LEGO Masters Australia
Brickmas Special Episode 1 – Recap
It’s that time of year again when all the Halloween displays switch over to Xmas at the start of November. In keeping with this tradition, we have two Bricksmas episodes of LEGO Masters. The first to be shot in the new Sydney studios.
Much like previous Christmas episodes in other countries we have past contestants team up with celebrities. Or “celebs” as Sophie Monk put it in a promo. Each team is gifted with a past LEGO Master from the past three seasons.
The teams are competing to win Bricksmas with the prize being for charity with $20,000 of LEGO being put under the K-Mart wishing tree.
The first build of Brickmas is revealed. Four empty shopfront windows. The teams are also given a random theme via a minifig pick. They are given 15 hours to complete their build.
There’s a bonus, every team gets to use Brickman for one hour during their building. The winning team of this episode gets an advantage for the next episode.
The teams rush into the BrickPit with the guests overwhelmed by the array of bricks as the old-timers get reacquainted.
The Builds
Scott Cam & Jay – Santa’s Workshop
Scott notes he hasn’t played with LEGO since he was a kid so this is a bit of a nostalgia trip for him. They are designing Santa’s workshop as a factory with a working conveyor belt. Scotty adds a suggestion of the sleigh being a ute.
As the build progresses a moving crane is added and Scotty starts building some elves in hi-viz and gets cracking on some presents to decorate the workshop.
Brickman gets his hour put to use which gives Jay time to get started on the ute. Jay requests Santa in a chair. Brickman manages to get the chair and most of Santa – up to the beard before he has to leave and Jay has to finish the head.
Judging time. Brickman gives credit for how the build grabs and holds the attention and is full of story and details. He does point out the build could have needed some elevation, but that’s splitting hairs.
Sophie Monk & Henry – Aussie Christmas
Sophie admits she’s really out of her comfort zone with building LEGO so is happy to have “the best one” as her partner. Their theme is a beach BBQ with Santa. With Henry onboard, they aim to bring in a complex technic mechanism to have the table’s occupants moving.
Henry gets his hour of Brickman and asks him to build some cartoony Christmas animals. Brickman is loving this as he has often wished he could build on the show. He manages to get a koala in a tree and a headless roo created before his timer runs out.
Sophie discovers the chains in the brickpit and that inspires her to add a gangsta theme to the Xmas theme and the elves and Dazza Santa start getting bling and burner phones. Brickman comes by and notes their story is great, but it’s lacking in size compared to the other builds. Sophie gets cracking on creating a sky and Henry starts on a plane that flies across the background with a “Merry Bricksmas” banner.
Time for the build to pop into the window and it’s clear it doesn’t quite fit the specifications of “fill the window”.
Brickman applauds Sophie’s newfound ability to build a story with LEGO. It ticks the boxes with meeting the theme and having a great story, but he notes the vertical space, as the giant sky only serves to shrink proportions. Brickman notes he would have liked to have seen it a bit higher.
Brooke Boney & Michael – White Christmas
Brooke admits she isn’t much of a LEGO builder. The team decided to build a snow-covered house with Santa’s sleigh on the top. Michael gets working on the house and Brooke is given the challenge to work on the Christmas tree using an offset rotation layout which worries Brooke a bit with its complexity.
They decide to use their Brickman time to help create a sleigh. Brickman notes he has only an hour, but puts his time to use and creates a pretty solid sleigh. Michael decides to take a big risk on the last hour by having Santa’s sleigh be off stud, which is not connected to anything, as it’s pinned in place by pure momentum.
With the winter wonderland in its place in the window, Brickman gives points for how well it captures the setting. He also hones in on the Easter eggs hidden in the build, such as the teddy bear and Rudolph leaving his mark on the side of the house. The build gets ticks for filling the white Christmas boxes with snow.
The gamble of an off stud Santa pays off as it draws the eye into the rest of the build.
Michael “Wippa” Wipfli & Stani – Night before Xmas
Coming in from his radio day job, this is a shift for Wippa. Wippa has a bit of beef against Hamish who visited last Christmas and managed to out-dad him by building the Saturn V rocket with his kids. They decide to do a fireplace in a living room with Santa’s legs coming down the chimney. Stani plows ahead on the walls as Wippa pots around the brickpit.
He decides to impress Brickman with creating a rug that has 1933, the year LEGO was started. But Brickman pops by and corrects him, it’s the 10th of August 1932. The build gains a bit of motion by having Santa’s boots wiggle and a train running around the tree. But Wippa is easily distracted. Completing the rug he decides to work on more Xmas decorations with homages to Xmas movies, like Die Hard.
But there are no hanging points on the wall, leading to a risky bit of business with a screwdriver to wedge out a few bricks. Calling on Brickman they set him to task to build a chesterfield couch and a lounge chair. With the final hour called Brickman pops in and notes there are no stockings by the tree, Wippa is tasked to complete this.
Time to judge. Hamish points out that Wippa did spend a bit too much time on the rug trying to trip up Brickman with the mistaken date. Getting into the build, the blue colour scheme, the tree, and train are praised. The stuck legs are cited as a great attention grabber. He points out that Wippa’s posters are a bit, lacking as Bruce Willis isn’t quite a cyclops and there were eyes in the brickpit. But they tick all the other boxes.
The Verdict
With the windows filled the teams line up to hear the verdict for episode 1. Brickman praises the newcomers for stepping up to the task of building a great scene. The top two teams are called; Scott and Jay – praised for their strong teamwork resulting in a cracker of a build that had a bit of the team’s personality shining through with the ute.
The second team is Brooke and Michael. Brickman notes Brooke’s discovering the fun of building LEGO and building upon Michael’s instructions to create a solid scene.
The winner ultimate is Brooke and Michael as their winter wonderland scene grabbed attention and importantly filled the Christmas windows.
They have won an advantage for next week.
Next week – Brickmas continues as the teams are tasked to build the ultimate LEGO set to go under a tree.
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