We finally got access to the show when we got AppleTV and Disney+ in August, and my wife and I quickly watched the first four episodes. Then we watched them again, due to a command decision on her part that may have helped save Star Wars in our house.
Without going into too much background -- I've written about it before -- my kids had been skeptical about Star Wars at best. My older son had simply not taken to the first two movies in the saga, even at the ripe old age of ten when we watched Empire in October, and the six-year-old had spent a lot of time running up and down our hallway pretending to shoot blasters while the movie was on. While that's marginally a positive reaction on his part, it doesn't represent real engagement when you aren't even watching the screen.
Instead of plowing ahead undaunted to Return of the Jedi, which had been my plan, my wife suggested we see if we can hook them on something more recent.
The Mandalorian has been a total hit with them, almost from the very first moments. I'll say "almost." The pilot episode has a character that gets bissected by a closing cantina door, you may remember, and the older one almost wigged out at that scene. Strangely, there has been nothing quite that visceral in the time since then -- Baby Yoda eating frog eggs doesn't count -- so the rest of it has been smooth sailing.
We still have one episode to go in the second season, so if you are inclined to comment on this post, please, no spoilers.
Now the ten-year-old has been known to say things like "The Mandalorian is the awesomest thing ever." The younger one is still distractable and doesn't always fully watch what's going on, but he absolutely loves Baby Yoda -- Grogu, we now know him to be -- and even asked for a Baby Yoda for Christmas on his letter to Santa. "The one with the necklace," he wrote.
And that's where my Christmas miracle comes in.
This is "the one with the necklace":
Just as cute as anything related to Baby Yoda, you will agree.
I should stop to say that I, personally, love Baby Yoda. I know, big revelation there. I'm sure I'm the only one who loves Baby Yoda.
But I literally had no choice but to giggle every time he was on screen, even if he was not doing anything. His default facial expression made me giggle. If he moved a little to the left? I was done for. That reached its culmination in season 2, when we learned his name. Mando would say "Grogu" and BY (as I call him) would immediately turn and say "Huh?" That did me in every time.
If anything should be this year's version of a Furbee or what have you, it should be this Baby Yoda with a necklace, who also makes noises and other small animatronic movements.
But when I started at Target last Thursday night, there wasn't a single Baby Yoda in sight. Like, I mean, his face was not on anything. Not on a board game. Not on a book. Not even on a greeting card.
I knew my mandate was to get "the one with the necklace," but at this point, I would have been happy to get a pair of socks with Baby Yoda on them.
This story would be a lot better if it had taken five or ten other toy stores before I got lucky. If they ever make the movie, I'm sure that's a detail they'll change. But I have to be honest with you and tell you that Big W, the rival to Target, was my salvation, and it was the next place I stopped.
I was disconcerted enough by striking out at Target, and feeling a hopeless certainty of failure sink in, that I was kind of listlessly wandering through the toy aisles at Big W.
And then there it was: the Baby Yoda with the necklace.
It was just sitting there by itself. I'm not even sure if it was in its right place. In any case, there was no price tag on the shelf, indicating its proper storage spot. There were other Star Wars toys in the vicinity, but this guy was just on his own, no others of his kind around.
I grabbed him, almost as if he might disappear if I blinked.
And he might have. Not five seconds after I laid claim, two teenage girls next to me said "Ohhhhh, Baby Yoda!" I had no indication they were in the market for him, but it was another reminder of how universally beloved this character, and consequently this toy, have become.
I figured he might have been returned by a customer -- for some reason -- and only just "restocked" (haphazardly though it may have been) ten minutes before. And he likely wouldn't have lasted another ten.
I made such a quick beeline for the checkout area, perhaps fearing another desperate parent might grab him out of my arms, that I didn't even have time to consider what this thing might cost. If I had been asked to guess, I would have said $50.
Turns out, it was twice that.
So what. What's $100 when an animatronic Baby Yoda will make your youngest son's Christmas?
It wasn't until I got home that I remembered even to test out the toy's capabilities. And this is where my Christmas miracle got even more amazing. When you touch its head, its eyes open and close, its ears wiggle a little bit, and a kind of humming chorus of Jedi angels emits from it.
Score.
Merry Christmas all, and may you find your Baby Yoda with the necklace this year, whatever it may be.
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