LEGO Masters Grand Masters Heist Takes Out a Team

LEGO Masters Grand Masters Heist Takes Out a Team

In this high-drama episode, contestants walk into a laser-beam filled studio, with a huge LEGO® blueprint in the centre and a giant LEGO®diamond atop. Burglar, Hamish Blake descends from the roof attached to wires, “Mission Impossible” style, to introduce today’s challenge – ‘The Heist’.

It is revealed the giant blueprint will become the diorama of a city-wide heist, made up of six individual baseplates. As Grand Brick holders, Scott & Owen have the power to allocate the blueprints for the entire town and the teams infront of them. After much deliberation they give themselves the Train Station; Ryan & Gabby are given the Bank, Andrew & Damian – the Hotel, Alex & Caleb – the Art Gallery, David & Gus – the Docks and Joss & Henry – the Jewellery store. The teams have a whopping 14 hours to complete their builds and the teams will find out if it is an elimination at the end of the build.

Joss and Henry play with the idea that their jewellery store is being robbed by Crooked Cops, until Brickman warns this will be extremely hard to convey with mini figs. The brothers need to simplify their idea.

Brick-holders Scott & Owen are excited by today’s build, not just because it’s mini-fig storytelling which is a strength of theirs, or the fact that they have the brick and are therefore safe from potential elimination, but mainly because they get to make a train and tick Ryan off in doing so. The boys quickly land on a Royal Train Heist, where bad guys dressed as guards kidnap members of the Royal Family at the train station, set in the Victorian era.

Self-proclaimed ‘Heist Pros’ Gabby & Ryan are relieved to be building something other than a train, having been allocated the bank, and plan the ultimate Clown Heist, in which evil clowns have purcahsed a shoe shop next to the city bank, have tunnelled from the shoe shop into the bank vault, whilst their clown friends distract security guards and patrons of the bank with a circus out the front.

David & Gus, who are allocated the docks, are wary that this type of build does not play to their strengths of building animals and creatures. They decide to lean into comedy and conceive an Underpants Heist that takes place on a shipping container. However, Brickman is not convinced this will be an easy story to tell and this feedback persuades them to change their idea to a Luxury Yacht Heist, where a group of thieves with a giant magnet are stealing a big luxurious yacht.

Alex & Caleb are confident mini-fig storytellers who have won on a city challenge before, in their last season with their Evil Coffee Corporation build. They are assigned the Gallery and decide to go big, with a multi-storey building with cutaways on each level – showing varying stages of valuable art being stolen by the gallery janitors.

Damian & Andrew’s idea is to steal the whole hotel with a helicopter with moving mechanisms and rotating blades. Hamish dubs it a ‘Hotel Hoist.’

Taking Brickman’s advice, Joss & Henry lean into the 1920’s architecture they had initially set out to build the ‘Family Jewels’ store in and match it with a gangster robbery narrative.   The mobsters are backing their truck into the back of the jewellery store, the getaway car blasts out of the truck through the wall, skidding through the jewellery store – sweeping up all the jewels as they go and bursting out of the front window, the getaway car front and centre.

David & Gus increase the presence in their build as they create a mechanism with the magnet to make it look like the boat is rocking. Having repurposed their shipping container shape to save time, the yacht isn’t look very sleek to Brickman, but David & Gus misinterpret his note and instead of fixing the boat shape, they add more luxurious details including a spa, pool table, and a heli pad.

Andrew & Damian build an enormous hotel and with Owen’s help, a complex helicopter mechanism.  Joss & Henry are happy with their exterior appeal of the build but know the story telling element is front and centre as they start on the 1920’s getaway car.  Although Brickman loves the story of Alex & Caleb’s Janitor Heist, he is concerned with the lack of colour their ‘bland’ building is presenting.

During the build, Hamish has ‘the best day of [his] life’, prowling around in a cat burglar suit sneaking up on and around people’s builds, stealing LEGO®and tormenting all the contestants!

Gabby & Ryan’s complicated Heist story is riddled with design issues, including the scale of their circus tent being compared to a yurt.  Their final hour is spent adding clown minifigs into their build to show their story telling element.

Taking lessons from their Evil Coffee Corp build in Season 4, Caleb & Alex decide to add in more symbolic green colouring in the form or their mini-figs clothing, the garbage trucks, bins and any other elements linked to the janitors stealing the art. Brickman adds further jeopardy to their build, when he informs them they need to start polishing. This feedback convinces Caleb that today is almost certainly an elimination, and they hustle to add polish to their build in the final hour, with the hopes that their story is strong enough to save them today.

Looking around the room, David & Gus have the smallest build.  Convinced today is an elimination challenge, they aren’t confident they’ve nailed the brief and may be in jeopardy of being in the bottom two.

After 14 hours, time is up and judging commences.  Brickman praises Joss & Henry’s beautifully ornate façade of the building and awesome getaway vehicle.   David & Gus’ believe they are behind the eight-ball with their build based on mini-figs and Brickman says the yacht’s nose does have a technical deficiency and their storytelling needs work.  Brickman loves how detailed the interior of Gabby & Ryan’s bank is, but unfortunately can’t look past how empty the outside of their baseplate is.

Brickman loves Andrew & Damian’s build with lots of story elements including a fire engine that has come to put out a fire that was lit as a distraction for the heist. However, Brickman feels like the diversion story is unnecessary, as the helicopter lifting the Hotel would’ve been enough. Brickman finds Caleb & Alex’s build to bland and he needs to see more colour.

Brickman loves Scott & Owen’s period piece and praises their detailed architecture work and Scott’s meticulous mini-figure placement. Their build has excellent storytelling, and it is evident they are the frontrunners in the room.

In the end, Scott & Owen and Joss & Henry are called forward as Top Two for this build, but its Scott & Owen’s stunningly detailed train station that earns them the Grand Brick back. It’s one of the best builds they’ve ever done, and they admit they’ve learnt a lesson in time management and good division of labour and that’s what ultimately won today’s challenge for them.

Hamish then reveals that today is in fact an elimination and Brickman calls the bottom two teams forward: Alex & Caleb and David & Gus. Brickman reiterates David & Gus’ execution issues with the shape of their yacht, and Alex & Caleb’s gallery is dubbed a ‘big, bland building’. But today is a storytelling challenge first and foremost and Alex & Caleb’s story is what saves them, sending Season 3 winners David & Gus home in an emotional elimination.

Joss & Henry remind us they’re the only previous-winners left in the competition, and that this competition is now anyone’s to win. The stakes have never been higher.

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