The 2013 Brick-Built NY I ♥ Yoda Statue
Three Made. Three Winners. Twelve Years Later, We Still Don’t Know Where They All Are.
The rarest physical item in the entire 2013 Yoda Chronicles campaign — and this author doesn’t own one.
In the spring of 2013, while LEGO was preparing the most elaborate promotional campaign in the history of the Star Wars theme, it ran a contest in the May/June issue of LEGO Club Magazine. The prize was something that had never existed before and has never been made again — a large-scale brick-built Yoda figure wearing the iconic NY I ♥ torso, modeled after the exclusive minifigure that would be given away at the Times Square event. Only three were ever made. Twelve years later, one has surfaced publicly. Two remain unaccounted for.
The Contest
The LEGO Club Magazine contest ran in the May/June 2013 issue, timed to build excitement ahead of the Times Square X-Wing unveiling on May 23rd. The challenge was imaginative: contestants were asked to build a LEGO model depicting what they thought LEGO would unveil at the Times Square launch event, photograph it, and upload it to LEGO.com/yodachronicles starting May 4th.
The original contest text read:
To celebrate the new Cartoon Network series, “The Yoda Chronicles,” The LEGO Group will be unveiling something huge in Times Square! Guess what it is and you might win! Starting May 4th, build what you think we’ll be unveiling, take a picture of it, and upload it to LEGO.com/yodachronicles.
Three Grand Prize winners each received a brick-built NY I ♥ Yoda statue. Twenty First Prize winners received mystery prizes commemorating the event. The Grand Prize is the subject of this article. The First Prize mystery items have never been identified or documented — if you won one, we want to hear from you.
The Statue
The brick-built Yoda is described in MandR’s February 2022 YouTube video — the only known public documentation of the item — as a “LEGO Star Wars Buildable Yoda Minifigure.” This suggests the build is a large-scale interpretation of the sw0465a minifigure rather than a realistic anatomical Yoda sculpture — a minifig-style figure built up to display size, consistent with how LEGO has approached similar contest prizes in other campaigns.
The statue wears the NY I ♥ torso — the same iconic design as the minifigure given away at the Times Square Toys R Us event — which connects it directly to the broader campaign and makes it a visual companion piece to the minifig. Beyond MandR’s video, no detailed physical description, piece count, or dimensions have been publicly documented.
The author of this article has reverse engineered the statue from photographs and video. Building instructions have been published in the Builds section — see NY I ♥ Yoda Statue Replica (MOC). That reverse engineering process produced the first confirmed piece count for this item.
Known Provenance
Of the three statues produced, one has a confirmed public provenance. In February 2022, MandR (MandRproductions on YouTube) published a video titled “The RAREST LEGO Star Wars Yoda EVER?” in which he revealed he had received one of the three statues from a channel fan named Joseph. The video has accumulated over 95,000 views and remains the primary public documentation of this item’s existence. MandR describes it as potentially the rarest LEGO Star Wars item with LEGO pieces he will ever own.
The path from the original 2013 contest winner to Joseph to MandR is not publicly documented. Whether Joseph was the original contest winner or acquired it through subsequent hands is unknown.
The other two statues have never surfaced publicly. Twelve years after the contest, their whereabouts are completely unknown. They may be in the hands of the original contest winners, stored away or forgotten. They may have changed hands privately. One or both may have been damaged or discarded.
Context Within the Campaign
The 2013 Yoda Chronicles campaign produced five physical collector items across three months. Ranked by production quantity from most to least common:
- sw0465a — NY I ♥ Yoda minifigure, white hair — 1,000 produced
- NY Yoda Diorama (sw0465, gray hair) — 150 produced, fewer distributed
- Empire Strikes Out blister card — approximately 125 produced
- Yoda Chronicles Promotional Set — quantity unknown, mailed to press
- Brick-Built NY I ♥ Yoda Statue — 3 produced
With only three examples, this is not only the rarest item in the 2013 Yoda Chronicles campaign — it is one of the rarest LEGO Star Wars items ever produced by any measure. The sw0465a minifigure, at 1,000 units, is itself rarer than Mr. Gold. The brick-built statue is rarer by a factor of more than 300.
The Hunt
This author is actively looking to acquire one of the two unaccounted-for examples. If you are one of the original 2013 contest winners, or know someone who is, please get in touch. This is not a casual inquiry — a serious offer is on the table for the right example.
The LEGO Club Magazine contest entries were submitted online to LEGO.com/yodachronicles. LEGO would have records of the three Grand Prize winners. If anyone has connections within LEGO who could help identify them, that information would be enormously valuable for the documented history of this item.
What We Don’t Know
- The physical description — no confirmed dimensions, piece count, or detailed construction description exists publicly. The MandR video is the only documentation and does not provide these details. Our reverse engineering project will address this.
- The whereabouts of two of the three — one is with MandR. Where are the other two?
- The original contest winners — their identities have never been publicly disclosed. Does anyone know who won?
- The First Prize mystery items — 20 first prize winners received unidentified mystery prizes. What were they? If you won one, please leave a comment.
- Joseph’s connection to the original — was Joseph the original 2013 contest winner, or did he acquire it through subsequent hands?
Brick-Built NY I ♥ Yoda Statue — LEGO Club Magazine Contest Prize
Produced: 2013
Distribution: LEGO Club Magazine contest prize, May/June 2013 issue
Quantity: 3
Known examples: 1 (MandR, acquired from Joseph) | 2 unaccounted for
Value: Unknown — no confirmed sales
Video documentation: The RAREST LEGO Star Wars Yoda EVER? — MandRproductions
