Baby Yoda might just be taking over the world, and we're not even mad about it. The 50-year-old infant creature, whose official name has been designated "The Child" (although Baby Yoda has a better ring to it), has been stealing hearts around the world ever since the character debuted in the Disney Plus Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. The series wrapped up its first season on December 27th, but Baby Yoda continues to dominate the meme world, entertaining viewers and non-viewers alike with his wide-eyed wonder and miniature size. It looks like Disney is well aware of Baby Yoda's power and influence, as they've already taken several measures to ensure that we'll be seeing the little guy's likeness on just about everything. It was reported in November that Baby Yoda merch was already in development, but nobody could have predicted just how many markets the tiny Star Wars character could dominate.
According to official documents, on December 23rd, Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of Disney that has produced all Star Wars-affiliated projects, filed 28 trademarks for various products associated with "The Child" and "The Mandalorian The Child." The company has covered all the trademark bases on practically every type of "themeable" product, from standard merch like clothing and accessories, to endless kinds of kitchenware and linens. The goods and services trademarks even venture into the cosmetics game, giving Kylie Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty a run for their money. The company also ensured the option to make Baby Yoda-themed non-alcoholic beverages and breakfast cereals. The character may even be getting his own spin-off series, as he was registered for "ongoing entertainment services."
After missing out on a surefire opportunity to make bank on Baby Yoda merch during the holidays, Disney seems to be ensuring they secure the bag this time around. Back in December, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that they chose not to deliver merch in time for the holidays because they didn't want the character to be prematurely revealed. "We didn’t tell anybody about that character’s presence in the series, or even the first episode," he said. "I know a lot has been said about the Christmas season and everybody wants to buy The Child toys and et cetera and so on, and they’re not really out there. That’s because if we had given the design out, it would have gone out to hundreds and hundreds of people, probably all over the world, and we didn’t want to do that." Fair enough.