Lego Masters Australia season 3 starts Monday. What will Hamish and Brickman blow up this time?

Juz 78 Comments

One of the best shows on TV returns Monday night: Lego Masters Australia.

Even if you are not into Lego it’s still a fun watch, and an antidote to all the horribleness in the world right now.

The builds are spectacular and the contestants are all encouraging of each other, GBBO style, but my Mr 9 most enjoys the antics of host Hamish Blake.

From “stealing” Lego from the Brick Room to demonstrating his terrible Lego skills, Hamish sure knows how to make kids laugh.

And I adore that judge Brickman always has a tear in his eye when a team is eliminated.

Also, who doesn’t love seeing Lego creation be blown up/put on an earthquake machine/submerged in water.

Lego Masters screens on Channel 9, Monday at 7.30pm, and continues Tuesday and Wednesday.



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Juz

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78 Comments

  1. I am so looking forwards to this. (Please, don’t disappoint. Please, don’t disappoint.)
    Insiders reminded me how crappy Australia is at the moment. Even my Trump supporting family are hurting (but will still vote Lib. Of course).
    I have a dead and smelly rat in the roof.
    The doggo is stinky and I can’t get him him into dog wash for a week.
    And I am cooking celeriac and apple soup for dinner. I am an idiot. I haven’t liked it the last two times I cooked it and yet, here I am again. You could sell me the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the right spiel.
    I need cheering up.
    So, this better be as good as last season or I will give up television forever. And I will cry.

    • My goodness, Bobi.

      What could improve celeriac and apple soup? Some bits of chicken or chorizo, or a dash of fish sauce might enhance the flavour.

      Perhaps you need to have a little cry anyway. Hug your smelly doggo and go for it.

      I may give Lego Masters a try tonight. I usually enjoy shows that kids like.

    • Turning it into chicken soup might be the go. Chicken soup is delicious. I like chorizo but find it a bit salty.
      It’s the dead rat that’s really getting to me because it seems to be an ongoing issue. I had rats last year, got the exterminator who said all those baits should last 2 years (and I got some excellent deodorisers from WA), and the rats would leave to die. That’s a no, on every count.
      My lovely grandson has already been up in the roof to remove some furry pancakes. I will have visitors in about 6 weeks. I will add it to the very long list of jobs waiting for them but in the meantime, every time I wander past the laundry, I am stopped in my tracks by the unmistakable odour.
      This seems like it’s going to be a forever problem.

  2. Finally, a competition show to watch. It feels like an eternity since TAR finished. So excited.

    I know many on TT aren’t really sport fans, so you might have missed that Chelsea and MJ from TAR were high profile on Saturday in the AFLW Grand Final. Chelsea was the story of the week having been concussed in the semi, and therefore was not allowed to play (and she is the captain). MJ played in the losing Adelaide team.

  4. I know this is the one where we are introduced to the contestants.
    I like them all so far. There has to be someone who will irritate but I haven’t quite determined who it is yet.

    • I like that, of the two mothers, one of them is really snarky and sarcastic.

      Some of the builds look absolutely amazing and they’re only halfway down. I can’t believe how quickly the episode has flown past, it’s already 8:30 and it feels like I’ve only been watching for a few minutes.

  5. I love building Lego and watching people build Lego.
    Will put my hand up, most annoying team is Fleur and her partner., Sarah.
    Weird build: the cheese build.
    Most annoying segment: the brick of doom.

  6. I’m tense. How can a build that goes on for 17 hours make me tense.
    I’m assuming they get lunch etc. I wonder if they get a nap?

    • I always imagine these longer builds are broken up into two days. 17 hours would be two 8 hour days, and they’d have to stop the teams for food, and to interview them.

      • We presumed the same thing. Must be frustrating for the teams if they are on a roll, to be told to stop for lunch.

  7. It was a lovely first episode.

    You can tell that Hamish is still having the time of his life hosting this.

    The builds were fantastic.

    I really liked the UFO (although the vengeful cheese god was so twisted and weird that I felt it deserved points just for that). I wish the yeti had been more than just one-foot-vaguely-stomping, because that could’ve been epic.

    But still, I sort of hoped the UFO would win.

    I tend to agree with Lola. The two mothers are a little loud. The snarky mother (in the red jacket) was fine, I quite liked her, but I could’ve done without her partner. Although I confess that I did love the geisha temple build.

    • This was like coming home. Just aaah, in relief.
      Everything felt just as if we had watched the last season GF last week, and then moved seamlessly into the new season this week.
      I think they do a good job giving the back stories. They are woven into the “action” when they highlight the team. I love that several of the teams are Lego Buddies, with spouses and lives away from each other but who are bonded by a mutual hobby. That is so like real life. Some of those Lego rooms are amazing! How about the guy who made all his custom shelving with a 3D printer.

      I liked the Yeti best, but would have been equally happy with the UFO. Note that the viewer poll picked the UFO. I didn’t think the Geisha was a deserving winner at all, more middle of the pack. But the judging here is a bit like cooking shows – the viewer can’t actually experience the item in full, and you have to trust that the judge sees or tastes more than is clear on tv.

      I don’t think the mums have the skills that the others have but now they have the Brick, they will be safe for at least one elimination where they should be at risk. So they will go a fair way into the comp, probably longer than more competent teams. I hope they use the brick straight away, to make it fairer.

  8. Well.
    So much fun.
    I agreed with the winner.
    I still would have agreed with winner if the other team had won.
    Love this show and it has lived up to all expectations. I am looking forward to all the episodes.

  11. Enjoy Juz. It was a good first episode.
    Tonight , it’s all about smashing up the Lego with a bowling ball.
    Nerds, LEGO’s and Hamish – great fun.
    I just googled the cost of a Lamborghini that one of the contestants owns , it’s between $350, 000 to $ 750,000. What the!!! I think as a financial analyst, he needs to see a financial planner. Haha

  12. Found the irritating person: the science communicator with the really high pitched, repetitive laugh.
    That’s a nervous habit that should stop.

    • No, that’s actually a thing.

      I have friends who play Dungeons and Dragons.

      You would be shocked at the industry of exclusive, luxury dice. It’s astounding.

      There’s dice carved out of rare minerals. That’s dice that glow. There’s dice that have inbuilt LED light fixtures, there’s dice that are sculpted out of metal, it is quite astonishing.

  14. The right team won, tonight, after being robbed of the win last night.

    It was the spinning chicken that did it, for me. There’s a sentence that I loved typing.

  15. I thought the right team won, too, although I wasn’t as disappointed at their loss yesterday.
    I was a bit perplexed at some of the comments from Brickman. He didn’t like “all that pink” whereas I thought it looked fabulous bursting out from the black. He didn’t make the same critique about all that yellow from the winners.
    I do like a bit of destruction. It must have been enormous pressure on Hamish. I’m not bad at 10 pin bowling but I wouldn’t have trusted myself to not throw a gutter ball.

    • I want to know how much he practised beforehand. And next season, how will they blow things up in a different way? Massive fan? Cat walking through the build, Kitten King Goodies style?

  16. I loved the snow globe concept. They all looked fabulous.
    I agreed with the winner. Delightful.
    Meh on the one that came second but then I don’t know if there was another. Surprisingly, I liked the boat when it snowed. Maybe that one.
    I agreed with the bottom two. It was a toss up. Either/or.
    I love how Brickman cries.

  17. Love a snow globe. So many creative ideas came into my head for this one , so it was a bit disappointing with a few of the teams creations.
    Loved the red/brown fox , he was gorgeous. Also really liked the ship and its story . Loved the traditional Christmas themed and Australian Christmas globes.

    The bottom two were the right choice. She can now go back to being a luxury dice consultant! (I didn’t know that was a job) But then neither is an “influencer” or IG celebrity.

    The all female team are just annoying personalities and I thought the skater was not that great.
    Loving this season but so many ad breaks!!!

  18. The bottom two were right (and I like in this show that the choices make sense to the viewer usually). I think the Ned Kelly was saved by the excellent work on his head and facial expression. That was the saving grace. It wasn’t a bad idea, it just didn’t come off.

    Stonehenge also wasn’t a bad idea but the stones were way too big and unidentifiable as the real thing. I actually liked the central part with the druids etc but they were way too low and disappeared under the snow.

    The fox was great except that I thought it’s tail was too big and square.

    • Agree. It was a little worrying that the other team were there. Purists would probably say that elimination should only be based on that single challenge, but I really couldn’t get past the fact that one team were having a bad day, and the other had struggled in every previous challenge to not only finish, but to create something that was just mediocre.

  20. I can’t tell if it is my dislike of the mums team, or if I am really seeing what seems like a bit of favouritism?

    Musicals are my thing, so I loved their idea, but it was ruined by the alien, and in general I thought it was probably a pretty easy technical build – just minifigs arranged on a “set”, no movement, no weird bricks, no need to arrange bricks in a weird way. So why the raving, and the recognition in the top two? I feel like Brickman has a soft spot for the 50’s mum (Fleur). I preferred the art build, despite “David” being quite unrecognisable. I probably would have placed the Mums as third last in ranking.

    Over a couple of episodes there has been some lovely singing voices appearing, in different teams. One of the men has a great voice.

    Very telling, that the Viewer’s choice was Owen & Scott’s build. Quite out of step with the edit. Yet, I wondered if there was a sympathy element going on in the voting, with many feeling that they were being unfairly criticised. I agreed with the “grey” criticism, and the frustration of Dreadlock Guy, but the dramatics about it were a bit OTT.

    My one criticism of this season is that they have started showing a lot of footage in advance. In particular, there is one big promo just before the first ad break which shows all the finished builds and more. They made a big hoohaa about the second build being secretly hidden behind the curtain, and yet they showed it in that promo, as well as it having been in all the ads last week.

    I don’t want to see the finished builds…until they are finished.

    Funniest moment, Hamish’s to-camera stating that the tweets were suggesting his spins of the chocolate wheels were too weak. So clever, as the non-filmed goggleboxers like us would have all been saying that in their loungerooms.

  21. There you go. Even Hamish has had enough of the science communicator laughing all the time. I knew it wasn’t just me.

    • Picked that up too. That was right on the edge of mocking her and I think they only just got away with it. I can imagine the heavy discussion in the edit room – “do we keep it?”.

  22. As much as I love Scott and Owen, I think we are starting to see some flaws in them, as a team, the longer we go on.

    Owen (I think he’s the one with the mop of unruly wavy hair, while Scott is the chill hippy, maybe?) has a very single-minded focus, when it comes to his projects. He gets an idea into his head … and that’s it. He’s 1000% committed to that vision, come hell or high water. Which is normally a great thing, but if he starts off on the wrong foot, he goes far too far down the rabbit hole before seeing sense, and by then it’s almost too late. They’ve done that twice now.

    I agreed with Brickman and Scott, last night, over the Mission to Mars model. Technically fine, but it was a jumble of random grey pieces (which is a terrible colour anyway). Even if he’d given the mech some nice, bright colours … the set was overly-decorated. It was just all these random grey bits.

    Again, tonight, he was so determined with the minotaur mechanism that it would’ve left the whole thing lacking.

    A few people said they should’ve been eliminated last night, but — and I think this is why Brickman spared them — overall, Scott and Owen have been producing technically-brilliant models. They just had a really off night, that night. The other team had been consistently-poorer, performance-wise, and that’s why Brickman didn’t spare them. I totally think that’s what happened.

    But I hope Owen has started to learn his lesson, because it’s not going to help him, going forward.

  23. One mistake is okay, to is liveable, three and they’re out.
    I think Qwen and Scott, as well as the mums, are on their final strike.

  24. Owen is really starting to annoy me. If I didn’t like his partner so much, I would really be pleased to see them go home.

  25. Owen and Scott got lucky, tonight, that they were able to come up with something to fix a problem that, once again, Owen caused by just being bloody-single-minded to a fault.

    I actually think Scott is too chill. Maybe Owen would be kept in check, better, if Scott actually stepped up and spoke more. But he keeps just going with it … and only stands his ground when it’s almost too late to make a difference.

    Anyway, they were lucky because the mums failed the technical aspect, and the other two’s astronaut-and-rocketship were kind of terrible. I think the mothers were very lucky tonight. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d been eliminated.

    David and Gus continue to be the team to beat. Everything they build, I want to put in a museum and charge people to come and look at it. The exploding boombox was physically beautiful to look at, and technically brilliant.

    I liked the cash-register, and I was really hoping they’d win. Not because they were better than the boombox, but just so we could get rid of the brick of doom, and take the curse out of play.

    Next episode, it looks like the mothers smash something important with 30 seconds to go.

  26. The fact that LEGO builds can be so fragile is what brings the tension into this show. It’s not the possibility of not finishing – which can be artificially created as all we cynics know.
    I really liked the editing to show all the cameras focused on the rocket ship build. A little bit cruel but a lot funny.

    • It is one of the charms of this show, that they don’t take the “competition show” format too seriously. From the start they have been willing to take the mickey out of the whole process. Laughing at the time announcements, calling out attempts to heighten drama, and this showing of the camera crew – all add the lightness needed when you are watching people click bricks for twelve hours.

  27. Owen and Scott have a modus operandi, it seems. It is a pity, because they are hugely talented (they built that first tree in a couple of hours!) but if they, well Owen really, can’t adapt then they will go out before they should.

    I think Owen’s issue is that he is very conceptual in his thinking, whereas most of the builders are literal. He looked at the grammaphone and saw a big story of what it represented (love and long-relationship) whereas his first thought should have been “music”. Of course, his major issue is tunnel-vision and the inability to take on the views of others. They did end up with a good result, but only because Scott was brave enough to force the issue by smashing the top. I liked theirs better than the cash register woman.

    Having said that, out of the three builds where they have got into trouble, I thought the cyclops was awful. I loved the minotaur and wished they had left the cyclops off. It didn’t add anything. Scott had done amazing work on all the Greek world and I think that would have stood on its own. Then again, Brickman didn’t agree and he is the judge, so… It wasn’t possible in hindsight but the best option would have been to have made the minotaur and his box twice as big.

    I got my hopes up last night that the mums would be leaving. I did see though, like Fleur, that it was quite clear that the rocket would go home. I feel now that we are going to be stuck with them forever. The builds will keep getting harder, they will struggle more and more, but when they are really at risk, the Brick will save them.

    I wished that the explanation of why the mums’ tree was not attached properly had been clearer, and why the cash register was so much better at that aspect. Was the mums’ tree just standing beside, unattached?

  28. I like Dave and Gus, and Michael and Harrison who were immune last night. No fuss, just great teamwork and skill.

    • No, I feel like Michael and Harrison have been kind of flying below the radar. We haven’t spent much with them at all. The first couple of episodes, they were just kind of there, in the background. Then in the second week, they won an immunity and disappeared for an episode. I feel like, they’re both quite likeable guys, but we’ve spent the least amount of time with them.

      • Is that an editing ploy? Keep them a little hidden, then let them emerge as the late runners? I suspect that they might be finding that Michael and Harrison are quite ordinary (except for Lego skill) and there isn’t much of a story to make of them. As young guys they haven’t much history yet. Several of the other teams make entertaining TV and they have focused on them.

  29. Like them or hate them, both the Mums and the poorly matched pair make good television.
    They constantly chat to each other and their faces are so expressive. In particular, you always know what Fleur is thinking. A bit like Brickman. It would be a silent show without them. Hamish would have to work harder.

    • I was thinking the same last night. I wanted them to go, but the laugh-out-loud moments mainly came from Sarah’s witty comments.

  32. Well, the lowlight of tonight’s episode was the return of Kale. Sure, the show gently mocks him (by taking the time to show his endless pretentious monologues, as Hamish gently steers him away from the teams), but ultimately, he’s still a tool. Nobody liked him two years ago, guys, and they don’t like him now.

    Scott and Owen are settling in to some very dysfunctional patterns … but gosh, they’re dramatic and entertaining. If they get eliminated before the mothers though, I think there will be a riot. Of small plastic people with no thumbs.

    I don’t begrudge the mothers using the Platinum Brick tonight. They were lucky enough to have the thing, they might as well use it, to keep them safe. But absolutely, I felt like the episode made no pretenses about Brickman favouring them (particularly with his monologue about it being the best build ever. C’mon. Really?). I think they’ve run out of lifelines. I don’t see them surviving much longer, certainly not up against the powerhouse of David and Gus (who continue to make art with their builds).

    The team that did go home tonight? They had one good build, but the rest of their builds had been pretty weak (curse or no curse), so I really think this was about as far as they could go.

  33. It was generally a good ep, with several very humorous parts. Hamish was excellent with his “herding” of Kale around.

    The Mums: I am glad the Brick is gone, because now they will be sitting at their true level. The Brick had too much power this year, and too much reward for winning one simple build (just as the “Brigadoon” was too overplayed for a simple bad luck pick). No, Brickman, this was not the best concept ever, it was mildly amusing and middle of the pack. Sarah was particularly witty tonight.

    Scowen: Now Owen seems fixated on partly building and then having to demolish. He is clueless about the real issue – actually grasping the requirement of the build and designing something that will work. The demolition is just the symptom. Once again, he was going to ignore good advice, but thankfully Scott is stepping up.

    I really liked the balloon builds, especially the top two – Pegasus and the Flying Inventor. Both were excellent.

    Did we see Hamish going to help the mums at the end? I thought that wasn’t allowed, and he seemed to pull back from it as if he had suddenly realised that.

    Brickman was really off in his assessments I felt in the second build. Apart from the obvious favouritism of the mums, I could not understand at all his contempt for the fisherman. I ranked the fisherman second after the snake (with daylight between). It wasn’t perfect, but fun and relatable, and the story they added was well done and inventive. For some reason, BM ranted about the height of the wharf, which DH and I were able to name four places with wharves like that off the top of our heads.

    Then BM vaguely looked at the rocket, mumbled something complimentary about them being able to change in time. Nothing about the total lack of story for the rocket. It was like a big version of a toy rocket off the shelf at Big W. No movement, no indication it was doing anything or going anywhere.

    It just doesn’t compute for me that Brickman thought the rocket was better than the fisherman.

    The fountain was a nice idea, and in the right hands (eg David/Gus) it could have been a real beauty. It was just the final indication that Ryan & Gabby weren’t quite up there, and I think that they knew that last night.

    So, looking ahead we have the “biggest mid-season twist ever” along with ads that trumpeted a “double elimination”. How can that work? A double elimination leaves us with two remaining teams after tonight, so that makes Tues night the Grand Final? And if so, how can the twist be described as “mid-season” – unless they bring everyone back and immediately chuck out two of them?

    I’m pretty certain that the season is not over this week. They would be mad to have so few episodes.

    Just as an idea: wouldn’t it be fun if the final two built three builds over three nights with cumulative scoring. Each build could emphasise a different skill. We’d get more amazing builds from the best two teams, it would build tension, and if they are able to bring in a crowd to vote, even better.

    • If I was there, I would’ve built some kind of sea monster — maybe a squid or something — creeping up from underneath the dock, with it’s tentacles just under where the fisherman was sitting. That would’ve told a better story and probably pleased the ever-fickle Brickman a bit more.

      I’m still not really warming to the mothers. I like Sarah and appreciate that she’s clever and quick-witted, but her partner just leaves me cold. I’m sure she’s a lovely person, but it’s like, she doesn’t quite know what she’s doing (and circumstances have contrived to keep them around far longer than they otherwise would’ve).

      Scott and Owen aren’t my favourite team anymore, but I think Scott stepping up a bit is helping reign in Owen (which is what they need).

    • I didn’t like the fisherman. I thought they could have been more creative with the big brown bit.

  34. I thought I wasn’t going to like this episode. I have little tolerance for those who have failed.
    So I went to bed with 2 iPads (we are having buckets of rain and doggo doesn’t like a thunderstorm) so I could have LM on mute and I tuned into Queens of Mystery.
    Firstly, Queens of Mystery is a lot of fun. It is very tongue in cheek and filled with fabulous British actors who can say all of these lines with a straight face. I high,y recommend it, noting that I have only watched Ep 1.
    And secondly, I enjoyed LM more than I expected.
    Brickman really makes this show.

  35. Last night was a gentle, middle of the season build. It did show that Scott and Owen do best when they have strong parameters. They also did better because Scott did most of the design, but Owen was technically amazing when able to focus on one specific goal.

    The rockstar game was miles ahead in every way, and the very obvious winner. Second place was a bit of a surprise, not that it wasn’t deserving but because the returnees, Ryan and Gabby, created in a way that they hadn’t been able to achieve before. It felt a bit like they had had coaching while “eliminated”.

    The other returnees were the sad story of the night. This was a general failure all around with a poor concept, technical errors, poor time management. They are better builders than the teams who didn’t come back, but it is sort of hard to see that they are really a long way behind the other five, even the mums.

    The difference between that team and Gus/David was clear. Both were struggling with things going wrong, yet David had a plan B, knew exactly what to do when he had to surrender, and Gus picked up the slack with excellent building of the rest of the game. Still not near winning, but not an embarassing failure.

    Hamish and BM continue to bring the comedy. Love the to-cameras by Hamish.

    Time to enjoy Travel Guides and the Footy, until LM is back on Sunday. I’m looking forward to Weakest Link when it arrives, too. Somehow channel 9 are bringing the shows at the moment, taking 7’s wonky crown.

    • Yeah, I was really surprised by the losing returnees. I had thought they would’ve started to aim up … but despite the fact that they were eliminated by way of an incomplete build, last night, they turn in an incomplete build.

      Just looking at the end result, I was just thinking, what in the name of Brickman did they spend 12 hours doing? The girl built a bus, and then spent 8 hours placing yellow plates on a background. Like, that was it? That was really disappointing.

    • I wasn’t surprised that they mucked it up.
      They have continually shown a lack of ability to build people.
      One hour into the build they should have known that the motorbike rider was always going to be too big, with a reminder that that was the same problem that they had in the very entertaining rocket ship episode.
      They don’t seem to learn from past mistakes, or feedback.
      And just as an aside, I like the mums (I am aware that it’s just me) but there were no moving parts in their video game. Seriously. What were they not thinking? I find Scott and Whatshisface incredibly irritating but at least they are prepared to stretch themselves. Mums to go next.

  36. So … Jess and what’s-his-name get to be a team that gets eliminated twice.

    The twist was a bit rough, tonight, because most of the teams were doing great, until Hamish threw a curve-ball at them.

    Gus and Dave lost me a little bit, tonight. When the challenge was, “build your dream house”? Launching into multiple long monologues about how you don’t think about those sorts of things because you just want your family around you to be happy, it just made him sound like a pretentious knob. It was almost like he was fishing for compliments, like, it was just a weird moment. Topped off by the point where he added, “I don’t deal with the imagination-based things”. It’s like, dude, you’re on a TV show about creating things with small plastic blocks.

    The whole thing was just super awkward. I didn’t know what to do with any of that, at all.

    • I’ve met someone with no imagination. He was a pharmacy student, and a good one.
      His girlfriend said he can’t read fiction because his mind doesn’t work like that. Some movies are okay as long as they spell everything out. Think Lord of the Rings.
      The good news is that she never has to make a shopping list. He is a walking list.
      If that describes Gus, and the task is too conceptual, I would imagine that he would struggle. And struggle they did.
      Or they just started badly and then tried to justify it.

    • I didn’t understand the comment about imagination. What has he been building for the past several weeks? Every build involves imagination and he and Dave have been doing fine with it.

      I was annoyed with the edit over this storyline. Gus did say those things, and have a little meltdown (time out?) but it was overblown and repeated endlessly, and made him look over-emotional. I really just think that it was his moment to hit a “builder’s block” – a little over-tired with the whole process.

      Interesting elimination. I thought the young guys would go, because Jess and Anthony did not make any mistakes and you could see amazing stuff through the sides and front of the house. The boys made technical errors (although we thought the build was pretty good) but I thought they might get a few brownie points for the bravery of the technique. When the twist was announced, we thought they should do a dam between the mountain with a big crack and a dribble of water. Possibly too basic to build, but a good story.

      In the end, I think that once again there was some measure of taking into account the general quality of the past few builds, as well as the current one. On that basis, Jess and Anthony did not measure up, despite the awesome racing car. That win just highlighted that they only have one of the three basic techniques right.

      The twist was a funny thing. For Ryan and Gabby, it saved their build and gave them the win. I thought theirs was a bit boring until they added all the crazy kids with cones. The design of their buildings was very inventive, though. Gus and Dave’s tree was well built, and the snake saved them from bottom two. I liked that the tree had an elevator! The mums build, I thought, was again quite basic in technique, but they do shine if there is a good story to be sold. I really liked the beach house, and the tsunami was a good story, but the wave somehow looked too frail. They could have built a more solid one that didn’t go all the way over the top. Just as good an effect if it reached the first or second level.

      I laughed a lot in this episode, particularly during the race challenge. The mums car going in circles was hilarious. DS suggested that maybe one of their wheels was turning the opposite way.

      A bit sadly, when they showed the past builds of the guy who came back as the commentator, I was amazed by them and it seemed that we haven’t seen that sort of quality yet. Maybe I need to look back at this season more.

      • Some of the builds were lovely, last night. I loved the mothers and their art and music themed mansion — and I particularly liked the twist of the IRS just showing up and raiding it all.

        I really like your idea of the canyons and the bursting dam. That would’ve been great, and they would’ve avoided the traps of microscale building (that ultimately let them down).

        As for the tsunami … I kept thinking, they had 3 hours to build something, and that’s all they came up with? A single brick curved wall?

        As annoyed as I was with David and Gus, I thought the anaconda was brilliant (and I noticed the parts usage, in terms of the snake’s forked tongue, before Brickman did).

  37. I’m not sorry to see the end of the science communicator. She just became more and more annoying. She’s going to do that fake laugh on her death bed.
    I think they lost it with the wave. It was just a sheet of blue attached to the roof and the floor.
    I don’t think they cope with left turns well.
    Mind you, their car was good.

  38. Great episode tonight.

    I forgave Owen for almost all of his past sins, just for wearing the citrus shirt. Anyway, I think some of the past lessons have started to sink in. Brickman warns him of a problem on the horizon, and the guy stops and listens. And things end up a lot better (hell, they won). Not perfect, no, but it’s a start. They’re getting there.

    I thought most of the other builds missed the mark a little bit. I would’ve been livid if Brickman had awarded Dave and Gus, despite spending a lot of time talking about the misplaced jet.

    But I loved the scene of Asgard and Thor taking out the demon with Mjolnir. Still, worthy winners tonight. Their rendition of Doctor Strange’s building was amazing.

  39. It’s a controversial night on the Lego Masters FB page.

    About half the comments are about how the boys were robbed, and the mothers’ build just wasn’t that good. The judging seems rather inconsistent, this year, and it’s bothering people.

    But the page admins are just deleting any comments that are criticising the show. Most of them aren’t even personal or nasty. Even people pointing out that the mother nature build was better and more technical are getting their responses deleted, which rubs me the wrong way, I think.

    I think Brickman’s favouritism towards one team in particular is pretty clear, and the audience has picked up on that. And that’s not the audience’s fault.

    The big sticking point for me was how he told Gus and Dave that an oversized-hand painting colour onto the house wasn’t a good enough idea, yet he told Hamish that the mums’ idea (of an oversized-watering can pouring colour onto the house) was the best idea of the night!

    Those are, essentially, the same ideas. It doesn’t make sense.

    • Your comment about the over-sized hand was exactly what we were saying – what’s the diff? The mums build was good, but they needed reminding to fill in the front, and the watering can had no sprinkle-head and no water. Instead we could see the inner construction support of the can, which could have easily been covered with some watery blue bricks.

      BM has toned down the overt fawning over that team, but it is still there in the background. It was very unfortunate of him to tell Gus and David that he “expects more of them” because of their past quality builds. Yet I feel that his attitude to the mums is some unintentional condescension – “isn’t it lovely that the poor dears are trying so hard to match the others, and so sweetly too. I’ll focus on their great storylines, and not go too heavy on the technique…”. In essence, he is just too gentlemanly toward them, a trait that we love, but I was thinking that this would have been the time to have two disparate judges, so the other could balance BM’s bias.

      Of course, the mums’ big failures have all occurred on non-elimination challenges, and the eliminations have favoured the teams who are artistic (hence the revival of Ryan and Gabby) and disadvantaged those who are technically strong. The immunity challenges have favoured technical challenge but that only saves one team.

      That said, I agreed with Michael and Harrison going. It was such a pity because it would have been quite easy to introduce a lot more colour, which was their downfall. “Mother Nature” is an imaginary concept (as was evidenced by making a “mother” to look like Beyonce!) so there was no need for her to be all green. She could have had beautiful floral colours all over her dress, and a train like a rainbow. The trees could have been covered in bright purple blossom, the ground with yellow daffodils. I suspect they were going more for the “Spring Fairy”.

      BTW, my favourite matched the viewer’s choice. I thought the truck crash was really good.

      Sounds interesting on the FB page. I suppose that’s the negative of commenting on the official page, the posts will be vetted to portray the show in the best light. I saw some of the same with The Block one.

      • I guess I just found it really frustrating because it was so over-the-top.

        If the comments were abusive or derogatory, then fine. And there were a couple of comments (only a few, mind) that were hurtful or personal or cruel. I understand the page admins deciding to delete those. That’s completely understandable.

        But the vast majority of the deleted comments (including one of my own) were just people saying that they preferred the Mother Nature build and didn’t understand why the mothers made it through.

        Even Ryan and the mothers themselves were posting, last night, and it was like they were treating any kind of slightly-negative feedback (again, nothing more cruel or vicious than, “I think the other team should’ve won”) as personal slaps in the face.

        Honestly, I preferred the mother nature build to the watering can, just because the watering can had so little colour. I thought the whole point of the challenge was to introduce colour to this grey-scale world, and while they had an artistic build, it wasn’t a very colourful one.

        I do agree that the boys could’ve tried harder. Lego flowers come in dozens of bright colours. And “nature” isn’t just about plants, they could’ve had animals as well, again, all in bright colours. And I wondered why they didn’t do that, because that’s how I would’ve taken that.

        But again, my preference was that the mother nature build was better.

        And I also think that Brickman’s overt preference for the mothers is kind of problematic. Scott and Owen, and David and Gus, have had technically-superior builds the whole entire time, but are they going to lose $100K just because Brickman likes someone else better? To me that defeats the entire point of the competition.

        As said, why tell one team, “You can do better” then praise the exact same idea, for another team, by saying it was the best idea of the night? I don’t think that passes the pub test.

  40. My favourite was the Mum’s build. I just loved the idea and the contrast between the grey and the colour was spot on. I loved the dribble of colour through the front yard especially. I can’t comment on technical skill. It all looks technical to me.
    It just goes to show.
    I took on board Brickman’s criticism of the Mother Nature build but I still thought it was a shame because I thought it was lovely and I am assuming that Brickman doesn’t think that green is a LegoMaster colour. Still, there you go. They were going to get eliminated eventually because they have always been middle of the pack.
    I loved the ducks. The build was everything I love about this show.
    The unicorns were meh.

    • I honestly loved the unicorn stampede. It wasn’t perfect, no (Brickman had a point that the colour was too much. Too unfocussed, too spread out), but I really liked the idea. I could imagine it so clearly in my head.

  41. Well, Australia heaved a collective sigh of relief, while the tears flowed on set. It was a good thing too, because the mums are essentially nice and entertaining but if they had gone any further there would have been a lot of negative vibe thrown at them and the show. As it is, I think they went further than they should anyway but at least we have a final three who most would believe have earned their place. Some might suggest the young guys should not be gone in favour of a previously eliminated team – that might be a fair view. Yet Gabby and Ryan have earned their place since returning, and done it such that I could see them getting the win if the stars align for them.

    I loved all the building last night. The episode was light on Hamish’s comedy and antics, and focused more on the stories, which was fine. The highlight moment was when the tree was dark and you could see the silhouettes of the builds, and then they were all lit up. It was magical.

    I thought this was one of Scott and Owen’s best builds. Owen’s confidence (borderline arrogance, maybe?) to know that he could extend the branches was brilliant, and as was said, gave their world 3D dimension, with buildings and scenes on all different levels. Once again Scott’s amazing ability to create a minifig universe was displayed. I agreed that the underground box was too crowded, but in the context of the whole build, forgivable.

    The tiger was amazing, except for the small annoyance of the dangling leg being too white. It was said that their meerkats weren’t lifelike but I thought they did a great job with them, as the figures were more suggestive than detailed. Better that, than to do them in poor detail.

    The swinging girl I loved. Gabby’s ideas are more left field because she is more family oriented, and it is refreshing to see something different to the fantasy world ideas. Ryan’s adding of the leg swinging saved this build. It highlights the advanced problem solving skills involved in Lego. However, the girl herself was a little bland, I thought.

    The bees. It could have been a good idea, but the bees themselves were boxy instead of round. Some small movement would have helped, maybe the queen’s head nodding or something. I just didn’t feel the story. I wondered why the workers were grumpy, when in nature they are just doing whatever they are programmed for. Also, I was under the impression that the queen never leaves the hive. Maybe they could have built a hive on the branch, instead of perching them like birds.

    I wish BM could have given (or the edit shown) more of the criticism of not just the bees, but all the builds. His comments were a bit light I think.

    This year I really can’t pick a winner. In other years there was a clear favourite.
    For consistency, I want David and Gus to win, but I worry that they let BM get into their heads too easily. When Scowen are on form, they are fantastic, but it will depend on the challenge. Ryabby definitely have a chance but I think the quality of the built parts will have to step up to match the techno ideas.

    • We have reached the business end of the season.

      I almost let out of a sigh of relief, last night. Brickman was still cheer-leading for them, right at the end, praising them for their technical skills (a bee model sitting on a brick-built throne?) alongside the team who used actual technical abilities. They were lovely competitors, but I don’t quite think they were top four. Anyway. I didn’t much care for the build. It was the same boxy-bee, repeated 7 times. There wasn’t even really much of a story.

      I liked the twist that there was another 5 hour build that caught them all by surprise.

      I also quite liked Scott and Owen’s elve’s village. It was terrifying, though. Every time anyone even walked near the tree, I was scared that the limbs were all going to break and the whole thing was going to collapse.

      As for tonight, I’m leaning towards Gus and Dave, but I think Owen and Scott *may* pull out a win, if they can keep Owen in check and they don’t argue. You never know, with those two.

  42. I knew the Mums were going home as soon as they decided on bees. Lego just doesn’t lend itself to round things, and bees were just going to be repetitive and round.
    The Mums knew they were going home very early in the build as well (as per every comment they made) and good on them for remaining cheerful. I suspect they knew they had reached their limit.
    I liked them but they never really progressed in any way. I don’t think they made a moving bit even once.
    I would prefer that Scott and Owen didn’t win. They are too erratic, and when they are bad, they are awful.
    Either of the others will do. I’m expecting Gus and David for sheer consistency.

  43. I can’t lie. As much as I loved David and Gus’s forest build … I was still kind of hoping that Scott and Owen won. I really liked their scene. But alas, Brickman got the final say.

    • I was excited for the circus build but it lacked something in the end. It was more than just technically problematic. I think they missed something in the story telling. I am not sure what.
      I preferred Gus and David’s build because the story was clearer and more cohesive. I thought Scott and Owen’s build was clever but a bit itsy-bitsy for me. It looked like a mash. I think, as always, Owen was difficult to rein in.
      Overall, happy with the finale.
      I did think it was odd that 50 people were allowed in to judge but no extras were allowed into the finale because of COVID restrictions.

      • I did like the moment where Brickman made them stop and reassess their build, and Owen went along with it.

        He’s still Owen (and he and Scott could not be more different, personality-wise, could they?), but I like to think that he did learn something, as the season progressed.

      • The restrictions were hit and miss throughout the show. I concluded that they were making a basic nod to what should be visible, but that the contestants and crew were in a bubble and they really didn’t need to be doing any at all. That’s why the family time was more emotional – they must have been separated for quite a while.

  44. Great finale, and I agree with all your general comments. When it got to the end, I was mixed. The problem was that I could see all the quality of Scott and Owen’s build – the massive effort, sheer number of bricks, the swirling blue etc, and yet.. and yet.. I still just liked the deer better. My head said the fight scene, but my heart was overruling for the forest. Behind that, I think, was the feeling that it was another fantasy fight scene, maybe too repetitive on their previous builds.

    I liked the circus, but I couldn’t understand why they didn’t build the sides of the tent straight up with normal bricks, and then it would be strong to support the canopy. I think the negative was that they just couldn’t get the stripes to line up.

    As always, I wish we saw the voting numbers, and that BM had less “bonus” bricks. 100 (with 250 public votes) is an automatic win for that team. 50 for BM gives a popular build a chance.

    Well, all done till next year. Unlike many competitions shows, season 3 was just as fun as the others and I will miss it. I was planning to replace it with Weakest Link, but I have just found out that that show won’t start until 9.20pm! Madness. Do they want it to fail?

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