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Lego Masters discussion topic


Chronicler06

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With all the news we've had regarding the new TV show Lego Masters (especially considering how one of the competitors is a fellow BZPower member), I'm honestly surprised that no one has bothered to start a discussion topic about it, so I decided to do it myself before the second episode premieres tomorrow.

 

So for those of you who got to see the first episode last week, what did you think of it?

 

(I don't know what the spoilers policy is around here, so just to be on the safe side, I'll put my thoughts on the first episode under a spoiler tag.)

Spoiler

I like how practically right away this show seems to utilize the same kind of silly humor that most Lego media is famous for, particularly how they fooled the competitors with the the car and the cash to reveal the true prize was the golden brick. The first challenge had each of the ten teams build a section of a theme park with the requirement of at least one moving component, which was pretty interesting. The one that definitely impressed me the most was "Spaceland" created by Aaron and Christian with aliens and the giant ferris wheel (and they even threw in a cameo for Will Arnett). I also liked that lumberjack themed roller coaster, but too bad that it suddenly failed to work during the presentation. But while some teams did great, others definitely didn't do quite as well (such as that roller coaster that stopped after going only halfway, and the bumper cars that moved too fast). Thankfully, it seems this is the only time when none of the teams will be leaving, so we'll get to see all ten of them in the next challenge. And of course, the winner of that golden brick (which is meant to be used as a sort of free pass in case one challenge doesn't go well) went to Aaron and Christian, so it looks like our home team is well on their way to do very well throughout the upcoming challenges.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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I think the thing with the show that will turn off a lot of people, is the reality style format is very similar to shows such as Chopped that have faux-drama moments. Like it takes a real second of drama and stretches it out into a 5 minute long segment... I think we can see that in the last episode in particular with the Dogs vs. Alien Cats team... it was an intense moment with that team in the middle; but the producers made sure to milk it for all they could! Also the first celebrity guest was not really used that well, why have her come in if she is leaving early prior to judging? 

As for what works, dang some of the builds are amazing. Again Aaron and Christian put out one of the best models in the second episode. Way to do our community proud! The tracks and the Technic honeycombs were such great NPU.

 

I thought the judges complaining about Aaron & Christians model not exploding very well was splitting hairs... particularly since it was obvious the Dogs & Cats team and the ladies with the beehive hairdoos were the teams at risk the whole episode. No surprise when it was the ladies who were asked to leave at the end of the episode. 

 
Go check out some of The Brother's Brick articles on some of these contestants, in addition to Aaron they show a few of the MOC's other contestants have made that have been featured on TBB for years before they were on the show! 

Edited by Xboxtravis

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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So the challenge for the second episode was a space-themed build with the intention of it being destroyed either by "spaceball bat", being dropped from the balcony, or simply blown up. Quite interesting how the element of destruction had such a unique influence on the builds, like some of them were filled with a loose pile of colorful small bricks.

Spoiler

Although I was again impressed by what Aaron and Christian built, I actually can understand the issues pointed out by the judges. Most notably, using those railroad tracks for the frame pretty much ensured that the model broke up into only a few large chunks rather than the thousands of little pieces that was hoped for and seen with many of the other teams.

I also found it interesting that all the competitors were given minifigure version of themselves, and that when a team has been eliminated they have to put their minifigures in a display case on their way out. (And since it seems in the news section we will be seeing interviews with each team as they're eliminated, I guess there's no point in saying much about which team it was and why they were eliminated.)

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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The challenge for the third episode was to take an object that was cut in half (bicycle, guitar, diving helmet, globe, pinata, telescope, cuckoo clock, fire hydrant, or laptop computer) and build something creative to replace the missing half. I have to say, that was quite an interesting challenge, especially considering everyone had to work off those sideways baseplates along the dividing line of the half object.

Spoiler

Aaron and Christian did better than last week, though not quite among the best teams this week, so that's a solid performance at least (though it seems they've come to develop a rivalry with Mel and Jermaine, if the banter over the last two episodes is anything to go by). I was also impressed how the bearded guys ended up with the one object no one else wanted, and yet managed to pull off a good build. While one team that had struggled over the previous two weeks has made an impressive comeback, the team of the other black guys definitely made a poor choice that ultimately proved too ambitious for the time limit (and even refused to change their plan when they realized it wasn't going to work) and ended up being sent home this week.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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For once, I got time to post about the latest episode almost immediately after watching it. Anyway, the challenge for the fourth episode was to build a scene from a movie genre, but not only that...

Spoiler

Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller show up halfway through the build and add the twist of mashing together a second genre to all the builds, often forcing the teams to completely change directions.

That really threw quite a curve-ball at everyone, so it was definitely interesting to see how the teams tried to make it all work.

Spoiler

The bearded guys and the newlyweds continued to impress with their creations, with the bearded guys doing especially well when they had to throw in the super-difficult genre of romance to their monster movie. On the other side, while that father and son team did an excellent job with the western genre, they struggled when they had to throw in the fantasy genre, and ultimately ended up eliminated.

 

Aaron and Christian unfortunately seemed to be dealt with rotten luck in this challenge when they had to start off with romance and then add in thriller. They gave it their best shot, but knowing they just couldn't get their creation to work very well, they decided to turn in the golden brick to save themselves from elimination (at least the judges seemed to agree they made the right choice). The golden brick will come back at an unspecified time, but based on the preview for next week's episode, it looks like Aaron and Christian's luck will go from bad to worse...

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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For episode five this week, the challenge was to build an impressive city block. But just like last week, there was a twist partway through the build.

Spoiler

After completing the build, the teams then had to add on something that made their city block seem under attack.

Much like the very first episode, this build involved grabbing a base on a rolling table and then having to move the completed build back to the display area before time ran out. And I have to say, so many of the teams seemed to end up going between good and bad builds that it was difficult to figure out until the end who would end up succeeding or failing.

Spoiler

Last week, I had noted how the preview for this episode seemed to indicate Aaron and Christian would end up with some really rotten luck this time, and that was when the top third of their tower fell off in the last minute as they were trying to move their completed build. Needless to say, everyone was devastated to see that happen. Thankfully, that was just before the twist was announced, which gave them the opportunity to rebuild the destroyed tower in addition to working in the attacking monster. That incredible comeback allowed them to be in the top two for this week (though the win for this episode went to the bearded guys, Mark and Boone, who built a tower of food carts under attack by monster hot dogs).

 

The bottom two for this episode were Mel and Jermaine (the team that's developed a rivalry with Aaron and Christian) for a mostly empty building, and the two girls for struggling to to portray their remarkably well-built block as being under attack. It was the two girls who ended up eliminated, and with only half of the teams still in the competition, it's definitely starting to come down to the finer details of each build to determine who will get to continue on.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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The sixth episode had two separate build challenges. First was to build a racecar in only half an hour to race down a ramp, with finishing order determining how much time each team would be allowed for the following build.

Spoiler

The bearded guys Mark and Boone came in first, while last place went to Flynn and Richard. Aaron and Christian finished fourth, and it should be noted that only half of the cars even reached the finish line. As for how much time was given to each team, Mark and Boone got the full seven hours, with each place getting five minutes less than the one who finished ahead, meaning Flynn and Richard ended up with twenty five minutes less than the full time.

The second challenge was to build a six-foot long bridge to support as much weight as possible before breaking. The two weakest bridges would automatically place their teams in the bottom two for elimination, with the judges deciding based on design which of those two teams would be eliminated.

Spoiler

Aaron & Christian set a high bar at around 450lbs (enough that the crew actually ran out of weights and had to improvise some additional weights). However, both Tyler & Amy and Mark & Boone built bridges that held up to 1000lbs, at which point the crew decided to not go any further for safety reasons. With a tie for first, it was up to the judges' decision on aesthetics to determine the winner, which went to Mark and Boone, and for this challenge, that also rewarded them with the golden brick. Flynn & Richard had the weakest bridge which failed after just 50lbs, while Mel & Jermaine and Sam & Jessica both tied at 125lbs, but Mel & Jermaine were automatically placed in the bottom two for failing to build their roadway level with the support columns as required for the challenge. Mel and Jermaine were eliminated for not only failing to meet that parameter but also for their less coherent design.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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I finally caught up with the last two episodes on DVR, a few thoughts going forward. 

Spoiler

I think its clear at this point the front-runners going into the final few episodes are going to be @Nuju Metru & Christian, Tyler & Amy, and Boone & Mark. I think Flynn and Richard have a chance to keep in for a while; but I think they lack the technical skills the other three teams I mentioned have; Flynn and Richard are incredibly artistic but their bridge failure was pretty abysmal in the last episode showing they lack the same engineering knack the other teams have. I think Sam & Jessica are going to run into the same issue as Flynn and Richard, their style leans heavily on the artistic side and not as much on the technical. Again their bridge was pretty week and the only thing that kept them out of the bottom two was Mel and Jermaine's mistake with their bridge height. Another issue Sam and Jessica had on the technical front was in the mega city episode, while Aaron and Christian's broken building was a result of accidentally bumping into a small table, Sam and Jessica's were falling apart just while being pushed across the room and they never did manage to get that shoe rebuilt. 

I am going to miss Mel and Jermaine, if only for the reason their rivalry with Aaron and Christian was pretty funny to watch. 

I do have to admit, I do think Tyler and Amy got snubbed a bit the last few episodes. I think Boone and Mark have been brilliant, but I am getting a tad tired of watching them win repeatedly again and again. Still, its all the more reason I am going to lean into the my pick for what will be the top three will be the teams I mentioned at the start of all this. 

If there is anything I will say is a missed opportunity with the show, is I feel some teams were there as "throw away" teams in the early episodes. Jessie and Kara I sort of knew minutes within episode 1 were going to struggle and it was no surprise to me they were the first team to go by episode two. It makes me wonder though if this show gets a season 2 who is going to be picked up for the cast next season. I know I definitely was daydreaming "what would I do on Lego Masters?" this morning after watching the show last night. My dad and I actually had a brief conversation on it, and he pointed out my own self critique is that I am mostly a set collector and not a MOCer and have never built on the scale seen on the show; and all my MOCs are focused on Bionicle which isn't in the show. Still though, I imagine a lot of us are going to be daydreaming of the "what ifs" as long as this show is on the air! 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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Episode seven had a rather interesting challenge where some kids were brought in to finish a fill-in-the-blanks story, which the teams then had to build an illustration of.

Spoiler

And just when they were about to finish building, along comes the twist of a second page to the story, which the kids finished separately for each team.

It was certainly interesting to see the five remaining teams try to come up with different designs for what was essentially the exact same setting.

Spoiler

And then the twist gave each team a unique angle they had to add onto their builds. Tyler and Amy won the challenge, which included free tickets to the opening of Legoland New York (talk about something suddenly made questionable in light of recent global events). Sam and Jessica also made the top two. Mark and Boone took a gamble to not use their golden brick, and it payed off this time. Aaron and Christian ended up in the bottom two for the first time, but it was Richard and Flynn that were sent home.

Only four teams left, which means only three episodes left to go until we find out who will win this competition.

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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Well...

 

Spoiler

No surprise, it was indeed the technical aspect that caught up Richard and Flynn this episode! I was pretty confused to what they were trying to do with the conveyor belt the whole time, and their other effects such as the alien ship and "dirt?" monster were kind of lame. I think Aaron and Christian were saved by their amazing gymnastics horses which had a nice range of movement, almost like something JK Brickworks would make; although I agree with the judges the build was very messy to look at. I was pretty much right on with the guess that Richard and Flynn were up for elimination. :vahi: I feel like a time traveler almost.

What did surprise me, is how tight of a race it was this time. I also felt a bit emotional when Richard and Flynn left and I realized something... this is going to be a bit rough watching the final teams get weeded out. This is a tight race now and we have been with all these people long enough to start knowing them as an audience. I can't really imagine anyone else going home, and I feel bummed out knowing how tight the competition is from here on out. 

And... I can't guess who is going next round. The team-team ups is going to be a fascinating dynamic next week; and it offers the chance for some teams to compensate their weaknesses by being paired with other's strengths. 

Well, congrats to Tyler and Amy for winning the challenge! And congrats on expecting a third member to their team!  

 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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For episode eight, the four remaining teams had to choose from the latest series of collectible minifigures and were assigned the roles of either super heroes or super villains. The teams then had to build either a hero's hideout or a villain's lair, while also collaborating with another team to create an epic battle of good vs evil between their separate builds.

Spoiler

The paired-up teams were Mark & Boone (villains) with Sam & Jessica (heroes), and Tyler & Amy (villains) with Aaron & Christian (heroes). Mark and Boone chose pizza costume guy and bear costume guy, and built an impressive underground lair beneath a city block, while Sam and Jessica chose shower guy and gardener lady, and built a somewhat messy underground hideout, with both builds coming together in the middle quite nicely on a city street. Tyler and Amy chose mummy queen and jungle explorer, and built an impressive scorpion-themed Egyptian temple over a lava pit, while Aaron and Christian chose programmer girl and galactic bounty hunter, and built a hilltop tech center with the hideout that turned out to be a little too hidden to really see much of it, with both builds centered on an obelisk that both sides are battling over. Tyler and Amy won, with Mark and Boone coming in second (who also give up their gold brick as this challenge was the last time they would be allowed to use it). Unfortunately, it was Aaron and Christian that got eliminated.

 

Well, now that my favorite team (and possibly the favorite of everyone else on this site) is out, my new pick to win this season will be Mark and Boone.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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Spoiler

I am convinced the final episode is going to be Mark and Boone vs Tyler and Amy. I think Sam and Jessica have shown a lot of growth over the last few episodes, but their latest build lacked polish which I think will be their undoing. I wasn't expecting Aaron and Christian to go before Sam and Jessica; but I do agree their final build wasn't their strongest in the competition. 

 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

After taking last week off, the ninth episode was all about the Star Wars theme, with the first challenge to build a droid, and then a second challenge to recreate a famous scene from the movies. The second challenge had ten options to choose from, and the results of the first challenge determined which teams would get first pick of those scenes.

Spoiler

Mark and Boone built an imperial welder droid with a hidden surprise of converting to the side of the rebels, Sam and Jessica built a music-performing droid, and Tyler and Amy built a server droid with a tray of milk and cookies balance on its head. Tyler and Amy got first pick and went with the Battle of Hoth from "Empire Strikes Back", Mark and Boone got second pick and went with the Battle of Endor from "Return of the Jedi", and Sam and Jessica (after being denied both of their first two picks) went with a battle (can't remember the name) from "The Last Jedi". Mark and Boone won the second challenge, Sam and Jessica placed second, and Tyler and Amy were spared from elimination, so it looks like the final episode next week will have three teams competing for the ultimate prize.

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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The thing with this episode:

Spoiler

For me, it raises a lot of questions on how the judging is working behind the scenes. I do agree, the Battle on Hoth was a poor choice for Tyler and Amy and it was ultimately the weakest build of the lot due to how monochromatic it was. The transparent laser blasts looked tacked on as a last minute change to add some color splashes. However, if it counts; their droid was hands down the best with character and functions... so if we were to take both in account I would have thought they would have had an edge on Sam and Jessica. The ultimate decision to make the final showdown a three team game instead of a two team one, raises more questions. Was it always intended to be a three way shoot out finale? Some weird legal stipulation from Disney to use the Star Wars franchise that nobody could be eliminated in that episode? Or is there some producer shenanigans behind the scenes trying to trim the running field to get the group of players the producers want to see compete in the end? 

Without a doubt, Sam and Jessica are the most improved contestants on the show. Their stuff over the last few episodes shows how far they have advanced, and I feel like they are competing in top form now. There is a reason we see Aaron and Christian talking very well about Sam and Jessica in the episode two weeks back, since they clearly both observed Sam and Jessica's growth as a team and their immense skills. But its weird having seen Sam and Jessica in the bottom two multiple times across the series to see them still there, while other contestants such as Aaron and Christian and Flynn and Richard seemed to bit the dust without as many poor showing as Sam and Jessica have made. The cynic in me wonders if from a reality TV standpoint if Sam's early dramatics in episode 1 and 2 had him and Jessica secretly pegged by the producers to be kept on the show for as long as possible; simply to produce the emotional fluff American reality TV thrives on.

But let me state it again... if the producers did have that early inkling about Sam and Jessica as an emotional oddball team to keep tagging along; Sam and Jessica have dramatically improved their building skills and feel as of now fitting competitors for the finale proving they are competent and highly visual builders. But... I really feel their team is still constantly outgunned by Mark and Boone; and in most cases Tyler and Amy. The fact this episode was honestly one of Tyler and Amy's weakest showings surprises me, but I wonder what would have turned out had they chosen a more colorful scene than Hoth; or if final judging took both the scene and droids in account. I really wish we got to see Amy and Jamie judging alone, so we could understand their decision making better.

But again, I wonder how much of that image of Sam as the guy who got angry and upset in those first few episodes is manufactured by the silver screen. From what I have read from the departing contestants, there was certainly a lot more camaraderie going on behind the scenes in addition to time that all the teams spent hanging out together off camera. I can't help but wonder if the editors are cherry picking the "worst moments" of some teams and splicing them in for the TV drama, exaggerating the actually events of the competition. For the competition I think we won't have a solid idea of what the firm rules are behind the scenes until we get a season 2, where we can see if the "no eliminations in the semi-final episode" sticks or if it was a choice made specifically for this season. Or at the very least, we might find out more once the NDA's expire for the teams and the contestants can talk more freely on social media again about what they saw behind the scenes that we the audience didn't. 

If I were a betting man, I'd say the $100,000 are going to Mark and Boone next week, just my guess... but I have been clearly proven wrong in my predictions and the final episode can be anyone's game at this point. 

 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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And now we're at the final episode of the season. The challenge for this episode was to build... anything the teams wanted. The only limitations was one hour to build a small mock-up of their plan, and then 24 hours to build the full creation (by far the longest build time of any challenge this season).

Spoiler

While there was no mid-challenge twist, the three teams were briefly visited by their families, which is always nice to see.

 

For the final results: Sam and Jessica came in third with a giant peacock and a monkey stealing one of its feathers. Mark and Boone got second for building an artistic utopia based within the remains of an abandoned tall building. And to win the title of Lego Masters, Tyler and Amy built a medieval tower topped with a griffin defending its nest from an attacking dragon. All of them were impressive builds, with the winning build also due to be displayed at Legoland New York when it opens (unfortunate that recent events have pushed that day a year later, but maybe this means I might get a chance to visit and see it for myself).

 

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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Spoiler

Tyler and Amy absolutely deserved that win. All three builds were incredible, but their consistent strength across the show has been their ability to effectively tell a story with their builds, and this was no different. The tower felt like a scene plucked from the middle of a storybook, and it was absolutely gorgeous to boot. Captivating. Mark and Boone were my favourites after Christian and Aaron left, and I was impressed with how much Sam and Jessica improved, but Tyler and Amy definitely deserve to be called LEGO Masters.

Can't wait for season two!

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Spoiler

I thought watching the final builds, the first one that stood out to me was Mark and Boone's. It had a lot of character, and was stunning in size, and the animated walls were a nice detail. 

Sam and Jessica really put on their A-game for this. I do think of the three builds, the Peacock was the weakest in the line up. But, its color and NPU was so well done there was a moment I was considering the possibility Sam and Jessica would take the winning prize. A lot of character in the Peacock's face, and the Monkey's sewing table with its Banana legs were brilliant.  

It took a moment for Tyler and Amy's to grow on me. I think all the wide camera pans and fast cuts made it hard to register all the detail in their build. But as the judging went on and kept showing more small bits of their build I kept thinking, "Wow look at the unicorn there! Is that a rock monster?!" Just a lot of small details that slowly came out the more I saw of it. The smooth motion of the animated Griffon and all that made me ultimately agree with the final call, Tyler and Amy won this hands down. 

To be honest... all of those builds should probably be displayed in Legoland parks. While Tyler and Amy deserved the win, each contestant in the finale put their best foot forward and really created some stunning Lego art. 

I gotta be honest... the mid moment when their families visited the set was pretty emotional too. Great to get all the contestants back on stage during the finale to. I imagine most of the contestants were kept in Southern California until the finale aired? Would be curious to learn more about how that worked. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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