Lego Masters (USA) - General Discussion

[Maverick]

There's no way an episode is filmed over one day.  Cooking shows with a total cook time of 2-3 hours take an entire day to film.  There's a lot more to TV production than just the work time.  

 I agree we don't see enough detail of the final builds.  It's the most frustrating part of this show. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Week 2 exit interview with Kara and Jessie

Week 3 exit interview with Travis and Corey

Week 4 exit interview with Manny and Nestor

 

 

[ProfCrash]

I liked the buildings and was surprised that some people struggled with the twist. Why couldn't the co-play team come up with a Steam Punk monster or Steam Punk ships attacking the city? It is not like that should have been that hard to come up with. Which is a shame because their original buildings were great.

Not sure why the team with the giant building and nothing inside it couldn't have added small things while building each level. Or why they had four buildings that looked totally different. There was not coordination between the buildings, it made no sense.

I liked the geometric spiral buildings but through that the dragons attacking it were a bit lame. They looked good but you couldn't really tell that they were different types of monsters attacking the building.

The bros building was impressively tall and detailed. I was happy to see that they learned their lesson and took off the top half for the second trip back to the center spot. I was more miffed that they tracked the one to the back when he was upset and filmed that. Just show him taking off to the back and the other dude following him, then show them returning. Leave the rest out of it. I get that it is a TV show but really? I actually thought Will handled that mess as well as you could.

The winners totally deserved it. The hot dog monsters were creative and all sorts of awesome. They had great details in each of the sub sections. It was a ton of fun and screamed lego.

I liked the concept of Fairy Tale building but I thought that the final product wasn't great. The shoe never looked like a shoe. The 3 Little Pigs houses were nice but that was about all that they had. The attack scene was weak. I suspect that they are being kept more for the story and team strangeness then their actual build capability.

The gay married couples buildings were pretty unforgettable. At least they had a theme and fit together but there was nothing there that was all that creative or interesting.

[roamyn]

Jermaine & Mel’s glass tower was the only (big) failure in their build IMO.

Really Sam & Jessica should’ve been in B2 and gone home.  The beanstalk was Ok, but the rest was poorly done and quite obviously not equal in expertise.  The cosplay girls had good building structure, but then such a mess in the details and no real clear story,  however, their base was much better than Sam & Jessica’s.

That geometric shape was stunning.  Even more impressive than the Bros.  I didn’t mind the 3 headed serpent, but it wasn’t very imaginative.  However, I thought they deserved 2nd.

The right build won IMO.  It was creative, whimsical, structured, clear in story and colorful.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E6: Need for Speed; Super Bridges

Quote

The remaining teams must build a car and a strong bridge; the creations are stress tested for strength.

Original air date: 3/11/20

[blackwing]

On 3/8/2020 at 5:59 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I felt so bad for the team whose creation crashed on the way to the (first) table. Seeing everyone's reactions was a great moment of people dropping their game faces. Even the judge was horrified for them. And I really appreciated the guy who was shit talking them earlier saying that he wouldn't wish that even on his worst enemy. His Torrance Shipman attitude was great. You don't want to beat someone because they had a huge mishap like that. You want to beat them by being better.

I couldn't blame the guy who left and cried. They just worked for 14 hours straight so he was probably already stressed and tired, so seeing all your work hit the ground after all that effort must have been devastating. I loved that his partner was so positive and supportive.

I had a different take... I cackled with glee and rewound and watched that scene multiple times.  I would have felt bad for them had they not proven themselves to be smug douchebags pretty much from the very beginning.  The buff one looks and acts like a stereotypical frat boy (“uh... this one time at meathead camp, I was banging this hot chick and she told me she loved my lego”).  The nerd one is the very definition of hubris.  
 

They ended up in top two, right?  I would not have put them there simply because the only reason why they got there is because they were saved by Part 2.   They should have been more widely criticized for being arrogant (“we want the highest tower!”) which led to their downfall since it wasn’t stable enough.  I put have put the married couple and their really cool tri-tower there instead.  
 

Most of the teams left seem pretty decent.  I think Cop / Non-Cop is probably the weakest.  But Sam and Jessica could easily go home too.

I want either the married couple or the lumberjacks to win.

[ProfCrash]

I don't like the Bro's as a team. The buff one cannot look or do anything without a smug look on his face. I don't know if that is just how he normally looks or he is working hard to present a specific front but he always looks smug. He annoys me.

I have no problem with their back and forth with the Cop team, they were all participating and it felt good natured, like the trash talking at a basketball game, and not offensive. The Bro's have proved that they are very good builders and know what they are doing.

I suspect that the one with the glasses is the more serious builder and that the smug one enjoys LEGO and helps his friend but is there because they had to be a team. Kind of like the women on the hippie team is there because the guy needed a teammate. Neither team feels like they regularly work together and build together. The other teams seem to have a more natural vibe.

But the glasses Bro is the one who teaches LEGO engineering and is the one doing most of the serious building. The smug one seems to be building what he is told and the more basic structures.

That said, I thought it was cheap following them after the crash. That was heartbreaking for everyone on the set. You could see that all the other teams were upset and sorry that it happened. It is similar to cakes that fall in the baking shows that I like to watch. People are competing but no one wants to see that happen the anyone.

[hoosiermom]

Who went home tonight with the weight bridge challenge? My DVR didn’t record the end!

[LittleIggy]

16 minutes ago, hoosiermom said:

Who went home tonight with the weight bridge challenge? My DVR didn’t record the end!

The husband and wife and the bearded guys tied at 1000 lbs! 🤭 That was impressive. I think the h/w should have won based on aesthetics.

[mertensia]

The cop/not cop pair went home.

Those were some impressive bridges! Holding at 1000 pounds! 

[ClareWalks]

I can't believe Tyler and Amy didn't win. Not only did their bridge look better and more creative, it didn't crack under the weight.

[Taeolas]

I think the right team went home. Their bridge held one of the least weights and they missed criteria; a major sin in competition shows that rarely can be overcome. It did look good and had it met criteria, any of the bottom 3 weights would have been a good call to go home. 

I noticed after the first two bridges, production seemed to clue in as to what was going on and added the plexiglass safety barriers on both sides of the bridges. I'm surprised they let the bridges go all the way up to 1000lbs; that much weight coming down would be a safety risk for sure. I have to wonder if production started and figured "They'll only hold maybe a few hundred pounds, we don't need to do any more" (and ignored what other Lego Master shows have pulled off I'm sure), then when the first bridge almost went to 500lbs, they figured "We need more safety and we need an upper limit."

Either of the 1000lb bridges was worth a win, but I think I agree that Tyler and Amy should have gotten the win ultimately. Theirs looked like a better bridge and it showed 0 signs of strain whereas the Lumberjacks seemed to be showing a few cracks. That said, the Plaid boys bridge looked more 'modern' with more engineering involved in it, while Tyler and Amy's felt/seemed more like "Put enough bricks to almost fill in the gap" (though we did see some underside shots of their bridge that showed a bit more technique). On the flip side, had they given it to T&A, there's a better chance the golden brick would be used in the next episode or two, whereas the Plaid Boys might be able to run to the end without needing to use it at all now. 

[mlp]

My DVR didn't record the whole show.  Who else finished in the bottom two with the cop and his brother?  I was worried about the gay couple because I like them and they said engineering is not in their wheelhouse.

[Taeolas]

14 minutes ago, mlp said:

My DVR didn't record the whole show.  Who else finished in the bottom two with the cop and his brother?  I was worried about the gay couple because I like them and they said engineering is not in their wheelhouse.

Wiki has the results up including who was the bottom 2 and the top two.

Richard & Flynn were also in the bottom two. They had a nice bridge that should have done well, but didn't have enough bulk IMO, so theirs supported the least (not even making it to 50lbs)

Sam & Jessica (I think?) had a bridge that held the same amount as Jermaine & Mel, but were safe because J&M didn't meet the requirements. 

Looking on Wiki, the Australian season did a compareable bridge challenge (10h to build a 2m bridge), but the best ones only held 88kg (about 200lbs). I can't find any results/details about the UK show; but if they reached similar limits, then I'm not surprised they were surprised the American bridges blew past their expected limits. 

 

By the way, next week looks like fun; creating scenes based on kids filling in mad-libs. 

Nicole Byer, host of Nailed It! is guest starring. If you aren't familiar with the show, have the mute button handy because she is LOUD. 🙂

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Taeolas

[xfuse]

1 hour ago, Taeolas said:

Looking on Wiki, the Australian season did a compareable bridge challenge (10h to build a 2m bridge), but the best ones only held 88kg (about 200lbs). I can't find any results/details about the UK show; but if they reached similar limits, then I'm not surprised they were surprised the American bridges blew past their expected limits. 

The Aussie one was 10 hours to build the 2 m bridge (6.5 feet) and they were surprised because on the UK one they used a remote control toy truck with weight to crash the bridge. If I was going on a show that had other versions I would have checked them out to maybe get an idea of what they were doing to prepare. 

The bridge show was my favourite ep of the Aussie show. I finally took another look at it and figured out why I enjoy the Aussie one so much more. The shows are so much longer so you get to see them build. You get more of the process (and I enjoy Hamish so much more than Will).  Of the 42 min for this show we get about 20 minutes focus on Will.

Without commercials:

ep 1 - 1 hour 24 min, ep 2 - 1 hour 2 min, ep 3 - 55 min, ep 4 - 1 hour 13 min, ep 5 - 57 min, ep 6 - 58 min, ep 7 - 1 hour 19 min, ep 8 - 1 hour, and the final - 1 hour and 6 min.

 

[Chit Chat]

Seeing as how it was a "weight" challenge, shouldn't the ones with the bridge that held the least amount of weight have lost?  I like that team, but I thought that was the point of the challenge.  I understand that they'd judge the bottom 2 or 3 on the bridge itself, and I could see that if their bridges all held about the same weight, but Richard & Flynn's bridge held the least amount of weight, so I thought it would be reasonable that they would go home.  

[blackwing]

I disagreed with both results.  I like both the married couple and the lumberjacks, but judging on aesthetics, the married couple should have won.  Their bridge was charming and classic and was really the only bridge that had any element of “making it beautiful”.  The flowers and vines and butterflies looked great. The lumberjacks was sleek and modern but was a mishmash of colour and had no theme.

For the bottom two, I think the gay couple should have gone home.  I know it was judged on aesthetics only, but their bridge failed so miserably.  I also don’t think it looked great at all.  I liked the look of Cop/Not Cop’s bridge so much better.   The gay couple also failed miserably at the car challenge.  Their car was far behind anyone else’s.   I know the time penalty was already built in to the bridge challenge   But they finished both challenges in absolute dead last place by a considerable margin so I feel like that should have been taken into consideration.

[blackwing]

I think it is interesting that we had three teams of minorities and two all-women teams, and those were the first five teams out.  I don’t think there’s a conspiracy there, I just find it interesting.  In terms of diversity, I guess we are left with the gay couple.  Buff frat bro who is possibly Hispanic.  Oh and Sam, who is probably gay, and Glasses frat bro, who is possibly gay.  
 

So maybe not so interesting after all hahaha.  There’s only one team of all-white males.  Wish we could see more of the actual building.  I agree with others that it seems like the wife in the married couple doesn’t seem to pull her weight.   I’d be curious to see exactly how much she contributes to their team.

[Dewey Decimate]

Thank gravy the frat douches (well, ultimate frat douche and his nerdish enabler) didn't win the golden brick. You could see the smirk slightly wipe from his face at the moment their weight was surpassed. I like the plaid bros a lot, but feel the married couple should have won by a landslide - their bridge was gorgeous. I wonder if the corporate fix was in due to the fact that the married couple's bridge didn't use any of the special Technica (?) bricks that were mentioned a few times in a rather promotional way?

[ProfCrash]

34 minutes ago, Dewey Decimate said:

Thank gravy the frat douches (well, ultimate frat douche and his nerdish enabler) didn't win the golden brick. You could see the smirk slightly wipe from his face at the moment their weight was surpassed. I like the plaid bros a lot, but feel the married couple should have won by a landslide - their bridge was gorgeous. I wonder if the corporate fix was in due to the fact that the married couple's bridge didn't use any of the special Technica (?) bricks that were mentioned a few times in a rather promotional way?

I thought it was the lack of technica blocks as well.

[lynxfx]

The bearded guys bridge was more layered and textured. It had multiple levels and internal spaces for scenes and figs. The couples looked just like a solid arch with flowers tacked on the side. Both looked nice and very well engineered but I think they picked the right winner.

[roamyn]

I call BS.  Tyler & Amy’s bridge didn’t even flinch, and the color was gorgeous.  I was pissed.  Also I’m sick of the one’s “singing”.

Edited March 17, 2020 by roamyn

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, roamyn said:

I’m sick of the one’s “singing”.

I'm not entirely defending his singing, but just as an explanation, in one of the interviews posted above, someone mentioned that there is no music or other outside sound in the build room so they are spending 10-14 hours in a room where the only sound is people talking to their partners. I'm guessing he does it just to break up the monotony. I'm not denying that it could get annoying, but there's a big difference between him doing it, say, once every 15 minutes over 10 hours versus us hearing it several times over 42 minutes.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E7: Storybook

Quote

The contestants must interpret a story that is read aloud from a book selected just for this competition; Nicole Byer assists the contestants.

Original air date: 3/18/20

[mertensia]

It was time for Richard and Flynn to go - the one just stressed out too much.

Like I believe the kids cared about Mark and Boone's empty space. No more kids, please.

That carrot with the attached broccoli was great.

[Taeolas]

So next week is a pair challenge. Ugh, why are they doing it at 4? A pair challenge should be done at 6 or 8.

Anyways, as for this week.... (Going off memory since I can't find clips/info of the episode much)

I agree, no more kids, but I suspect we'll have at least 1 kids episode per season. Hopefully we never get "Kids Lego Masters" though. 😞

The Top 2 and Bottom 2 were good calls. 

* Lumber jacks were a solid middle. They handled the twist fine and fit it in well. But the talk of empty space was just a reason to put the golden brick at risk. (And clearly the kid was prompted to say the empty space was a problem). I agree they should've done something other than grey; use green bricks and toss some trees on it or something; but otherwise the rest of the design was solid. 

* The Carrot and Broccoli monsters were great. Their design was solid to start with, and the carrot invader fit well. 

* I think the second Top look was the one with the rat villain; a very distinctive build that used their space effectively. 

 

I can't remember which of the bottom two was the ones to go home; but all in all, while I was impressed with them, I could see the weakness in them compared to the other 3. The bottom ones felt 'flatter' all in all, and didn't have as much excitement in the end. Either were good calls to go home at that point I  think. 

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, Taeolas said:

But the talk of empty space was just a reason to put the golden brick at risk. (And clearly the kid was prompted to say the empty space was a problem). I agree they should've done something other than grey; use green bricks and toss some trees on it or something; but otherwise the rest of the design was solid. 

Compared to everyone else's design, theirs fell flat to me with that big open space.

8 hours ago, Taeolas said:

The Carrot and Broccoli monsters were great. Their design was solid to start with, and the carrot invader fit well. 

This couple is consistently creative.  I always look forward to what they'll create.

[LittleIggy]

I’m glad Tyler and Amy won this week (should’ve won last week!). Their build was awesome. I especially loved the carrot monster.

The right team went home. Their villain was ridiculous. It was barely noticeable. 
The Bros’ build was a mess. Their villain, too, was barely noticeable.

Edited March 20, 2020 by LittleIggy

[roamyn]

I got confused.  Wasn’t the ‘Taker Waker’ the villain?  If so, Richard & Flynn had a great villain.  But the rest of their characters were flat, and not fully built.

The book idea that Mark & Boone had was neat, but yeah that gray space was too much.

Sam & Jessica’s was deservedly top two, but Tyler & Amy’s carrot busting out of the ground, with the “soil” falling over its body, was FANTASTIC.  Solid, eye popping, creative.  And their ‘Taker Waker’ was adorably sinister.  Sam & Jessica’s was flat and simplistic.  Though their horse with the gold medal & leotard was cute & creative.

[Fukui San]

The Taker Waker was the villain, but then there was the additional character popping out of the ground and falling from the sky. For the eliminated pair, the UFO was teeny.

[lynxfx]

On 3/19/2020 at 12:44 PM, ChitChat said:

Compared to everyone else's design, theirs fell flat to me with that big open space.

From a tv show camera perspective, I think theirs gave one of the best visuals of depth. There was a shot from straight on with the camera low and slowly rising that really gave their model depth and scale. Perfectly viewed from a child's height. The bottom two were flat and condensed. Made everything look very cluttered. 

That said I think all the ranks were spot on. Loved the carrot monster and was surprised they were able to make it as large as they did. Especially when you compare what the other teams did in the same amount of time. 

Agree on what others have said about a group challenge happening when we are down to 4 teams. That should be one of the first challenges, not the semi finals. 

[blackwing]

On 3/19/2020 at 4:20 AM, mertensia said:

It was time for Richard and Flynn to go - the one just stressed out too much.

Agreed.  Happy to see this team go.  I wasn’t impressed with any of their builds.  They really should have gone home last week when they failed miserably twice.  Their build this week was a mess.  It didn’t make sense in the first place... what was the point of the conveyor belt?  This was the one where the English lady judge said that movement for the sake of movement doesn’t add anything, right?

They got five extra hours for part 2 of the story and all they added was a green guy popping up a little bit from the ground and a truly pathetic looking tiny two dimensional UFO.  Well deserved elimination.  They were clearly not on par with the remaining teams so I don’t know why the chunkier one looked like he was about to burst into tears when their name got called.  I never figured out which was which and it didn’t help that they wore identical glasses.  The chunkier one was always so over dramatic and such a negative nelly and constantly worried about everything.

Glad to see the douchebros knocked down a peg.  Their build was terrible.  I wanted the judges to say something about how blocky the frame of the house was.  That said, I don’t get the criticism that they “took the words literally” in their interpretation.  Wasn’t that the whole point?  Make a build using the characters mentioned in the story?

I’m tired of hearing Will talk about the buff bro’s muscles.  I get it.  He works out.  Enough.  
 

At this point, I hope anyone but the douchebros win.  But my favorite is the married couple.  Their build was amazing.  Loved the giant carrot and the little broccolis.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E8: Good Vs. Evil

Quote

Contestants create evil lairs and fly vehicles through their Lego worlds; actor Terry Crews.

Original air date: 3/25/20

[laschifosavita]

I think I would have been tempted to keep Richard and Flynn over the frat boys if I was a judge. It wasn't a complicated enough build for this competition, but I liked that they had a distinct visual style. The frat boys' build looked like a big pile of stuff without any unifying theme or focus point.

[Taeolas]

Reality Show rules: 

1. Do not do a pair up challenge in your Top 4. 

2. Expire your immunity idols at Top 5 at the latest. 

Not that the plaid boys needed the golden brick, but with a pair up challenge, it just didn't really work. 

The villains certainly won tonight, and I have no problem with it. Both had fantastic builds. The Scorpion Queen won hands down and I wish we could've seen more. 

The Pizza lair also was solid but a bit plainer in comparison; but still Top 2 of the 4. So the winners and top were legit. 

 

As for the bottom 2, I can see why the Bathtub guy lair felt weaker; it was a complicated scene that just felt cluttered but still was nice. And it integrated well with the overall scene.

The guy had a cleaner scene IMO, but it didn't really fit as a lair; too much was hidden and it was too plain. Plus they got hung up on that stupid bakesale idea. WTF did that have to do with the Heroes? 

A school as the hideout is perfectly fine (many Power Ranger teams have based out of schools), but they need to reveal more of the basement to show off the hideout. I do give them credit for making the programmer the hero while the hunter was the side kick; it is usually the other way around, and they did do a good job of making the programmer look like the main hero. But they still missed some fundamental parts of the hero-setting. 

Everyone else seemed to get what Hero vs Villain means, and they got hung up on building a school with a school scene? Tyler and Amy basically dictated the combo scene thankfully, and made a good call to basically have a time out after their first discussion. 

 

So yeah, ultimately I'd say the overall rankings were perfect, and the Golden Brick was a non-issue. 

 

 

Next week, we get Star Wars dioramas. Can't wait to see it. We have 3 solid character builders left so it could probably go any way. 

[mertensia]

Yeah, it was time for Christian and Aaron to go. The one dude had to drag teachers into everything. This time it didn't work. A bake sale?

Mark and Boone and Rude dude and his girlfriend 's scenes really did look good together.

[joanne3482]

9 hours ago, mertensia said:

Mark and Boone and Rude dude and his girlfriend 's scenes really did look good together.

You could definitely tell that they planned together. I think it helped that in some way their mini-figs were more easily relatable to each other.  They were able to use the common ground of a city scene since their characters were every day people. The other team had more character-style people. A mummy and a robot/ computer programmer fighting are combining two different genres.  They should have been able to do this and have been challenged to do that in the past, but since the boys were so hung up on the school idea, there wasn't a place where they could come together easily. I did like the obelisk they were fighting around. It did look cool and lent itself to providing the way the sky fighters were in the air. 

13 hours ago, Taeolas said:

So yeah, ultimately I'd say the overall rankings were perfect, and the Golden Brick was a non-issue. 

With 4 teams left the golden brick would always be a non-issue from a dramatic production standpoint.  Even if they had stuck 2 figures on a single slab, they would have been in the top 2 so the show could have the drama of who is going home. If they announced the guys were in the bottom, the viewer automatically knew the other team would be going home.

I like that they said that since they had the golden brick, they felt like they could take more creative liberties.  I appreciate that on shows where there is some sort of immunity, when the person who has it will just throw something crazy out there because they can, sometimes the result is really interesting. I loved their pizza oven mutation device. I thought that was fun. 

[Taeolas]

47 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

You could definitely tell that they planned together. I think it helped that in some way their mini-figs were more easily relatable to each other.  They were able to use the common ground of a city scene since their characters were every day people. The other team had more character-style people. A mummy and a robot/ computer programmer fighting are combining two different genres.  They should have been able to do this and have been challenged to do that in the past, but since the boys were so hung up on the school idea, there wasn't a place where they could come together easily. I did like the obelisk they were fighting around. It did look cool and lent itself to providing the way the sky fighters were in the air. 

 

 

For the challenge of the Scorpion Queen vs the Bounty Hunter,  I wouldn't change a thing about the Scorpion Queen's lair; that was perfection and could work fine.

For the Bounty Hunter/Programmer heros, the obvious Heroes Base for them would've been a big space ship. The Programemr could still be the main hero, with the robots; but a big ship would've been an obvious and natural fit. 

That could fit in with the Obelisk point of conflict as well; the Ship could be on a desert hill near the Obelisk so the scene would be unified, with the Hero team's robot minions coming out to counter the skeletons and scorpions. 

[Cowgirl]

This could be such a fun show, but each week I get so frustrated with all the human "drama" that is shown instead of showing complete pictures of the final builds.  The other thing that drives me crazy is that, when they do show part of a build, the camera is always moving.  My eye doesn't know where to focus.  Just as I'm starting to see something the shot changes.  I wouldn't mind panoramas, but SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWERR.   I had really hoped to see more of the builds and how they do them.  I couldn't care less about the competetive aspect.  

[roamyn]

Lord, I can’t stand Will.  He just needs to stop being a try-hard, and just lead the cameras to show the creativity & stories.

 I really thought Mark & Boone we’re going to win, only because their scene worked better 2gether w/ Sam & Jessica.  That’s mainly why I think S&J didn’t go home - because their combined story was cohesive.

Jamie seemed very confused abt the ‘bake sale’.  It appears the Aaron & Christian didn’t tell them that their hero lair was a school.  I was surprised to hear Christian get all teary at the end.  Didn’t think he had it in him.

The scorpion queen build was eye popping, used color nicely, and told an immediate story.  I love these two.  They’ve been among the most creative throughout the show.

 I would be okay with either M&B or T&A winning.  Sam & Jessica just aren’t polished enough. They shouldn’t have outlasted the cop brothers, A&C, or even Richard & Flynn.

[mlp]

8 hours ago, Cowgirl said:

This could be such a fun show, but each week I get so frustrated with all the human "drama" that is shown instead of showing complete pictures of the final builds. 

Exactly.  The producers must have thought watching people work with Lego wouldn't be gripping.  They should have watched GBBS.  Will is annoying and having guest stars is absolutely pointless.  I want to see close ups and hear more about the different pieces and parts available.

[blackwing]

Good result.   I really enjoyed just about everything about both the lumberjacks and Sam and Jessica’s builds.  Lumberjacks was a complete playset.  I loved the street scene above with the stores and the pizza shop.  Loved the oven churning out evil pizza men.   The battle scene was amazing, I particularly like the explanation of how the pizza men were getting to the surface.  They climbed a ladder and one was bursting out of the open manhole.  The one place where I thought they failed is that the Care Bear didn’t get incorporated into the story... at all!   Not even really as a henchman.

Sam and Jessica’s build was great.  I loved the playfulness of it.  Loved the giant bathtub and the greenhouse above.  I thought they had great details, like the plants and the computer showing a pizza man on the alert monitor with a red X through it.  Didn’t really understand the critique over it not being polished.  Loved the soap bubbles.  And the Gardener Mom and Shower Boy really seemed like an equal team.

Tyler and Amy... always great, always consistent.  Wish I got to see more of the detail and fun things in their lair.  
 

Douchebros deserved to go home.  I don’t understand why a bake sale.  For a programmer?  I completely missed that the building was a school.  A bake sale that makes robots?  Huh?  I feel like they were stuck on the bake sale from the beginning and when Tyler was puzzled, that made them more determined to keep it.  The house was beautiful, particularly with the elevation and the detailing of the green hill it was on.  I wouldn’t have criticised them for the “hidden” aspect of the transformation.  I thought the fact that their story made no sense doomed them.  I think their failing was their determination to make the Lady Programmer the main hero and the spacesuit guy the sidekick.  Made for a much more nonsensical story.  They should have had battle armor guy be an alien commander and Programmer is in the spaceship directing the clone army she created.

But noooooo, these two guys basically picked representations of themselves, and the insistence on making the nerd bro the alpha while the buff bro was the sidekick ended up being their downfall.  
 

I did chuckle that the buff bro’s minifigure has him shirtless.   Bro to the end hahah.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Christian and Aaron deserved to go home for their very weak and unclear concept. Tyler and Amy didn't get the bake sale. I didn't get the bake sale. Jamie and Amy didn't get the bake sale. Yet somehow Christian and Aaron were convinced that the bake sale was this brilliant idea. Even knowing that the lair was at a school, SO WHAT? They made it seem like the bake sale was going to make or break their entire concept.

Tyler and Amy were smart to tell them they would just take a time out and reconvene later because they knew there was no way to talk them out of that stupid bake sale. Their scorpion queen build was really good because they had a clear concept and it was built really well.

Sam and Jessica's concept needed some work too, but at least they made some large pieces so you could tell what was going on.

Mark and Boone's pizza guy idea was really fun. I loved that he was making his own pizza henchmen. I just wish the bear sidekick hadn't gotten lost in it all.

[ProfCrash]

I don’t get why the Bro’s didn't have the side facing out open so people could peak into the secret lair. They could have done so much more with that. They went home because they are not good at story telling. Technically they are amazing but they have no imagination.  

Sam and Jessica’s was not as technically pretty but there was a fun story that was engaging. 

Loved the Scorpion Queen’s lair and all the details. I limed the pizza lair but I thought it was a bit too close to the food court build.

[LittleIggy]

I usually don’t care for the special guest, but I didn’t mind shirtless Terry Crews. 😏

[Beamish]

For as much as the douchebros bug me, I would rather see a douchebro Star Wars build than a Rude Dude & Friend one. The Rude Dude & Friend just don’t have the skill and finesse. Unless something truly dramatic happens next week, it’s pretty obvious now that the final two will be the Beard Bros and the Newleyweds. I’m really surprised resting bitch face douchbro didn’t rip his shirt off and chest bump Terry Crews or have an arm wrestling match.

The next season challenge like this one - the mini figs should be as non-specific to a particular genre as they can be. I get it that it was total product placement for that specific series of mini figs, but the Egyptian queen mini figure is too specific, unlike a pizza head guy or bathtub guy. The Beard Bros and Rude Dude & Friend really had to ramp up their creativity and storytelling because of their figs, yet even as impressive and as beautiful as it was, we got a pretty standard Egyptian scene (tans, browns, turquoise, mummies, scorpions, building shapes, etc.) dictated by the figure. Once they picked her I knew right away it was either going to be an Egyptian setting or a museum.
 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Beamish
Added content

[Eolivet]

To my untrained eye, it seemed obvious Aaron and Christian would go, as they are clearly great technical builders, but have next to no creativity. No surprise, as they were bottom 2 last week with the story challenge. Sam and Jessica are more creative, if less polished, and this is clearly a "Lego story building challenge show" versus a "Show off your Lego building skills" challenge show.

I like Tyler and Amy's creativity, but she committed the cardinal reality show sin for me of pregnancy-reveal-as-plot-point. Creating an extra human better not mean I'm supposed to be rooting for them (and I know it was last week, but eww, why onscreen? Something about the words: "we just found out." Did you take a pregnancy test while filming? Just ... why?)

So, go Mark and Boone.

[Maverick]

14 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I like Tyler and Amy's creativity, but she committed the cardinal reality show sin for me of pregnancy-reveal-as-plot-point. Creating an extra human better not mean I'm supposed to be rooting for them (and I know it was last week, but eww, why onscreen? Something about the words: "we just found out." Did you take a pregnancy test while filming? Just ... why?)

 I wouldn't put it past them to have built a Lego EPT test stick.   Lego seems to have a vast array of special bricks.   Maybe they found one in all that stock that changes color when you pee on it.

[roamyn]

2 hours ago, Eolivet said:

 

I like Tyler and Amy's creativity, but she committed the cardinal reality show sin for me of pregnancy-reveal-as-plot-point. Creating an extra human better not mean I'm supposed to be rooting for them (and I know it was last week, but eww, why onscreen? Something about the words: "we just found out." Did you take a pregnancy test while filming? Just ... why?)

So, go Mark and Boone.

T&A probably meant they just found out before the show started filming.  I don’t blame them for the “pregnancy reveal”.  That’s on the editors.

My personal preference is for T&A, only because I hate the so-called singing the show keeps showcasing, that the large bearded guy does.  (I don’t know which is Mark and which is Boone).

But I wouldn’t be too upset with M&B winning.  Both teams are clearly creative, polished, and great technical builders.  

[laschifosavita]

As a LEGO nerd, I think this is probably my favorite challenge this season. I would have liked the judging to emphasize making something specific to the minifigs they chose a bit more, but I guess that might have been hard when the bros did such a bad job of it. S&J and M&B's designs looked like they could have been in one of LEGO's movies, shows, or games. The style of humor definitely fit their brand. I thought T&A played it safe by picking two minifigs that fit together, but I did like that they incorporated elements of the mummy's jewelry into their design. That is definitely the big selling point for that minifig.

In addition to all of the other problems with the bros' build, I wish they had gone the direction of making more interesting robots. The one the programmer comes with is pretty cool. I can't remember the show even mentioning that it's a dog, but it's also made using a gun for the body. The robots that they used looked like slightly modified existing minifigs. It's hard to tell because we didn't really get to see the inside, but some of the details in there looked very similar to things in LEGO's DC and Marvel sets. I think I might actually own the pod things they used. I also noticed this in the story challenge.

I put more of the blame for the less creative builds on the contestants than the options they had to choose from. Unless they randomly excluded ones from this series, they would have also had a dog walker with two dogs and two little pieces of poo, Sun Wukong, a ghost knight, and a woman in a fox costume to chose from. The bounty hunter they used is also an alien, but I can't remember if they showed him with his helmet off.

I also really liked that all the teams had a male and a female minifig. This is the first series to have equal numbers of male and female minifigs, which I was pretty excited about. When I got into LEGO, the ration was closer to 1:3.