorian’s debut, so showrunner Jon Favreau asked the powers that be at Disney and Lucasfilm to hold off on production until the first episode was released — thus creating a streaming, 21st-century “I am your father” moment.
The goal of holding back on products was to give Star Wars fans the same feeling they had when they discovered George Lucas’ universe for the first time, according to Mandalorian producer Dave Filoni, who spoke via a satellite feed from the set of the show’s second season, during a panel with Lucasfilm executives. If that meant millions were left on the table, so be it.
“It’s so hard to do surprises anymore,” Filoni said. “We wanted the audience to experience meeting the Child with Mando,” the bounty hunter title character.
Paul Southern, Lucasfilm’s senior vice-president of licensing and franchise, was one of the few on the product production side who knew of Baby Yoda’s existence before the series aired.
“We live in a world with Star Wars where the fans, they have a voracious appetite for news. It’s very difficult for us to manage the security and confidentiality of everything once things are in development. It just touches too many people,” Southern said. “The last three months have been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get this product to market quickly.”
The Baby Yoda products will be rolled out starting in March, and some — such as Lego products on Amazon — won’t come until as late as August.
For Canadian shoppers wishing to buy from a store, rather than online, at least some of those products will be available at Disney stores and Toys R Us, among other retailers.