Will they finally admit they are rushing out too many sets and consequently making an increasing number of embarrassing mistakes?

About dang time.

@Cortez: Nope, they'll find a way around it.

As Sci says, yep, it's is about time. Two months, and no acknowledgement in that time. :\

What a farce. They knew about this ages ago. How could they not? Shameful way to treat a great set.

I might finally get one if it gets fixed

Hmm, well I just ordered the parts for Chris McVeigh's fix from Constructibles.net last night. I'm interested to see how they solve the problem.

@CortezTheKiller There were only a handful of mistakes made by the company this year. It's almost nothing. Lego's just so high-quality in general that we notice them far easier. If we were to get something like this for a Best-Lock Wall-E it'd just be another part of a blob because that's EVERY instance.

So what will happen to all the people who have already bought Wall-e?

I emailed them about the problem when it first came out, and never got a reply. Glad to see they're going to fix it.

Favorite website comes to the rescue again. I've been checking the Lego shop every couple of hours since the double VIP points came online in the hope of snapping one of these up. They were saying sold out, but as we all know things can change quickly on the Lego website,so I kept checking.
glad to know that there's a reason for it and even I am bit disappointed (was hard to wait for double VIP) but if it if they fix the problem then I don't mind. Hope they send out extra parts to people who bought it before though!

At last! I knew waiting was a good plan.

I've heard nothing to my email from last week. Might be send them a postal letter now they've confirmed Walle has an issue. The right thing for Lego to do would be to proactively reach out to owners, same as car companies do. Will they?

I bet they're only doing this so Wall-E gets more time in the spotlight. Even if it's for negative reasons, Lego will do anything for publicity... :)

Oh well, since the set is off the shelves but will come back next year I'm now in the position of perhaps giving my set away as a present to someone and getting the new one next year instead. My set was supposed to be my present but it's not the "best one" it's going to remain unopened for the time being.

The idea that LEGO will reach out to people who already have the set does sound daft - this isn't a safety recall!

No its not a safety recall. It's about pride in the quality of their work.

It could still be picked up in Lego Store in Milton Keynes yesterday afternoon, so not a blanket recall.

I wonder if they will send owners of the set a parts pack to fix it.

So if I already ordered and received 2 sets from shop.lego.com will they automatically send me the replacement pieces or am I going to have to bug customer service about it when the parts become available?

Wow... a second recall on the same set. remember the days when LEGO actually took time and pride in their design and tested the sets out?

Those were the daaaaayyyyyss!!!!!!

Honestly this is a disgrace to the LEGO brand and should be ashamed by this. But instead they will rush out 600 new sets next year (Including freaking Angry Birds) and probably just increase the problem some more.

Now, it is important to realize that this is not because LEGO is rushing out sets or has poor quality control of late. Things like this have always happened -- take Bionicle joints, for example. Because, really- how much time or money would it take to fix the problem then rather than now, if they new about it. It would have been in their favor to fix the issue before release.

The whole problem is that LEGO does not have their products adequately tested. The testing problem did not pick up the breaking problem in Bionicle joints- why would it catch this?

I still think it's troubling that such a problem made it all the way through their quality control tests and only *now* have they admitted that there's a problem here and are taking steps to fix it.

I know I really want WALL*E, but I'm not prepared to spend a cent on it until they fix this issue. The set looks brilliant (neck issues notwithstanding), you know, I really want to buy one.

And twice this year, I've bought sets that have been missing pieces (one of the DC polybags, and a Mixel. With the Mixel, I was lucky enough to have a piece in my own collection to fix the issue. The polybag, though, I had to source the piece on Bricklink). That's never ever happened before, and I've been collecting Lego since the early 80s. It does worry me a little bit, yeah.

I've had dozens, DOZENS of Mixel pieces that have cracked on me by sitting on my selves. I only had like 6-7 at the time. There is no excuse for the poor testing LEGO now does.

Do you think that LEGO will send the parts for the improvements if one has already bought the set?

I just hope that Wall-E continues to be able to turn his head around.. the letter is suggestive that there might be another solution. I would rather have a free turning Wall-E than a completely rigid neck, after all it is Lego, and there are now plenty of 'fixes' to choose from.
I am happy they are responding to customers, so here's hoping for a 360 head turning Wall-E with a little more friction. I was simply waiting for double points.. ah well. I must say I have really only had issues with pieces that had horizontal holders from Lego, they tend to break over time and use, so now I have a small stockpile...

Is it the case that the neck works if the pieces make an unusually snug fit? I keep thinking that maybe they were building prototypes with pieces that had more than normal grab. If it wasn't something like this, it's hard to see how they could get this wrong short of sheer incompetence.

That's an ominous letter. Are they going to take it too far in the "safe" direction and make his head barely mobile? If the fix "ruins" the set, people will go crazy trying to find the old one and it's price will skyrocket and the whole thing will just be one huge downer.

Better not screw this up, Lego. AGAIN.

Am I the only one that isn't really bothered by this problem? I mean sure, it'd be cool if the head were more pose-able, just like I can think of a thousand other modifications on various sets that would be cool, but I'm surprised it's such a big deal to everyone. I think it looks fine on display the way it is.

I was worried when they started moving some of their manufacturing to China (and rightfully so), and now this. And as others mentioned cranking out sets left and right trying to see what sticks maybe. Don't get me started on the Nexo Knights abominations that are coming out...

Actually compared to many other companies, Lego still has a good track record in their quality. For example, I once helped a friend build a M***B***** Halo Pelican. The instructions were hard to read, every piece was cast in a garish green plastic, and we struggled to finally finish the model. Once assembled, we picked the model up and it instantly fell into pieces. When most consider M***B***** to be Lego's main competition, we realize just how well Lego is doing their buisness. This goes to show just how good Lego's track record was and still is, the fact they are doing a recall shows they care about their image.

Plus it is likely Wall-E's head swiveling was intentional, and only after a wave of negative complaints did Lego decide to change the design.

And to the posters who complain about recent "Missing Part Syndrome," this has happened since day one for Lego. My Cafe Corner (A classic fan favorite from several years back) had a mistake on the roof pieces, where one roof piece was two studs too long! Why Lego never recalled that I have to wonder ;-)

I just put a bit of cling film ("saran wrap" in the US?) around the pin and got on with life. Of course, I would like a proper fix, but my bodge will do until then. Or I could try Chris McVeigh's fix.

Reading all this posts, the following joke comes to my mind (the profession is exchangeable):
What is the worst month for a wine-grower?
The february. It has only 28 days to moan...

I agree with you, mike_fifer and aap.

The pieces used do what they are designed to do, this is not a quality control like so many are belly aching about. Is it a design "problem"? To the majority, it seems it. TLG has listened to their "fans" and are looking into a solution to a problem that "fans" decided is a problem, and their "fans" are still complaining about the company.

There are many sets were I think, "If only the designers had..." Maybe if I am more vocal, I could gain support like this. Then many more and more of these instances could happen and cause TLG to go into bankruptcy after too many "solutions" have been made. Many then I would be a true "fan".

That's the way I'm reading this thread, and so many more threads, anymore. It really saddening me read the comments anymore, but I just can't spot myself. Really sad.

Are you sure about the North America February date?? I just checked, and it says "Out of stock, will ship in 30 days" for the USA site at least. That would put it at November... plus I just saw it on the shelves at a Lego store in North Carolina two days ago.

mike_fifer, I completely agree, I think the complaints are a bit overboard. Sure, it's a bummer that the head is limited in positioning...but it's not really bothersome.

Makes me almost glad I missed buying mine just before they pulled them from the shop. I was waiting for the 40138 Christmas Train to make the purchase so I could get it in addition to the double-points promo. It was there the day before, then gone. Too bad, but at least when I do order it I'll be able to get one with a more secure neck by design.

Legoguy29 - "limited" ? To 'none'.

I have wall-e and i do not understanding what the fuss is about, i enjoyed the build and he sits nicely on my shelf. I have no issues with mine. He is just lovely.

"It is a shame that WALL•E has been the subject of so much woe"

What other woes? I bought this set from a USA Lego Shop perhaps a day or two before this "recall". I haven't built it yet.