Ahoy-hoy friends and welcome back to our continuing review of LEGO®️ Masters USA, Season 3. This week’s installment is the 4th episode of the new season entitled: Out On A Limb. And because this show doesn’t do subtle, this is exactly what it sounds like. This week’s challenge asked the remaining teams (and one new one) to build a tree house. But with a twist of course, because otherwise what’s the point right? Each team will need to build onto a living tree without the use of any existing connection points. This. Is. Awesome. I couldn’t tell you which species of plant this is, but it is definitely a good choice based on shape and leafiness. And everyone got pretty much the same tree so it’s a very even playing field. Let’s take a look at the episode.
PREVIOUS EPISODES:
- Episode 0: Sneak Peek 👟🫣
- Episode 1: Ready to Launch 🚀
- Episode 2: Jurass-Brick Park 🦖
- Episode 3: Brickin’ Bull Ride Rodeo 🐂
NOTE: This episode did not air on FOXTV in the US as it was pre-empted by the baseball game. The LEGO®️ Masters FOX Twitter page posted that the episode would not go as scheduled and to ‘Come back next week for more amazing builds’. Although it did air in Canada, official images are limited and we don’t have any pics of the finished builds.
The look on your face!
Out On A Limb started with some genuine laughs. Real ones too! Not the random family humour that I love to hate. As Will was recapping last week’s big twist, he says he wishes they could have seen their faces. Oh wait – they could! Up on the screen, big as life, was Nick, Stacey and Emily’s hilariously shocked faces. It was a cute and silly moment made all the better by Will unzipping his jacket to reveal a t-shirt with the image. I mean, guys….that was pretty brilliant. And Nick was also quite the good sport about it. And damn well he should be – that’s quality screen time and merch ideas for the next Con!
Make like a tree and….stay
I really enjoyed this week’s challenge. While there was the usual technical requirements, it wasn’t the primary focus. There wasn’t a big risk factor and at no point did anyone’s build look like it was in danger. Consequently, we got to focus on the designs and concepts a little more. I always prefer seeing a team’s creativity and process over the dramatics of “Will it Hold!!??”, etc. Using a real tree was pretty original too – a fun spin on a pretty standard brief. The choice of tree allowed for some great connection points and enough clear space for builds to stand out. And Will’s “mid-way point twist” with the axe was pretty great.
Brick-Built Characters FTW
Out On A Limb brought us the first LEGO®️ Learn segment of the season. For this fun PSA the Brickmasters explain the differences between minifigures and brick-built figures. And while this is a fairly obvious one, it did highlight the concept nicely and call out the teams that went the brick-built route. Particularly our newest team, Ethan & Dom. These two really impressed the judges with their fun and imaginative characters. Being the new guys on the block, they wanted to make a major impression for their first challenge. Mission accomplished.
Last week’s winners Emily & Liam also made a few brick-built characters. Their adorable Panda Playtime build had some really clever scenes and build techniques. The pandas were easily recognizable and really animated in their poses. The story was also very cute, made all the more funny with that sleeping Panda mom in the actual treehouse. This team has really shown some smart approaches to story and construction so far. Most teams went the minifigure route, but that didn’t mean their builds were any less fun. Lots of great vignettes and stories even with the brief glimpses we got on screen. Special shout-out to Brandon & Greg’s family treehouse. The hardcore gym sister chilling in a bowl of salad? Brilliant.
Top 2
Climbing to the top 2 this week were one of our Canadian teams and the rookies (as the Stephens call them). I’ve already talked about Ethan & Dom. They really proved themselves serious competitors right out the gate with their building skills. I’ve no doubt they felt quite a bit of pressure to make an impression. An awesome first showing, but another team managed to snag the win this week. Nick & Stacey impressed the judges with their giant LEGO®️ brick treehouse. They built a precisely positioned structure that really stood out, complete with fun interiors. It looked amazing! A big congrats to our second Canadian winning team!
Bottom 2
Out On A Limb sadly wasn’t all fun and good times this week. Jon & Xavier and Christine & Michelle all experienced some issues and delays. And it was these issues that put both teams in the bottom 2 for the week. The former got some last minute feedback that their build had too much empty space. And it was an accurate call. Their build was two fairly spaced out platforms with not much connecting them. That bridge was great though with lots of colour so it drew your eye in. But the rest did not, especially from a distance as Brickmaster Amy pointed out. They did their best to pivot with some more builds in the middle but it wasn’t enough to keep them safe from elimination.
Christine and Michelle had the lion’s share of the struggles this week. They had major issues deciding on a concept. Poor Michelle really felt the stress and had to leave the studio at one point. She was really distraught, taking a moment to herself back stage before coming back. In one of the sweeter moments, Emily’s mothering instincts kicked in and she helped Michelle get back on track. The girls managed to come up with a concept, but it meant starting all over with just 4 hours left. Despite the setback, I think they really pulled together a really nice build. As Amy said, it would have been great to see the full potential of the Fairy BnB had they had managed to use the whole 10 hours.
A Tearful Goodbye
In the end, Christine & Michelle couldn’t overcome the delays and issues they encountered. I was pretty bummed out to see them in the bottom 2 as they were early favourites of mine. And of course it was an even bigger bummer to see them leave the competition. Amy’s lovely parting words to them were very sweet and inspirational too. I wish they could have stuck around. Sorry to see them go so early, but great job nonetheless.
Final Thoughts
Out On A Limb was great episode. I loved the concept, one that was genuinely unique amongst the challenges thus far. There’s lots of great builds this week too, I feel everyone brought a lot of fun personal designs to the table, er, tree. I’m glad we got to focus on techniques and imagination this week instead of ya know, blowing stuff up. 😊
- AMY’S. BEAUTIFUL. HAIR. 🤩
- Dom was pure chaos energy running to that brick pit.
- The golden brick remains unused in it’s new, fancy stasis field container
- Seriously, Nick’s face is iconic
- As was Michelle’s “I wanna be on Will’s chest…”
- ‘No Brikmastrs Alowd’ will be next week’s t-shirt
- “You ever see a cat skeleton in a tree? No. So leave em, they’ll be fine” ~ The Stephens
- Emily coming to help Michelle through her stress was such a sweet moment
- Brandon & Greg have 6 other siblings….wowza
- Anyone else miss the Granpappies?
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5 / 10
There we are friends. How did you enjoy this week’s episode? What were your favourite builds? What Treehouse theme would you have done? I think I would have gone for a big ol’ restaurant in the sky. Or maybe a music venue? Throw an orchestra in the trees and you got a classy evening. Please let us know your comments below and in all the usual places. Thanks for reading and until next time, keep on brickin’. 🧱
-Frank
LEGO® Masters USA airs Wednesdays at 9:00 PM ET/PT on FOX in the US, and on CTV, CTV.CA and the CTV app in Canada. Follow our full coverage here.
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