The Star Wars slate of programming on Disney+ has been quite a ride. And it’s only just begun, really. The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett saw storied animated characters debut in live-action. Not to mention the likes of Temuera Morrison and (a controversially de-aged) Mark Hamill return to the franchise. By the end of the year, we’ll add Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Diego Luna, and a lot more to that list. Still, though, the star to emerge from the shows thus far remains young Grogu, the child formerly known as Baby Yoda. The character’s reach is far and wide, gracing everything from meme pages to every sort of merchandise available. Of course, prices and quality range just as far and wide.
In a new YouTube video, artist Steven Richter turns a standard $20 Grogu toy and turns it into a collectable-worthy masterpiece.
The artistry behind it is spectacular. In the five-minute video, which we first saw at Gizmodo, Richter deconstructs the toy in order to rebuild. One of the key elements to getting a perfect toy rendering is mastering Grogu’s skin tone. Sure it’s green, but not quite the chartreuse the original toy depicts. If anything, it has a more muted tone, akin to pistachio or sage. And that’s the element Richter shoots for.
The video takes viewers through the intricate process of getting Grogu’s head exactly right–right down to the slightly rosy cheeks and wisps of hair atop his little head. He also gives the lil bud’s outfit a more weathered look. After all, these are a child’s clothes. (A child who, I might add, stole an X-wing and loves getting into mischief.)
At the end of the video, Richter returns to the store with his finished and repackaged Grogu. And he appears to leave it on the shelf with its less realistic compatriots. So someone is getting quite a steal with Richter’s reworked Baby Yoda for a cool $20.
Richter’s artwork has dazzled us for years. From sculpting figures just to melt them away to bringing some realism to the messy battles superheroes face, we always feel mesmerized watching Richter’s mastery at work.
