The only thing more expensive than trying to hunt down a Lego set that’s been retired and no longer in production, is trying to secure a Lego set that was created as an exclusive employee gift, which are often part of much smaller production runs. Unless you work for Lucasfilm, finding one May the Fourth Lego set that flew under the radar last week is going to be an expensive quest.
Anyone who keeps tab on Lego’s latest and greatest already knows that this year’s unofficial May the Fourth holiday came with quite a few new Star Wars Lego sets to help mark the corporate occasion. These included everything from a redesigned Ultimate Collector Series X-wing, to a pair of new Return of the Jedi-themed Star Wars dioramas, to even a scaled-down Super Star Destroyer.
It turns out, however, that there was one additional May the Fourth Star Wars Lego set released — but not to the public. It was an employee-only gift: a 152-piece miniature replica of the fountain found at the Lucasfilm offices at the Letterman Digital Arts Centre in San Francisco, California, which features a bronze statue of Jedi Master Yoda perched atop it.
#May4thBeWithYou #StarWars #Yoda pic.twitter.com/YyuZHY5EQ5
— Hal Hickel 🟧 (@halhickel) May 4, 2023
We haven’t 100% confirmed which employees were privy to this buildable gift, but Hal Hickel, an animation director at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic, tweeted an image of what appears to be the front of the set’s packaging, while Chris Argyropoulos, a VP of “Franchise Assets & Publicity” at Lucasfilm, tweeted an image of the completed set.
Took a couple of days but finally got around to this. pic.twitter.com/525AobTn5G
— Chris Argyropoulos (@ThatChrisA) May 7, 2023
We don’t yet know how many of the Lucas Yoda Fountain sets were created or gifted, but both Lucasfilm and ILM employ thousands of people, so there’s a good chance that eventually one or two of these will make their way to places like eBay, although none appear to be up for auction just yet.