diff --git a/lang/lexparse.go b/lang/lexparse.go
index a3e689ec..c3e5d71c 100644
--- a/lang/lexparse.go
+++ b/lang/lexparse.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ const (
 	ErrLexerIntegerOverflow   = interfaces.Error("integer: overflow")
 	ErrLexerFloatOverflow     = interfaces.Error("float: overflow")
 	ErrParseError             = interfaces.Error("parser")
+	ErrParseSetType           = interfaces.Error("can't set return type in parser")
 	ErrParseAdditionalEquals  = interfaces.Error(errstrParseAdditionalEquals)
 	ErrParseExpectingComma    = interfaces.Error(errstrParseExpectingComma)
 )
diff --git a/lang/lexparse_test.go b/lang/lexparse_test.go
index 5a062f8d..75152b1c 100644
--- a/lang/lexparse_test.go
+++ b/lang/lexparse_test.go
@@ -835,6 +835,30 @@ func TestLexParse0(t *testing.T) {
 			exp:  exp,
 		})
 	}
+	{
+		values = append(values, test{
+			name: "parser set type incompatibility str",
+			code: `
+			$x int = "hello"	# type should be str to work
+			test "t1" {
+				str => $x,
+			}
+			`,
+			fail: true,
+		})
+	}
+	{
+		values = append(values, test{
+			name: "parser set type incompatibility int",
+			code: `
+			$x int = "hello"	# value should be int to work
+			test "t1" {
+				int => $x,
+			}
+			`,
+			fail: true,
+		})
+	}
 
 	for index, test := range values { // run all the tests
 		name, code, fail, exp := test.name, test.code, test.fail, test.exp
diff --git a/lang/parser.y b/lang/parser.y
index 34729e56..18c3e581 100644
--- a/lang/parser.y
+++ b/lang/parser.y
@@ -637,7 +637,8 @@ bind:
 		posLast(yylex, yyDollar) // our pos
 		var expr interfaces.Expr = $4.expr
 		if err := expr.SetType($2.typ); err != nil {
-			panic(fmt.Sprintf("can't set type in parser: %+v", err))
+			// this will ultimately cause a parser error to occur...
+			yylex.Error(fmt.Sprintf("%s: %+v", ErrParseSetType, err))
 		}
 		$$.stmt = &StmtBind{
 			Ident: $1.str,
@@ -926,6 +927,8 @@ func (yylex *Lexer) Error(str string) {
 			err = ErrParseAdditionalEquals
 		} else if strings.HasSuffix(str, ErrParseExpectingComma.Error()) {
 			err = ErrParseExpectingComma
+		} else if strings.HasPrefix(str, ErrParseSetType.Error()) {
+			err = ErrParseSetType
 		}
 		lp.parseErr = &LexParseErr{
 			Err: err,