LEGO Masters week 2 exit interview
Posted by MeganL,
LEGO Masters is back in the U.S. with Season 3, and as with the previous seasons Brickset has been invited to interview contestants as they exit the show. Unlike previous seasons, a team was eliminated after the first episode; however that team was not made available for an exit interview.
This week's challenge had a Jurassic Park theme and had Chris Pratt (and Blue) as guest stars. Additionally, teams were assigned a special effect (sparks, gunpowder trail, etc.) that they had to incorporate in their builds. After the break we have an interview with the second team eliminated from the show, as well as pictures of all the builds for the week.
The winner of this week's show was the mother/son team of Emily and Liam. They were the only team to build a dinosaur at this scale.
Sadly, a team had to go home, and this week it was the sibling team of Eddie and Asiza.
Why did you apply for LEGO Masters?
Eddie: I was initially contacted through my Instagram. They contacted me and asked if I wanted to try out. I originally was going to do it with two other partners. That didn't work out. I was talking to my sister about it, and she threw out the offer to come on and team up with me and I jumped on it. So that's how that all happened.
Asiza: Yeah, there was absolutely no way I was gonna let him not take advantage of this opportunity, if it came his way. He is definitely the senior builder on our team. I know enough to be dangerous and can make cute little dainty things. But I grew a lot with this experience. It has really spurred a new passion for my own creations in what I'm able to do going forward. It was one of those accidental experiences for me, but I was super proud to get to go and partner with my brother. We've always made a really good team just in life. So that that served us well, in the time that we were on the show. We collaborate well, we've worked together very well, which are two things you really need when you are in that type of environment.
Tell me about some of the details of your builds that didn't get shown on TV.
Asiza: For the first build, going into it, we are positive people; really laid back. It's just our nature to see the upside of things. So, for that very first build, there was a lot tied into it. It was the fact that we were the sunshine siblings. It was the fact that we do, in our day-to-day lives, really do try to promote positivity and be upbeat people. We had the purple and gold representing our old high school. We wanted to do something fun, something creative. We were very humbled to even be invited to the table. We have a very specific style of build and this (LEGO Masters) definitely pushed us out of our comfort zone. So we're very proud of what we put out. One of the fun things is that we build off each other. We knew we had to make a spaceship. First we came up with the colours, and then the smaller details came together as we formulated the story, which is my expertise in the team. I'm the storyteller. It was fun to see all those things come together, and super fun to just have all the intricate pieces to be able to put that together. As a builder sometimes you don't always have the parts and pieces that you want. So we had this pretty cool wonderland of options there in the brick pit. So we put together what we could.
Eddie: The idea for the build, it started with trying to be creative. We knew we had to build something big. We had to build something flashy, and we knew the Brickmasters love a lot of colour. Asiza and I went to the same high school. Our colours were purple and gold. And California represents the Lakers, you know what I mean? So that tied into it at the time. At the time (of filming), I was actually working a different job. I was a delivery driver. And that's why I went with the square idea for the spaceship to make it look like a delivery truck. That was our theme, our spaceship flew through the galaxy, spreading all the positive rays and whatnot and delivering smiles to the crews of the space stations to keep them upbeat because they're in outer space. It gets dreary and dark and boring out there. So you got to keep that energy up. That was the idea behind it. Just like Asiza said it was very, it was interesting to try to build it because we're working with a plethora of new material that neither one of us have in our own personal inventory. I gotta tell you, 5 million bricks is a whole lot different from what I have sitting behind me (at home), so there were all kinds of elements that we were brand new to. We were able to go crazy with it and I was pretty happy with the way that it came out. I think it represented us. It represented our build style and represented what we wanted to promote and I think we executed pretty well.
Asiza: For our second build, we are outdoorsy people, as a family. We spend a lot of time outside at the park. We were at the park this last weekend for a birthday. So we wanted to bring that into our build. We really tried to incorporate those familiar aspects of park life, being outdoors, being together and having fun. We were trying to bring some lightness to what would have been a terrifying situation if dinosaurs really did show up on the scene.
What was the biggest thing you had to get adjusted to building on set?
Eddie: For me, the absolute hardest thing to adjust to was standing and building. I've never done that my entire life. Right now I sit on my floor cross-legged like I'm still eight years old, and that's the way I build. I'm not used to being on my feet for that long in one place. Of course, you're able to move around and get a little stretch going on. But for the most part you're doing a lot of standing in one place. And for a person like myself who has a hard time sitting still, that in itself was kind of torturous. You got past that because you knew you had a task to do, and that eased it up. And as I said before, going back to having all those elements. It was like being in a brand-new playground. You know, when you go to a brand-new park with all new equipment and all new toys. You could be the most tired in the world, but it's exciting because everything's brand new and you just want to touch everything and grab everything and that's how that (the brick pit) was for me.
Asiza: For me it was definitely the clock, and also the scale. We're used to building at our leisure, taking time on the larger projects that we have done. But in general, I know I'm a tiny builder. I like smaller scale scenes and Ed tends to build small because he does his LEGO photography and record on his Instagram. So those two things were a challenge. I think that that was very apparent in the second episode. We understand why it was our time. You know, we saw that humongous board, and I think it occurred to us too late that we needed to build up even if we kept our scene the same just so that it had more prominence. It would have made more sense, but the light bulb did not turn on in time. I wish it had. But the clock was definitely a real thing. My brother had to chastise me to hydrate because you just get so hyper focused on getting it done because you know that there is a clock ticking somewhere in the background and you didn't want to run out of time.
If you could have designed a challenge in which you would have dominated as a team, what would that look like?
Eddie: Well, basically what my main focus is, what I do on my Instagram, is basically small scenery focused around minifigures. So I feel like what I specialize in, what I feel like I'm the best at, are creating very detailed scenes for minifigure stories and minifigure action.
Asiza: I don't know if I could answer that definitively. Give me a theme or prompt is really where I take my inspiration from. When I build, a lot of times it might be something that inspired by the song that I sing to my two-year-old 27 times a day, or it might be something that I see at work, just my stuff. I just pull from what’s around me.
Your theme seemed to be “Smile Check”. What’s the story behind that?
Eddie: We spent a lot of time alone growing up because our parents worked a lot, like most people. If we were down or not having a good day, man, you got to keep that energy up. You know what I mean? So we did this in small chunks, something we throw at each other every once in a while. Like, “Hey, I know you're not looking right today, so smile check!”
Asiza: It’s something that we resurrected going into this because I knew there were gonna be times where it gets tough, when it gets intense. We asked how are we going to signal each other. That light bulb was came on to say, “Oh, hey, remember our Smile Check that we haven't used in a while?”. I think it's gonna be around to stay because our kids love it.
What was your favourite part of your build from week 2?
Asiza: I will start with this one because, oddly, the most exciting part of that build for me was the little bathroom that was on there. I don't know if it got a lot of airplay. But it was that iconic little dual panelled bathroom that you would see in any park that you visit in any part of the country. There are certain situations where you're like “Man, I really nailed this.” We did some fun mosaics with the little blankets and did a lot of little scene vignette work on there, but I'm most proud of that bathroom. No lie. I liked it a lot.
Eddie: Believe it or not. That was one of my favourite parts too. Yeah, it's so fun. I can't tell you how much time we spent in parks growing up. That was our jam. We go to the park, we get some ice cream hanging out at the park all day. So that iconic park bathroom, as funny as that may sound, that's something that really stands out. It was pretty epic the way that she threw that thing together. It was effortlessly done. I loved it. For me the other part of the build that I enjoyed but also tortured me was that dinosaur. That dinosaur we knew we wanted to go with minifigures in the story. We couldn't build a huge dinosaur. The contrast wouldn't work. But the motion that I had had in mind for it, and this wasn't shown on the show, we wanted it to look like as the dinosaur was coming over the movie screen and he got caught in the wires. I didn't want the motion because the motors will make the dinosaur move completely side to side, which is not what we wanted. There was too much torque inside that motor. I'm new to using motor function. So as we're learning how to slow down the movement, that took up a lot of time. That’s where we got in trouble that we had so much open space so late into the build, because the majority of that time I was actually trying to figure out that power function and how to make the dinosaur not fall apart once we turned it on. The dinosaur was sitting in two parts and it was only connected by a half inch point. So had we turned that motor on and went full function, the top of the dinosaur would have literally flown right off. I did want it to have a real jerky caught up funny looking motion, which I feel like we succeeded in but I don't think they showed that. That was pretty exciting for me because I had never attempted that before. I feel like I executed it. It worked.
Asiza: I think that was probably the most impactful part of this experience for me because there was a minute where Ed looked at me and whispered under his breath, “I don't think I'm gonna be able to do this.”. I said, “Hey, you're gonna take a breath, and you're gonna keep going, we're gonna get something, it's gonna be fine.” That was phenomenal. I've never been prouder of my brother that I was in that moment and even more so as we watched it back with our children. To be able to tell my nieces and my nephews, “Hey, your uncle, your dad, he got stuck and it got hard and he didn't quit. He kept going.” That was gold.
When you were called out as one of the bottom two teams, what were you feeling?
Eddie: Honestly, I had a feeling that we were going home on that day. I remember maybe a couple hours into the build, looking around the room seeing the competition, especially coming off of that first challenge. We knew what the judges were looking for. They didn't have to say, we knew what they wanted. I felt like our attempt was to rely on our story more than the build and have the build complement the story – that obviously wasn't the greatest idea. It didn't work out. But I knew that there was a possibility we would be in the bottom but I was still hoping for the best. I tried to pump Asiza up, she tried to pump me up, and we built as best we could for that challenge. When we were in the bottom two, I thought it could go either way. Once they called our name, it was definitely a letdown because you know you're gonna be leaving the show. But if it doesn't sound too cliche, the amount of pride that I was personally riding was just being there in the first place. There wasn't anything that could have happened that would have made me feel bad. We don't come from a place where experiences like that - they don't really happen. So just being in the building was excitement enough, and I was riding so high on that. Even if we would have left the first episode, it still would have been the highlight. You know what I mean? It was just so cool being there, being considered amongst all these other great builders. It was sad that we had to go because we did definitely gain a family there. I can't speak for the other seasons. I can speak for all of us on season three. We are family now. It is the love that we have, our bond that we had even for that short time is priceless. And whether we were there the whole time or for one episode.
Asiza: I'll be transparent - I think I took it harder than Ed did. I am seriously an overachiever. I did want to win the whole thing. Absolutely. That might have been naive and kind of pie in the sky, but I did. I wanted to at least get farther than we did. I think I would have taken it better if it were maybe third or fourth or fifth episode. But just like Ed said, the fact that we were even invited to the table is phenomenal. And we got so much just from the experience up to the point where it was time to go home. And you know what We gained? We gained some really deep real lessons in things that are going to take us forward that are pretty fantastic. I was bummed but I was also super proud to be able to support my brother and I think that was the biggest piece for me. I felt like I had let him down because I was there to support him in showcasing what he can do because he's always been more expert builder than me. The fact that he felt at peace about where we landed that really helped. It was a quick recovery for me and my pride and not getting farther than we did. If we had to do all over again, we most certainly would
How did you get into the hobby?
Eddie: Well, that's because Asiza is a follower. (laughs) But I gotta say it started with me. I've been a LEGO kid since I was five. I got my first set at five years old, and it took off from there. It's been nonstop for 40 years now. I had a massive collection by the time I was a teenager. Little bit after young adulthood, I accidentally lost that collection. So I've spent years building that collection slightly back up to what it used to be but it's just always been part of my life. It's something I love from a kid and I always stuck with it. When we were growing up as kids of course Asiza and my other sister, they would join in too. In our house Asiza was a Barbie King. So she had Barbies, but she didn't have the Barbie Corvette. She didn't have the Barbie Dream House. So that's where I came in. I built furniture for her Barbies and a car. That's how we always stayed together. Playing together.
Asiza: Yeah, it's always a gift that I know will be a winner for my brother. Anytime I know that I need to go and spend time with him, I'm going to end up in his brick room. His brick room was my brick room for a really long time. Then here and there I would pick up cute little sets. Now I'm proud to have my own brick room. I'm proud to say that we're doing more collaborating where I'm bringing stuff to the table to say “Hey, here's where I got stuck. How can I enhance this and add to it?”. I now have a toddler who's two. We're not quite ready for LEGO yet. So we're still in the Duplo stage which is actually quite delightful. It's one of those exciting things that it's something that we can do together. I think as an adult, my LEGO hobby came out of necessity because I've always lived in smaller spaces. LEGO is one of those things that you can create with and document however you want. For us, it's photography and then you can break it on down again and put that stuff away. I feel like as I move forward that will probably become more of a problem than it is right now as I have been building much more lately. It's a cool hobby that is super convenient. It really is a lot of fun to just challenge yourself to take a line from a song or from the book you're reading and see if you can make that come to life with bricks.
What would be your advice to people who are just getting into the LEGO hobby?
Asiza: I would say start slow. It really does get compulsive fast as you're growing that collection. I work for an insurance company and I always talk about making sure that you're properly documenting what you have. Take pictures of your inventory because your homeowner's insurance carrier is not just going to give you $30,000 if your house burns down because you have that much in LEGO. So my advice goes to the educational side of things with LEGO because it's a collection that grows very quickly and it's very valuable.
Eddie: My main thing is, do you. I would say I've been building sets my whole life but as far as being a member of the LEGO community, I'm pretty new to it. I only started my Instagram about two years ago. Up until then, my hobby has just been my hobby. And since joining the community and putting myself out there, I've met a lot of builders. There are thousands upon thousands of LEGO pages and I'd say do your own thing. Don't follow a trend. Don't try to do what everyone else is doing for the sake of doing what everyone else is doing. LEGO is the perfect toy, in my opinion. It is the greatest toy ever invented because of the fact that it doesn't matter how many people are out there. It doesn't matter who you are. Every person who builds if they do their own thing brings something brand new to the table. And that's what is so awesome about LEGO is that there's room for everybody. So do your own thing. Don't feel pressured. Don't feel like you have to do more than what you're capable of. Don't feel like you have to do anything. Do what you want to do. And share that with the community because the community loves just that. I'm pretty confident that most builders would say the same thing. It's just a way to release. It's a way to be creative. It's a way to teach the way to learn. It's so multifaceted that you don't have to play by any rules. Keep that in mind when you are building something. You have an idea that's frustrating. Put it out, leave it alone, come back to it in two weeks. You're not on a time schedule. You're working running your own race. There's no clock right there. Do you, work at your pace, build what you want to build and don't do it to please others. Do it to please yourself and everything else comes naturally after that.
What advice from the Brickmasters was the most helpful for your future builds?
Eddie: I don’t know if they got this on camera or not. Amy let us know that when it comes to LEGO, making something pop with colour is very important. I like to do small scenes, very specific styles. I want things to look a certain way. I'm not used to using a lot of bright vibrant colours. And that's something that I'm definitely gonna start doing now. Because I've just seen with my own eyes, how much of a difference that that can make, even in builds that you may be used to. For the most part she said to use a lot of colour and try to add that pop to your build. So that's something that I'm going to try to really incorporate moving forward.
Asiza: I would say for me to the advice to go big I took home because I built small. I actually do have some larger builds that I'm going to attempt which in times past maybe I wouldn't have. So just get out there and build something that is a little bolder and bigger than what you normally would. And then another piece of advice which she didn't give to us specifically, it was given to one of the other teams but the advice about editing your story. I've got story all day long. But if you've got too much story it takes away from the build itself. It gets convoluted. So make sure that you're editing your own story so that others don't have to or that they don't tune out. I thought that was really good advice.
All of last week's builds:
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17 comments on this article
Thanks, MeganL, as I have enjoyed reading these exit interviews for past seasons of the U.S. version of LEGO Masters, and look forward to more.
I'm curious, though, did I miss the week 1 exit interview (Drew and Miranda) somewhere?
@cflyg said:
"Thanks, MeganL, as I have enjoyed reading these exit interviews for past seasons of the U.S. version of LEGO Masters, and look forward to more.
I'm curious, though, did I miss the week 1 exit interview (Drew and Miranda) somewhere?"
They stated in the article early on that Brickset was not given the opportunity to interview them.
I’m mostly surprised this show is still going
@Murdoch17 said:
" @cflyg said:
"Thanks, MeganL, as I have enjoyed reading these exit interviews for past seasons of the U.S. version of LEGO Masters, and look forward to more.
I'm curious, though, did I miss the week 1 exit interview (Drew and Miranda) somewhere?"
They stated in the article early on that Brickset was not given the opportunity to interview them."
Thank you. I must have read that part too fast.
I did find this, from a local newspaper, regarding Drew and Miranda, if any are interested to see a "post-show" interview:
https://www.deseret.com/2022/9/22/23366233/lego-masters-season-3-contestants-drew-miranda-maynard
I have to be 100% honest: does anyone find this show funny? Do the jokes actually land? I watched the last one, and I was most interested in builds, but they barely focus on them. I want the camera on the builds, the contestants explaining techniques and details. The writers who write the jokes and the show's plot- are just not very good. I think it's more about spectacle than LEGO.
(The scene where that guy fell to the floor, acting all scared of the guy in the dino suit made me cringe)
I feel like this show is really going downhill. It's more focused on the "jokes" than it is on the builds, and the contestants this season are so much worse than the ones from the first two. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets cancelled after this season.
If only the first exit interview was for Will Arnett.
@Alltimefol said:
"I feel like this show is really going downhill. It's more focused on the "jokes" than it is on the builds, and the contestants this season are so much worse than the ones from the first two. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets cancelled after this season."
Problem is, I imagine they think most people would be tired of watching building, so they hinge on 'WOW!'
I enjoy the show, as does my entire family. The humor is silly, but some of it is funny.
Arnett isn’t the issue… it’s contestants and judges who don’t have the experience to “play along” with the jokes.
I enjoy the show, as does my entire family. The humor is silly, but some of it is funny.
Arnett isn’t the issue… it’s contestants and judges who don’t have the experience to “play along” with the jokes.
@PetesBricks said:
"I have to be 100% honest: does anyone find this show funny?"
Not even a little bit. I like the Australian version much better.
LEGO masters US is OK.
LEGO masters Australia is my favourite.
LEGO masters Denmark is the worst. The host is unbelievable bad!
I don't consider comedy a primary reason to watch a lego-building show, so it doesn't bother me much when jokes land flat.
That said, the preview clip of Jamie demonstrating his bull-riding technique was comedy gold.
AFOLs are not a key demographic for the show (or much of anything). Watch it if you can enjoy it nonetheless. Don't if you can't
santas sleigh is back
As stated, AFOLs are likely not their target audience believe it or not. Most likely they are trying to capture families and create new fans.
The jokes are going to fall flat. They are going for broad mainstream cringey/dad jokes. That is what captures people.
It's funny enough to entertain to mix up just straight building all the time. Most people don't want to just watch someone building something.
With that said, the show is watchable enough. But it is also forgettable each week. That's just how it goes.
@mnolan99 said:
" @PetesBricks said:
"I have to be 100% honest: does anyone find this show funny?"
Not even a little bit. I like the Australian version much better.
"
Hamish and Brick Man are the greatest hosts. No contest.
I watch the show to see what ideas the contestants come up with for each challenge. I look forward to watching real people doing real things, not made up "real people" shows. I think building such large scale designs would be difficult to make, because it is not minifigure scale that works for the show, they have to build bigger.
Seeing Blue in person would freak me out, even knowing there is a person in the suit, it wouldn't matter. It was cool to see Chris Pratt. I would have like it if they had also done a bit between Will & Chris referring to their Lego movie characters.
I was surprised that a team went home on the first challenge I don't recall them doing that before. The show is about eliminating a team each challenge, but it nice to see how connected the people become during their time on the show.