Just in time for the Holidays, Hasbro will be releasing merchandise and toys for the breakout star of The Mandalorian Disney Plus Star Wars series, what fans are referring to as “Baby Yoda.”
Hasbro will be releasing the merchandise for the yet unnamed creature (the series refers to it as “The Child”) through Amazon, Zazzle, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Hot Topic and Box Lunch, possibly as early as Friday.
Additional products will be made available at the Disney Store, ShopDisney and at the Disney Parks.
What’s particularly cool is that Disney held off on promoting and putting out the Baby Yoda merchandise early, prior to the series premiere, as executive producer and creator behind The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau, asked Disney not to spoil things (via Collider):
I have to thank Disney and Lucasfilm, because the way the cat usually gets out of the bag with that stuff is merchandising and toy catalogs and things like that. So they really back us up. We really wanted to have it be that you had to watch it yourself, so that every time you watch the show, there are new twists and secrets that come out. That requires a lot of restraint from the people who are footing the bill, saying they’re gonna hold back on certain things so that the public doesn’t know ahead of time. Part of that was holding back on some of the merchandise and holding back on some of the characters.
News of the Baby Yoda Star Wars merchandise also comes at just the right time as CNN reports Hasbro “really, really” needs people to buy Star Wars and Frozen 2 merchandise as this Holiday season again sees toy sales on the decline.
“Baby Yoda” first appeared at the end of the premiere episode, with it revealed it is fifty years old, and it was then featured in the second episode using Force powers. George Lucas has never revealed details about Yoda’s race or homeworld, with the official Star Wars Databank only listing of a “species unknown.”
New episodes of The Mandalorian air Fridays on Disney Plus.
(via CNBC)
Baby Yoda concept art:
