LEGO Masters Interview with the Season 2 Winners!

The season finale of LEGO Masters just aired, and Vital Thrills got a chance to chat with the winners! Check out our LEGO Masters interview below, and beware of spoilers. You’ve been warned!

In each episode, host and executive producer Will Arnett, alongside expert Brickmasters and LEGO employees Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard, encourage pairs of LEGO enthusiasts, introduce incredible challenges, and put their creativity and skills to the test.

The competing pairs who impress the Brickmasters the most progress to the next round, until the finale, to be crowned the country’s most talented amateur LEGO builders, win a $100,000 cash prize, the ultimate LEGO trophy, and the grand title of LEGO Masters. 

Okay, since you’re still here, we can tell you that brothers Mark and Steven won Season 2 of the show! Mark, who currently works at a toy store, and Steven, who is a welder, took home the top prize.

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the brothers have already made quite the name for themselves in the LEGO community. Known for their large, detailed displays, these two brothers have showcased incredible skills and confidence this season, which has led to the grand title in the finale episode.

We asked about how they feel now that they can talk about winning. Steven said, “It’s a whirlwind of every emotion, you know, it’s just so satisfying to know we went the whole way, and then it all paid off in the end. It’s, it’s pretty amazing, not gonna lie.” Mark added, “It’s fantastic.”

The Day & Night build won them the season. Mark said of the build, “The Day & Night build that we made was a gigantic tree… the warden of the woods, he’s got these awesome glowing pieces in the water, beneath them is moving with lights – huge branches… it was like this majestic forest God. It was amazing! It was a forest spirit that was really cool.”

Steven said, “For the night and day elements, we had some animals that were only seen when the lights were on, like a woodpecker on his shoulders, and some rabbits and bunnies and stuff. And when the lights went off, you could see frogs and fireflies and other fun elements, which really played to the theme a lot, and that was a really fun thing to use, the lights.”

Mark added, “Like bonkers, but yeah, the rest of the season, we had a bunch of great builds that we really, really were proud of.” He gestured at Steven, “…like Bernie, the burnt-out dragon, the pirate hat, and all sorts of things like that. The challenges were so off the wall.” By the way, if you haven’t watched the hat episode, you really need to check it out to watch Mark’s runway walk!

The brothers got into LEGO as kids, and it was Mark’s best friend, Riley, who really pushed them into it. He said, “He had a big LEGO collection, and he indoctrinated us early. I was six, you were five. We just got hooked. Our parents got us the sets for Christmas.”

Steven said, “I remember we loved playing with little dinosaurs, the little plastic ones, and then LEGO came out with LEGO dinosaurs! That hooked us even more.” They said it just went from there, and they never stopped, even as adults.

Mark and Steven are inspiring a whole new generation of LEGO fans. “We have a lot of meet and greets at the store that I work at,” Mark said. “We’ll meet and talk with hundreds and hundreds of fans. They’re all so excited. The looks on their faces beaming with excitement. So we get to hang out with them and see how much they enjoy the show. We watched Season 1, so being on the show was awesome!”

Steven said, “And sometimes the kids who come to the meet and greets will bring the box with their LEGO creations, just to show us. And we’ll sign the street, the sidewalk, put our signatures and stuff on them when they ask for it. That’s pretty cool, I’m not gonna lie.”

The final build was a full 24 hours, and it was intense. “It was 24 hours, and it was broken up into three different days… we got lunch breaks of about 30 or 40 minutes.” They explained that a bathroom break or any other break didn’t stop the clock.

The guys worked really hard, as did all of the teams. The guys said they’re used to having days, weeks, and months to do a build. “It’s really kind of concentrated compared to what we’re used to,” Mark said. They had to block out six weeks of time to be in Northern Georgia for the shoot.

The contestants were quarantined due to COVID, so they got to spend a lot of time together. We asked if they got particularly close to anyone. “All of them,” Steven said. Mark added, “Pretty much the whole cast was just one big family. We had great relationships. Props to the casting department. Everyone was really friendly and true fans of LEGO.” They said they still chat with them “on the daily,” according to Mark. Steven said they’ve been getting together at conventions and having dinners as well.

They also learned new techniques. “I know that going into this, Steve and I were not very comfortable with motors, [LEGO] Technic, and a lot of strength-based stuff,” Mark said. “We were used to building stuff that’s pretty, but…” “A bit fragile,” said Steven. “For me, it was color. Mark stretched his limit with the motion, but for me, it was definitely color. I like muted colors. I enjoy color, too, but I don’t go out of my way to do it. Now I do. I’m like, how can I make this brighter? It is funny to hear that from the judges. ‘Hey, add some magenta.'”

Steven told us about what he learned from one of the other contestants. “Well, the one thing I learned that was really cool was from Moto. I’m sure you remember him. He had the glasses and the ponytail. He told me after he left — I think he told a couple of us — we were casually talking. He mentioned that the strongest connection for LEGO is the translucent bits.

“They’re actually made of acrylic and not ABS [acrylonitrile butadiene styrene], so they don’t have that typical flex. They’re more rigid. Fascinating! So I actually used that in the floating gnome forest for our hanging houses. I used translucent connections, and it worked! They were the strongest connections you can find.”

We asked the brothers what host Will Arnett and LEGO Masters Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard [check out our LEGO Masters interview with them here] are like during the shoot. “It’s really funny to interact with Amy and Jamie because when they come over to the building and they’re talking about stuff, we feel like they really, totally knew what we were talking about. They were really knowledgeable.”

“Talking shop,” Steven added. “Composition and color,” Mark said. “It was really refreshing and fascinating to talk with them. Will, on the other hand, is so bombastic, so loud, and awesome. He’s so funny. We were a little overwhelmed! We eventually got used to it after a few days of being on set. We were able to interact with him a bit more. We were less terrified. We got warmed up after a while,” he laughed.

We had to ask about how their lives were going to change after winning. “In the LEGO scene specifically, one of the weird, well, not weird, but one of the crazier things is when we go to conventions where everyone’s together, and all the fun builds are there, normally everyone is asking about the build. ‘How long did that take to make?’ ‘The parts…’ You get the usual questions. Now, we’ve been to a few conventions, and now it’s like, ‘What’s it like to be on the show?’ Now they want to know about us instead of the build! We’ve passed our own art in a weird way.”

Mark said that in the future, he plans on sticking with LEGO. “It’s part of my work, and Steven plans to get into it more. Lean away from the manual labor and get more into your creative side.”

Though they haven’t decided how to display their trophy yet, they said they might get a case and display it in their studio. [We could see all the bins of different colored LEGO in the background of the interview and a few builds.] They also mentioned that there were a few places around them that may want to display it for a while, “just for fun.”

We couldn’t end our LEGO Masters interview without asking if they have a favorite type of LEGO brick. “I’m actually a plates guy,” Steven said. “The thinner elements. I really like the detail you can get from those. It’s like finer pixels on a screen, essentially, for me. I do like the plates. I’m a plates guy.”

Mark said, “I’d say my favorite pieces to build with would have to be the studs on the sides. The headlights and snot bricks [snot=studs not on top], and getting LEGO to face a different direction. That’s so satisfying to me. I can’t explain why.”