LEGO Masters Australia Episode 3 Recap – First elimination round!

May 2, 2019 | 4

Yesterday night was the first elimination round of LEGO Masters Australia, as the teams faced down the prospect of being the first ones to get sent home.

Amidst all the wholesomeness and fun, it suddenly dawned that this was a competition, and that the teams and individuals that we were starting to form emotional connections with could leave the competition if they weren’t up to scratch.

Yesterday’s episode started with more crazy antics from Hamish. Only the day before, he whipped out a baseball bat, and again, he takes a metal saw to a red bicycle, as the theme for the elimination round is revealed.

Brickman and Hamish reveal 7 everyday items that have been sawed in half, and the challenge is to create the other half out of LEGO in the most inventive way possible.

It’s a free for all with teams getting first dibs on the models they claim, and a mad rush ensues for the teams to pick their favourites.

What follows is a bit of tension as the teams struggle to figure out the challenge and plan their builds.

David and G initially struggle with figuring out what to build. Building sculptures isn’t G’s strong suite, and 2 hours into the 10 hour challenge, G decides to scrap his initial plan in dramatic fashion.

By smashing his green blog thing into the ground, shocking the other teams.

What an awesome power-move.

Kaitlyn and Marielle also struggle trying to figure out how to complete their other half of the TV, but soon settle into a groove, deciding to turn it into an aquarium.

This part goes by really quickly, and nothing really eventful happens, as we see the builds take shape.

Oh, and we also get more Kale antics (the producers clearly love him) of him whispering to their Unicorn Bicycle.

And before you know it, it’s judging time, which occupies just about the 20 minutes of the one hour-ish episode!

Up first are front-runners, Henry and Cade with their wicked take of constructing half the violin, which I must say, looks both amazing, but also inventive.

The build really shines with a robot Punk Rocker strumming the strings, and yet again prove that Henry and Cade are a force to be reckoned with in this competition. Look at the intricacy of the android’s guts!

It’s a symphony of technic elements.

Next we have our resident lovebirds, Jimmy and Maddy, who picked a half-mannequin and have again, incorporated themselves into it – this time depicting Jimmy, with ideas sprouting out of his head and little Maddy minifigures running amok in the build.

It’s actually one of their better builds, although they get knocked (predictably) for not branching out of their lovey-dovey self-referential designs.

Not gonna lie, I really liked the throng of little Maddy minifigures running around.

Kale and Bilsy are next with their unicorn-bicycle hybrid, which was by far the most creative and left-field design of the lot.

Seriously, fusing a unicorn to the bike is just so unconventional that it works remarkably well, and the Brickman only has the nicest things to say about the design, apart from slight criticism that there was a massive hole that you could peer into on the unicorn’s neck.

Up next is Kaitlyn and Marielle’s TV-Aquarium, which I felt was pretty damn clever and once again showcased their design skills.

Cuteness was the strongest draw for me, with the Octopus and rotating Clownfish being the stars, as well as the rich detailing to support the model.

Unfortunately, Brickman was quite harsh on the scaling inconsistencies (fish, but also minifigures included) which didn’t do them any favours.

Jordan and Miller’s efforts continue to improve, as they go with the typewriter but expand it above and beyond the typing machine.

Their model takes the pages from the typewriter, which turns it into a book, that also extends to a fantasy Castle-scene.

The Brickman had high praise for this, with only a small criticism that he would’ve enjoyed seeing a pop-up book instead, but nonetheless really enjoyed their creation.

After G and David’s disastrous start, they manage to stage a magnificent comeback with a genius take on the projector, which is transformed into a 3D projector that brought to life a film depiction (and actual LEGO set!) of Red Baron, a historical World War 1 fighter pilot.

The static photo doesn’t really do it justice, as the planes actually bob from side to side, just like a dogfight.

Unsurprisingly, the build wows the Brickman and TV viewers, proving to be a huge hit!

Finally, we have Matt and Lyn with their model Disaster in the Kitchen, which has a kitchen mixer exploding and the contents spilling all over.

It’s a little messy as the name suggests, and I didn’t quite like this one, even though it incorporated movement to mimic a spinning kitchen mixer whisk.

Henry and Cade, and David and G are the Top 2 teams, with Henry and Cade finally taking the win, after coming in 2nd twice in a row, which was truly well-deserved!

Unfortunately the bottom 3 consisted of Matt and Lyn, Jimmy and Maddy and Kaitlyn and Marielle.

It was a lot more nerve-wracking than I expected, but unfortunately, the Brickman decided to send Kaitlyn and Marielle home.

In yet another unsuspecting moment of amazing TV, the Brickman’s voice starts cracking as he announces his decision, and also sheds a tear at his decision, exclaiming that in all his experience, he’s never had to send contestants home.

The vulnerability of the scene, really caught me off-guard and cements the fact that this reality TV show is something special and magical – I mean, what type of reality TV judge breaks down in tears when eliminating contestants?

I have to admit, I was really sad to discover that Kaitlyn and Marielle were leaving. If you’ve read my two other recaps, you’d know that I was fast becoming a fan of their unique, artistic style and vision when it comes to LEGO creations.

Felt that it was really quite undeserved and I honestly thought Matt and Lyn were going home.

Ah well, that’s reality TV for you and I hope there’s a twist that brings them back into the competition somehow as I really would’ve liked to see more of them!

That’s it for my LEGO Masters Australia Episode 3 recap! Tune in on Sunday at 7PM for the next episode where teams take on the Mega Tower!

Check out the Episode 1 or Episode 2 recap to catch up! Thanks again for reading! If you’ve watched the episode, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section on the eliminated team and the judging!

LEGO Masters Australia is a reality TV series on Channel 9 which pits 8 teams of LEGO builders against each other to test their creativity and design. It airs on Channel 9 on Sundays (7pm), Mondays and Tuesdays (730pm) and you can stream it on 9Now.