LEGO Masters Jr. is tasking children to take on tricky brick building challenges, with Vincent and Hudson getting off to a strong start with their Peter Pan build. In this interview, the pair reveal what it’s like to be part of television’s dramatic LEGO contest.
After five seasons of adults facing off to see who the best builders are, children are getting their hands on the elements in LEGO Masters Jr. There’s $50,000 and a massive LEGO trophy up for grabs, so the five teams are doing their best to impress Brickmasters Amy Corbett and Boone Langston. It airs on Fox every Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, then arrives on Hulu the following day.
Taekwondo and LEGO enthusiasts Vincent and Hudson are building with their celebrity teammate, comic actor Ravi Patel. So far they have built an enormous Peter Pan Neverland model for the Disney challenge and a wild Animal Control van for the stunt challenge. Given that they were awarded first place in the opening task, they are a team to keep an eye on.
Blocks caught up with the pair to find out about their LEGO Masters Jr. experience…
Blocks: Do each of you remember the first LEGO set that you ever built?
Hudson: It wasn’t very exciting, it was a NINJAGO set, I don’t quite remember which one it was, but it was something small and I loved it. It was great.
Blocks: Everyone starts with something. It must have got you hooked. How about you, Vincent, what was your first ever LEGO set?
Vincent: I don’t actually remember. I think the first set was I got a NINJAGO mech.
Blocks: When did you start building creatively and not using the instructions?
Vincent: Our library LEGO club at West Glynn, when I was four, with Blair Archer, he was the person that ran it.
Blocks: So did they introduce you to free building and everything?
Vincent: Yeah, he had this big thing of LEGO bricks and would host build competitions and competitions. I built a Santa MOC I built with a Santa sleigh and snowman.
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Blocks: How about you, Hudson, when did you start breaking out from the instructions and doing your own thing?
Hudson: I would always do very small, simple things when I started, but I only kind of start taking it seriously as a as more of an art form, as more of a thing, recently with the impending release of LEGO Masters Jr.
Blocks: What do you love to build the most? What’s your favourite topic or theme?
Hudson: I have always been into miniatures. I love nature, so the Botanicals sets are fun, I like to replicate some of those on some kind of level with my MOCs.
Blocks: And how about you Vincent? What do you like to build?
Vincent: I like Star Wars. I like to build buildings. I like to build architecture.
Blocks: Do each of you have, an all-time favourite LEGO build that you’re most proud of?
Hudson: I remember that before the show started, I had a LEGO build that I made. It was multiple base plates and it was like a film set. It wasn’t very tall, but it had a bunch of character, a bunch of minifigures. I always liked that because it took up lots of space, it had lots of detail.
Vincent: My favourite one was the Peter Pan from the first episode, our Peter Pan MOC. We’ve never built a MOC that big, that was the first time. And I just really liked that.
Blocks: The scale you guys built that to was incredible, especially when you’ve got a time limit and everything. What were your favourite things in that build?
Hudson: I really think that those two trees in the middle with the rope bridge going across were a nice spectacle to have in that middle, just the big, towering trees with the little inlets inside of them, little places to live. Those are super fun.
Vincent: I really liked the pirate ship and Captain Hook and the crocodile’s mouth.
Blocks: What was it like when you first stepped on the LEGO Masters set for the first time? How did that feel after like seeing it on TV?
Vincent: It was such an experience to walk into that set and look at all those LEGO elements. I’m like, they have every single LEGO brick.
Blocks: It’s every LEGO fan’s dream, isn’t it, to have that brick rooms to be able to go into and just help yourself to whatever you need?
Vincent: Unlimited supply.
Blocks: What was it like meeting Amy and Boone?
Hudson: It was very cool, because I had been watching LEGO Masters from Season 1, of course, and I definitely knew Amy and she was great. She’d ask these really good questions, give really good advice. And Boone, he was an amazing addition to the judging panel. He’s super fun. All the kids liked him. He would sing songs… Boone was awesome.
Blocks: What about Ravi, your teammate? What was it like working with him and having an extra pair of hands to help you with the building?
Vincent: He was such a cool guy, so funny, so humorous, everybody was laughing.
Blocks: Hudson, did you and Vincent teach him a thing or two along the way? Did you manage to show him any LEGO techniques or anything?
Hudson: I sure hope so. He was helping us out a lot, he would watch us. He would ask us for advice, and we would help him out. We would tell him how to do something, show him how to do something. I’m pretty sure he learned a thing or two from us.
Blocks: What was it like building against the clock and having all of that time pressure compared to building at home, when you can take as long as you need on something?
Hudson: Building with the clock was insanity. We had practiced with a clock of some sort during the audition process, but it had never been quite as serious as that, because we have so much space to fill in so little time. We were rushing the entire time the clock was winding down.
Blocks: We know that coming up there’s going to be a stunt car challenge, a Harry Potter challenge, a NINJAGO challenge. Do you have a favourite one out of all the challenges that you were part of on the show?
Hudson: I think my favourite challenge was the Disney challenge, because that set the stage, set the tone, and we were still in awe of the brick pit, the set… to win that challenge, especially with the backstory that we had as a Peter Pan dress up thing, it was really great for me.
Vincent: Yeah, same here.
Blocks: What was the best thing about being on LEGO Masters Jr?
Vincent: The best thing was building with other kids from around the country, they were all super nice.
Hudson: The feeling of it all building with the kids, building with the judges. It’s just so cool to be able to look onto the television and see your face. It’s a feeling you can’t really replicate with anything else.
LEGO Masters Jr. airs every Monday on Fox, then is available from Tuesday on Hulu.
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