Grogu

I still can't believe The Mandalorian and Grogu gave Grogu his first words, and that those words were "it's Morbin' time." The Mandalorian and his young apprentice, Grogu, embark on a thrilling adventure as they travel the galaxy. The first Grogu Hasbro released was technically part of The Black Series, but was sold by himself in a tiny, flat box. There have been a few other releases since then, both by himself (with a lot of accessories to fill up a normal-sized package) and as a pack-in with other figures, but now that he's a movie star, Grogu is back in that same style of mini box, ready for an extended solo adventure. This is a new sculpt, not one of the handful of existing ones they've released before. Baby Yoda is wearing his beskar armor, a round plate with the family's mudhorn crest, strapped to the middle of his chest. That's a separate piece, so the burlap sack he wears as his regular clothes had to be sculpted to accommodate it. It's technically removable, in that it doesn't glue or peg into the figure in any way, but the only way to do so would be to disassemble Grogu to get it off. And why would you want to? It's just a specifically wrinkled robe underneath. If you turn the figure around and look at the back, there's something interesting to be found. If I'm remembering the movie right, that's a little canister he carries water in. But this is Star Wars, and that's a small silver cylinder: it looks like a lightsaber! If he keeps wearing this armor, you can't tell us he's not going to carry his lightsaber there when he gets one. Apparently baby Grogu is still a growing boy, because this figure is minorly taller than his original one. It's been two years since Mando saved the child, but it's not like we can judge how fast Yodamans age: Grogu is said to be 50, but looks like a toddler; Yoda was said to be 900 in Return of the Jedi, and looked it, but appeared to be late-middle-aged 35 years before that. So do they age incredibly slowly for the first hundred years or so, then normally for a while, then really rapidly right at the end? Could be! The figure moves at the head, shoulders, wrists, and ankles, which is usual for this size. Everything is a balljoint, as before, except for the shoulders, which have been done as swivel/hinges this time. Why that change? Well, it does allow him to open his arms wider for bigger hugs, but I'm sure it being harder to pop out a swivel joint than a balljoint, and thus keeping the armor on more reliably, had nothing to do with it. Since the armor is non-removable, Grogu has three accessories: the silver sleeve of blue cookies, a partially eaten fish, and a small walking stick. Well, small for most people: it's taller than he is. He can hold all three of them if you're careful, but only one at a time. They all make sense for him, and there's not really anything else he could have used. The paint is surprisingly good, from the blue on the visible cookie to the various colors on the body of the fish. The Mandalorian and Grogu was a decent movie. It felt like when an anime has a shorter storyarc to adapt from the manga, and so does it as a standalone movie rather than part of the normal season. It was great to see our little buddy Grogu doin' stuff again, and it's nice that Hasbro released a version of him that doesn't require buying yet another full-sized Mando thst's functionally identical to all the rest. -- 07/11/26 When will Grogu get his growth spurt? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.