Meet the Ultimate Grogu: The $600 Lifelike Star Wars Toy That Walks Like a Baby
We usually meet Hasbro at events like Toy Fair or Comic-Con, but with the $600 Ultimate Grogu going on sale to the public on Thursday, we got a sneak peek, an early look at the Star Wars baby model at its headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This animatronic is full of technology to bring the most realistic toy version of the character (nicknamed “Baby Yoda” by fans) to life, with all his personality that we see in the The Star Wars universe.
This Grog has four motors and 14 different sensors, programmed to respond, ride and cool just like the character in The Mandalorian. When Ultimate Grogu lights up (he runs on batteries or you can connect him with a USB-C cable), he bounces to his feet, raises his arms like he wants to be picked up, and responds to your touch.
Watch this: Grog’s First Look: How Hasbro Made the $600 Star Wars Animatronic
Mel Hershey, Hasbro’s chief creative and design engineer, said there is a lot of technology, but this Grogu is a character first and foremost.
“So the goal, honestly, was to make the technology feel invisible,” Hershey said.
Hasbro’s Ultimate Grogu team was able to reference the props used on the set of The Mandalorian with Grogu, finding details such as the tiny hair on his head.
The best in engineering was to make his little ride perfect (you know one). He’s got a sensor on each cheek when you want to touch his face and a lift sensor that responds when you lift it — we weren’t allowed to touch or pick up the prototype, but we watched Hasbro’s engineers make this interaction happen during the demo. The Grogu toy will also respond when you touch his hands or back, and if you double-tap his head, he’ll reach his arm up as if using a force — in Star Wars lore, those various psychic powers can use sentient characters like our little green hero. For example, if an installed cookie resource is placed near Grogu, it may use the power to “make” that cookie vibrate.
Ultimate Grogu also has two sound-sensing microphones that will direct him to turn left, right or center towards sounds, but Hasbro engineers have stated that Grogu does not respond to any wake-up calls such as Amazon Echo speakerand cannot listen to conversations. In many ways, Ultimate Grogu is like “The ultimate Furby” — and some of the people who work on Furby worked on this Grogu project.
Although Ultimate Grogu can’t talk to you, Hasbro’s engineers have revealed that the 250 collectible figures are designed to provide a kind of gaming experience when he’s at his most active. For example, without a cookie, an embedded bomb device can scare Grogu enough to use his energy to silence its screams.
If you double tap Grogu’s head, it will start to “use power” as shown by closing its eyes and moving one or both of its arms. The installed cookie utility may move if it does this, too.
Members of the team behind Ultimate Grogu revisited the set of The Mandalorian and Grogu during production, getting up close and personal with the puppets used to bring Grogu to life in the upcoming Disney movie. This specific time and material from the film was said to be instrumental in finding details such as Grogu’s short hair, skin color and the fabrics of his clothing.
Hasbro electrical engineer Claire Goolsby said people often ask about Grogu’s feet; we looked under his little sack dress and we can confirm that the toy’s feet are very detailed. Grogu’s eyes are made of thick polycarbonate material, and he has tiny baby teeth, too — but the engineers made sure Grogu won’t bite.
There are few notable differences about the Ultimate Grogu from other toy versions of the character, aside from the technology and its premium price. It’s officially rated for ages 14 and up, as it’s rated high as high and low as easy Grogu statistics has been around since The Mandalorian’s The original Disney Plus years ago. It also has a mode intended for loud environments such as a comic convention, and a display mode to rotate in various locations.
Watch our embedded video from our visit to Hasbro headquarters to see more of how the Ultimate Grogu looks and moves. Pre-orders for Ultimate Grogu open Thursday at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern on Hasbro Pulse, Amazon and other vendors. However, there will be a wait: early orders will be shipped at the end of 2026 for its first edition, and the regular edition will arrive in early 2027.
CNET producer Tara Brown contributed to this story.
