2019 was the year of tiny, beautiful creatures

Welcome to SYFY WIRE's Year in Review, a series of articles that will look to catalog the best, worst, and weirdest cultural and entertainment moments of 2019 as we look toward the future. Today, we scream about the tiny, beautiful creatures that stole our hearts this year!

We've always had the internet's collective boyfriend. Now we're here for the internet's collective child.

You gotta admit: 2019 saw an explosion in the number of internet children. While there were plenty more for us to explore on this list, we had to narrow it down to 10 because things were starting to get messy. I was crying — nobody wanted that.

What makes a creature tiny and beautiful enough to qualify for this list? If you have to ask, I can't help you.

Without further ado, here are the 10 best, teeniest, tiniest, most beautiful creatures we met onscreen in 2019. (No, they are not ranked. I’m not a monster.)

**Spoiler warning: The final two entries on this list contain spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you have not seen the movie, only read up to the eighth entry.**

The only human to grace this list. It feels appropriate, because the girl who played Morgan, Lexi Rabe, is, of course, adorable. When she’s wearing Pepper’s helmet? When she blackmails her dad into giving her midnight popsicles? I’m still laughing. Yes, that’s called “extortion,” and it’s glorious.

That she provided us with one of the most iconic lines in 2019 — “I love you 3,000” — just rounds it all out.

First graced us on April 26, 2019.

Sure, Ryan Reynolds as a person is fantastic. But Ryan Reynolds’ voice coming from a Pikachu? Iconic.

Anyone who grew up with the Pokémon franchise immediately fell in love with the film’s renditions of the Pokémon we all know and love. But just like when we were all young, Pikachu was the real star here. His little butt wag? His huge eyes that I want to drown in? His “pika pika”? I’d die for him.

First graced us on May 10, 2019.

My anxious son. He can do no wrong. As the embodiment of every person’s imposter syndrome, my heartstrings went pitter-patter every time he threw his little spork body into the trash.

I, too, often feel like throwing myself into the trash. I know you do, as well. Let’s all throw ourselves into the trash together with Forky.

First graced us on June 21, 2019.

We couldn’t understand half of what this little nugget was saying most of the time, but it didn’t matter — you could just feel it, that he was full of good and noble to boot.

Hup wanted nothing more than to be a paladin and serve his queen and country. That he made some loving new friends along the way and went on adventures just sealed the deal. He will be in my heart, always.

First graced us on August 30, 2019.

There were few things more satisfying in 2019 than getting the chance to be a horrible goose in House House’s Untitled Goose Game for the Nintendo Switch. Whether you were causing fights between neighbors, knocking over every possible object within reach, or digging up flowers from the farmer’s garden, you felt like you were sowing chaos in the best way.

And if there’s one thing we can all agree on in 2019, it’s this: That little boy deserved to be locked in that phone booth.

First graced us on September 20, 2019.

Not that there are any winners in 2019’s countdown of tiny, beautiful creatures, but we all know that if this were a battle, Baby Yoda would be the unquestioned champion.

Has a puppet ever been cuter? We’ve seen some cute freakin’ puppets before. But Baby Yoda? He’s dangerously cute. Chernobyl-dangerous levels of cute. Those floppy corgi ears? His big, liquid eyes? His teeny-tiny baby teeth? His giant robe? The fact that he would Force-choke someone to “save” his Mando-mom?

Listen, The Mandalorian is a great show. I love watching it every week. But it would be approximately 40 percent less great without this stupid puppet for whom I would lay down my life for in a heartbeat. Them’s just the facts, y’all.

First graced us on November 12, 2019.

Where would Cal Kestis be without BD-1? Likely dead in a ditch, to be perfectly honest.

No matter how great Cal is, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to make it through the entirety of the game without BD-1 at his side (or, rather, on his shoulder), delivering med packs and slicing open locked doors.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced Cal would absolutely be dead without BD-1, the Star Wars galaxy’s greatest droid puppy.

First graced us on November 15, 2019.

All new additions to the Pokémon universe are awaited by fans with bated breath. We got some odd ones in this latest edition. But the one new Pokémon I can say with certainty isn’t weird? Yamper.

Sure, the name is a bit odd (what Pokémon name isn’t?), but you can’t tell me you didn’t let out a little screech when you saw that Nintendo answered the internet’s unspoken prayers and made a corgi Pokémon. Corgis are horrible, beautiful little demons with bread-loaf bodies and stubby legs and huge ears — add superpowers and they’re just that much more perfect.

First graced us on November 15, 2019.

Credit: Lucasfilm

From the moment the first-look images of Babu Frick hit the internet, I knew I loved him. I felt it in my bones. I imagine this is what it’s like to be a mother, to know that no matter how weird your child sounds, you’d defend them to the death.

We do not get enough Babu Frick in The Rise of Skywalker. I see it as a personal insult. The gang should have taken Babu Frick with them to ride along on Finn’s shoulder like a droid-slicing parrot, garbling his drunken screech at anyone who would listen. Give me a Babu Frick Star Wars trilogy or give me death.

First graced us on December 20, 2019.

Credit: Lucasfilm

I, too, regularly jump back with a harried “No, thank you” to anyone trying to touch me. D-O, voiced by director J.J. Abrams, is yet another perfect droid addition to the newest Star Wars trilogy. We thought the galaxy far, far away couldn’t get a droid to match BB-8’s cuteness. We were wrong.

That D-O tells them all about his former master’s plans and basically saves the day by giving our heroes all the information they need is the icing on the cake.

Is D-O the real hero here? Of course he is, you cowards.

First graced us on December 20, 2019.