If you have been watching The Mandalorian on Disney+ over the past several weeks, you probably understand the excitement over “The Child,” otherwise known as Baby Yoda. If you haven’t watched The Mandalorian yet, do yourself a favor and check it out asap.

After the release of the new Star Wars live action, Baby Yoda merchandise has started to slowly drip into stores.  W e have no idea why Disney wasn’t ready with Baby Yoda merchandise on Black Friday.

This list is arranged in order of what’s currently available now to preorders shipping several months from now, in case you are shopping for the holidays or a birthday. Here’s our top 15 picks for Baby Yoda products:

The Mandalorian Comic Artwork

Artist James Yusufi is creating classic comic style covers for each episode of The Mandalorian. The Episode 2 cover features The Mandalorian scaling the massive Jawa sandcrawler as “The Child” follows on the ground below as well as a callout in the right corner. Yusufi sells 11 by 17 prints of his artwork on his site (payment in PayPal).

Check out James Yusufi’s Shop

Protect, Attack, Snack T-shirt

There are tons of t-shirts featuring Baby Yoda, but this is one of the funnier ones. You can find it on Amazon with a huge collection of other options. If you want something more custom, check out some of the offerings over at Etsy, including the “He Also Takes Naps” shirt.

Check out Baby Yoda Shirts on Amazon

Baby Yoda Sticker Sheet

Looking for a fun stocking stuffer for a kid? This inexpensive, $3 sticker sheet will give them some unique Baby Yoda designs to put all over their notebooks or electronic devices. If you are looking for more variety, check out this $12 sheet at Amazon.

Check out Baby Yoda Stickers on Etsy

Baby Yoda Onesie: Newborns to 24-months

If you are looking for a gift for a new parent, check out this Baby Yoda Onesie at Etsy. The designer has this in the short sleeves and long sleeves, as well as 10 different color options. “Change my diapers, you will”

Check out Baby Yoda Onesie on Etsy

Baby Yoda Car Decal

Looking for something to decorate the back of your car? Check out the Baby Yoda car decal, one of the cuter versions on Amazon. The same seller offers a mousepad with the Baby Yoda design as well as a “I Have Spoken” decal of everyone’s favorite Ugnaught.

Check out the Baby Yoda Car Decal on Amazon

Adopt this Baby T-Shirt

One of the more creative options on Etsy, this adorable design features “The Child” waiting to be adopted by a wandering hero. It’s currently available in 12 different colors as well as 8 different sizes.

Check out Baby Yoda T-Shirt on Etsy

Baby Yoda Christmas Tree Ornament

Looking for something Star Wars related to finish off your tree decoration this year? Check out this $7 Baby Yoda ornament on Etsy. And if the cartoon drawing is not your style, there are a ton of options in carved wood, knit yarn and other materials.

Check out the Baby Yoda Ornament on Etsy

Baby Yoda Popsocket

Another great stocking stuffer. Popsocket has released a handful of designs featuring scenes from The Mandalorian. The one with the soup cup is our favorite. These typically sell for $15, but Popsocket is having a 50% off holiday sale prior to Christmas, free shipping as well.

Check out the Baby Yoda PopSockets

Sweet Baby Yoda Prayer Candle

Looking for a unique prayer candle to bring to Christmas service this year? Check out the “Sweet Baby Yoda” prayer candle at Etsy. Priced at $15, this candle is 8 inches tall and 2.25 inches wide.

Check out the Baby Yoda Prayer Candle on Etsy

Baby Yoda Artwork

Available in sizing from 11 by 17 up to 24 by 36 inches, this artwork was created within Photoshop using a paintbrush effect. The artist also has a few other options available from The Mandalorian, in a variety of sizes.

Check out the Baby Yoda Artwork on Etsy

Baby Yoda Socks

If you have someone in your life that loves wearing unique socks, check out these Baby Yoda socks. There’s also a number of other options on Etsy, ranging from festive Christmas socks to prints with sayings on the bottom of the feet.

Check out the Baby Yoda  Socks on Etsy

Baby Yoda Coffee Mug

There are a huge number of these on Amazon at the moment, some licenced, some not.  The design above is one of our favorites. We have linked to the entire collection below.

Check out the Baby Yoda Coffee Mugs on Amazon

500-piece Baby Yoda Puzzle – Ships 12/30/19

If you are looking for a fun puzzle to start off the new year, check out the 500-piece Baby Yoda jigsaw puzzle from Buffalo Games. In addition to the puzzle, you get a bonus poster to help you put everything together. The completed puzzle measures roughly 21 inches wide and 15 inches tall.

Check out the Baby Yoda Puzzle on Amazon

Baby Yoda Funko Pop! – Ships 05/15/2020

There are two models of the Baby Yoda Funko Pop being made, a standard 4-inch size ($11) and a supersized 10-inch model ($40). At the moment, you can preorder each figure at a discount, The standard size has been as low as $8.68 and the larger size has dropped to $29.10. If you preorder through Amazon, the retailer will automatically adjust your preorder price to the lowest level, assuming additional sales occur between now and May 15, 2020.

Check out Baby Yoda Funko Pop on Amazon

Baby Yoda Plush: Ships 05/25/2020

If you are looking for a huggable version of Baby Yoda for a young child, check out the 11-inch Baby Yoda plush for $25. The toy plush has a soft body and a sturdy base filled with beans. You can display it as a collectible if you choose.

Check out Baby Yoda Plush on Amazon

Cute, I Am: 15 Baby Yoda Products that you want…no, NEED in your life

Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian is by far the most hyped series in the Disney+ rollout (see our review of the service). The two trailers hinted at a gritty Western-style approach to the Star Wars universe from series creator and showrunner Jon Favreau (Iron Man) … hmm, wait a second, wasn’t that George Lucas’s original vision for Star Wars?

Anyway, Favreau is also joined by TV producer Dave Filoni (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as well as Kathleen Kennedy (head of Lucasfilm) and movie producer Colin Wilson (War of the Worlds, The Lost World: Jurassic Park).

Then there’s the main character himself: the Mandalorian. Played by Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos), he looks like Boba Fett from the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special and sounds like he’s a laconic Clint Eastwood-type from the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns (also like Fett).

In the trailers we also caught glimpses of German director Werner Herzog (filling in the famed foreign actor spot, now a Star Wars cliche), as well as Rocky’s Carl Weathers (another veteran) and Gina Carano.

Bucking trend, Disney is rolling out the first season of The Mandalorian week by week, rather than all at once, so there’s no binge watching. The plan is to keep viewers subscribing, at least for a few months. Plus, on the horizon, there’s the Obi-Wan series starring Ewan McGregor to look forward to…

How does the premiere episode (aka Chapter 1) pan out? Let’s take a look.

Ralph McQuarrie Was Here

Chapter 1
Written by: Jon Favreau
Directed by: Dave Filoni

From the the first frame, the Western look of the show is established as the titular Mandalorian bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) steps onto a solitary snowy plain.  Ludwig Goransson’s score manages to evoke both John Williams / Star Wars and Ennio Morricone / Spaghetti Western-type music.

As soon as the Mandalorian enters an isolated outpost to find his bounty, a blue-gilled alien named Mythrol (Horatio Sanz), you are reminded of Ralph McQuarrie’s early Star Wars cantina concept painting with the Western-style standoff. Throughout the first episode, Favreau & Co. remind viewers of this motif with windmills, wooden fences, windswept plains and bucking horses, er, Blurrgs (more on those later).

But it’s in the action set pieces where the show’s creators really show off their penchant for the Western genre, particularly the Sergio Leone “Spaghetti” variety.

In the first scene, the Mandalorian shows off his lightning-quick draw and flair with various weapons against would-be assailants (who disparagingly call him a “Mando”). He takes his new prisoner Mythrol on what is essentially a Star Wars Uber ride across an icy plain to his ship, known as the Razor Crest. Designed by well-known Lucasfilm artist Doug Chiang (Star Wars prequels), this cool but dilapidated-looking ship is reminiscent of the iconic Jango/Boba Fett ship, the Slave I.

The Mandalorian rescues Mythrol from an ice creature that’s a cross between the slug in The Empire Strikes Back and a walrus, and they blast off in a classic Star Wars planet exit. That’s the first 7-1/2 minutes of the show.

Werner Herzog, Carl Weathers, Nick Nolte, Oh My!

After he treats Mythrol to a good ol’ carbonite freeze on his ship, the Mandalorian lands on another planet and meets Greef Carga (Carl Weathers) in a cantina that The Force Awakens wishes it had. We quickly find out we’re in the time period after the Empire has fallen (actually 5 years after Return of the Jedi), and that Greef Carga is the head of the Bondsman Guild, basically the Mandalorian’s boss. After the Mandalorian complains about low pay, Greef sends his best bounty hunter on a side job outside the auspices of the guild—a job for a mysterious rich guy.

That mysterious rich guy turns out to be famed German director/actor Werner Herzog, who’s cloistered in a room with four Original Trilogy-style stormtroopers and the Imperial-looking Dr. Pershing. Herzog gives the Mandalorian an ingot of Beskar steel (i.e. the Mandalorian iron used in their armor) as down payment for finding a new bounty. Herzog gives few details, except that he prefers the individual be taken alive and that they’re 50 years old.

The Mandalorian takes the ingot to a Mandalorian Armorer (Emily Swallow) where we learn he was once a “foundling” and we are treated to a quick-cut montage of him being hidden away as a little boy by his mother and father, who are under attack from off-screen enemies, presumably the Empire. It’s kind of an awkward way to shoehorn in some backstory, but it’s really the only character development we get in this episode. At the end of his visit to the Armorer, the Mandalorian is treated to a new pauldron made from the Beskar ingot.

Moments later, the Mandalorian jets off to a third planet. On a rocky desert landscape, he is greeted by a pair of big-toothed, two-legged, Dewback-looking creatures called Blurrgs who are impervious to his laser weapons and who try to rip him apart. Just before he’s dismembered, he’s saved by an Ugnaut riding another Blurrg.

His rescuer, Kuill the Ugnaut, is played by none other than Nick Nolte, yet another veteran actor (except this time via motion capture). With his signature line “I have spoken,” Kuill is sure to become a favorite in the series.

Here’s Where the Fun Begins

Kuill guides the Mandalorian to a remote compound where his quarry is located. It’s guarded by a collection of what look like hoodlums and criminals from Jabba the Hutt’s palace. I spotted creatures that look like Nikto, Weequay and Squid Head (Tessek). Approaching the compound is IG-11 (voiced by comedian Taika Waititi), who will instantly remind fans of the bounty hunter IG-88 from Empire. This IG-11 also works for the bounty hunter’s guild and steals the show with his comedic timing and one-liners.

The Mandalorian and IG-11 become unlikely allies as they storm the compound, facing off with the various aliens in a frenetic and entertaining Western-style shootout. The scene is by turns funny, tense and exciting and a great introduction to the rest of the series.

Inside the compound, they find the object of the Mandalorian’s quest… but I won’t spoil the surprise for you.

In similar fashion to the Marvel Studios title card, the new animated Star Wars universe logo in the opening titles is a nice touch. The show’s creators have thrown in various OT callbacks that are mostly amusing and not overdone, like a Salacious Crumb creature (Kowakian monkey-lizard) roasting over a fire pit and various Star Wars background characters like Ugnauts (from Empire), the TT-8L gatekeeper droid (think Jabba’s palace in ROTJ) and the Kubaz (that squeaky, hooded and long-snouted creature that spied on Luke in the original Star Wars).

From the brisk 39-minute running time to the PG-rated but gritty feel, it appears that Favreau & Co. have captured the tone of the original Star Wars trilogy that many fans have been clamoring for. It remains to be seen in which direction the show will take the audience, but it’s a positive start.

The next episode premieres this Friday, November 15th, and will then follow a weekly schedule over its 8-episode arc every Friday through December 27th.

Chapter 2: The Child
Written by: Jon Favreau
Directed by: Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood)

The first 10 minutes of the second episode are dialogue-free as we follow the Mandalorian with his precious cargo. It’s a very cinematic approach. The earthy desert color palettes are impressive, and the action sequence with Jawas who’ve ransacked his ship is inventive and touched with light humor.

The Force does make a cameo appearance as the Mandalorian fights a creature called a Mudhorn, but it’s not overdone.

Clocking in at under 30 minutes total, the second episode at times feels a bit like filler for a larger story arc, but the action, humor and character touches get the Star Wars tone right. Plus, we’re getting a distinct sense the Mandalorian is not quite the ruthless mercenary that Boba Fett was…

The Mandalorian Episode 1 Review: Spaghetti Space Western