LEGO® Masters USA – Season 2, Episode 4: Hat’s Incredible
It’s Fashion Week at LEGO® Masters USA with episode 4: Hat’s Incredible. In this fashion-forward episode, teams are asked to walk the runway in a brick-built hat worn by one of the team members. Wearable LEGO® is no easy task as that weight can seriously add up and, well, it probably hurts. It’s not just about building sturdy though, it has to look good, fabulous even! I already had my theories on who would excel at this challenge based on last week’s previews. I was pretty spot on (*pats self on back*). Let’s see how our designers did.
Hat’s The Way It Is
The episode begins with what I will generously refer to as a “fashion shoot” with Will Arnett hamming it up for the cameras. That shirt they put him in was….not the best. Enter the real models with Brick Masters Jamie and Amy treating us to some pretty decent looks and swagger. I was genuinely impressed with Jamie’s “Karl Legofeld” look – super fun. Each team then ran to a clothing rack to pick a plain garment bag. Inside was an outfit indicating the colour scheme they must use for the challenge. They must strut their hat down the runway and also hold a pose for 5 seconds without supporting the build with their hands. Lots of nervous faces in the room! 12 hours are put on the clock and our teams get started.
Hat’s Just Wild!
Natalie & Michelle ran away with the challenge this week. Their “Abra-Couture Top Hat” was a total knock-out. The colour scheme was classy, the size was impressive and the magical, spinning elements really brought it together. Also, the netting used as a veil across the eyes? So brilliant! They took their assigned colour (black) and really elevated it to something chic. But they did not skimp out on the fun factor thanks to the motorized elements. No surprise they ended up in the top 2.
Joining them was the other stand-out team of the challenge, Wayne & Zach. They wowed the judges with their “Archery Hat” creation and earned major points by walking the runway without holding the build! That was a serious flex. The design was really solid and colourful. They, like a lot teams, added some awesome brick-built accessories like bracelets and necklaces to really tie the look together. It’s little touches like that which take the designs up a notch. I think this showing really helped solidify them as one of the teams to beat.
Hat’s Pretty Great
It was a solid week overall for most of the teams. Quite a few quirky and fun designs came down the runway. Lauren & Bryan’s “Phoenix Rising Hat” was beautifully made and very evocative with the fiery ribbons wrapping around the front. Mark & Steven’s “Pirate Hat” made a great impact with it’s contrasting images on either side, surprising the judges and earning high praise. Another awesome walk and build was Maria & Philip’s “Celestial Hat”. The design was very clean and made all the more lovely by the addition of lighting – the only team to do so. And we also need to give some praise to Caleb & Jacob for a beast of a build. The “Baker’s Crown” was all kinds of whacky, and had a fun, performance art quality to it. And high-five to Jacob for literally building and wearing something half his body weight!
Hat’s Unfortunate
The bottom 2 teams this week saw both their builds fail on the runway. In a tragic turn, last week’s winners Dave & Richard went a little too big on their otherwise impressive “Pride of Carnival” hat. It was a tough build from the start as they struggled to make a statement, but somehow keep it stable. Their decision to build the ‘feathers’ so thickly and large really restricted their chances. I’m surprised they didn’t opt for a technic approach or more use of plant elements to simulate feathers (like last year’s great peacock build by Sam & Jessica). Richard did his best to keep the build on his head during the 5 second free hold. But after tipping forward (almost onto the judges) he managed to recover, only to have the build fall backwards and break apart. Super heartbreaking outcome.
Moto & Paras’ “Serpent Safari Hat” barely made it to the runway, suffering an early break from just trying to lift it. With such a tragic start, it was inevitably repeated on the runway, shattering to the ground. They took a unique approach to the construction that really made sense on paper, but not in execution. Ultimately their ‘lattice’ structure couldn’t hold up when combined with the stellar, but bulky, serpent build. A real shame for the Science Alliance who showed real promise to make it far in the competition.
Hat’s All Folks
The clear winners of this week’s challenge were Natalie & Michelle. Brick Master Amy said it best: “I had to look twice because I wasn’t even sure it was a LEGO® model.” This couture element definitely helped seal the win for them this week. But I do think it was a really close call with Zach & Wayne overall. On the sadder flipside, we said goodbye to Moto & Paras. But despite the negative outcome, Paras left the show with some nice words of wisdom: “There’s no shame in failure. There’s only failure in not trying.” Fantastic lesson for all of us.
Final Thoughts
This was my favourite episode so far. I’m a sucker for fashion, and almost everyone produced a great design. The energy was high and everyone really seemed to have a blast strutting the runway. I’m still rooting for Dave & Richard despite a rough showing this week. Natalie & Michelle are definitely on the radar now. And Zach & Wayne are still safely near the top of the leaderboard. Here’s some last snippets:
- Why did they get Jamie to change out of his entrance look? Criminal
- STUDS Magazine is comedy gold
- Syreeta & Randall had a really funny idea with “Sunday Best Hat”. But the Egyptian design connection was a head-scratcher. Why though? It ended up looking like …. well…. neither of those
- Moto’s cat head build was incredible. And just like Jen’s Wonder Woman we’re gliding right past it haha
- Did jacob need any physiotherapy after wearing that hat?
- “Lay some serious brick!” needs to go on a t-shirt
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
Which hat would you want to strut down the runway with? Are you bummed out by the departure of the Science Alliance? Comment below and as always, 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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