The Minions are Back in Despicable Me 2

We were first introduced to the yellow pill-shaped, giggly, mischievous and completely adorable Minions in the 2010 movie Despicable Me as Gru's mostly helpful worker bees.

As did so many other viewers, we fell in love with these cute and cuddly henchmen adopting them as our family mascot. (More later in the page.)

The Minions, which to me look like a cross between a twinkie and a vitamin pill, provide a lot of the comic elements in the film. They are silly sidekicks kind of like the penguins of Madagascar.

These scene stealing creations emerged from the imaginations of Chris Meledandri, Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. Through character development they expanded on the typical definition of minions as being unimportant followers of a more important person.

Despicable Me was a hit for Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment. The film grossed than $540 million and became the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history.

We loved seeing Despicable Me 2 this summer. Have you seen more of Gru's lovable minions yet?

Despicable Me 2 Poster available on Amazon.

Listen to the Banana Potato song from the Despicable Me 2 Trailer on DespicableMeMovie. CAUTION: It is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head.

Ba ba ba, ba ba na na

Ba ba ba, ba ba na na

Bana na a a, Potato na a a, Bana na a a

To ca li no potato ni ga ni ba ba lo ni ba no ji ga

Ba ba ba, ba na na

Yo plano hu, la pa no no tu, ma banana like a nupi ta la mu

Banana ba ba ba, banana, Potato o o

To ca li no potato ni ga ni ba ba lo ni ba no ji ga

ba ba, ba ba na naaaaaaa!

Hi ya!

Minion gibberish translations with proofing help from my kids who had me figure out the lyrics. Middle section translations from Banana Song with Subtitles on Youtube below.

Thanks to Aug201990 you can sing along to the Banana Potato song with subtitles.

See what may be up with the minions in this Despicable Me 2 trailer from DespicableMeMovie.

For Despicable Me 2 there are new posable minion figures and Funko has also come out with a line of character products.

Minion Madness in the Car

Image Copyright by Kirsti A. Dyer. All rights reserved.

In Summer 2013, get ready for more minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy animated adventure featuring the return of Gru (Steve Carell), the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions...and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

In this second trailer for Despicable Me 2 we learn a bit more about what might be going on with the movie from MovieTrailerApple.

The Minions are thousands of short little pill-shaped (twinkie-shaped or thumb shaped) yellow creatures with eye-bugging goggles that help Gru, the world's greatest villain, carry out his nefarious deeds.

Originally envisioned as underground mole people, these cute little critters are like mischievous children and giggling trouble makers. The Despicable Me Wikia describes the minions as "a rambunctious bunch of simple-minded beings." Their silly, scene-stealing antics like taking butt pictures on the xeroxing machine, arguing over bananas or tee-peeing a house from the inside make viewers want to laugh along with them.

The thousands of short little minions start off by being Gru's hench children, but ultimately turn into part playmates and part baby sitters for Gru's daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes.

They have become so popular that they have their own Minion Madness DVD and their own ride, Minion Mayhem at Universal Studios in Orlando.

Despicible Me Minions with Gru Poster available on Amazon

Despicable Me 2 on Facebook

Fun printable minion sheets and coloring page minion downloads.

Minion Trio - Dave, Stuart and Jorge available on Amazon

Discover why the Minions love Bananas in this Minion Short from DespicableMeMovie.

From the Despicable Me website a look at some of the great fan art and minion wear created by fans.

We started our Minion collection in 2010 with the group of three minions (Dave, Stewart and Jorge) plus an extra Stewart dressed in their blue overalls as Christmas presents.

Someone suggested putting them in the back window of our car, peering out the back window and it is where they have remained. They bring a smile to most people's faces and I hope even bring some silliness to stressed out drivers.

When the Halloween Minion set and the Christmas Minion set became available we added them to our Minion collection and swapped out the regular Minions for holiday themed minions.

Since we had so much fun with the holiday Minions we've dressed up our regular Minions for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's, Easter, Spring, Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

Needless to say they are quite a conversation starter for my daughter's friends. We've gotten a few extras to give as gifts to those who have been the most touched by our silly mascots.

Minion Trio available on Amazon below.

Grab your set of Minions before they go up in price again with the popularity of the new movie.

Love this clip with Agnus from DespicableMeMovie.

Different style minion shirts for the family.

The Despicable Me Minions are all dressed up for Halloween trick or treating. One is dressed as a skeleton, one as a vampire and one as a mummy.

Since we couldn't decide on just one costumed minion, we got the set. We have all three of the Halloween set all ready to go for Halloween this year. The vampire minion has proven to be very popular (with the Twilight crowd?) and at least during the summer of 2013 is harder to find, except on eBay.

What do you do with minions?

We keep our stuffed minions in the back of the car, changing them during the holidays as a way to give people behind us a laugh.

Halloween Minions (Mummy and Skeleton) available on Amazon. Check eBay for the Minion Vampire.

The Christmas Minion toy set is a fun way to spread some holiday cheer. These silly Minions with Dave in his elf hat, Stewart in reindeer antlers and Jorge dressed up as Santa, are a fun way to spread some holiday cheer.

It may be impossible to decide which Christmas Minion is the cutest, Stewart the Reindeer, Jorge the Santa or Dave the Elf. If you are like us and can't make up your mind just get the set of all three Christmas Minions.

We keep them in the back of the car, peering out at the drivers behind us as we go down the highway. You can almost hear them singing silly Minion holiday songs.

Despicable Me Christmas Minion Plush Set available on Amazon and eBay.

There are different versions of the Christmas Minions. I like the ones where they are dressed up as reindeer and elves. These can be hard to find on Amazon. Hopefully they'll come out with new ones for this Christmas.

With their silly looks and personalities, the minions make for fun costumes and costume ideas.

I came up with several lenses on making minion costumes including how to make your own basic minion costume using denim overalls and goggles, how to make a minion fireman costume and alarm hat like the Bee-do, Bee-do minion wears.

Of course I had to include a lens on how to make the latest minions, the evil purple minions for those days when you are feeling more like a screaming, crazy monster than a silly sidekick.

Read on for more information on crafting your own minion costume.

Despicable Me 2 Minion Poster available on Amazon.

Keep the Minions close to you, to make you smile with jewelry.

Learn more about the Minion Mayhem 3-D Ride at Universal Studios in Orlando and the launch from InsidetheMagic and JeffLangeDVD.

What do you think about the Despicable Me Minions?