Many Star Wars fans had the date Friday October 30 marked in their calendars as the return of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, but they had a surprise in store when the took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the show’s second season. Not only will tweeting #TheManadolrian automatically tack on an emoji of protagonist Din Djarin’s helmet, those who like tweet’s containing the hashtag will see a Baby Yoda graphic in place of the tradition heart emoji.
“Fans started to notice the new Mandalorian-themed Twitter features last night when season 2 dropped on Disney+,” reported Comicbook “but this morning the show’s cast and the larger Star Wars/Disney marketing machine is promoting it, full-force!” Brandon San Giovanni, member of Disney+’s marketing team proclaimed “you bet your ass we made it so that the heart turns into baby Yoda” when replying to a fan on Twitter. Cara Dune actress Gina Carano (The Mandalorian, Deadpool) gave kudos to the creative team at Disney+ for this special touch which she referred to as an “endorphin boost”, via Twitter.
Since The Mandalorian‘s release in 2019, Baby Yoda has become one of the franchises most beloved figures with Nerdist commenting that “the adorable green little guy has already done the seemingly impossible and united fractured Star Wars fanbase. Din Djarin’s travel companion, often referred to as The Child, has been a landslide marketing success for Disney as well as a fan-favorite. In his short time on-screen, compared to other characters of the Star Wars Universe, “Baby Yoda has become one of the biggest merchandising and marketing successes for Star Wars” (Comicbook).
The Child continues to delight Star Wars fans with his new surprise Twitter cameo, but Comicbook cautions that “these promotional emojis will be warning signs as much as proud flags of fandom.” Though Disney+ has not released the streaming numbers for The Mandalorian, Parot Analytics report claimed that “The Mandalorian was far and away the most anticipated of all streaming shows” across streaming platforms in 2020, via The Hollywood Reporter. With all eyes on The Mandalorian’s second season, these promotional hashtags could spell spoilers for Star Wars fans. “While seeing these promotional emojis is no doubt a fun novelty, you may not want to dig into it too deep until you actually go watch The Mandalorian season 2 premiere,” warns Comicbook.
Currently, The Mandalorian has become a promotional trending topic on Twitter in honor of season two’s premiere, though it’s likely the remainder of season two’s eight episode run will trend on its own accord, based on the rabid nature of its fans. “Wherever I go, he goes” says Mandalorian Din Darjin of The Child, and Twitter feels much the same way as Gamespot suggests that this Baby Yoda feature will remain intact on the social media platform throughout the show’s second season. “Interacting with other Star Wars fans on Twitter for the next couple of months is going to be just bit more fun thanks to this little trick,” Gamespot says about the internet’s favorite sidekick.