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Meet Porgs, the Newest Star Wars Creatures That You’re Going to Fall in Love With

2 minute read

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi will introduce a new, adorable creature that’s basically genetically engineered to sell toys. They’re called Porgs, and they look like a cross between a hamster and a penguin with those giant, wet Disney creature eyes that are guaranteed to make little kids swoon. And the internet is already going crazy for them.

Entertainment Weekly debuted a picture of a Porg riding shotgun in what looks to be the Millennium Falcon next to Chewbacca. But lest you think the new creature is filling the Han Solo-shaped hole in Chewie’s heart, EW reports that while Porgs are cute and cuddly, they are “vexing to Wookies.”

Porgs are native to the planet Ahch-To, the site of the first Jedi temple, and the setting where we last left Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. Apparently director Rian Johnson dreamt up the creatures after observing a group of puffins in Ireland. “If you go to Skellig at the right time of year, it’s just covered in puffins, and they’re the most adorable things in the world,” he told EW. “So when I was first scouting there, I saw these guys, and I was like, oh, these are part of the island. And so the Porgs are in that realm.”

Porgs are the latest in a line of adorable creatures who have elicited love or hatred from Star Wars fans. While some loved the furry Ewoks in the original trilogy, others accused George Lucas of creating the creatures as a gambit to lure children into theaters. And in 2015, the soccer-ball like droid BB-8 stole some audience members’ hearts as he helped John Boyega’s Finn in his quest to impress Daisy Ridley’s Rey, while others thought he didn’t live up to R2-D2.

So far the reception to the Porgs seems to be pretty positive.

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com