The 2013 Yoda, NY I ♥ Torso, White Hair

The Rarest Yoda in the Galaxy — And It Was Free With Purchase

1,000 made. Rarer than Mr. Gold. And you had to be in Times Square on the right day to get one.

On May 23, 2013, a 43-foot, 46,000-pound LEGO X-Wing fighter was unveiled in the middle of Times Square. It was the largest LEGO model ever built at the time, constructed by 32 master builders over more than 17,000 hours. Thousands of people came to see it. A much smaller number walked into the Toys R Us store on the same block, bought a LEGO X-Wing set, and walked out with something that would turn out to be one of the rarest LEGO Star Wars minifigures ever produced.

The Event

The Times Square X-Wing event ran from May 23 to May 25, 2013 — three days, not two as some sources report. The event was organized by LEGO to promote The Yoda Chronicles, a new Cartoon Network animated special premiering May 29, 2013. The life-size X-Wing was modeled after set 9493 and built in the Czech Republic before being transported to New York in 32 sections. After three days in Times Square it was dismantled and shipped to LEGOLAND California where it was reassembled and displayed for the remainder of 2013. Its current whereabouts are unknown.

The event was headquartered at the flagship Toys R Us store in Times Square. Fans who purchased set 9493 X-Wing Starfighter at that store during the event received two additional items at the register: a specially printed box sleeve to wrap around their purchase, and a small clear plastic bag containing an exclusive Yoda minifigure. Both were handed out at the register rather than being pre-packaged on the shelf — meaning the standard retail 9493 boxes in the store were completely unmodified, and the event packaging was assembled at point of sale.

This distribution method has an important implication: the sleeve and the minifig were two separate items given together. Reports from collectors who visited the store after the main event days confirm that the sleeves ran out before the minifigures did — some later visitors received a Yoda in a plain bag without the sleeve. A complete example consisting of both the sleeve and the bagged minifig is significantly rarer than the minifig alone.

The Box Sleeve

The box sleeve is 8 inches wide and sized to slide snugly over a standard 9493 box. It is printed on all sides and represents some of the most detailed event documentation in the entire 2013 Yoda Chronicles campaign — fully transcribed here for the first time.

The top and bottom of the sleeve both carry the LEGO and Star Wars logos with “THE YODA CHRONICLES” text.

The front of the sleeve carries the headline “SECRETS TO REVEAL THERE ARE…” In the upper left corner is a circular medallion featuring the Yoda minifigure surrounded by the text “EXCLUSIVE LEGO YODA NYC MINIFIG” and “FREE WITH PURCHASE!” with “Available at the register upon check out” and “2013” in a green banner running around the medallion. The main front image shows Yoda holding a kyber crystal, with a blueprint-style drawing of the LEGO X-Wing above the crystal. The bottom of the front repeats the LEGO and Star Wars logos followed by:

THE YODA CHRONICLES
PREMIERING MAY 29th 8/7C

Followed by the Cartoon Network logo, copyright information, and the URL LEGO.com/yodachronicles.

The back of the sleeve is the most remarkable side — a full technical specification sheet for the life-size X-Wing, headed:

LEGO® X-wing Starfighter™
NEW YORK CITY   TIMES SQUARE   MAY 23rd – MAY 25th 2013

Below that, blueprint schematics of the X-Wing from four angles — top, side, front, and back — labeled at 11 feet tall, 42 feet long, and 44 feet wide. Note: other sources cite the length as 43 feet; the sleeve’s 42-foot figure may reflect a slight measurement discrepancy between sources or a rounding difference. Inside the schematic layout, a panel reads:

LIFE-SIZED LEGO® BRICK BUILT MODEL
LARGEST LEGO MODEL IN THE GALAXY!
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD THE WORLD’S LARGEST MODEL?
X-WING STARFIGHTER: BUILD FACTS

• 32 builders worked on the project full time for over 3 months to accomplish the build.
• Total amount of hours to design, develop and build: 17,336 hours.
• Total weight with steel: 45,979.61 lbs!
• Total number of bricks: 5,335,200!
• Cockpit opens and closes and fits a full size person.
• Engines not only light up, but also make real engine sounds.

Below the schematics are photographs of the X-Wing in a warehouse, presumably during construction. The back closes with the URL repeated alongside the event hashtag #LEGOYodaNYC and repeated copyright and trademark information.

The sleeve is almost certainly rarer than the minifig. It was a physical printed piece produced in a fixed quantity for a three-day event, and many examples have been separated from their minifigures over the years. A collector holding the sleeve alone has something significant.

The Minifigure Packaging

The minifig was handed out in a small clear plastic bag approximately 2¾ inches by 4½ inches — not a ziplock, a sealed bag. Inside the bag, behind the minifigure, is a small white card measuring approximately 2½ by 3 inches. The front of the card reads:

AGES / EDADES
5+
1 LEGO MINIFIGURE
Building Toy

Below that is a choking hazard warning, followed by manufacturing location, distribution, trademark, and copyright details.

The white card is unusual — it does not appear in standard LEGO polybag packaging, which typically prints information directly on the bag itself. The clear plastic bag format made that impossible, necessitating the separate card insert. This makes the white card a unique artifact within the LEGO packaging universe and a key authentication detail — a genuine example in its original packaging should have both the sealed clear bag and the white card insert.

The Minifigure

The minifigure is sw0465a — Yoda with white hair and a torso printed with the I ♥ NY logo adapted to read I ♥ LEGO Star Wars, commonly referred to as the “NY I ♥” torso. The white hair distinguishes it from sw0465, the gray-haired version exclusive to the NY Yoda Diorama distributed at the February 2013 Toy Fair. The two variants were produced for the same campaign three months apart and are companion pieces.

The I ♥ NY trademark, as noted in the Toy Fair diorama article, was used with formal permission from the New York State Department of Economic Development — a detail confirmed by the legal text on the diorama’s cardstock and consistent with LEGO’s approach to this entire campaign.

This is one of the most heavily faked minifigures in the LEGO Star Wars universe and the situation has evolved significantly over the years. The torso print is the only unique element — the head, legs, and hair are all standard production parts — making it straightforward to fake. Early fakes had misaligned text on Yoda’s shirt, which experienced collectors could spot. That issue has since been corrected and current fakes are much harder to detect from the figure alone.

Fakers have also replicated the packaging. Examples have appeared in clear plastic bags matching the original format, and the white card insert — being a simple printed card — is trivially easy to reproduce. Even a receipt from the original Toys R Us purchase, which might seem like strong provenance, would be easy to fake.

The only packaging element that provides meaningful authentication is the box sleeve — it is a more complex printed piece that is harder to replicate convincingly and harder to source separately. A complete example with the original sleeve, sealed bag, and white card is the gold standard. A minifig in a bag with a card but no sleeve should be treated with significant skepticism regardless of what the seller claims. When in doubt, do not buy.

Rarity and Value

1,000 sw0465a minifigures were produced — one for each purchase of set 9493 at the Times Square Toys R Us during the three-day event. This makes it rarer than the famous Mr. Gold minifigure, of which 5,000 were produced. Despite Mr. Gold’s greater fame among general collectors, sw0465a has a smaller production run — a fact noted by Brickset reviewers as early as June 2013 and still not widely appreciated.

Current value is approximately $4,336.77 according to Brick Ranker, based on average sale prices over the last six months. Used examples are worth approximately 73% less than new sealed examples — confirming that the original packaging is where most of the value lies. The sleeve, if separated from the minifig, has no established market value but is almost certainly significant given its scarcity.

What We Don’t Know

• The sleeve quantity — 1,000 minifigures were produced but were 1,000 sleeves also produced? If the sleeves ran out before the minifigures, the complete package may be rarer than 1,000. Does anyone know how many sleeves were printed?
• The length discrepancy — the box sleeve states the X-Wing was 42 feet long while most other sources cite 43 feet. Which is correct? The sleeve was an official LEGO document produced for the event, which gives it some authority, but 43 feet appears in more sources.
• The X-Wing’s current whereabouts — after LEGOLAND California displayed it through the end of 2013, the life-size X-Wing’s location is unconfirmed. Does anyone know where it ended up?
• The white card — is the white card insert unique to this minifig or does it appear in other LEGO promotional clear bag packaging? If you have seen this card format elsewhere, please leave a comment.

SW0465a — Yoda, NY I ♥ Torso, White Hair (Toys R Us Times Square 2013 Exclusive)
Produced: 2013
Distribution: Toys R Us Times Square, with purchase of set 9493, May 23–25, 2013
Quantity: 1,000
BrickLink: sw0465a
Brickset: sw0465a
BrickEconomy: sw0465