LEGO MASTERS USA Season 1 Episode 9 “Star Wars” review

The Force is with the LEGO MASTERS USA teams in a Star Wars themed semi-final

C-3PO! R2-D2! Star Wars arrives on LEGO MASTERS and seeing the familiar droids being perfectly in character is an absolute blast. With Will Arnett providing plenty of Star Wars references for them to bounce off and using the unintelligible beeps from R2 to great comic effect, the Force really is with this episode’s theme. Having the Star Wars elements attached to LEGO MASTERS USA is by far the best part of this instalment.

Spoilers for LEGO MASTERS Episode 9 ahead.

As ever, there is not a huge focus on the actual LEGO building aspect, although by virtue of there being fewer teams to focus on, a little bit more of their process is apparent. The droid challenge is much more interesting than the recreating a scene one, as it allows the teams to be every imaginative and have to problem solve with motors. It is also a hard challenge, as only a few people can capture the magic of Ralph McQuarrie and Dough Chiang to deliver the elusive ‘Star Warsy’ designs that make the galaxy far, far away special.

Tyler and Amy’s droid turns out great, and could only have been enhanced as a build by the wobble action working as they had intended – but it did lack the Star Wars vibe. Boone and Mark deliver a technically impressive model, which is the most authentically Star Wars of the three. Sam and Jessica inject a great story into their model, which sounds like something straight out of Star Wars, even if the model doesn’t quite look the part.

The advantage that Tyler and Amy get for winning that challenge is pretty pitiful, but that is fine as it is one of the better challenges that the contestants have been set during this series, and for that matter, any series of LEGO MASTERS.

As for the second challenge, in which the builders are required to recreate a Star Wars scene, it is an incredibly close-run thing. Every scene has its own merits, with Boone and Mark perhaps deserving their win thanks to the way their model genuinely feels like a full-on Star Wars scene. Tyler and Amy manage to get some impressive scale into their model, while Sam and Jessica demonstrate that the Battle of Crait continues to be great inspiration for MOCs.

The big twist at the end of the episode feels like a huge anti-climax, as it renders the entire hour pointless. Neither challenge has affected the competition at all, which really gives a feeling of lost momentum. It also makes some of the decisions about when contestants get eliminated seem entirely arbitrary – who is to say a team should have been eliminated in the eighth episode but not the ninth?

Based on tonight’s episode, the final could be won by any of the remaining teams – just one week to go…

The final episode of LEGO MASTERS will air on FOX in the USA on Wednesday, April 15 at 9.00pm ET/10.00pm PT.

To continue to support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com and Amazon using our affiliate links.

More LEGO MASTERS USA coverage

LEGO MASTERS: The road to the USA

Episode reviews:
Episode 1: “Dream Park Theme Park”
Episode 2: “Space Smash Challenge”
Episode 3: “Cut in half”
Episode 4: “Movie Genres”
Episode 5: “Mega City Block”
Episode 6: “Need for Speed/Super-Bridges”
Episode 7: “Storybook”
Episode 8: “Good vs. Evil”

Exit interviews:
Episode 1: No elimination
Episode 2: “Space Smash Challenge”
Episode 3: “Cut in half”
Episode 4: “Movie Genres”
Episode 5: “Mega City Block”
Episode 6: “Need for Speed/Super-Bridges”
Episode 7: “Storybook”
Episode 8: “Good vs. Evil”

Meet the judges:
Jamie Berard
Amy Corbett

Meet the contestants:
Sam and Jessica
Krystle and Amie
Flynn and Richard
Boone and Mark
Manny and Nestor
Tyler and Amy
Jessie and Kara
Christian and Aaron