Is Baby Yoda over? Babu Frik is now the most adorable thing in the 'Star Wars' galaxy

Scott Craven | Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption 'Star Wars' quiz: 'Skywalker' stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega face off John Boyega and Daisy Ridley get the same graduate-level quiz from USA TODAY to see who has better knowledge of the galaxy.

Baby Yoda, it looks like your time as the cutest thing in the Star Wars galaxy is over, and months before your first plush dolls even hit the market.

Say hello to Babu Frik, a goggle-wearing, droid-hacking, whisker-bearing creature that appears in all of two scenes in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” yet is dominating the social media arenas that not long ago put li’l Yoda on an adorable throne far far away.

Dang, but you Star Wars fans are fickle.

Babu Frik’s CQ (cuteness quotient) isn’t based on his looks alone, not with the face of a cat that’s lost too many bar fights.

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Keep your Baby Yoda... ALL HAIL BABU FRIK #RiseOfTheSkywalker pic.twitter.com/jQMw9AMS2V — Dan (@TheDarkJudge) December 19, 2019

He also has an attitude, and can crack any droid in a matter of minutes. Considering that droids are the true powers in Star Wars – they unlock doors, speak thousands of languages and project 3D holograms of princesses begging for assistance – hacking them is a pretty big deal.

Still, is that enough to topple a character that’s already available on mugs, T-shirts and phone cases?

Baby Yoda debuted as The Child in “The Mandalorian,” the Star Wars series available on the Disney+ streaming service. As soon as the Force-wielding infant (who’s actually 50 years old) was revealed, fans hit online shopping sites looking for Yoda-emblazoned merch.

Only there was none. And when there was just a few weeks later, it was lame. Didn’t matter. Baby Yoda items flew off the virtual shelves.

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The latest episode of “The Mandalorian” showed a not-so-adorable Baby Yoda, one capable of Force-choking a perceived enemy. While it’s not a power a cooing infant should have – imagine an adolescent Yoda using it as he screams, “Ground me, you will not!” – it does make him more interesting.

But social media is always about what’s now, and Babu Frik is now. Is he “now” enough to launch those mugs, T-shirts and phone cases?

Of course he is, because this is Star Wars as done by Disney. Teams are probably at work on the Babu Frik marketplace. Meanwhile, over at Etsy, crafters are probably taking old Grumpy Cat shirts and, with a little airbrushing and stitching, turning them into Babu Frik shirts.

But that doesn’t make Babu Frik adorable. Just marketable, a dime-a-dozen quality in the Disney galaxy.