Unless you’ve been spending some time out back bullseyeing womp rats with your T-16, you’re aware of The Mandalorian on Disney+ and it’s breakout star, “The Child.” Viewers and fans have been clamoring for more merchandise featuring the bundle of joy, and now, according to Business Insider, Build-A-Bear Workshop will now give customers the opportunity to create their own plush form of the outrageously popular streaming sensation.
What’s Happening:
- During a presentation on Tuesday at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Build-A-Bear CEO Sharon Price John announced the partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm to offer plush toys based on The Child (AKA “Baby Yoda”) at Build-A-Bear Workshops sometime in the next few months.
- The popularity of The Child exploded onto the scene after its debut on the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian with the demand for merchandise increasing with each additional episode.
- Toy-builder Funko announced a toy version of the character that had customers pre-ordering in December even though they won’t be receiving the toy until May.
- Build-A-Bear’s CEO also added that it is partnerships like the one with Disney and Lucasfilm, and even Warner Bros that are helping the company see significant growth in tween, teen, and adult markets when historically the target demographic of the stores has been younger children.
- Showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni left The Child out of the initial marketing for the series so as to not spoil the character’s surprise appearance, and in doing so, little to no merchandise of the character was created ahead of the debut. Partnerships like that with Build-A-Bear are becoming more frequent as the demand for more products featuring the character increases.
What They’re Saying:
- Build-A-Bear CEO Sharon Price John: "I'm excited to share we will be one of the first companies to provide the digital and internet phenomenon who is trending higher than all the presidential candidates combined. We now will have The Child, also known as Baby Yoda…We started this process almost with the first episode… It's great, again, to be in business with best-in-class partners.”