A culturally significant artifact from a bygone era disappeared from its usual spot outside Fire Station 27 on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, leaving behind a shoddily hand-painted replica. Locals are furious. And they have every right to be. The missing artifact is the internet-famous Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Pepsi vending machine that has been sitting on that street since the movie’s release in 1999.

It’s a local landmark, and now somebody has taken it…and maybe for good reasons? It’s a weird story, and the lines of logic being followed by its major players can be difficult to follow. No one involved seems to be making sense, though Axios Pittsburgh did its best.

The Weird Story Behind Pittsburgh’s Missing ‘Star Wars’ Pepsi Machine

We’ve established that the machine has been there since the release of The Phantom Menace. It hasn’t been operable for a while. Back in 2022, Pepsi donated $10,000 to the fire station and restocked the machine for a year, but Pepsi’s attention waned, and the machine fell into disrepair. A TikToker with nearly a million followers, Braeden Days, claimed he took the vending machine, saying he removed the original and substituted a replica as part of a social-media stunt.

Days later, he appeared in a video alongside the real machine wearing a Jar Jar Binks mask, saying he intended to repair and return it to its usual spot. He also questioned what happened to Pepsi’s $10,000, even though previous reporting indicates the donation went to the firehouse, not specifically toward maintaining the vending machine.

Now the vending machine is apparently being repaired? And Days says he has permission to do this from its owners? This is what happens when you try to do things for attention and a sense of helping for its own sake. Yeah, maybe in the end something good might happen, but you’ve got to wade through a bog of attention-seeking bulls—t just to get to it, which makes you question if it’s even worth it.