The Mandalorian’s breakout star Baby Yoda continues to take over the world with more adorable merchandise. There’s already a Funko Pop!, Walmart figurine, and endless T-shirts in the universe but there’s no such thing as too much merchandise, right? As reported by Business Insider, Build-A-Bear announced plans to start selling Baby Yoda stuffed animals to further capitalize on the Star Wars craze. Honestly, it was the only decision that they could have made. The Child rules everything and brings all humans immense joy.
Build-A-Bear CEO Sharon Price John presented the stuffed Yoda during a presentation at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Florida and spoke further about the character’s massive appeal.
“I’m excited to share we will be one of the first companies to provide the digital and internet phenomenon who is trending higher than all the presidential candidates combined. We will now have The Child, known as Baby Yoda.”
John revealed that the toy will be available at Build-A-Bear stores, commonly known as “workshops,” within the next few months. The company has worked with Disney for prior projects, so it’s no surprise that they rolled this one out fairly quickly. An obviously fun release date would be May 4 because, well, it’s Star Wars Day. But, public interest shifts so quickly so the franchise may want to capitalize on the current wave.
There are a lot of creators clamoring to get a piece of the Baby Yoda pie right now, including RockLove jewelry. According to StarWars.com, the company just announced pre-orders for its new necklace featuring The Child. The charm shows the character with its now iconic hand outstretched to presumably wield the world into the submission of the one(s) who wear it.
RockLove CEO and designer Allison Cimino revealed that she was ready to bring The Child to the company’s collection before she could even get through The Mandalorian’s first episode. Cimino spoke to StarWars.com further about the product about the amount of meticulous work that went into making the charm’s details measure up to the character.
“This is an extremely challenging project — tweaking over and over, trying to make one perfect sculpt that celebrates an entire season’s worth of love for the Child,” said Cimino. “We were particularly focused on all the minute details, from his tiny button nose to each finger and toe nail. His mouth is down-turned but we didn’t want him to look sad or stern.”
Apparently, Baby Yoda’s eyes were the hardest to capture. Yes, they are massive and black but they also convey so much emotion and general cuteness. Here’s what Cimino had to say about this process:
“We had to keep tweaking the eyes and forehead wrinkles to get it right, adding hand-painted glossy black enamel to the pupils, so that the Child looked content…like he’s eagerly reaching for Mando’s silver ball.”
The necklace will set fans back $135 and is expected to ship out on March 15. That may seem like forever but there will certainly be more necklaces, toys, collectibles, T-shirts, and other Baby Yoda paraphernalia to come. It’s time to really start building your Child collection. This is the way.
Image Credit: spellbooked/YouTube
