Wouldn’t you do anything for Grogu and his adorable face? A new collectible may put a limit on that love. Baby Yoda stole hearts from his very first appearance in The Mandalorian. And the merchandise quickly rolled in. But it may have reached its pinnacle now with a bespoke animatronic Grogu puppet that will cost between $85,000 and $100,000.
According to The GamerOpens in a new tab, the price range depends on how many servos you order. That corresponds to how many movements Grogu performs. With 15 servos, the eyes blink and ears move. The head and hands also have motion. With 25, the hands grasp and use Force powers and the lips get an extra curl. The team from Adam Savage’s Tested channel interviewed some of the creatives behind this high quality collectible that was shown off to the public for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con.
EFX CollectiblesOpens in a new tab and Garner Holt ProductionsOpens in a new tab teamed up on this project. Legacy Effects, which created the puppets for the show, provided fabric samples and patterns for all the body parts. So this is an incredibly realistic Grogu puppet very similar to those used on-screen. And comparatively, it’s also relatively cheap. After the showrunners waded through the concept art optionsOpens in a new tab, the main puppet used on The Mandalorian cost about $5 million to makeOpens in a new tab. The creative team approached the project like a theme park attraction, since it will have to hold up over time without any adjustments.
If this is wildly out of your budget, never fear. Hasbro makes a (relatively) inexpensive animatronic optionOpens in a new tab that is programmed to eat everything in sight. There’s also 3D printing instructions that YouTube engineers have used to create their own versionsOpens in a new tab.
This is not the first run-in with Grogu for Adam Savage or his team at Tested. He melted when meeting the animatronic that Grant Imahara madeOpens in a new tab before he passed away.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star WarsologiesOpens in a new tab, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruthOpens in a new tab.
