[US] Meet the LEGO Masters series 2 contestants

*Aaron and Matt*

@LegoTiger72376 said:
"I was cheering for Aaron and the other guy last season, maybe I'll go for Caleb and Jacob?"

Are Arron, Christian from last season related to Caleb and Jacob??

Can't start cheering on anyone till I see them start to create and work together. That said, will be cool to see how locals-to-me Susan & Jen do.

Great looking teams! 2 brother-sister pairs, 3 brother pairs, 5 friend pairs, 1 father-son and 1 married couple. Seems about the same as last year except I feel like there were more married or romantic couples last year.

I love my wife dearly, but cannot imagine the stress of being a partner with her through the inevitable challenges to be faced in this competition. Then again, I cannot imagine being anywhere remotely close to the talent that all of these contestants bring to the building table. Only one pair can win, so I hope all the others enjoy their experiences and the access to such a horde of bricks with which to build.

@D3rpBricks said:
"I'm rooting for the Atlanta Boys, Mark & Steven"

Home turf advantage! (Since it was shot in ATL of course)

@fulcrumbop said:
"No cosplay team? :(

Waiting for this season's Mark and Boone to root for."

Honestly I think they should’ve won. My favorite build of the final was Sam & Jessica’s peacock (even though I agree with its 3rd place award), but Mark & Boone’s build was in my opinion the clear winner.

I wish we could watch it here. Would be nice if they televised other series all over the world, since they are very different.

I remember when Aaron and Christian’s eco-tower was partially destroyed when they were moving it to the presentation area, only for all of us to find out that there was going to be a second phase to the build, so all the teams had to go back.

I still have no idea why the teams had to move their buildings in the first place. There was absolutely ZERO good reasons! Aaron and Christian were so happy that they had a second chance. I would’ve been like, “WHAT? I moved this thing for nothing?!”

Easily one of the worst decisions made by TV producers I have ever seen. And I watch A LOT of television (I am American, after all).

Moto has been on Boone’s YouTube live streams a few times. He has some incredible builds!! And he appears to be a pretty fast builder! After last season they talked about him applying for the show! Excited to see him work and to see how Paras brings his skill into it as well! Otherwise I have no clue who these folks are. Excited to see this next season as my wife found this to be one of the easiest entry points to enjoying Lego with me.

Boone did a video to introduce some of the contestants that is similar to what is posted here but goes into some of his experience and personal knowledge of some of the contestants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTTUAcZAHzQ

@Brikkyy13 said:
"Sigh, once again it’s all about America. LEGO Masters Australia has been running for a few weeks now and I haven’t seen a single thing about it on here. "

Yeah, I was surprised to see Lego masters is only on season 2 in the us when we're already part way through season 3 over here. I wonder what cause the discrepancy?

@kkoster79 said:
" @curtydc said:
"Are any of these people AFOLs? and if so do they have any presence online? Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, website?"

Absolutely, but I know them online at IG:
Moto - https://www.instagram.com/moto.lego/
Dawn - https://www.instagram.com/msslobrickda/
Maria & Phillip - https://www.instagram.com/midwest_builders/
Natalie & Michele - https://www.instagram.com/thebuildingbelles/
Bryan & Lauren don't seem to do Lego?
https://www.instagram.com/bryanfirks/
https://www.instagram.com/laurenfirks/"

Jack - https://www.instagram.com/jackschwarzii
Jacob - https://www.instagram.com/schilling.jacob/
Mark - https://www.instagram.com/markoffalworth/
Richard- https://www.instagram.com/treatise/

Moto also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCC_xOftJ_kwvEsqSr7Zwrw

Dave - http://www.davekaleta.net/

I am surprised to see how many are from Michigan & actually cities I know of. The married couple is even from my hometown, GR, MI wow! Coopersville is a small town close by, so will be rooting for the sibling too. I am looking forward to see how well these teams do. Win or lose, those who are brave enough to even be on the show I applaud.

Is there any coverage for Lego Masters Australia?

Followed Mark and Steven for a long time in the Lego castle community. Phenomenal builders, both as minifig scale castle builders and beyond. Rooting for them (though assume this is all a pre-record with the final ep already filmed and hush hushed).

The AFOL question isn't such a stupid one as like the UK series there often seems to be a Lego enthusiast plus a friend or relative who 'thought I'd give it a go' and often brings a different set of creative/engineering skills etc to the team.

What happened to the UK version? Been waiting for another series for ages!

Thank you for the links, Moto and Dave have some impressive creations from lifesize Bionicle beasts to alphabet spaceships worth checking out.

@Paperballpark said:
"Is it usual for Americans to have friends in far away states? There seems to be a few such pairings here.

Or have those contestants been grouped together by the producers and put under the 'friends' tag?"

Academics in different states, with assignments at different Colleges, can "write" a book together.....

Anyone know if we’ll ever get another series of the original UK version? I tried to watch this show on E4 but couldn’t get past all the dramatic music, whooping and hollering of the first two minutes :(

@curtydc said:
"Are any of these people AFOLs? and if so do they have any presence online? Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, website?"

Some of them are Brother's Brick Contributors, I was looking at some of their stuff last night, looks like we'll actually have some talent this time.

@LegoTiger72376 said:
"*Aaron and Matt*"

Meant christian

@Vladtheb said:
" @Paperballpark said:
"Is it usual for Americans to have friends in far away states? There seems to be a few such pairings here.

Or have those contestants been grouped together by the producers and put under the 'friends' tag?"

Sure, I have close friends in probably four or five other states. Americans tend to be quite mobile, at least within the US itself. It’s not uncommon for people to move across the country two or three times in their life."
About 20 years ago, anthropologists came up with a new definition of ‘nomad’ based on frequency of movement, distance travelled etc. Then someone realised it applied to large numbers of people in the US! So in a sense, Americans are nomadic :~)

@Paperballpark:
You can grow up in one town, go to college in another, get a job in a third, relocate for a different job, and pick up friends every step of the way. Besides this, you could develop a friendship through one or more AFOL sites, or from attending conventions together. There are many ways that actual friends might live across the country from each other.

@JasonBall34:
From last year’s slate, Richard and Flynn were definitely married. Wikipedia also lists Tyler and Amy as married, but I thought they were engaged at the time. Then there was one father/son team, one brothers team, and five that are identified as “friends”. Of that last group, one pair were members of the same LUG, and one pair maybe had only interacted online (which might explain a few things about their interactions). Another pair probably met professionally (emergency responders, who still haven’t had an exit interview published), and I can’t remember some of the details about the other three pairs. I know one does cosplay together, but I don’t know which hobby they met through.

Certainly on the previous series at least one pair admitted that they met for the 1st time on the show.

@Paperballpark said:
"Is it usual for Americans to have friends in far away states? There seems to be a few such pairings here.

Or have those contestants been grouped together by the producers and put under the 'friends' tag?"

For sure. I live in Idaho, while I have family living in Maryland, Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas, and that is just my side of the family, and not my wife's. None of our family lives in Idaho though, my wife and kids and I are far from any family. I've got friends in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Utah, and California. People tend to move wherever work takes them, so you'll make friends all over the place living in the United States.

@Brickwyrm said:
" @kkoster79 said:
" @curtydc said:
"Are any of these people AFOLs? and if so do they have any presence online? Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, website?"

Absolutely, but I know them online at IG:
Moto - https://www.instagram.com/moto.lego/
Dawn - https://www.instagram.com/msslobrickda/
Maria & Phillip - https://www.instagram.com/midwest_builders/
Natalie & Michele - https://www.instagram.com/thebuildingbelles/
Bryan & Lauren don't seem to do Lego?
https://www.instagram.com/bryanfirks/
https://www.instagram.com/laurenfirks/"

Jack - https://www.instagram.com/jackschwarzii
Jacob - https://www.instagram.com/schilling.jacob/
Mark - https://www.instagram.com/markoffalworth/
Richard- https://www.instagram.com/treatise/
Dave - http://www.davekaleta.net/"

I've also found Natalie who doesn't do Lego - https://www.instagram.com/nataliecleveland
Michelle has been posting Lego since 2019- https://www.instagram.com/thebuildingbelles
Bryan Firks actually has a second account for Lego- https://www.instagram.com/bryan__builds
Randall - https://www.instagram.com/therocfiles

@Brickwyrm said:
" @kkoster79 said:
" @curtydc said:
"Are any of these people AFOLs? and if so do they have any presence online? Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, website?"

Absolutely, but I know them online at IG:
Moto - https://www.instagram.com/moto.lego/
Dawn - https://www.instagram.com/msslobrickda/
Maria & Phillip - https://www.instagram.com/midwest_builders/
Natalie & Michele - https://www.instagram.com/thebuildingbelles/
Bryan & Lauren don't seem to do Lego?
https://www.instagram.com/bryanfirks/
https://www.instagram.com/laurenfirks/ "

Jack - https://www.instagram.com/jackschwarzii
Jacob - https://www.instagram.com/schilling.jacob/
Mark - https://www.instagram.com/markoffalworth/
Richard- https://www.instagram.com/treatise/
Dave - http://www.davekaleta.net/ "

I've also found Natalie who doesn't do Lego - https://www.instagram.com/nataliecleveland
Bryan Firks actually has a second account for Lego- https://www.instagram.com/bryan__builds
Randall - https://www.instagram.com/therocfiles
Paras - https://www.instagram.com/nextgensmartypants

I really disagree with the choice to use people who aren't regular Lego builders but it's ultimately an entertainment show and building Lego is just the theme.

I'm thrilled to see so many siblings this time around! Can't wait for this season.

I'm so excited to see season 2!!!!! I might be rooting for Moto because I know him from TrickyBrick streams. And I'll also be rooting for the people from Chicago, IL.

@MeganL:
Any chance of getting the final exit interview for Season 1, or are they still too busy due to the pandemic?

@Schmopiesdad:
I can't imagine the stress of trying to build on command with a time limit. You know, they test out the building challenges with people involved with the show, then shorten that time limit for the actual contestants so they're really having to rush to get done. I couldn't work that way. I prefer to build what I want, and take as long as required to get it right.

However, regardless of what was edited into the final episodes for us to watch, the contestants all claim they got along great off-screen, and set up a group chat to keep in touch later on. From the sounds of it, they probably saw more of each other between filming episodes than they did on camera. In that regard, they may have picked a great slate of contestants, but there might come a season where they get a particularly sore loser in the mix.

@Brikkyy13:
Australia, and other nations, don't promote their editions the way Hollywood does. @Huw addressed this last year. They were never offered this level of access to any of the other shows. I do, however, remember Brickset providing coverage of a British series some years back, which I was unable to watch at all in the US. It's not favoritism, but opportunity.

@SimonSez91:
I was pretty sure from the very start that Tyler was the one to beat, and I agreed with the judges' choice on the finale. But sitting at home, part of that's just personal choice of which model we think looks best regardless of whether it did a better job of meeting the challenge. Part of it's just that some builds photograph better than others (the bridge challenge was a clear example of this, as everyone who saw it in person agreed that Mark & Boone had a better looking design, while the consensus seemed to go in favor of Tyler and Amy when viewing the episode. And a lot of it seemed to be based on how viewers felt about the contestants as people. Once they decided they didn't like someone, they would often never admit when they had the best build.

@SimonSez91:
If they hadn't been required to move their towers into position after the first part of the challenge, they wouldn't have known it would be so fragile and it would have probably happened when they moved it after the second part. As to why they had to move it at all, that's part of the challenge. Everyone was held to the same standard. Some had it easier because they got there earlier and could just go straight in, while others had to steer around half of the layout to reach their spot. But that's also part of the challenge. If you can figure out that you're at a disadvantage, then you should try to work around it rather than face it head on. Back row contestants should have tried to get there first, so they had a straight path.

@MudkipDoom:
The show started in the UK, but doesn't sound like it has a future there (or it could just be pandemic rules). It popped up in other regions over the next couple years. In the US, most shows only do one season per year. Some reality contests like Survivor and Big Brother have had condensed seasons that allow them to run 2-3 per year, but the viewership on those is enough to compete with scripted shows, so doing otherwise is turning down money. So, one season is all we've had. It was an untested property here, so they wouldn't have wanted to risk committing to a multi-season year, and with the pandemic it's probably best that they didn't. The first season was filmed before things went south, and the second season wouldn't have started filming until they had figured out how to manage filming safely.

@kwickbrick:
Weird, right? I mean, we have two of the most active LUGs on the planet, but Gaylord is way up in the fingers while all the LUGs are based in the lower half of the mitten. I had not heard of Coopersville before, but Studio 28 in GR is where I watched the premieres of all six SW movies (well, the SEs of the OT). I just checked a hunch, and it looks like Maria is one of Bricknerd's new staff. I'm kinda hoping they do well because that's the closest to my old home turf, but I'm not familiar with any of their work.

Last year Tyler was the only contestant I'd even heard of, and I'd seen him blogged many times over the years, so I had a clear expectation that the his team would make it to the final and possibly win, before I'd even watched a single episode. Most of my hunches about who would make it to the second half, and who would be early exits panned out. The only two things that surprised me were that the Clites were told they would have been sent home in the second to last episode, and that Sam & Jessica managed to pull it together and last all the way to the end. This year, it's a blank slate, which I'm actually looking forward to. Everyone has an equal chance, until they prove otherwise.

@graymattr:
There are a lot of things that go into picking contestants for a show like this. You could be the best builder in the world, but be unable to look in a camera, or give more than one-word answers when they try to ask you questions. Maybe you can't build on command, or work with a partner. I know a lot of really talented builders, but I can only think of one who I've met in person who I feel would stand a decent shot at making it all the way from audition to trophy. He's Canadian, though, so I don't know if he's even eligible to compete in the US series.