LEGO Masters pits pairs of creative partners against one another in a series of unique and unexpected challenges as they construct LEGO builds within a tight timeline. After its debut in February 2020, the show became a hit for Fox, displaying a genuine test of creativity, craft and care. The competitive reality show earned a second season, which premieres Jun. 1. Hosted by comedian Will Arnett (who also serves as an executive producer on the show), LEGO Masters forces competitors to conceive of designs that bring engineering know-how to the table -- like constructing a bridge that can hold over 100lbs of weight.
During an exclusive interview with CBR, LEGO Masters consulting producer Nathan Sawaya spoke about the core of every good LEGO build and his history with the medium.
The world's only LEGO Certified Professional and LEGO Master Builder, Sawaya shared his deep connection with the building bricks. "My history with LEGO goes back several decades," Sawaya said. "And to have this show come to fruition and really be so well-rounded and so well-received has been fantastic. And more than anything, I'm very excited for folks to see what we came up with this season because we were doing it in a bit of a bubble, as everyone was in a bit of a bubble this past year. We were coming up with things, trying to make it work."
One of the unexpected trials of the upcoming season for Sawaya -- whose work is featured on the show -- came during production, which was moved between seasons. "For season one, my art studio is in Los Angeles, and we shot season one in Los Angeles. So it was very quick -- if someone on set came up with an idea, there was a 10-minute drive to the set, from my art studio. I could build something and bring it right over. This season, the set was in Atlanta, and I was in Los Angeles still. And so, that meant a whole different level of complexity of putting together things that would have to be built, but also packed and shipped all the way across the country in time to make it for the episode. It brought a whole level of challenge for me and my team. That was something that we relish. We love challenges like that."
Reflecting on his history with LEGO, Sawaya shared his early realizations about the building blocks' potential came when he was a child. "I was like 10 years old, wanting a dog and my parents said, 'You can't get a dog.' And I said, 'Oh, well, then I'm going to tear down my LEGO city and build myself my own life-size LEGO dog.' And it was moments like that when I realized there's really something to this. I could take this toy and build whatever I can imagine. If I want to pretend to be a rockstar, I'll just build myself a guitar. If I want to pretend to be an astronaut, I build myself a rocket ship. And it was really an 'A-ha!' moment. It doesn't have to be what's on the front of the box, [it could be] anything I could imagine."
As an artist well-versed in LEGO, Sawaya revealed the specific elements he's come to see as the core essentials of building pieces using LEGO -- especially on LEGO Masters. "I've narrowed it down to four things, the four C's. It's about Creativity, using the bricks to create something that we've never seen before. Of course, Color -- always a key component. The Construction, the techniques that are used. I think some of the things the contestants do is find ways to use LEGO bricks in ways we've never seen before, using specialized techniques. That's always an impressive feat. And then finally, Content. Is there a story? Is there something that can be talked about? If you can hit all four of those, you usually have a winning team."
However, he also firmly believes there are no common "mistakes" people make during the competition, stating, "I really feel like there shouldn't be any rules to art. There shouldn't be any rules to creating with LEGO. I know that some folks impose their own rules, and sometimes the community of LEGO builders impose their own rules... There are people who struggle sometimes, and they focus maybe too much on the size, they don't think about the color or vice versa. Sometimes people focus so much on the detail that they forget that this is a TV show. We want to see big, amazing things too. So there's an aspect in there that you have to consider."
"But for the most part, we had a great group of contestants and a very broad type of building, everything from artistic, to engineering, to storytelling," he said. "So the great thing about the show is that different challenges focus on those different things. Maybe this challenge is going to require more of an engineering aspect, whereas the next challenge requires more of an artistic aspect, and that really weeds out the contestants to get us the best builders in the country."
Despite being a show about friends making LEGO artwork together, the level of competition and the inherent challenges of working in LEGO creates suspenseful television. Sawaya discussed how the show finds the right balance of challenge for their competitors without being too overwhelming, stating, "I think the tension that comes from moving things, of course, that's inherent in trying to move anything that's unglued and built out of LEGO."
One element that stood out Sawaya about the challenges was how monumental the time limits are to the individual challenges. "It's not something that happens very often in the LEGO world," he said. "And so, the builders were having to experience this pressure, and I think showed some of their true colors... That deadline factor is something that contestants are not used to and really puts on this level of pressure that creates drama. I think it's really what makes the show work, but it's not like these time limits are unmanageable... Finding that balance is key to making it work. There's a lot of folks that [are] coming up with those challenges that are really going to both give the contestants the challenge that they need, but give them the time to make the mistakes, to find their creativity."
"I think the key for any of the challenges, it has to give them parameters that really help them not go too off-the-rails," Sawaya said. "I don't want to give too much away, but there are some fun challenges in the season that really focus contestants in a certain direction, but still allow them to have amazing creativity. And that's the key. We don't want to ever hinder them. We want them to be able to think outside the box, take whatever they came up with and build it, but we also want them to be focused, so that when they're working on something, they get something that's beautiful, but also amazing to look at, and maybe a little bit dangerous, with trying to walk around with it, or move it, or do anything with it. So that is also a part of a challenge. If you can build that into the challenge, that's always a good thing too."
Hosted by Will Arnett, the second season of LEGO Masters premieres Tuesday, Jun. 1 on FOX