One of the biggest pop culture phenomenons of the past six months has The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda, whose own rise has been far more universally appreciated than that of any theatrical Skywalkers. From memes to toys to clothing (both official and bootlegged), Baby Yoda became the It Creature of 2019, and his popularity is showing no signs of slowing down as we get closer to The Mandalorian Season 2. Case in point: former Mythbusters star Grant Imahara created his own fully functioning Baby Yoda animatronic.
If you've ever watched Grant Imahara in action on Mythbusters or his follow-up series for Netflix, White Rabbit Project, then you know how wickedly talented the guy is when it comes to building just about anything under the sun, especially when there's a film or television element involved. As such, it was all the more amazing that he revealed The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda as one of his successful recent projects. Check it out in action below!
Let's run through some hot takes right away, shall we? One: Grant Imahara's Baby Yoda isn't quite as instantly adorable as the one in The Mandalorian (which is perfectly understandable, all things considered.) Two: I want one. Three: I'm kind of enamored by the tactile sound of Baby Yoda's opening and closing, especially since we don't have any of the character's super-cute cooing noises. Four: Adam Pally probably wants to punch this one in the head, too.
To be clear, though, I don't know if we can really trust this being to truly be The Child, given its subdued reaction to the offer of what appears to be a Chicken McNugget. Every child likes McNuggets, even if they're from planets that don't even have at least 17 McDonald's in every major city. Perhaps anti-McNugget willpower is part of Baby Yoda's connection to the Force.
Obviously, this effort wasn't one that Grant Imahara took on alone, as the Mythbusters vet thanked a prop-maker and sculptor (who goes by the handle SaltiestHime) and costume designer Lindsay Jayne for their help with the physical model. As well, Imahara gave a shout out to the company Project 842, which creates 3D printer files for a variety of Star Wars-related characters, costumes and props that aren't limited to just The Mandalorian.
Grant Imahara mentions that his iteration of Baby Yoda will be used for goodwill visits to children's hospitals in the spring. It's assumed that comment is a legitimate claim, and that he isn't just joking about Baby Yoda going on tour. After conquering the local hospital scene, though, I'd imagine Baby Yoda would go on a nationwide arena tour, opening up for The Rolling Stones.
When he's not working on awesome Star Wars replicas, Grant Imahara has been busy with the team that's bringing high-flying animatronic superheroes to Disney theme parks. Below is the mind-blowing video of the tether-free Spider-Man soaring through the air.
Will we ever get to a point where Baby Yoda and Spider-Man share the screen at the same time? Disney has a way of making such bizarre things happen, so I wouldn't completely rule it out just yet. Maybe it's the Force that's helping that Spider-Man bot pull off those flashy moves.
The Mandalorian will debut its highly anticipated second season later this year with plans for an October premiere. I'm pretty sure Grant Imahara's former Mythbusters co-star Adam Savage will have honored Baby Yoda by building some giant mech suit to walk around Los Angeles in.
