LEGO Masters France
Season 2 Episode 1 – Recap
G’day LEGO Masters France! We have returned to the land of baguettes for the second season of LEGO Masters. Eight teams of challengers are taking part with host Éric Antoine returning along with Brickmasters Georg Schmitt and Paulina Aubey. As before the teams are competing to win €20,000, the trophy and their final piece to be exhibited.
The Teams
Team Retro Bricks – Benjamine and Marine Benjamine (30) is a teacher and Marine (32) is a sales consultant. Their styles draw from cartoons and retro visuals.
Team Big Teens – Sandor and Loïc Sandor (23) is self-employed and Loïc (23) works in IT. They are the youngest in this year’s competition and claim to be young at heart.
Swiss Metalheads – Éric and Alex Éric (29) is a civil engineer and Alex (24) and carpenter/cabinetmaker. They are long-life friends and hope to bring their technical skills to the forefront.
The Cool Parents – Etienne and Christine Etienne (38) manages a gaming store and Christine is a product developer. Both have developed a passion of LEGO from their kids and hope to bring it to the competition.
Team Opposing Forces – Céline and Stéphane Céline (38) is a training officer and Stephane (40) is a manager. Both are work colleagues who don’t get on. Hopefully, this show unites them.
The Team from the North – Herve and Laure Herve, an energy provider (58) sees himself as a mentor to Laure (28), who is a graphic designer. Laurie hopes to learn more about LEGO’s technical aspects.
The Technician and The Artist – Aurélien and Vincent Aurélien (32) is a chef and Vincent (39) is an artist. They met through their passion for LEGO and hope their two opposing skillsets will help them in the competition.
The Best Pots – Marin and Alexandre Marin (27) is a logistics salesman and Alexandre (28) is a graphic designer. They hope their light-hearted approach and sense of humour can help them power through the challenges. Each episode contains two major challenges and there will be eliminations from the get-go. The golden brick is also in play granting the winning team immunity when played. So let’s get started.
Challenge 1 – Worlds of Adventure
Eight plots are connected by rail as each team needs to build a fantastic adventure that is happening in their plot of land that stops the train. The scene also needs a mechanical object that is posing as a trap or hazard to the adventurer trying to traverse the scene. They have 17 hours.
The Builds
Éric and Alex – The Sunken City
A lost underwater city in the mountains is protected by a giant lantern fish waiting to burst out and eat the adventurers.
With the model complete the adventures drop by. Brickmaster George notes the challenge of making an underwater scene appear underwater, especially with the lack of blue bricks. But he notes the use of strong thematic elements such as the temple of Atlantis and the incredible parts usage of bananas and sausages to create diverse pieces of coral. Paulina echoes the lack of blue but gives points to the great use of contrast with the red creature in the grey cave. They activate the creature and it works, ticking the box as it’s a complex mechanism that manages to slide out and take a bite before returning to its cave.
Étienne and Christine – The Valley Of The Serpents
A lost valley that contains a Mayan temple with golden stairs that houses a dangerous serpent. The Brickmasters drop by and note that the temple looks a bit medieval and encourage the team to think about how the story is unfolding and be careful not to overcomplicate the mechanical aspects. They settle on there being a relic to be found. Paulina gives praise to the story being readable but isn’t sure if all the elements come together as the scene appears a bit static. The snake’s flat tail manages to lift and crash onto the tracks
Marin and Alexandre – The Submerged Temple
The team start with a temple that is being submerged into a toxic lake. This causes a locked up monster to mutate and crash out of the temple. The Brickmasters enquire about their mechanical aspect which appears to be the monster cracking through the temple. But the complications of the build are slowing them down.
They decide to go with a feathered serpent emerging out of the side. But the scale of their ambition overwhelms them a bit and the story is reworked to be a temple that’s underwater with an octopus that now resides inside. The serpent is a “trap” that is attempting to stop the adventurers from getting into trouble.
Brickmaster Georg is a bit lost between their initial concept and the end result. For instance, there are two monsters, the octopus and the feathered serpent. Paulina gets the story and finds the bold use of colours pleasing to look at. The reveal of the snake helps tie a bit of their story together but the judges don’t seem completely convinced.
Céline and Stéphane – The Freebrick World
Their adventure land consists of a magical world with purple trees. A river contains a barrier that closes to trap the adventurers inside. However, the two are not working together smoothly. Céline is taking charge and is micromanaging how the build looks resulting in very little progress.
Despite their testy teamwork, the judges love how lush their world looks as well as their trap being camouflaged, but note they can see the cogs that make it work.
Benjamine and Marine – The Tropical Jungle
Doing a twist on a jungle where trees are replaced by giant oversized flowers and a giant flytrap is waiting to munch the adventurers. The team has focused on the mechanical part at the expense of the rest of the scene. The Brickmastesr come by and see the scene is very sparse and lacking in detail. They focus on getting more of the landscape filled while the monster is simplified. The train arrives at their land and they explain the adventurers have arrived in a land where the plants are able to grow wild and become carnivorous.
Paulina gives praise for the stylistic result of the scene and how the landscape has been filled with a wide assortment of plants. But the issue of the motorised element comes up and their intention of a chomping creature has been reduced to a tendril that pokes out.
Sandor and Loïc – The Campsite Of Cerebus
A lava-filled land guarded by Cerebus, the three-headed dog. Georg picks up on the striking design of the lava world contrasting with the beast which sets the scene perfectly. He does note some of the part choices are a bit ambiguous, such as the transparent dishes for eyes that look like glasses. The trap is revealed to be a pop-out fan which doesn’t gain them points as it looks minuscule and doesn’t tie in with the overall theme. Plus it’s a motor and a fan with all of the cables showing.
Laure and Hervé – Zinzinland
Taking a very different approach the team decides to create an out-of-this-world amusement park full of attack rabbits. Paulina loves how completely crazy the end result is along with all of the details that make the creatures enduring. However, she can’t get the story of an abandoned park getting reclaimed by nature. The trap appears to be a collapsing Ferris wheel which doesn’t impress the judge.
Aurélien and Vincent – World Of The Brickrobots
A junkyard full of brick robots who are engaged in battle with one side wanting to trap the incoming adventurers. Georg finds himself immersed in the colours of the robots and enjoys the setting of a lost civilization with details like streets and hydrants. Paulina gives points for the team using the space given to them to create large builds which are contrasting. Their trap appears to be a bit bland with spinning saws and a fire effect which doesn’t impress the judges as it’s not a reveal from a hidden area.
The Verdict
First up the golden brick is presented to Éric and Alex. And the bottom two are revealed to be Laure and Hervé and Marin and Alexandre. Laure and Hervé’s build is judged to be way off theme with it being an amusement park and Marin and Alexandre’s build not quite coming together stylistically with too much going on. But the first elimination is yet to come. There’s one more major challenge ahead.
Challenge 2 – Hanging Brick
The teams return to have their second challenge introduced to them by levitating Eric. The challenge is the same as seen in other series, a technic brick is suspended off a wire and needs to have something hanging off it, without using a table to support it. As always a story is required and they have ten hours to complete the build.
The Builds
Éric and Alex – The Golden Ship
With the golden brick in their hands they have the option to opt-out, but decide not to.
Their build is a flying steampunk ship that flies off to unknown lands, only to encounter the true masters of the air, bigger birds.
George loves the steampunk build and style, but notes it’s a bit too much like a display model you’d find on a shelf and doesn’t quite capture the effect of being in the air. Paulina notes there’s not much humour in the build but notes it’s a great model.
Étienne and Christine – Chris The Clumsy Tourist
A tourist whose parachute jump goes wrong and all sorts of items spill out of his backpack. Getting all the elements of motion was a challenge and the team had a tricky moment when the head fell off. Fortunately, other teams came to the rescue to quickly collect the pieces. The end result is praised for its humour and fits well with the objective of the challenge. The judges love the dynamism of all of the parts flying out and his hair. The inclusion of picnic items doesn’t quite make sense to Paulina. Georg notes that the backpack being flat to his back does kill off some of the effects of motion. But still gives praise for the overall effect.
Marin and Alexandre – Jacky The Stuntman
Looking to keep themselves in the game they opt to create a stuntman who’s jumping through a hoop of fire. The judges come by and note that getting the feeling of motion is key and challenges them to have a spinning rear wheel to give the effect it’s left the ground. The wheel spins and earns points from the judges. Paulina notes that there are some issues with the build consistency. There’s a mix of angles and curves and the wheels are more of a hexagonal shape. George gives points for them achieving what was seen to be as ambitious, namely the success of having the rider be off the bike, but there are a few proportion issues.
Céline and Stéphane – The Cheating Dragon
A blue dragon has flown in and stolen the LEGO Master’s trophy along with the host. George notes the story is there but there are lots of proportion issues with the dragon. Paulina is a bit confused if it’s a bird or a dragon.
Benjamine and Marine – The Theory Of Levitation
Taking their cue from a cat that has buttered toast on its back, they play on the idea of if toast always falls buttered side up and a cat falls on its legs, in theory combining the two should create an object that levitates.
The idea is found to be hilarious by Paulina who praises the design of the cat. She does suggest the toast to be a bit too plain on the sides. George loves the design and the parts in use. He does point that the tail is a bit too stiff and needed more curvature.
Sandor and Loïc – The Dancing Dream
A music box that hangs from the ceiling with a dancer and clouds bursting out. The judges come by and note that it will be a challenge to explain how a non-flying object can be inflight. Something needs to carry this in the air.
They settle on the idea of the cloud being a dream, allowing it to levitate. George appreciates the shift in concept with the idea of dreaming to solve the problem of why a box flies but notes the lack of sophistication in the detailing.
Laure and Hervé – Renassance
Hoping to recover from being in the bottom two the team decides to create a phoenix to symbolize a return to form.
Paulina notes that compared to their last challenge the phoenix is instantly recognizable as what it’s meant to be with good use of transparent fire pieces. However, she feels the pose isn’t as bold as it could be, in that it’s not rising from the ashes. George notes they had a better plan but left some parts unfinished in the final build.
Aurélien and Vincent – Surviving The Kraken
A blue space sci-fi Kracken. The build confuses George and Paulina who find some artistic merit in its construction, but fail to find any comprehensive story.
The Verdict
With two big challenges under their belts, the judges have a lot to consider. The top team for this episode is Benjamine and Marine for their sense of humour and detail. The teams at the bottom are Céline and Stéphane, Aurélien and Vincent along with Marin and Alexandre and Laure and Hervé. The first pair to leave are Laure and Hervé. The judges note their building skills are not that well developed and leave too much room for interpretation and they see them as being dead weight in the competition.
Next time – Things shake and explode!
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