LEGO Masters Australia Episode 4 Recap – Bricktacular Apartment building!

May 6, 2019 | 3

Last night’s episode of LEGO Masters Australia was all-business and hardly any filler, which is good news for those of you who have been clamouring for more building.

We had a few days break, and this episode kicks off Week 2 of the 3-week series, so I’m glad that the show is picking up the pace.

We find out early one that a team is going to get eliminated, which raises the tension levels slightly. The first challenge introduces teams to a colourful parrot, constructed as an homage to the iconic LEGO parrot.

The teams have 4 hours to take the parrot apart, and use only the bricks used to construct it to create a brand new construction. The winner of this challenge gets a 1 hour headstart in the next elimination challenge.

There are approximately 1,600 bricks in total and it’s fun to see the teams outside of the comfort zone without being able to rely on the 2.5 million bricks in the Brick Pit.

This is a classic LEGO play-style, where you’re encouraged to take apart an existing model and rebuild something new out of it, and I hope this episode inspires families and kids to do the same with their LEGO sets at home.

We get some cute moments like G playing with the parrot on his shoulder and lots of team perspectives as they grapple with the challenge.

Miller and Jordan run into choppy waters as they scrap their initial idea of a dollhouse for a pirate ship. Huge props to Jordan who doesn’t second-guess his teammate and launches fully into making the pirate ship happen.

That’s some ride or die shit right there. I’d love for Jordan to be my teammate in any challenge.

At the 2-hour mark, exactly halfway through the challenge, Hamish interrupts everyone with a twist in the challenge. Turns out, the have to use ALL the pieces of the parrot for their builds, which until now, have been quite small and conservative.

That gets the teams going as they scramble to make use of all pieces and before you know it, it’s judging time!

Jimmy and Maddy, determined to stop themselves from being pigeon-holed as “that team who only makes builds depicting themselves in love” take it to the next level with their creation, an angry man on a motorbike that’s about to run over a duck.

The model is impressively large, and complex, and wows The Brickman.

Matt and Lyn construct a giant robot battling a giant kangaroo, as some sort of theme park attraction.

They’re not the only one which have theme parks in mind as Gayan and Dinushi also create four theme park attractions, with a boat that sways backwards and forwards.

Kale and Bilsy actually seem to work well together, although Kale is still being portrayed as a self-proclaimed LEGO genius. They make clever use of the parrot to turn it into a band serenading a couple.

The clever uses of parts to depict the band members earns them some well-deserved kudos from The Brickman.

David and G expand on their Wedding/Church model from Day 1 with the backstory of how the couple got engaged, which features a neat outdoors scene.

Frontrunners Henry and Cade are comfortable flexing their creative muscles with a clever depiction of two super-sized boxers, who are actually characters controlled in a video game.

Unfortunately, Jordan and Miller didn’t quite do much with their model, as their vision for the pirate ship fails to materialise and they’re left red-faced with this weird-looking creation – they’re saved as this isn’t an elimination round.

Maddy and Jimmy and Kale and Bilsy are singled out as the best two creations, with Kale and Bilsy emerging as the victors, claiming their one hour advantage in the elimination challenge.

Really stoked to see Maddy and Jimmy take second place and it seems like they’re finally getting comfortable and into their groove.

No time to waste as we dive into their next challenge to create a “Totally Not Inspired by Modular Buildings” Apartment Tower.

Each team has 3 floors to work on which will all stack on top of each other to form a massive apartment tower. The structure splits open in the middle like the dollhouse, and all the teams are excited by the challenge as it gives them a chance to build at a minifig scale.

They have 8 hours to complete 3 stories, and have been tasked by The Brickman to ensure that it ticks all three boxes of technical detail, story and clever part usage.

Spooked by the thought of going home, Matt and Lyn use their Golden Brick to escape elimination.

The completed 18-storey Apartment Building is a wonder to behold when it’s all stacked up together, but let’s look at each team’s creations.

Henry and Cade come out swinging with their space-themed apartment which has an astronomical level of detail thrown in.

Some highlights include the giant Spaceman which has suddenly enlarged himself, the anti-gravity staircase and they even managed to sneak in their Alien from Episode 2, who is oozing green stuff out across the entire space station.

Amazing stuff and further solidifies their position as THE team to beat.

Determined to redeem themselves after the last challenge, Jordan and Miller come up with a massive house-party, and tons of jokes about not knowing what cool parties are and not being invited to them.

Huge props to sneaking in a beer pong table into what is supposed to be a family-friendly affair. Brickman praises their attention to detail with the flooring and tiling.

David and G continue story-telling with their married couple, as the perspective now shifts to the after-party. Some clever details are included such as the newly married bride and groom leaving their clothes behind and jumping into the tub, as well as the chandelier, however the build as a whole was quite conservative.

Up next we have Kale and Bilsy, who are just not functioning as a team at all. They pretty much split their “dream home” apartment up into two, and when they both came together, it just didn’t work.

It’s a shame as the details in each of their halves were quite imaginative, but their inability to work as a team gets called out by The Brickman. It just didn’t work together as a whole.

Up next we have Gayan and Dinushi’s burger bar and surgery, which didn’t quite get executed properly as they both ran out of time.

During the closing half of the challenge, you could see Gayan and Dinushi scrambling to complete their floors, as the incomplete and rushed design certainly shows.

Finally, we have Maddy and Jimmy, who put their quirkiness and love of pop culture and horror movies to excellent use with their incredible Haunted Apartment.

They clearly pulled out all the stops with this horror-themed build, with Technic ghosts, a moving spider and tons of other cool little Easter Eggs like the Twins from the Shining.

Their design blew The Brickman away, naturally, and has signalled them as a force to be reckoned with in the competition.

Jimmy and Maddy, as well as Henry and Cade are singled out as the top two performers – both very deservedly, and I thought it was pretty hard to make a decision on who has the better build, but Jimmy and Maddy take it away once again.

This is the 2nd round that they’ve finished on top of the field, after being considered for elimination just last episode, and they’re quickly beginning to assert their talent on the competition.

Henry and Cade, again having to make do with being the bridesmaids.

In the bottom two, we have Kale and Bilsy, as well as Gayan and Dinushi. Kale and Bilsy are knocked for their inability to work together, and Gayan and Dinushi lose marks for their incomplete and rushed build.

Sadly, Gayan and Dinushi get eliminated and are sent home, but Kale and Bilsy are sternly warned that they could be next if they don’t get their act together.

So that wraps up Episode 4! It went by in a fairly brisk pace, and I’m glad we got to see a lot more fun builds with minimal drama.

Episode 5 airs on Channel 9 at 7:00pm tonight, so don’t miss out!

Check out the Episode 1, Episode 2 recap, or Episode 3 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.