On the release day of the Mandalorian, fans were surprised to discover the existence of a new, cute character in the franchise: The Child, or Baby Yoda. They were even more surprised when they discovered that Disney and Lucasfilm had decided to hide his character from marketers, resulting in a lack of Baby Yoda merchandise on shelves prior and following its apparition on screens (Agar, 2019). This decision, based on the fairly common issue of merchandise designs and packagings leaking online, led to a disappointing introduction of the toy to the public, as the firm decided to miss the Christmas season and start the production of toys and merchandise in 2020 ( Agar, 2019; Sherman, 2020, Reed, 2023).
Fortunately, the boost created by the spread and popularity of the show has permitted Baby Yoda to become a staple for many merchandisers, with the creation of an abundant amount of goods in the image of Baby Yoda (Cirigliano, 2020; Sherman, 2020). Whether official, or from third-party e-commerces, the amount of products created extends from t-shirts with official artworks printed on, to mugs, bottles, costumes, posters, etc. In other words, the products encompass a wide array of goods in his image. However, toys featuring Baby Yoda were the most awaited items. (Cirigliano, 2020). Different toy manufacturing companies such as Lego, Mattel, Hasbro, Funko Pop, Build-a-Bear, the Disney shop, etc. partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm to create diverse and varied toys to be sold, such as Lego figurines, plush toys, animatronic plush toys, board games, and much more (Cirigliano, 2020).
Interestingly, because the puppet of Baby Yoda, as used in the show, has true dimensions of 40.5 cm, manufacturing life-like toys becomes manageable for the companies producing them. A slightly smaller rendition of Baby Yoda would not be noticeable, as it would create the feeling of holding the authentic, screen-accurate Baby Yoda.