Baby Yoda launches a thousand memes

Baby Yoda, unveiled at the premiere of Disney's live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian, has stolen the show and millions of hearts. PHOTO: DISNEY+

LOS ANGELES• Baby Yoda may stand only a few centimetres tall, communicating with high-pitched squeaks and mischievous gestures, but the adorable green creature has loomed large online, causing a global social media meltdown.

The cute, wide-eyed tyke, unveiled three weeks ago at the premiere of Disney's live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian, has stolen the show and millions of hearts. One parody account, @BabyYodaBaby, has amassed more than 120,000 followers with paraphrased Yoda quotes such as "Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to anger. Cuteness leads to snuggling".

Countless screengrabs, short video clips and other memes of the tiny creature nonchalantly sipping from a cup and fiddling with spaceship control switches have gone viral. News stories mentioning Baby Yoda had 2.28 million interactions on Facebook and Twitter in the first two weeks of the show alone, according to NewsWhip data cited by the website Axios.

The inevitable flood of Disney merchandise has been surprisingly slow to emerge, as creator Jon Favreau insisted the character be kept secret before its reveal on The Mandalorian. But Baby Yoda toys available for pre-order now appear prominently on Disney's online store and a series of T-shirts, mugs and bags is trending online.

Few details have been revealed in the show so far about the character itself, portrayed by an animatronic puppet and referred to only as "the Child" despite being 50 years old. Its online nickname stems from its obvious resemblance to Yoda from the original trilogy. But it appears to be a new character as The Mandalorian is set years after those films.

Blockbuster movie Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker will hit theatres worldwide later this month.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 05, 2019, with the headline Baby Yoda launches a thousand memes. Subscribe