Today 21303 WALL•E became officially available on the online LEGO store. It’s a highly anticipated set and we suspect that lots of LEGO fans rushed to the site to pick one up. However those looking to pick up more than one got a bit of a surprise – LEGO has placed a limit of one per customer on this particular set.
Reaction seems to be mixed to this, so we thought we’d look into both sides and then see what you think in the comments.
The Bad
The biggest problem with the limit on this set is that a single set fails to meet the free shipping threshold. The Australian online store has some absolutely crazy shipping costs, unless you qualify for the free shipping. It’s not uncommon for friends and family to organise a group buy on the site in order to qualify for free shipping. With the limit of one in place it means that LEGO fans are faced with either a $30 shipping cost or filling their carts with other products.
The Good
This set is highly anticipated and limiting the stock to one per person does two things: it ensures that the stock is distributed to more households and prevents scalpers from buying up large quantities to resell at inflated prices. There is nothing worse than a set you are after disappearing before you have a chance to get one.
Other Factors
There were various rumours that this set was going to be delayed in order to resolve a design issue with the neck construction. As far as we know LEGO never confirmed these reports but it is possible that they have decided to sell the set in limited quantities and offer replacement parts until the issue can be resolved.
The other thing to consider is that this set will be released in toy stores. There have already been numerous sightings of the set in Toyworld stores. We have also heard that Toys R Us stores will be stocking this set soon, as will independant retailers like Outer Rim Trading Co.
Let us know what you think of the limit in the comments below.
Irritating. I’ve been trying to pull together a few friends to order it in one lot to save on shipping. Glad I saw this here so I can abandon that and try to fill my cart with other stuff.
They had (& have) the same limit on the Ideas Big Bang Theory set … So, it might be a new Lego Australia policy on these sets. The lego site in America doesn’t appear to have the same limits (Big Bang Theory is “limited” to 5).
I think I will play it safe and wait a while before purchasing. It’s probably the set I’ve been looking forward to the most all year. But having seen the brickshow review it’s almost comical how badly designed the neck is, at least in their review copy. I know most people will want it for display, not play, but if you can only pose WALL-E’s head in one position then that’s a design flaw IMO and not what I would expect from Lego. I’m hoping Jang reviews it soon, I trust his opinion more than most.
I suspect they will have a decent run of these. However, the neck piece was a concern of mine as well, as it was mentioned in a couple of reviews. Then I saw the motorised Wall E – I am so going to do that ! – and the neck didn’t seem so bad… So interesting.
Personally, I would like three. One for work, one for home and one for a gift. The limit doesn’t bother me, as I assume they will eventually hit the retail stores – however, it is interesting to see the Big Bang Theory set at Toyworld (one I am not interested in), but haven’t seen the bird set (which I do want) at retail as of yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscEbLeOILI – link to the motorised Wall-E if interested.
Thanks for the link Monty…the jerky movement is so authentic to the movie! It seems like a pretty simple mod too. I can see there will be a lot of motorized WALL-E’s : )
I just feel that Lego has contempt for Australia. They pushed the shipping threshold up to a ridiculous limit. Charge outrageous prices for what are really “toys” and then limit us on what we can purchase while also probably making a general store release even harder. I’m a minifig collector now having abandoned general building due to the high costs. Having had a whinge, I still love the products, just am not happy with the way the company treats us.
An official response from TLG re the instability in the neck issue has been posted by one of the Mods on the Eurobricks forum. TLG have said that they discovered a lack of clutch power in the socket joint that has affected North American units only ie. ones with the piece count on the box. This issue causes WALL-E’s head to flop forward. They are currently re-packing the defective stock with ‘functional elements’ hence the “coming soon” status on the US S@H website. It doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that stock to other regions won’t be affected. I suspect it has to do more with the fact that the first reviews were coming out of the U.S. and they are doing it to save face in the least disruptive way possible. The next few weeks will be interesting once more people start receiving the first production units.
Got a link?
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?s=2331a5e8324485f0a6c273dc213eadbc&showtopic=105476&st=150
Scroll down. The response is from Kim Ellekjær Thomsen. He is a LUG community liaison manager with TLG. Its as an official response as we are going to get at this stage.
Outer Rim Trading Co has some in stock, at RRP. http://www.outerrimtradingco.com.au/content/ort-productinfo.asp?name=Product-Info&productinfo=21303
Please, has anybody spotted WALL-E at retail in Melbourne?
We instituted a 1 per customer limit for WALL-E purely to allow for as many people as possible to get their hands on it in the short term without someone buying up all the stock to sell them at a grossly inflated rate in the future.