Everybody's Freaking Out About: Baby Jabba, a Hunger Games baddie, and Ahsoka!

Welcome to Everybody's Freaking Out About... Since everything these days is either a spin-off or a reboot, we thought we'd do the same with our What's Everybody Mad About This Week?! series. We're here to give you a look at all the things fans were freaking out about over the past week. Strap in!

We're digging into the things that really stuck in fandom's collective craw — the things that had fans all-caps-key-smashing in anger, joy, excitement, or some combination of those things. There were probably tears. No, scratch that, there were definitely tears.

This week, honorable mention goes to the premiere of Star Trek: Picard (finally!) and the news that the Captain Marvel sequel's script will come from WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell.

But there are other schemes afoot, and we must dive in! This week, we're putting the majority of our focus on the grand Baby Yoda vs. Baby Jabba debate, some contentious The Hunger Games prequel news, and, of course, the final trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7.

Credit: Lucasfilm/Leonardo Vitti

Jabba the Hutt, that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth, got a makeover this week courtesy of Leonardo Viti, a 3D artist based out of London. This glorious madman took the internet by storm this week with a 3D rendering of a baby-fied Jabba the Hutt, complete with huge eyes, chubby cheeks, and alarmingly viscous drool. And while Viti originally posted the piece on his Instagram page in November 2019, the internet didn’t catch on 'til this week.

But fans made up for lost time, as folks were quick to pit Baby Jabba against the internet's reigning King of Cute, Baby Yoda.

(Related side note: SYFY WIRE wrote about the science of cuteness here to determine a winner in the great Baby Jabba/Baby Yoda debate. Opinions may vary.)

Now, I’ll be honest, I personally don’t think Jabba stands a chance. As a firm Baby Yoda stan, this flubby slug could never best The Child in my heart, especially knowing what Baby Jabba will eventually turn in to. (Y’know. A vile slaver that chains Leia up in a metal bikini for his own, perverted entertainment…)

The internet, of course, had some thoughts on Baby Jabba. And it turns out a lot of people now stan Baby Jabba. I have no words.

Many rightfully pointed out that we already have a baby Hutt in the form of Jabba's son, Rotta (aka Stinky), from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Rotta's definitely more disturbing, I think. But that doesn't make Baby Jabba less disturbing. I think it's the drool…

It's… a lot.

Credit: Lionsgate

This is an odd one, for sure. Back in October 2019, Scholastic announced it would be publishing another chapter in Suzanne Collins’ international hit series The Hunger Games. While the Katniss Everdeen-starring trilogy (and its four movie spin-offs) are over, the new novel, titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was said to be a prequel that was set 64 years before the original story.

That’s not the odd part, though. We already knew all that. What is weird is the book’s protagonist, who was revealed on Tuesday to be none other than President Snow, the tyrannical Big Bad of the original trilogy.

Fans were peeved, to say the least.

Entertainment Weekly published a sneak peek and it was all about Snow training a Hunger Games participant in order to make the annual event a bit more... palatable for Panem's citizens.

Again: Fans were not happy. A lot of them took to Twitter to point out the problem with making a ruthless dictator (who was often viewed as a fictional stand-in for many of our own world’s problems) “charming.” Most of the consensus seemed to be around wanting a Finnick or Haymitch prequel, which, yeah, honestly makes a lot more sense, right? I still haven't seen any indication that anyone is happy about this President Snow novel. But, hey, never say never!

I thought the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars could not be more highly anticipated. The new trailer that dropped this week proved me very, very wrong.

There is so much more hype to be had, gang.

This trailer gives us a couple of looks at two of the big storylines this season — the siege of Mandalore and the Bad Batch arc — in the form of Ahsoka meeting up with Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze and Anakin lookin’ all Dark side as he readies to take on Admiral Trench once and for all (and… ride giant monster-bats?), respectively.

We’ll also be getting what looks to be a truly epic lightsaber match between Ahsoka and Maul, and — heartbreakingly — some confirmation that Clone Wars will bleed heavily into the timeline for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. That means Anakin’s fall, Order 66, and so, so, so much pain.

Are you ready? Because I'm definitely not. I'm tearing up just thinking about it right now. At least we all know we’ll be able to suffer together!