Baby Yoda, the Star Wars universe’s littlest, most precious Force user and The Mandalorian’s breakout star, seems to have won more of the internet’s heart than any creature since cats. Each episode of The Mandalorian ushers in a new, squeefully sweet Baby Yoda meme, but it’s done nothing to dim the youngling’s appeal. Nobody cares that the pipsqueak hasn’t said a word, or that no one knows its name or gender or backstory yet. All that matters is that everything the Child (as it’s officially known) does is way too stinking cute.
This week, people are acting as if Baby Yoda invented sipping soup.
It’s a meme that seemed to spill out from all sides—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram—but the craze started in part with a tweet by Julie Benson, a writer for the DC comic Batgirl and the Birds of Prey and television shows like Wu Assassins, The 100, and Nickelodeon’s upcoming Star Trek animated series. “That scene of Baby Yoda sipping soup in episode four was memorable because of its perfect comedic timing after that epic fight sequence,” Benson says. “I vividly remember my sister and writing partner Shawna and I going from laughter to incoherent squealing at the sight of Baby Yoda slurping away.” The tweet that followed turned the squeal into a homey imaginary scene.
Though a bit surprised by the outpouring, Benson has some theories about the tweet’s virality. “I think I unwittingly hit the trifecta of universal goodness: moms, Christmas, and Baby Yoda,” Benson says. “Of course, if Baby Yoda turns out to be a murderous sociopath, I have a different tweet for that image.”
