After several weeks of delay, the #21303 LEGO Ideas WALL-E set is finally available! The delay was due to issues with a couple of hinge-bricks that were supporting the head, and this problem should now be fixed. (If you have gotten an earlier version of the set with defective hinges, you can call LEGO’s customer service for replacements.) Below is the description of this adorable little robot, as well as a full review and some fun modification. 🙂
Here is the official description: Build a beautifully detailed LEGO version of WALL-E – the last robot left on Earth! Created by Angus MacLane, an animator and director at Pixar Animation Studios, and selected by LEGO Ideas members, the development of this model began alongside the making of the lovable animated character for the classic Pixar feature film. It has taken almost a decade to perfect the LEGO version, which incorporates many authentic WALL-E characteristics, including a posable neck, adjustable head, arms that move up and down and side to side, plus gripping hands and rolling tracks. With a trunk that opens and closes, you can tidy up the planet one pile of garbage at a time! This set also includes a booklet about the designer and the animated Pixar movie. Measures over 7” (18cm) high, 6” (16cm) long and 6” (16cm) wide. 677 pieces. Price: $59.99 – BUY HERE
The #21303 LEGO Ideas WALL-E set captures the personality of the original movie character perfectly. This is particularly due to those expressive eyes and the highly posable head and neck section. Unfortunately the head is a bit too loose and can spin around easily due to the weight of the head and the lack of friction in the neck joint. JANGBRiCKS mentions a very simple solution to this in the video-review below that requires no extra parts or modification. I think this should be sufficient for most people. However if you would like to have a more permanent and sturdy solution, there is an excellent modification provided by Chris McVeigh, using some extra parts. You can download the parts-list and step-by step instructions here: WALL-E Head Mount Modification by Chris McVeigh
The arms and hands of WALL-E are also highly posable, and mimic the original design quite well. I think it would have been nice to have some stripes on the arms, but that’s a minor detail. Talking about detailing, the WALL-E logo at the front – as well as the solar meter – are printed elements, not stickers! Thank you, LEGO! Other features include the opening front compartment where you can place the little plant, or whatever else WALL-E happens to find. The tracks also look close to the original, although they don’t work well on smooth surfaces. However on rough surfaces WALL-E rolls just fine. All in all this is an excellent and lovely model. The few faults simply make WALL-E look more authentic and add to his charm. After all he was a lonely beat-up robot who regularly had to fix himself up with random parts that he found here and there. (Below is a picture of the model originally submitted at LEGO Ideas for reference.)
In the video-player below I have included three videos for you. The first one is a full-review by JANGBRiCKS where he shows you all the details and functions of the set. The second video is a modification using LEGO Power Function elements to motorize WALL-E with running tracks, and the third video uses the #9688 LEGO Education Renewable Energy Add-On set that includes a solar-panel to make WALL-E dance. 😀
As you can see, the #21303 LEGO Ideas WALL-E set is perfect for display, but also excellent for play as well as for modifications. I highly recommend it for anyone who liked the movie, or just like to have a great little LEGO robot. Please keep in mind that this is a limited release LEGO Ideas set, so if you want to get one, get it as soon as possible. It is available under the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
So what do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas WALL-E? Are you planning to get him? Or do you have him already? Have you thought of motorizing him or adding other modifications? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
I got the one with the bad neck, contacted Lego for the needed pieces. It’s pretty bad any rotation of the neck and the head just flops backwards. Amazed it even made it to production like that.
The hinges being defective were a problem only in North America, so it’s understandable that they didn’t catch it right away.
I’ve been checking almost every day recently to see when the set was finally going to be available. To my surprise, I saw it pop up yesterday finally for sale. I quickly snagged two of them (one for home and one for the wife’s office) along with the Winter Toy Shop. Now I am just waiting for Santa’s Workshop to come back in stock along with the new Mixels to show up.
Also, have we heard any rumors as to what the next Creator Expert modular building might be? Lastly, any new indications of the Palace Cinema retiring soon? I need to try and snag that one before year’s end.
Nice! Enjoy your WALL-Es! As far as the next modular, nothing yet. Not even rumors. The only speculation is that based on the previous pattern it should be a corner building. But other than that, nothing. The lifetime of most modulars is four years, so unless the Palace Cinema is not selling well I don’t see why they would retire it early. It came out in 2013, so it should be around for a while. The next set that should be retiring is the Pet Shop, but that set is so popular LEGO might extend its life.
It seems to be $20 more expensive on Amazon. I wonder why?
Namir, the two listings on Amazon are not directly by Amazon but by resellers (and fulfilled by Amazon). Usually prices match when Amazon is the direct seller. If Amazon gets some stock directly prices should match up. But with LEGO Ideas sets it’s not a good idea to wait around as they can sell out very quickly.
That dancing version is funny. That guy can motorize anything. I saw a suggestion near the end of the RC Wall-E video that showed him with a RC 42042 Crane – the remote set was huge! I still like the set, though, no matter the problems. 🙂
Also, the Dimensions microsite is fully up now: http://www.lego.com/en-us/dimensions No videos or character descriptions yet, although we now know how many players it is: a disappointing 2. 🙁 Well, I won’t be getting that. Back to Mariokart 8. 😕
Funny you mention that, I just finished writing an article about LEGO Dimensions. I will publish it when the sets are actually out, but I was thinking of you because I read that it is basically one or two players, and I remember you had that question. 🙂
They did a pretty good job on wall-e! Jangbricks already published a review!- that was fast… ?
Awww man. That emojii was kind of a fail.. On my phone it shows up as a very different expression… Oh, well. :/
So I received my WALL-E from Lego.com yesterday and I went ahead and put him together last night. I don’t know about others, but mine doesn’t appear to have the fix I thought this model was being delayed for. The head swings too freely left/right and if you tilt the head at all it doesn’t want to maintain its position (constantly swinging backwards).
I wonder if Lego actually issued a fix with the shipments or they are going to rely on having us contact them to have the fixed parts shipped instead. I will be contacting them today via their customer support website. Meanwhile, I performed an easy, and reversible, modification that was suggested in one of the Lego.com reviews: use plumbers tape on the shaft the head connects to. It takes a few wraps or more, but it creates enough friction that the head can finally be posed with it moving/swinging.
As I mentioned in the article, the swinging of the head has NO fix from LEGO. What they did fix was the neck, which had defective hinge-bricks. That is the only thing LEGO fixed. The freely rotating head has at least two fixes; the simple one is mentioned by JANGBRiCKS in the video-review I posted above, or you can download the alternate building steps, which I also included above. And yours is a good solution too with the plumbers tape.
Sorry, I misread it. Along with most of the complaints I saw was with the head rotating too freely, I thought that was the main problem they were going to try and fix (which would have required a slight redesign). I did see the alternate design but have not watched the video (it was blocked initially where I was reading your article).
I’ve e-mail Lego anyways for an official response. I may stick with the plumbers tape solution or I might try the alternate build technique.
Yeah, the freely rotating head is just part of the design. They really should have caught the fact that the head was too heavy for that connection, but they didn’t. JANGBRiCKS solution is to simply slightly pull up on the connection. This creates enough friction to keep the head in place. That is the easiest solution. But if you want to frequently play with the set, the alternate building steps by Chris are much more sturdy.
Hey here is a high quality video with step by step instructions to motorize Lego Wall-E. Pretty cool to see him move around. Maybe it could help other people learn how to do it.
https://youtu.be/k0q53_HuAAg