Baby Yoda, or as Disney refers to him, “The Child,” stole the hearts of many Star Wars fans and Disney+ subscribers alike on Nov. 12 after making his debut appearance on The Mandalorian last month.
Without any marketing campaign behind it, the green and adorably tiny creature quickly became a worldwide sensation, charming audiences from across the globe with his endearingly innocent antics in the popular live-action Star Wars series.
As a result of the character’s unexpected success, Disney has finally begun rolling out Baby Yoda merchandise, including mugs, T-shirts, sweaters and phone cases.
Though all of the official apparel is currently unavailable to Canadian customers, it seems those interested are able to pre-order certain Baby Yoda-inspired items from Disney’s official online store, including an 11-inch plush doll by Mattel, as well as two different Funko Pops.
The pre-order items won’t ship until February 2020, however, according to Insider.
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Though Disney often markets Star Wars toys and merchandise long before major premieres, this time around, Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau revealed during a red carpet interview that he successfully persuaded the media giant to hold back on marketing Baby Yoda.
He credited his request to wanting to keep Baby Yoda a surprise and to let fans discover the character themselves, unlike several other cutesy Star Wars characters, like BB-8 or Porgs, which were revealed well before they premiered in the Disney films.
“The way the cat usually gets out of the bag with that stuff is merchandising and toy catalogues and things like that,” he said in the interview.
“That requires a lot of restraint from the people who are footing the bill, saying they’re going to hold back on certain things,” he continued. “Part of that was holding back on some of the merchandise.”
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Though fans are still unsure about the mysterious character, they seem to be completely smitten by him.
Select Baby Yoda merch is now available for pre-order in Canada through Disney’s official online store.
The Mandalorian is now streaming on Disney+.
For those interested in learning more about Baby Yoda, the remaining four episodes of the show will be available to stream on Dec. 6, 13, 18 and 27.
— With files from Josh Elliott
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