LEGO Masters Week 5 exit interview
Posted by MeganL,
Last week, we saw the first challenge that involved a non-LEGO connection - in fact, no connection at all, since teams had to build a treehouse - in a tree! It was a welcome change from the build and destroy challenges from the previous weeks. Read on to find what the challenge was for week five, which team went home, and of course, pictures of all the builds.
This week was the Brickminster Dog Show, where teams chose a dog and had to build a replica of it. This was the first sculpting challenge for the show, and it certainly helped that the models (the dogs) were right there on set! This challenge was highly rated in the "awwww" factor.
Each team had to not only build their dog, but also move it and "walk" it next to its real-life counterpart on the dog show carpet. This was where two teams had a problem - their builds fell apart in the process. Additionally, Emily and Liam didn't quite finish their build of their English bulldog, so they surrendered the golden brick to avoid elimination this week.
The top three teams were recognised at the dog show, but ultimately, the win for the week went to Brendan and Greg, for their awesome build of their Boston terrier.
Sadly, a team had to go home, and it was one of the teams whose dog had fallen apart during the show - Jonathan and Xavier.
What were you feeling when you saw the dog’s head fall off?
Jonathan: I was like, Oh, how could we recover?
Xavier: I mean, it was a bummer. Right before the judging, Jon and I were stressing because there's judging. We're always put on that pedestal of being critiqued or “did we do enough for it to withstand the movement?”. It's crazy because the previous challenge we talked about testing so much and this challenge, we just focused so much on the build itself that we did not test enough. There was a lot of anxiety - is it gonna hold? I don't know if it was a combination of weight or maybe just the resistance of the fabric. Because (when) we pulled it on the table it was relatively smooth. We didn't really account for it as much during this challenge. So I was disappointed as soon as I noticed it was falling off. I knew I could have reinforced the mouth a little bit better, I'm not gonna lie. But once the head started falling off, it was like, “Man, you should have done a lot reinforcing.”. And I'll take that upon myself because my focus wasn't enough on that connection point because ideally, you want to make sense of the whole SNOT technique, but there wasn't enough built into it to keep it secure.
You got some tough feedback in episode 4. How did you rally yourself to go into this episode?
Jonathan: We were still pretty nervous. The nerves were still there. We talked it through in terms of what our strategies would be, and learning how to trust each other in terms of our strengths. That's how we were able to pull through for most of the build. Even though we were pretty nervous, I felt pretty confident in terms of the sculpture and the details that Xavier was doing. I was stressed the entire time, but I was pretty happy with what Xavier was doing.
Xavier: It's crazy, because Jon and I talked about the previous challenge with the tree house. I'll be honest, we were kind of stuck on that challenge as far as concept. Not necessarily the story, but the concept. So we did feel we got kind of lucky how things played out. But I remember once we saw the dogs, it was a whole sculpture building concept. I was super pumped, because I wanted to just focus on the sculpture aspect of it. But it's one of those things where you can overuse a scale. So I think I got so focused on the sculpture aspect that I forgot to focus more on the – “Oh, we’ve got to touch the thing.” I feel like it looks pretty good for what it did. But we forgot to spend the balance of time as far as the actual reinforcement of it
Jonathan: I think the whole body was super solid when we put it on board. I honestly felt like if I pushed it, like it would have held up really well.
Xavier: Yeah, it's one of those things where building for competition, those criteria that are there. It's much different than building at your own pace, because you have to always be mindful of those criteria that they're looking for. So even if it looks great, you missed out on that one criteria. That's just how things end up, unfortunately. It is what it is.
Are there any particular details in your builds that you wish had been featured on the show that weren’t?
Jonathan: Yeah, I think the main one I wanted to point out is that in our first build, the Millennium Mango, there's a mecha. What isn't showcased is that you can actually open up the mecha and there's a minifigure pilot inside. I didn't know if that was ever going to be showcased. But I did point it out to the judges while we were building so that was what I was thinking. But it was also our first challenge and we were just….how should we do this, and how should we close in our build. It was our first stab at trying to show what we're all about.
Xavier: I wish they showed more Jon’s storytelling on that because we had a lot of funny inside Filipino jokes.
Jonathan: They’re transporting cargo because Filipino culture - there's a lot of shipping boxes as far as shipping goods back to the family back in the Philippines. So we had a lot of crates of mangoes within the giant mango which is pretty funny. We had a whole name of the company called Sarap Ako which translates to "I’m delicious" and Jon's delivery on that was hilarious. I would say for Radar, Jon within the last hour, made the radar guns spins around to search for the golden brick. So that was a fun little detail I wish they highlighted a little bit more. On the final build that came to Murphy, I wish they showed a little bit more of the face. Because, for me, one of my favourite parts is a minifigure cape. We used that minifigure cape for the tongue and judges really liked that. I wish they had highlighted at least that aspect of Murphy's face.
What was the biggest challenge of getting your builds done on time?
Xavier: I think for the first couple of challenges, we were very fortunate to have tables closer to the brick pit. Jon and I are definitely more of a “mess around and find out” type of builders. Let's grab the pieces as we need. And then our table's a whole mess. That benefit of being closer to the brick pit was definitely an advantage. And then the later challenges, it was definitely an adjustment. Having to be more deliberate about the choices that we make when we do go to the brick pit because we don't have a lot of time going back and forth. They're constantly trying to replenish too, so you can run there and look for the piece that you want, and it's not there yet so you have to pivot on working on something else. I feel like that was our biggest adjustment trying to manage that.
Jonathan: Yeah. I think on my end was a bit of nerves and balancing that out between us. There is a little bit of mental blockage because we're both pitching ideas and we're trying to figure out like what the concept is. There tends to be questions like: Is this enough? Iis this what the judges are looking for? Does this hit all the right beats?
Xavier: When you're so involved in a build, you're used to a set way of building and what looks nice to you or what you feature, but building for a competition is much different. So Jon would always provide that outside perspective and have to help me reset a little bit. He’d say, “We're focusing too much on this. I need you to work on this.”. It's a give and take too, because sometimes Jon would have some crazy ideas. I’d be like “I love it but we don't have the time.”. There was a lot figuring out what we can do within the time that we have, and it's definitely a learning process. It's not something you can really account for right off the bat.
What is it like to go from your own building space to a layout where everything's so different, and you've got a really short timespan to build?
Jonathan: You have to relearn all the landscape. You find out that there's going to be a lot of really cool pieces, but not in the colour that you want.
Xavier: Yeah, there's a lot. There is such a big variety. But yeah, there's certain colours that you would like to build with, you realise after the fact that you can't complete the idea that would look best. I know pieces that exist but this piece isn’t here for what I need, or it hasn't been restocked yet. I don't know if a lot of people watching realise that the brick pit isn't as unlimited or diverse as you think it is. A lot of it is working within the constraints based on the situation.
Jonathan: And then it changes slightly each episode. It changes just a bit, so you can get new pieces that weren't in the previous episode.
Do you have a favourite memory with Amy, Jamie, or any of the other contestants?
Jonathan: Everyone was pretty cool. Everyone that got casted really awesome. Whenever we would get lined up, either for the intros or whatever, what is edited out is that we would always joke around with each other. Everyone would have their own little snippets of funny moments.
Xavier: Everyone was really great. There wasn't any negative animosity or anything. The camaraderie is really great. When I reflect on it, just the fact that Jon and I were there and we got to build a lot of cool stuff that we both enjoy. We feel like we represented our interests well. We got to build the stuff we wanted to build in early on.
How valuable was the feedback you got from the Brickmasters?
Xavier: I really appreciated their feedback and their perspective, because they're master builders in their own right, and design sets all the time. You know, there are certain challenges that I wish they would have come to our table sooner, because their feedback is very critical. We could have pivoted earlier if we got that feedback sooner. But then pointing out things to pay attention to sets reminders in your head. Regardless if you're on the show or not, if you want your work to stand out, this is what you got to pay attention to. Presentation, color, whatever other criteria, just keeping that in the back of your mind that whenever you decide to make something - what do you want to come across, make sure you focus on those points.
Jonathan: Xavier covered everything. Realigning what's important in your build to succeed and the competition. I think in general, it pushed us to go bigger, size and colour. The overall technique. I definitely grew as a builder from each episode.
Xavier: I did really appreciate with the tree house, they pointed out that Jon and Xavier are really struggling. In a weird way it was a compliment because you didn't expect them to struggle because their previous builds have been great and enjoyable and quirky. So it's having set that standard for what we want to do. You don't always get to meet it the way that you want to but being able to represent ourselves to say, Hey, this is what we're capable of doing and this is what we want to do for you. Having that recognition from them we felt very, very satisfied.
What was your favourite build in the competition?
Jonathan: Radar is awesome (build in Episode 3).
Xavier: I build a lot of anime figures and pieces. I told Jon that I was looking to build a dynamic mecha at some point like maybe for a final challenge. You're telling us we can build one on the third challenge. What? Oh, we're totally doing that. We got super fun for that. And, the face - that was one detail that I wish they showed. Because I spent time on the faces and building the eyes, and they really loved the face. The face actually survived the bronco. It looked so great. Will Arnett picked it up, and then threw it on the ground. They didn't show that at all. But it was great we got to build a giant anime robot girl.
Jonathan: And it was structurally sound too. I think I could have done a bit more detailing.
Xavier: You did a great job for what you did! You've got arms there, you got the radar gun, which is creating a deeper layer of armour. That was my favourite to be honest. I do love the Millennium mango too because I thought that was the most representative thing. Those two are my favourites.
What advice would you give to somebody who is just starting out in the hobby?
Jonathan: Find what you liked the most out of a set and just run with it. It's different for everyone. I think for me, I found an ExoForce set called Supernova (7712). That set really turned me into being like this Mecha focused builder. I don't actually have a lot of photos and I don't share those photos (on social media). That sent me into a journey of learning how to be a veteran Mecha builder. I ended up following a bunch of really talented Lego MOC accounts and just trying to analyse their techniques and break down, reverse engineer how they did it. That's my process of relearning how to build with Technic. I remember when I was building on LEGO Masters with Xavier that he was saying that I have to stop playing, and let’s start building.
Xavier: I don't remember saying that!
Jonathan: We were like in a tense moment. Alright, there's a difference between playing and building and I understood that immediately when building.
Xavier: I would say for any adult getting back into the hobby - find the sets that you would enjoy, that you like. But I would also say don't stop there. Because you can build something and put it on the shelf and it looks great and there's nothing wrong with that. But what got me really excited, like Jon mentioned is seeing all the MOCs that people would build. When I started to get back into it (the hobby), there weren’t a lot of anime MOCs online. I’d find something cool and say, I want to try to build my own. So, I’m going to take apart these sets, and figure it out, and reverse engineer. It doesn’t always come, but be willing to figure something out, to make something that you really would like to see. Don’t wait for someone to make it for you. If you really want to make something, there’s nothing stopping you from trying to do that.
This week's builds:
Many thanks to our friends at True North Bricks for their collaboration on this interview.
All photo credits: FOX
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7 comments on this article
That Boston Terrier is sick!
HOT TAKE:
LEGO Masters Australia is best
LM USA is mid tier
LM UK just doesn't exist to me (y it have kids ffs smh)
The Australian version is probably the best variation of this show I've witnessed. The contestants in the Australian version all seem to be actively having fun and enjoying themselves and the hosts interactions seem to come from a place of also having fun and enjoying themselves, any comedy is handled fairly well and the focus is mostly on the building of Lego - which cannot be said for the US variation.
I was surprised this team wasn't eliminated last week. They had the weakest build then. After watching the dogs "walk" (or get carried in pieces), I was not surprised they didn't survive this week. I wonder what Tacos & Michelle would have built if Jonathan and Xavier were eliminated last week instead.
I can't take the show seriously after they brought in a new team mid-season for no good reason, after eliminating original teams.
Very creative week. I have been toying with the idea of building my shih tzu, but I don't know how capable I am. There are some talented builders here. That Boston Terrier looks amazing with the variance of textures and shaping. But they all looked really well done.
@WesterBricks said:
"I can't take the show seriously after they brought in a new team mid-season for no good reason, after eliminating original teams."
It doesn’t help that the new team are about as interesting as watching paint dry.
That, and their build was arguably the worst. They’d didn’t even try walking the thing, and it fell apart before they could take it down the walkway.