LEGO® Masters USA – Season 2, Episode 2: Hero Shot!
It’s time to blow things up! This week’s episode sees our intrepid teams tasked with doing the one thing none of us could stomach – destroy all the LEGO® builds! Last season’s 2nd episode also involved wanton LEGO® destruction, but stuck to a “Space” theme that all the contestants adhered to. In an ever so slight (but totally fun) twist on that concept, this season’s challenge let randomly chosen minifigures be the star of their own hero shot stunt explosion. Will Arnett shows us the challenge in a subtle way – walking out of his trailer as it EXPLODES behind him. And with that bit of CGI wonder, we’re off to the races! As always, major spoilers follow. Let’s do this!
Minifigure Action Heroes!
I love minifigures and really enjoy when they are the focal point of a challenge. Each team chose a minifigure at random out of Will Arnett’s biker helmet. Btw, did you spot the figures from the most recent Collectible Minifgures Series 21? Each figure also corresponded to the substance that would help blow up their build: slime, water, glitter and coloured dust. I think coloured dust would be my top choice, followed by glitter. Slime is….not the one. Aside from each team being given a triangular base plate, the story and destroyable scene was purely up to their imaginations. I think some really fun and out-of-the-box ideas and story beats came out of this challenge.
Built to be broken!
10 hours on the clock and the teams get to designing for maximum destruction! The biggest challenges were definitely the technical criteria – building to allow for collapse/breakability. Placing charges to create the best bang in a build is definitely not intuitive! A few teams were definitely on the struggle bus. Syreeta & Randall decided to scrap their wall and restart with a new technique. Jack & Dawn really faced some issues with their building frontages, especially in the connections. And Zach & Tim went for an additional reveal in their scene, one that gave them issues throughout the build.
Telling a Story
Brick Masters Amy and Jamie are always stressing the need for smart and engaging storylines. I really think everyone brought their A game this episode. As an architecture and sustainability student myself, I really engaged with Dave & Richard’s ‘In the Key of G Major’ with ‘Violin Guy’ saving nature and blowing up the urban blight. Music to my ears….get it? You get it. It was a lovely story with a lovely message. The funniest and quirkiest story by far was Michelle & Nathalie’s “Intergalactic Pick-me-up.” Intergalactic girl gets back at the cafe that dared serve decaf coffee disguised as regular coffee. I mean, this is relatable content! I feel so seen. Rounding out my top 3 was Lauren & Bryan’s “Lola and Pollen Plot”. The Brave Ladybug defends herself from a superbly built frog, who’s done in by a pollen bomb.
Make it go BOOM!
A challenge like this is really tough since you really won’t know if you made the right choices until after it’s (hopefully) blown to smithereens. In the end nearly everyone succeeded in a pretty decent explosion. The slow-motion replays were tons of fun and seeing the minifigures in the foreground was a great gag. The coloured dust was the best medium by far and created a really great effect. Our top 2 teams were Lauren & Bryan and Dave & Richard. Both had fantastic explosions that worked perfectly, but in the end, Lauren & Bryan were our champions! A well-deserved win.
This week was the first episode that saw a team eliminated from competition. The bottom 2 teams were Jack & Dawn and Tim & Zack. Sadly both teams had parts of their builds survive the explosions and therefore lost points. Ultimately it was Jack & Dawn’s “Opal the Jewel Thief” that came in last place and got the chop. The judges cited a lacklustre explosion, minimal demolition and an excess of empty space on their build for their decision. After a tearful good-bye, our biker siblings turned in their minifigures and left the build room.
Final Thoughts
This was a really solid episode. There’s just something fun about seeing things explode in slow-motion. All our teams put in some great effort and there were much better gags and interactions. Here’s some last snippets for thought:
- Anyone else shocked by how hard Tim shoved Zack into the snow? Savage lol
- And then we’re treated to Tim’s awesome dad jokes and his love of embarrassing Zack. That DAB!!
- Dave & Richard’s friendship started through activism – the BLM piece was great
- RIP to Steven & Mark’s minifigure – the only casualty of the night. Their watermelon ‘sploded real good though!
- Syreeta’s hair was on point this episode. I know that has nothing to do with LEGO® but it deserves a shout-out
- After some obvious spying, Zach & Wayne decide to hold on to the golden brick. Sly
- I loved those brick-built word balloons, great Batman ’66 energy.
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5 / 10
What did you think of this week’s explosive episode? Are you #teamglitter or #teamdust? Sound off in the comments and until next time, keep on brickin’.
-Frank
LEGO® Masters USA airs Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET/PT on FOX in the US, and on CTV, CTV.CA and the CTV app in Canada.
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