LEGO Masters US Show

[KotZ]

So two weeks (and two new episodes) have gone by. Sadly no builds from me were in last week's episode, but there were two-three in last night's. So last night was the car and bridge challenge. Two of the other PAs (LEGO builders as well) and I were tasked with building the Start and Finish lines for the race. That was a challenge, as we really only had two-ish days to get it done, and it was a stupidly complex build to get the support right. One of the guys was more inclined to Technic, so he worked on the support system while the other and I worked on the actual signs, which went through two or three iterations to get the right look and size.

Once we were finished with signs, I was able to help full time with the support. We were wanting to keep it very race-like, with having the 8x8 grill plates and the 1x5 crossbeam sections for the finish and start lines. The actual connection system was 1x12 technic bricks surrounding the crossbar and then had pins to 1x12 crossbricks facing out, that attached by the studs to the back of the sign. So taking it off, you pulled the sign off and then the technic bricks it attached to. To reattach it, slide the whole sign into place.

But on the day of the race we had to make both of the supports taller, which was already super unstable, even with 4x4 round bricks and technic axles going through it. But we made both a good amount taller (without glue, thankfully) and it did make it to the end of the shoot before being accidentally knocked over. It was a stressful morning for me up until then.

It was my idea to have the two minifigures, the announcer and the flagwaver, in the little box at the top at the Finish Line. I based the checkered flag off of the flag from the Fire Station Modular.

The other "Build" I had was the little SNOT hammer Jamie uses as he talks to Will. That was a fun one, because that was the first time I actually got to talk to Jamie and Amy. The producers asked if we could grab the parts they needed for the bit, and Jamie explained which parts. The only problem was there was a bit of miscommunication based on lingo he used and what we were using. He called the brackets "angle plates," which was the term we were using for wedge plates. Eventually we got it sorted out, and then we did get to talk to them about what names they use for bricks at work. Found out there's no consensus on some parts.

And I just noticed my new tag! Cool! Thanks, whoever added it!

[Darkdragon]

I love to come here after I watch the show to see what you've got to say about it @KotZ You're livin the dream, well my dream, of working on shows behind the scenes Thanks for the backstage info! Love it!

[KotZ]

8 hours ago, Darkdragon said:

I love to come here after I watch the show to see what you've got to say about it @KotZ You're livin the dream, well my dream, of working on shows behind the scenes Thanks for the backstage info! Love it!

It's a lot of fun.

I also forgot to talk about the bridge build yesterday. When the weights were being put on, there was no sorting done. We all just watched because this was too cool to not see. We were all discussing who would break first. Nobody believed me when I said Tyler and Amy's would do well because of the SNOT techniques. And yeah, we were not expecting to go over 200 pounds. We beat Australia and with less time.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Yeah, but I don’t agree on the decision of who was the winning team. Tyler and Amy’s bridge clearly could hold more weight, it was not even cracking, while the Mark’s one was clearly on the edge of cracking. The final decision was done on aesthetic criteria, but even so I like Tyler/Amy’s more. 

[pombe]

On 3/12/2020 at 8:29 AM, KotZ said:

It was my idea to have the two minifigures, the announcer and the flagwaver, in the little box at the top at the Finish Line. I based the checkered flag off of the flag from the Fire Station Modular.

The other "Build" I had was the little SNOT hammer Jamie uses as he talks to Will. That was a fun one, because that was the first time I actually got to talk to Jamie and Amy. The producers asked if we could grab the parts they needed for the bit, and Jamie explained which parts. The only problem was there was a bit of miscommunication based on lingo he used and what we were using. He called the brackets "angle plates," which was the term we were using for wedge plates. Eventually we got it sorted out, and then we did get to talk to them about what names they use for bricks at work. Found out there's no consensus on some parts.

@KotZ  Nice!  They really focused a lot on the announcer and flagwaver!  Interesting how there were so many engineers in the competition, but none of them used larger wheels to achieve more distance given the same angular velocity since they would all have the same starting acceleration due to gravity.  The model that using wheels with no tires to minimize friction seemed to be the best, which was interesting to learn.  Sort of makes me wish LEGO slot car racing was more of thing.

Also interesting to learn that there is no official consensus on some LEGO jargon.

The bridges were cool, and I also felt that Tyler and Amy were robbed.  The initial criteria was which one could hold the most weight, period.  And while they weren't allowed to go over 1000 lbs, their bridge had no cracks or damage at all (compared to the other one, which started to crack), so it would have made sense that they would win.  As for aesthetics, both bridges were beautiful (to me) so it was just a subjective decision.

[joeshmoe554]

The thing I loved most about the last episode was that the two best looking bridges were also the most structurally sound.  Well, that and reading KotZ's behind the scenes info.  That's really the highlight of every episode.

I was thinking that having tires would increase friction on the track, but encourage the wheel to rotate instead of slide reducing overall friction.

From what I remember in pinewood derby races, the two most important things is to have weight (usually in the back of the car) and keep the wheel axises relatively straight and loose.  The biggest issue with most of the cars I think was the wheels not being secured well and often too much weight on the wheel axis which would increase friction.

But I'm not sure I could do any better so who am I to judge.

[Pandora]

On 3/12/2020 at 3:29 PM, KotZ said:

And I just noticed my new tag! Cool! Thanks, whoever added it!

You're welcome.   

I lurk in this topic from time to time, and I knew we had the tag - it seemed like an excellent match. Congratulations on your great work on the show.

[Roebuck]

I have seen all episodes so far

Cons:
- I do not like most of the "American" humour and the drama

Pros:
-it is very interesting and impressive to see what they can build in such a short time

-always interesting to hear what Lego designers have to say and they do a very good job in front of the camera

[meliander]

Anyone else thinks that Tyler and Amy's builds though high quality start to get predictable and kind of the same thing in every episode? Also, their overconfidence is something that turns me off. Like every episode they are literally saying to the camera that their builds are the best. I really liked what Sam and Jessica built on this week's episode, and I think the deserved to win this one. Their creation was unique and had character to it, while Tyler and Amy's is just clean and slick like a frame from a Disney movie or something.

[Chiaroscuro]

11 hours ago, meliander said:

Anyone else thinks that Tyler and Amy's builds though high quality start to get predictable and kind of the same thing in every episode? Also, their overconfidence is something that turns me off. Like every episode they are literally saying to the camera that their builds are the best. I really liked what Sam and Jessica built on this week's episode, and I think the deserved to win this one. Their creation was unique and had character to it, while Tyler and Amy's is just clean and slick like a frame from a Disney movie or something.

Tyler is a skilled character and sculpture builder, he is the creator of the Ideas Stitch. 
 

Of course all the teams are playing their strengths. The others were doing the same.

 

I think Tyler/Amy deserves the 1st place this week. Sam and Jessica idea was really nice but I didn’t like their horse. They were pretty close to be the winners but Tyler/Amy did better.

 

Actually my guess for the winner of this season are either Tyler/Amy or Mark/Boone. Aaron/Christian team is showing a serious lack of imagination and Sam/Jessica team don’t have the same technical skills.

[Kit Figsto]

On 3/13/2020 at 5:58 PM, joeshmoe554 said:

I was thinking that having tires would increase friction on the track, but encourage the wheel to rotate instead of slide reducing overall friction.

I definitely thought this as well and assumed the teams going without tires would fail because they didn't have any traction.  I think if the track was longer that may have been the case, but I was surprised to see a tire-less vehicle win.

[KotZ]

On 3/14/2020 at 9:51 AM, Pandora said:

You're welcome.   

I lurk in this topic from time to time, and I knew we had the tag - it seemed like an excellent match. Congratulations on your great work on the show.

Thanks!

On 3/15/2020 at 9:07 AM, Roebuck said:

I have seen all episodes so far

Cons:
- I do not like most of the "American" humour and the drama

Americans have an odd sense of humor, if you ask me, and I'm American.

On 3/21/2020 at 12:43 PM, Kit Figsto said:

I definitely thought this as well and assumed the teams going without tires would fail because they didn't have any traction.  I think if the track was longer that may have been the case, but I was surprised to see a tire-less vehicle win.

We all were surprised honestly. It zoomed down the track.

So Wednesday was Super Hero episode. It had one of my (modified) builds, the button. It was a rework of the detonator from episode 2, and it needed to be smaller for the Super hero idea. I also added a clear "protective glass" cover that could be flipped up, using those curved transparent elements that you see in the Downtown Diner and some 1x6x5 wall pieces. I really was helping prep for the next episode with making sure we had everything we needed, etc., but I'll soeak on that in two weeks after it airs.

I'm glad to see people are enjoying it.

[Kit Figsto]

4 hours ago, KotZ said:

So Wednesday was Super Hero episode. It had one of my (modified) builds, the button. It was a rework of the detonator from episode 2, and it needed to be smaller for the Super hero idea. I also added a clear "protective glass" cover that could be flipped up, using those curved transparent elements that you see in the Downtown Diner and some 1x6x5 wall pieces. I really was helping prep for the next episode with making sure we had everything we needed, etc., but I'll soeak on that in two weeks after it airs.

I'm glad to see people are enjoying it.

Thanks for the insight!  Did you get to meet Terry Crews, by chance?

Thoughts on this episode: I honestly thought that Mark and Boone's build deserved to win the week over Tyler and Amy.  Tyler and Amy's did use a somewhat difficult technique of all-SNOT construction while still making it work seamlessly, but I thought that Mark and Boone really knocked theirs out of the park creatively.  I mean, I know that the groups weren't assigned their figures, but their idea was a bit more creative than "Mummy + Johnny Thunder, so a temple naturally makes sense."  I did really like the Egyptian temple build, but I just was a bit more impressed by Mark and Boone this week. 

Unfortunately, I had Aaron and Christian as my prediction since Week #1, so now that that's gone, I'm predicting Mark and Boone win it all 

[KotZ]

On 3/27/2020 at 6:19 PM, Kit Figsto said:

Thanks for the insight!  Did you get to meet Terry Crews, by chance?

Thoughts on this episode: I honestly thought that Mark and Boone's build deserved to win the week over Tyler and Amy.  Tyler and Amy's did use a somewhat difficult technique of all-SNOT construction while still making it work seamlessly, but I thought that Mark and Boone really knocked theirs out of the park creatively.  I mean, I know that the groups weren't assigned their figures, but their idea was a bit more creative than "Mummy + Johnny Thunder, so a temple naturally makes sense."  I did really like the Egyptian temple build, but I just was a bit more impressed by Mark and Boone this week.

  Reveal hidden contents

Unfortunately, I had Aaron and Christian as my prediction since Week #1, so now that that's gone, I'm predicting Mark and Boone win it all 

 

Sadly I didn't, the only talent I got to talk to were the Brickmasters and Will (regarding Yorick and where to grab that finicky thing).

As for the judging, I have no say or knowledge of how they came to the decision, but that one was a toss up for me. I love Tyler and Amy's use of SNOT (similar to their bridge) and how seamless it was, like you said. But Mark and Boone's creativity was just rock solid, as always.

[pombe]

I guess I'm just not understanding some of these celebrity co-hosts.  I like Terry Crews and I thought he was funny, but I think it would have been much better if they had showcased his connection to LEGO (maybe show off his collection at home, his MOCs, him building with his children, or maybe just some childhood pictures of him playing with LEGO...something other than "I'm a big fan of LEGO").

As far as the competition goes, I think it's really heating up.  I really like Tyler and Amy.  Their MOCs are just exceptionally clean, polished, and well composed.  Their execution and their ability to create a visual focus puts their builds above everyone else in my opinion.  As far as the team that was eliminated: their technical ability is incredible and without doubt, but I think what hurt them was their inability to embrace the absurd.

[KotZ]

On 3/30/2020 at 9:37 AM, pombe said:

I guess I'm just not understanding some of these celebrity co-hosts.  I like Terry Crews and I thought he was funny, but I think it would have been much better if they had showcased his connection to LEGO (maybe show off his collection at home, his MOCs, him building with his children, or maybe just some childhood pictures of him playing with LEGO...something other than "I'm a big fan of LEGO").

Terry Crews, I agree. That being said, after the show ended I was wasked with helping clear photos we could use. I didn't get to clear any of Terry's stuff, but showcasing his connection would've really helped.

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As far as the competition goes, I think it's really heating up.  I really like Tyler and Amy.  Their MOCs are just exceptionally clean, polished, and well composed.  Their execution and their ability to create a visual focus puts their builds above everyone else in my opinion.  As far as the team that was eliminated: their technical ability is incredible and without doubt, but I think what hurt them was their inability to embrace the absurd.

Stepping back from challenges and show and all of that, I think this is what the heart of the show is: embracing the absurd. How many times did we as kids go up to parents with a terrible looking spaceship or car or superhero base and say to family "Look at this!" I'm guessing a lot of us did, and I think that's what a lot of people are missing in the ciriticism of the show. People expect (and should expect) big, elaborate designs, but that kid-like sense of wonder should be present. LEGO is generally a kid's toy afterall. I count myself lucky that I was able to get suggestions on my MOCs from Brickmaster Amy, and I can absolutely see where she comes from regarding builds and what she personally is looking for in creations. As we get older, I think, people generally lose their connection to being absurd/kid-like or inhibit it because of what society tells them, or what they think society tells them.

On to last night's episode, we had maybe the most stressful episode possible for me. At the point of this episode shooting, we only had one more episode to go. Everything was locked and ready to go. What the big problem was, for me, was how to pull this monster of an episode off.

And for everyone arguing "AT-AT" vs "AT-AT," in my department there was no consensus, as we had all grown up over various points. We went by what Lucasfilm directed us to say. I personally say "AT-AT." Good luck choosing which version I say.

Before we got to the episode shooting, we knew this one was coming up, so LEGO sent us numerous parts to use, as you an see in the episode when contestants go to the black drawers. Those were organized similar to the official set, just for the new SW parts. I swear to god, I've never seen so many Star Wars minifigures in my life. As a huge Star Wars fan and obviously LEGO fan, I was asked to come up with ideas for iconic Star Wars scenes. I'll let you know I jokingly advocated for the Attack on the Jedi Temple as an option. We ended up getting it down to an undisclosed number, and then I was tasked with bricklinking the parts LEGO did not make currently to get what what was needed for scenes people might pick.

I spent hours on that site (this was also around the time TLG bought Bricklink, and I got to talk with Jamie and Amy about it) trying to get all possible figures (or figbarf them) to get to the ten moments that were shown on screen. We had ten bags, one for each scene, with specific named characters in them that teams coud use as a baseline, just in case someone picked a scene with an iconic character and another team couldn't hoard all the torsos of a character, just to be safe.

Nathan Sawaya also came by set to see all of his builds that were featured in the show. One of the testers and I got to build alongside him for a scene in case they wanted to use it, and that was awesome, because we got to work with him. Nice guy.

And I got some cool pics with R2-D2 and BB-8, so I'm happy.

[Kit Figsto]

Great stuff @KotZ!

I felt that this week was definitely the strongest yet, which I guess makes sense because it should be getting harder and harder to judge as things go on.  I definitely could see why the Hoth scene was last.  The AT-ATs were amazing, but beyond that, there wasn't a whole lot else going on.  The snowspeeders looked solid, but I think including things like a wrecked snowspeeder being stepped on or some of the turrets that the Rebels used, or even part of Echo Base would've really brought a lot more of the scene to life.  Now, in fairness, they only had eight hours, and I'd imagine that the first AT-AT probably took a good chunk of that in terms of getting it right in both the looks and the stability, then having to build a second one and make it look like it had been tripped.  

The only thing that I think the Endor build could've done better was making it look like thicker woods.  It seemed like up close, there was a ton going on, which was great, but from a distance, it did look a little bit bare.  

The Crait build impressed me.  I definitely was disappointed that Crait got picked (would've liked to see Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, or Jabba's Sail Barge), but they did a good job on it.  One thing I was wondering, they used Imperial Stormtroopers and it looked like Rebel pilot figures.  Were First Order Troops/Resistance pilots available and they just made a mistake, or were they limited on what figures were available?  Do you know if that affected judging (on TV they didn't mention it, not sure if they said something about that during judging and it didn't make the final cut)?

While I'm asking questions, I was also wondering how much source material they were given, or if it was sort of a "build from memory" type of thing?

And finally, if you're allowed to answer, I've been wondering all season long, how do breaks work?  Obviously since most of the challenges have been 9-14 hours or so, they have to take breaks for eating/bathroom, but are they necessarily required to?  Does the clock stop at some point and teams have to take a short break, so that a team can't just go the entire time without eating?  Or are they truly building for the full length of the timer?

 

[pombe]

Another awesome episode, @KotZ!!!

The droid challenge looked fun, and again, Tyler and Amy really demonstrated their ability to make outstanding character builds with EZ-PZ.  I have no experience with power functions, so I can only imagine how difficult this challenge was.

All the Star Wars scene MOCs this week were incredible, given the 8 hour limitation.  To be honest, I have no idea how they were able to do it with such a short amount of time.

I personally would have placed Sam and Jessica's Crait scene at the top, given how much sense of motion their scene had, especially how they had the speeder tilted at an angle.  Mark and Boone's Endor scene was incredible and had so many ridiculous details hidden in it, but the fact that the AT-ST was way out of scale with the minifigures really bugged me.  Tyler and Amy's Hoth scene didn't bug me because of a lack of color (c'mon, it's Hoth), but because of a lack of motion.  Yes, I understand that the AT-AT legs were being tied up by the Snowspeeder harpoon, but from a distance it seemed like it was just standing still.  I also wished that the other AT-AT was "in" the snow, rather than "on" the snow, but the fact that they built 2 in 8 hours along with the rest of the scene was ridiculous.

 

[KotZ]

17 hours ago, Kit Figsto said:

Great stuff @KotZ!

I felt that this week was definitely the strongest yet, which I guess makes sense because it should be getting harder and harder to judge as things go on.  I definitely could see why the Hoth scene was last.  The AT-ATs were amazing, but beyond that, there wasn't a whole lot else going on.  The snowspeeders looked solid, but I think including things like a wrecked snowspeeder being stepped on or some of the turrets that the Rebels used, or even part of Echo Base would've really brought a lot more of the scene to life.  Now, in fairness, they only had eight hours, and I'd imagine that the first AT-AT probably took a good chunk of that in terms of getting it right in both the looks and the stability, then having to build a second one and make it look like it had been tripped.  

There's a lot that goes into the judging. Brickset had a ood interview with the judges on what they look for.

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The only thing that I think the Endor build could've done better was making it look like thicker woods.  It seemed like up close, there was a ton going on, which was great, but from a distance, it did look a little bit bare.  

I got to see all of these builds up close, and personally I agree, up top at least in the build.

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The Crait build impressed me.  I definitely was disappointed that Crait got picked (would've liked to see Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, or Jabba's Sail Barge), but they did a good job on it.  One thing I was wondering, they used Imperial Stormtroopers and it looked like Rebel pilot figures.  Were First Order Troops/Resistance pilots available and they just made a mistake, or were they limited on what figures were available?  Do you know if that affected judging (on TV they didn't mention it, not sure if they said something about that during judging and it didn't make the final cut)?

After the amount of Star Wars minifigures we got, I never want to see another Star Wars minifig again They had First Order troops in the drawers, and I supplied my own personal collection of Resistance figures before the challenge started (I supplied some BURPs that were used for a one of those quick learning segments, but it was cut; I happened to be the only person with those parts and had to race home to get them for shooting. I told the producers they were lucky they hadn't been implemented in my castle yet.). I don't know how/what affects the judging (I suggest going to the aforementioned brickset article)

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While I'm asking questions, I was also wondering how much source material they were given, or if it was sort of a "build from memory" type of thing?

And finally, if you're allowed to answer, I've been wondering all season long, how do breaks work?  Obviously since most of the challenges have been 9-14 hours or so, they have to take breaks for eating/bathroom, but are they necessarily required to?  Does the clock stop at some point and teams have to take a short break, so that a team can't just go the entire time without eating?  Or are they truly building for the full length of the timer?

All I think I can say is they definitely had enough source material reference, without giving too much away or possibly ruining possible future challenges in possible future seasons that are similar.

They always say the key to a happy crew is good crafty and catering. So being in the TV world and being in California with specific laws regarding meals and breaks in production, we generally filmed over a few days, otherwise nobody would be able to shoot. The crew (cameras, producers, me, PAs, etc.) and talent all have mandatory meals after 6 hours of call time, otherwise we go into meal penalty, which is basically us getting money as compensation for not having a full 30 minute lunch/dinner/midnight snack or being late to lunch. So that means these penalties get really expensive. We (crew) work 12 hour days. The cast had less because of scheduling, but we all broke for meals at the same time.

So there was a dedicated hour lunch that everyone puts cameras and bricks down to go eat. We had crafty (snacks) off camera for people to munch on and bathrooms nearby. So if a contestant needed to grab a snack or go to the bathroom, that was on build time, and they did build the full length of the timer. I wish we could show more (darn commercials).

3 hours ago, pombe said:

Another awesome episode, @KotZ!!!

The droid challenge looked fun, and again, Tyler and Amy really demonstrated their ability to make outstanding character builds with EZ-PZ.  I have no experience with power functions, so I can only imagine how difficult this challenge was.

I had never used them either prior to the show, so testing the power functions and elements was fun for me to make sure we knew how these things worked, if a bit confusing because technic just isn't my thing.

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All the Star Wars scene MOCs this week were incredible, given the 8 hour limitation.  To be honest, I have no idea how they were able to do it with such a short amount of time.

The contestants are living my dream and definitely made some cool stuff within 8 hours. I guess it's time management and the pretty good organization of all the brickson set, if I toot my own horn. But on a serious note it comes down to knowing time management and what the limitations of this medium are. I've actually started timing myself building now just to see how I do in x-hours.

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I personally would have placed Sam and Jessica's Crait scene at the top, given how much sense of motion their scene had, especially how they had the speeder tilted at an angle.  Mark and Boone's Endor scene was incredible and had so many ridiculous details hidden in it, but the fact that the AT-ST was way out of scale with the minifigures really bugged me.  Tyler and Amy's Hoth scene didn't bug me because of a lack of color (c'mon, it's Hoth), but because of a lack of motion.  Yes, I understand that the AT-AT legs were being tied up by the Snowspeeder harpoon, but from a distance it seemed like it was just standing still.  I also wished that the other AT-AT was "in" the snow, rather than "on" the snow, but the fact that they built 2 in 8 hours along with the rest of the scene was ridiculous.

The scale of the AT-ST doesn't bother me (I got to handle that thing and it looks cool), and I personally put Sam and Jessica's Crait as my top as well, because of the motion. You nailed all my thoughts regarding Hoth. It's not color all the time, but the illusion of color and movement, in my opinion.

 

[Kit Figsto]

37 minutes ago, KotZ said:

*snip*

Thanks for all of the insight!  Been really cool to hear about what goes into filming, and I'm looking forward to the finale.  I'm personally predicting Mark and Boone to take it home, because I think they've got the best combination of technical ability, storytelling creativity, and the ability to work in both minifigure and large scale, but anything can happen.

On a sidenote, I'm also glad that the preview of the finale really didn't give anything away as far as the content of the episode, some of the previous trailers/previews made it very plain what the challenge was, what builds broke, and I think there was even one that accidentally spoiled who got eliminated the week before, so kudos to whoever put together the most recent preview.

[BlueberryWaffles]

I'm finally caught up and very excited for the finale tomorrow. Still sad that

Spoiler

Aaron and Christian were eliminated

(and they would have been so good in the Star Wars challenge!) but the three remaining teams should put up a good battle for the finale. I am especially impressed with the progress that Sam and Jessica have made over the course of the season. I remember thinking in the first week that they would be the first team to go home. They've really stepped up their game and their Crait model was my personal favorite of the Star Wars scenes.

Will Arnett has been an amazing host for the show. I love all of his meta quips and jabs at typical reality shows, as well as his interactions with all the teams while the build process is going on. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of some of the guests that have come on the show. Obviously for me, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were the shining examples because they have a strong connection to Lego and that worked perfectly in with the "movie genre" challenge. The others, such as Terry Crews and the woman from the Storybook episode (blanking on her name at the moment) are fun but ultimately just feel thrown in to bring in viewers. It's understandable, but sometimes I wish it was just Will and the Brickmasters.

Overall, I've had a great time watching this show and it's brought Lego back into my mind more than it often is recently, which is probably the point. I can't wait for the finale and I hope a second season comes along just as exciting as this one! Huge thanks @KotZ for filling in a lot of my behind-the-scenes questions.

[Kit Figsto]

@BlueberryWaffles,On the subject of Terry Crews, they didn't mention it in the episode, but he does actually build LEGO.  I only recently found that out myself, but if you search "Terry Crews Lego," he's put up photos before of him building the UCS TIE and his whole UCS display (probably rivals quite a few EB users' collections!).  So I'm guessing he does actually have a genuine appreciation for the techniques and skill beyond just "Wow, that's a big building!" type of thing that you tend to get with people who aren't as into LEGO.  Strange that they didn't show any pictures on the episode to show the audience that he's legitimately a LEGO fan.  

On the topic of the last episode, wow!  Definitely the strongest builds yet! 

I think they made the right decision putting Sam/Jessica in third place, as good as that peacock looked, it just wasn't quite as impressive as the others.  I really thought it was a toss-up between the top two.  I thought that the concept for the Art Building, plus the various scenes and the moving wall feature were awesome, but the other build did have the "Wow" factor.  I was pulling for Mark and Boone, so in my (biased) opinion, I thought theirs was better, but you definitely couldn't have gone wrong with either one.  Also, when Will teased a twist, my thoughts were either "He's messing with them, or they're going to have to switch builds."  I'm drawing a blank if that was actually a challenge that they did, but I do think that'd be an interesting challenge for next season, the teams have to go to a different table halfway through and finish another team's concept to the best of their ability.  Looking forward to hearing what 

@KotZ has to say about this one!

[Paradosis]

I didn't realise I could be watching this on Hulu shortly after it aired each week, but when I found out a couple days ago I decided to binge it in time for the finale. That part went well. What didn't go well was that, 15 minutes after the finale ended but before I had had a chance to watch it, someone spoiled me as to the results. Sigh. 

Overall I enjoyed the show, though I had the same problems that others have already brought up. I don't have cable anymore, but when I did I generally stuck to reality tv shows where something was created--Top Chef, Project Runway, etc.--and this fell pretty much in line with what I saw on those types of shows, where there's still quite a bit of time given to getting to know people. I don't have a problem with that, but there still needs to be adequate time for appreciating/evaluating the final creation, and many times with this show I thought it fell short with that. Besides the time issue there was also just the issue of how the final forms of the creations were presented. An animated version of the MOC "come to life" was usually fun, and there were those flashier moving shots, but I also wanted to see some more static shots lingering on parts of the build, zoomed in shots, etc. I guess that wouldn't exactly make for scintillating tv and would only appeal to a small group of people.   

The humor was very spotty for me; I thought the self-deprecating jokes by Will worked best, and the meta-jokes that poked fun at reality tv worked second best. The thing I literally laughed out loud at was when Sam said "I feel like you don't understand Lego."

As for the finale...

Spoiler

I was happy with the winner, though I thought they all put in solid performances. I liked the final build of Boone and Mark, especially the paint can/brush/flipping walls contraption, but I also felt like it was still similar in concept to what they'd done before, if larger in scope. The peacock of Sam and Jess was great, and the story element really took it from something you'd see in week 1 to something that had a chance to win it all. Also, banana legs ftw. With Tyler and Amy, I have to admit that what they made was right up my alley theme-wise, so I'm biased in leaning in their favor. Still, it was an amazing build.

 

[BlueberryWaffles]

So my thoughts on the finale...

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Everyone will have their own opinions, but I do not agree with the final judging. I would have ranked Tyler and Amy's griffin build third, Sam and Jessica's peacock second, and Mark and Boone's Artopia building would have been the winner. While the griffin and snake were great builds, I thought the rest of the scene didn't stand up to the detail presented in the others.

Excited for season two!

[meliander]

14 hours ago, Paradosis said:

I didn't realise I could be watching this on Hulu shortly after it aired each week, but when I found out a couple days ago I decided to binge it in time for the finale. That part went well. What didn't go well was that, 15 minutes after the finale ended but before I had had a chance to watch it, someone spoiled me as to the results. Sigh. 

The same thing happened to me. It was spoiled by some website that randomly came up in the google newsfeed on my phone which I don't usually pay much attention to, but I browsed it randomly and it just flashed "this is this took 100k for the grand prize on Lego Master". Who the hell makes the article names like that, spoiling the whole thing. Ugh.

@BlueberryWaffles I felt the same thing.

Overall the show was pretty good, and I don't mind the drama and the host with jokes and stuff. But I felt that they could show us less of contestants running back and forth to the brick walls and showing more of how they actually build their models and, as Paradosis mentioned, give more time to appreciate the final builds (especially those that are not giant sculptures).