So you want to be a LEGO MASTER BUILDER?

I kinda wish I could start this post by letting you assume that I got the job and became a LEGO MASTER BUILDER, but I didn't…However I don't think that means you shouldn't keep reading…


If you dream to be a LEGO MASTER BUILDER or if you want to know all about the whole process and how it felt, then keep reading! I know before I went, I wanted to know all I could about the whole process...

So to be a Lego Master Builder you compete in a Lego Brick Factor Competition.
It typically starts with a build that they tell you about the theme in advance, then they narrow it down, and then once again and pick the winner from that last group.

So build one…
I'm nervous.
  
When I arrived there had already been a build, and the next section was starting…
Round one was broken up into about 5 different groups of about 15-20 people… we started with 79 people. I was in build 3. It was kinda nice to see what people had already built and watch people build, to get a feel for how it was going to go.

My goal? To make it to the 2nd round. I just wanted to make it past the first round…
They told us that the first build was your favourite Animal.
They also told us a big part of the selection process was how we interacted with the crowd… which I was a bit bummed that my wife and child couldn't come, but I was going to interact with the crowd I didn't know as best as I could…

My time finally came up, and did I mention I was nervous?
We got 30 mins and when I started my hands were shaking a bit…
You see I had planned and practiced to build an Orca. I had built it with a lot of small bricks from my collection… but what I came to realize was that there was no small Lego Bricks!
Furthermore each colour had only 2-3 types of bricks. So when I went to use the black, that I wanted for my Orca, I found that there was only 2x 8 and 1x6 thin… I actually almost didn't go with building the orca…
but…

I went for it, and boy am I glad I did… everyone loved it…
10mins in I wasn't shaking and was having fun building my orca, talking with the crowd and the judges.
I finished the orca and knew it needed something more than just a whale sitting on a table for everyone to see, so I started building the water base…


Yeah so see the blue pieces that it's leaning on?
In the last 30seconds I attached them and made the orca balance on it. I had shaky hands again…

But I was so glad I went for it and got it to display properly… Display after all is almost more important than what you built…





Well After my round finished I ate lunch and then came back to watch the final section of round 1 build.
Also we had name tags on, so I regularly got asked, 'what did you build' To which I would say the 'orca' or 'killer whale', to which everyone replied, really? I was just saying how that was my favourite build!' or something to that affect… really I don't joke everyone mentioned that they loved my whale…
They had all of our builds displayed throughout the whole process for the growing crowds to see.

The final section finished the judges had deliberated and it was time to pick 30 of us to move on to the next round…

I was so nervous, this was the moment I found out if I achieved my goal…
They were going to have 2 sections of the 2nd build so they announced it in 2 sections.
After the first 15 people were announced, I was starting to tell myself things like, well maybe you're in the 2nd round, or maybe you didn't make it, and that's okay right? you had fun right?

14 more people announced and I was, as one of the judges mentioned to me later, (in a British accent), 'you were literally having a heart attack'…
And the last name is… Michael Jennys! I MADE IT! I'm in the next round!!! OH I made it!!! YAY!
The next rounds theme was then announced:
Your Favourite Vacation Spot.
-Well that's gonna be hard…
But I'm in the 2nd heat so I have 30+ mins to think about what I wanted to build…
Did I mention that at this point people were just standing taking pictures of my Orca? This one girl probably maxed our her phone's memory… I had a fan following!

Soon it was my time, this time I wasn't nervous, I had made my goal, I was golden!
I had also decided on building Yellowstone, which I have to say is hard to explain to people who haven't been there… but I did, and I did it a lot…

I planned on building Old faithful, and a generic thermal feature with a board walk.


Not as good as my orca, but I think it looked pretty good, and there were a few people that had been to yellowstone and totally recognized what I had built, which is always the dream… it's bad when you build something and they're like, 'uhh it's some legos?'
Which I should take a moment and say, officially there is no such thing as 'legos' it's Lego Bricks.
They informed us of this fact so that we wouldn't say anything silly on the radio interviews and such…

have you ever taken a selfi across a table with lego bricks?

Well the judges had deliberated and decided on the top 10 finalists that would come back the next day for an interview and a final build.

And…

They called my name!? Whaaa?! ME! I'm in the final 10!? Wow! 

Wait? I actually have a chance now to be a LEGO MASTER BUILDER!!! Also a free t-shirt??

The topic? 

Something that sums me up…

Well what sums me up in Lego Bricks? Transformers and sci-fi? yeah… that.

So the day arrives, this time, people came to see me build!

Also let me take a second to mention, I had not thought I would get this far, so I didn't spend a lot of time on my resume… my guess? Resume is a big part of this final build… we 10 had already demonstrated that we could build, but what else qualified us? 

Well we had an hour to help our resume, and…

They gave us a kid helper… these kids were great, and my kid, Sophia was amazing! 

Welp we had an hour to build this time, I was going to build optimus prime holding an x-wing…

I had a crowd of people that knew me, and a big crowd of kids that loved star wars and transformers…


It was so much fun… I think I could have done better, but I enjoyed myself and build cool things…


I built it and honestly I think it looked like a transformer holding an x wing…

Then after that we switched roles and we helped our helper build something they wanted to build… Sophia wanted to build a grey and white dog… I was like, well would black or brown work? Cause there's no grey…
Brown was fine, and she built a great dog…







Then the judges told us who the winner was...
It wasn't me... I didn't win… The guy that won built a computer… it was a square… but I think he had a great resume…





But it was fun! And a super great experience…Well worth going and doing… and Hey, I made it to the top 10 of 79…