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An Interview with Lego Brickmaster and Lego Masters Judge Jamie Berard
369 Plays4 years ago
On this episode, the brothers Weinbrecht talk the latest in toy news and hauls before welcoming Lego Brickmaster and Lego Masters Judge, Jamie Berard! Dialing in all the way from Lego HQ in Denmark, Jamie talks about his history with the company, some of his favorite builds, and season 1 of the hit show Lego Masters. Is Will Arnett as cool as he seems? Will there be a season 2? Tune in and find out!
Follow Jamie on Instagram @brickmasterjamie and catch him on FOX's Lego Masters!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Health Safety Tips
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi Dave. Hi Eric. Hey Dave, do we curse on this podcast? Yes Eric, yes we do.
00:00:10
Speaker
Hi, everyone. It's Eric and Dave, your friends at the Adventures in Collecting podcast. We hope that you're staying safe and healthy throughout this incredibly unprecedented time and current health crisis we're going through. Everyone, including young adults, is at risk for coronavirus. And the best way to protect yourself is to stay at home and practice safe social distancing. Staying at home helps lower the risk for everyone, including your family members and those most at risk.
00:00:35
Speaker
Yeah, just avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts. Use drive-through or delivery options and stay at home if you're not feeling well. If you have any symptoms of fever, dry cough, or shortness of breath, call your health care provider before going to their office.
Podcast Recording and Earth Day Special
00:00:51
Speaker
Most of all, just take care of yourself and your family and enjoy this episode of the podcast.
00:01:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:01:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi. We're still in our separate houses. Yep. Still social distancing podcasting. It's still the way that it's happening. Just what's going on. This is it. We're here. So we have a very special episode today. A little bit of a different format than we've had with previous guests, Dave. Yes. It's, wait, what?
00:01:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's true. We don't usually do this beforehand. Also, what day is it? Just out of curiosity. So today we are recording it is Wednesday. It's Earth Day. Happy Earth Day. Oh, happy Earth Day. Wednesday, April 22nd. Recycle your packaging if you open your your figures. Yes, recycle all toy packaging and separate if you're one of those. Well, I mean, Marvel Legends, a bunch of them. Rip the plastic off the cardboard. Don't be a monster. OK.
Interview with Brickmaster Jamie Burrard
00:02:27
Speaker
Um, so on today's episode on today's episode, we are going to do our normal news and halls. And then we're going to welcome very special guests. Brickmaster Jamie Burrard to the show. Yeah. Oh my God. All the way from Denmark. Yeah. That's, I mean, amazing. Yeah. He'll be, he'll be with us shortly. Um, can't wait. Super excited.
00:02:55
Speaker
I'm very excited. I am surrounded by many of my builds. Actually, every one of them. Yeah, I was going to say, don't you have them all currently on display? I've been tinkering with that BrickHeads version of myself. Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
just been a constant. I can't put it down. It's like I think I have it in a place where I like it and then I pick it back up and I realize like, oh, I could do this. I have Central Perk out. I have my movie vehicles. I have a bunch of Star Wars stuff. I have Porg. Porg life. Porg life. All right, so let's jump into news real quick.
00:03:38
Speaker
I don't want to keep everyone waiting to hear from Jamie. So quick update on the McFarland Spawn Kickstarter. We have surpassed the $1.7 million mark, which means that we're getting a slew of new heads and weapons and all kinds of stuff for the Spawn Kickstarter. I think that the modern version is now getting the giant boot. The three pack now comes with this. Hands and feet.
00:04:07
Speaker
gauntlet board yeah it's your board with nails yeah board with now we are getting bored with now how about that we we we've we've hit board with now um you were saying right before we started to hit to hit recording though that are started to hit record that that feels like our classic spawns getting a little bit of the uh a little bit of the old shaft here i i mean there there's not been all
00:04:31
Speaker
I mean granted, we do get the painted spawn head and the screaming monster head, which is great. Get some hands.
00:04:44
Speaker
Otherwise, in news, we're seeing stuff on our Instagram feed that makes me a little bit angry and a little bit excited at the same time. Some of the new product is, in fact, starting to hit shelves and in stores, but at the same time, I hate seeing pictures of it because if you're going to a store, I really hope that you're not going just to shop for toys. We're not going to name drop any people, but just please be careful out there.
00:05:11
Speaker
There's a ton of new Star Wars stuff and a ton of new Marvel stuff that's hitting shelves and wrestling stuff, but just... With caution, please. Yeah, if I haven't been able to order it, I haven't been able to order it. It's not coming to the house, so... Well, speaking of ordering, why don't you just go right into some of the things that you have been safely ordering, dear brother?
00:05:39
Speaker
I have safely ordered two things. I have safely ordered the classic Wonder Woman 84 Wonder Woman.
00:05:57
Speaker
So that should be on its way soonish. And, um, I also ordered the Hot Topic exclusive Papa Neil, uh, ghost pop vinyl to go with my Papa emeritus and, uh, Hashtag safely ordered safely ordered all of them. Um, that's about it.
00:06:17
Speaker
I'm in the same boat with Wonder Woman. I got my ultimate chuggy from NECA in the mail yesterday, along with the brickheads that I mentioned. I ordered the Groom set as per guidance of our friend of the pod, Amy Corbett.
00:06:45
Speaker
I'm trying to think. I don't think I've gotten anything else. I think that's been it. It's been kind of slow. I'm waiting on the Mortal Kombat 11 spawn from Amazon. It was supposed to come yesterday, but they don't even have it yet, so it hasn't even shipped. I think that's it. Yeah, that's all I've got as well. Yeah. It's a slow time. It is what it is.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah. Free ordered some stuff, but it's not. Even close to being the time when it's supposed to ship, so there's no. Real reason to chat about it yet. Yeah, same. I have some stuff that's that's due like June. I'll remember it when it shows up. Yeah, accurate. I get that shipment notification.
00:07:35
Speaker
No, I've actually been spending a lot of this time tinkering with my displays and everything. Like, repositioning guys, getting a little bit better with the light box and the toy photography and, you know, just figuring out ways to kind of like maximize not only the amount that I can display, but kind of switching some stuff out. You know, there's a lot of stuff that has lived in bins for a very long time now that, you know, I'm starting to rotate out and just kind of like refresh the way that things look.
00:08:06
Speaker
All right, cool. Yeah, I think those WonderCon exclusive Funko things should be getting here within the next couple days, too. But I spoke of those last episode, so. Yeah. Well, I think I think without without any any. Without any further ado, guess that toy. Yeah, no, not today. I don't even I don't even think that's something we could do here because that's got to be a face to face game.
00:08:36
Speaker
No, we should try doing it. Social distancing version of it. I bet we could do it. Who's up next? Isn't it you again? Did I get you? No. No, I got you last. Yeah, you got me last. So the next time will be my turn. So I'm going to start thinking about that. We have something planned for the next episode as well. So maybe two episodes from now, we'll bring back name that toy and I'll come for you.
00:09:07
Speaker
Okay, just stay there. But yeah, I will. I will. I will virtually come at you, bro. Let's let's let's kick it over to the interview. Let's let's welcome Jamie to the podcast. All right.
00:09:26
Speaker
Our guest on the show today is joining us all the way from Denmark.
Jamie's Favorite LEGO Builds
00:09:29
Speaker
He has worked on some truly incredible projects with Lego as a brick master, but you probably most recently saw him as a judge on the first season of Fox's hit show, Lego Master. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting Jamie Burrard. Hi, thanks for having me.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, thank you so much for being here. Dave and I are huge fans of LEGO and we loved the first season of the show, so we're super excited to have you here with us today. Before we dive into season one and your history with LEGO, when we have guests on the show, we always like to ask them what they're collecting. So is there a toy or, in your case, a specific build that you're really excited about right now?
00:10:12
Speaker
Ah, it's just in general anything that I collect, it's probably pop-up books, but if it's LEGO specific, then I would definitely say I'm a Star Wars Technic person. Very cool. So pop-up books, that's an interesting one. Yeah. Yeah, it's a weird one that I don't know when I got hooked on it, but...
00:10:32
Speaker
It's really wild. One of the highlights of my Lego career is getting to work with Matthew Reinhardt on the Lego pop-up book, which actually has two world records, as I understand it, in it, where it has the tallest pop, and then it also has the first triple change pop. I don't know if I'm using the correct technical terms. I love them, but I don't know all the legitimate terms, but it's something that makes me happy.
00:11:01
Speaker
That's awesome. You have pop-up books. I know my daughter has a couple of them and she loves them, but we definitely had them as kids, but that's an interesting one, pop-up books. They've really evolved since I was a kid. If you get a chance to see some of the more recent ones, especially for Matthew Reinhardt or Robert Sabuda, they're really mind-blowing. It's just so creative. So now you mentioned Star Wars Technics. What's your favorite of the Star Wars Technics that have come out?
00:11:31
Speaker
Well, Star Wars as a theme and then also Technic as a theme. I think they're kind of independent. When it comes to Star Wars, I'm a big fan of the dark side. I really like some of the newer ships that have come out of the black. Basically anything dark or black just looks awesome. But again, as much as I say I'm into Star Wars, I won't try to bluff my way through knowing all of the different characters and all of the little
00:12:00
Speaker
facts and trivia, but I really love the transformation aspect of them. The fact that they're usually very visually impressive, they have a nice geometry, but then traditionally they also have some sort of an additional hidden level of reveal. And I think that's also why I like Technic, is that it has that extra layer, it has the functionality aspect, and I really love the idea of my models coming to life.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah, those first order ships from the newer films, the geometry on them is crazy. They have such, like, striking sharp lines and, you know, they look so... What's the word? They look so, like, mechanical. Like, it's just that they're really, really, really sharp looking. Yeah. Yeah, that A-wing that's coming out looks outstanding. And I got to say, one of my favorite things that I've built was the porg.
00:12:53
Speaker
the full-size port. That was so much fun to put together. Yeah, it's really nice that they do something different like sculptures. But I have to say, I've also done one of their first sculptures that they did, which was Dark Maul's head. And if ever there were a LEGO product that just creeped me out,
00:13:09
Speaker
I had that thing and made the mistake of, I had a small apartment, so I made the mistake of putting it on display in the bedroom. And there's nothing scarier than waking up in the middle of the night and seeing a human-sized head just looking at you from the corner of the room. Let's just say that that one got repurposed into other models shortly after I built it. Understandable. I mean, Ray Park is an intense guy to begin with, let alone give him beaming yellow eyes and a horned head.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, I can imagine just like turning your head really quickly and like, wait, who's here? Oh, oh, it's just Darth Maul said. How many people can say that in a legitimate sentence than a Lego fan? True. So Jamie, give us give us the quick rundown on on your history with Lego. How how did you get to where you are now?
00:14:00
Speaker
I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I, since I was a little kid, had this dream of someday becoming a LEGO designer. And considering how few people in the world get to do that, my path into the company was just really amazing in that I'm a lifelong LEGO fan. And so I started to attend LEGO conventions and making things like fairground rides. And it was when I was at Brickfest
00:14:31
Speaker
2005 where I was just displaying my LEGO models and it just happened to be an event that LEGO Higher Management, including the owner of the company, decided to attend and they just saw what I was making and they loved it and just asked, have you ever considered working for the company?
00:14:47
Speaker
And that was my job interview. I literally was at a fan event where I love being, uh, making models that I love making. And then talking to people from the Lego company that were just super cool. And we're willing to take a chance and offer me a three month internship that eventually turned into a job. Um, it's quite a strange twist considering that now I'm hiring people considering that was my job interview. I'm now putting other people through a two day workshop where we're taking the best of the best of the world and really making sure that
00:15:17
Speaker
you know, they can perform at a high enough level to be working for the company. And I almost feel guilty when I think back to my own path and where it was just the right timing with the right people that were looking for something fresh.
00:15:32
Speaker
straight from there to Denmark, right? Yeah, so I literally had to, this is an embarrassing thing that I'll share with you because you won't tell anybody, right? But I didn't even know where Denmark was geographically on a map. I had to look it up and find it and then
00:15:49
Speaker
My mind was blown. I'm like, whoa, I had no idea this whole little Scandinavian part of the world existed. And that's where I was moving to. So I ran to the library and I said, I'm moving to Denmark. You have any audio tapes? Because at the time you could get audio tapes, I guess, still, or CDs. And I just said, you know, trying to learn the language. And then I'm at home and I'm listening and they're talking about Amsterdam and, you know, a lovely day by the canals. And I'm like,
00:16:14
Speaker
All right, I don't know Denmark very well, but I'm pretty sure this is not Denmark. This is the Netherlands. This is Holland. And then I went back and the lady that was very nice at the library had just mistaken Dutch and Danish.
00:16:28
Speaker
And I didn't know any better. I just took it home. So it just shows how my worldview has changed considerably. I got my passport for the first time when I got hired. And then I started my world adventure. And 14 and a half years later, I'm still in Denmark and I am absolutely loving it here. That's amazing. That's the dream. I mean, that's for sure.
00:16:52
Speaker
So as far as the more recent stuff that's come out, or even of all time, how involved are you in creating any of the
LEGO Masters Challenges and Builds
00:17:01
Speaker
builds? And what's your favorite build that's available right now? Oh, that's tough. I'm actually quite involved with at least the creator expert in LEGO architecture line, where I'm very fortunate to have an extremely competent team of designers.
00:17:20
Speaker
Where in the past, I would design the model myself. Of course, you always have input from the team. But now I actually design through others. So it's more likely that I help propose a direction that then gets approved. I have a lot of different people have to convince that these are good ideas. And then I have to convince the design team of what I convinced other people of and try to help them along the way.
00:17:47
Speaker
So more often than not, I find that I'm influencing multiple products as many as I think for this past year, 16 different products. And that's many different designers working on it where I'm checking in and just making sure that we have a clear line of sight. And at times I get to use my building skills and try to help solve a problem that's particularly tricky that they're stuck on.
00:18:11
Speaker
Hopefully drawing on my experience in the past that sometimes I have done some of these things before and it's in a different way. And I can have a unique perspective that I can offer. But yeah, so I don't actually make products by myself. I never did it by myself, but I don't have products for myself anymore. I'm actually working with a team of designers.
00:18:33
Speaker
So we saw at Toy Fair, we saw the Dubai skyline that's coming to the architecture line. So cool. It is amazing to see how the pieces that we know and love from all of the LEGO sets get transformed into these architectural icons.
00:18:57
Speaker
How does your knowledge of all of the available pieces, how do you pull from that to translate these things into reality in terms of problem solving? I think especially with architecture, every little brick matters.
00:19:16
Speaker
And so that's where I think my playfulness with the bricks comes into play, making sure that I'm not just seeing bricks for what they were intended to make, so to speak. I'm always trying to flip them over, turn them around, reimagine them in a different configuration. And that's where I think, especially with architecture where you're doing micro-scale, that's a huge asset to be able to use every piece strategically.
00:19:40
Speaker
But I have to say, I'm also specific to architecture. I'm very lucky to have someone like Roque, who's a professional architect. He's trained, he has a PhD in architecture. So he's definitely one that is super on top of those things and knows all the little details of the buildings and
00:20:00
Speaker
and what matters, why they're architecturally relevant. And that's where it's really fun to have someone at his level of ability. When I can finally offer something new, it's a real win for me because he's so talented on his own that it's extra special when I can contribute.
00:20:17
Speaker
So I, full disclosure, I had a kind of isolation build. I got the 89 Batmobile for Christmas. Watching that kind of transition and build up and just become the Batmobile was amazing. And of course, you were just on TV with the voice of Lego Batman himself.
00:20:41
Speaker
So how was the first season of Lego master like I was just saying before is it was it was appointment viewing for me. What were what were some of your favorite builds from the show. There's so much talent on that show. But I have to say that.
00:20:59
Speaker
It's probably the storybook challenge when Tyler and Amy made that giant carrot in these floating, impossibly floating surfaces. It was just so fun and it totally captured the imagination of a child.
00:21:16
Speaker
There's nothing in there that's really reality based and yet they were also polished and so fun and so well put together. I really like that one and just their style in general also when they did the refrigerator with the baby on top and the cats in the milk, really playful stuff. So I'd say that both of those really stand out to me. But I have to say, there's some really strong ones, Mark and Boone, especially with that
00:21:46
Speaker
Pops, food cart, you know, skyscraper. It didn't come across quite as we saw it on TV. Like on TV sometimes things show up a bit differently but I mean when that showed up in the room everybody just took notice and said wow this is really fun. Those little hot dog characters and really playful usage of pieces. So some real standout models. I could actually go down and name a half a dozen but some really strong stuff.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, it was, I mean, just watching it and watching everything get built and come together and let alone like pretty much from scratch was amazing. And of course you had Will Arnett. And, you know, I guess the big question kind of follow up to that is, were you and Amy ever involved in designing the challenges themselves?
00:22:37
Speaker
Yes, actually. Well, I don't know. Amy and I were both involved at the beginning of the show or before the show even started. We were introduced to the challenges that they wanted to do and we gave input on them. But even before that, if you back up to the very first LEGO Masters that aired in the UK, I was fortunate to be working behind the scenes, helping to come up with some of the challenges that ultimately made it to air there.
00:23:06
Speaker
And then we created a whole document of challenges. There's many, many challenges for them to choose from, not only on that show, but then eventually in the German show and then the Australian show.
00:23:20
Speaker
And now it's even rolling out in the Netherlands and a couple of additional markets. So there are a lot of challenges that I actually helped contribute to. And then it's kind of fun when you finally, when I finally got on set and saw the ones that they were choosing as what was relevant for them to go forward with. I'd say that it's ultimately, it was the production company that had a vision for which challenges work best for them. But it was really fun knowing the origin of some of these challenges and how it was used in other markets.
00:23:52
Speaker
Yeah, and the challenge is each and every one of them, the way that the contestants kind of wrapped their brains around them and brought them to life was absolutely incredible to watch. And one of the more fun moments of each episode, actually, I found was when you guys walked up to the table to kind of like take their temperature and check in.
00:24:12
Speaker
And I feel like there were some times where you could almost see it on both of your faces where it's like, you have an idea, you want to jump in and help them. How difficult was it to resist saying something like, oh, but if you just put this piece here, do this with this kind of brick, or did you think about doing this? Was that a really difficult challenge for you as a judge?
00:24:37
Speaker
It's a tough one because it is ultimately it's a competition and they have very strict rules about making sure that it was fair for everybody. But I do think that Amy and I did have opportunities that we could offer a bit of coaching and we did try to give people guidance on where we believed their build could perform best or what to highlight or maybe what to be aware of. But there are those moments I think that which is what you're getting to where I really just wanted to jump in
00:25:07
Speaker
and geek out and just start building stuff. Because some of these things that they were doing were just so inspiring that I did want to participate. But we had to hold back and let them play with the bricks. That wasn't our role in the show, but I at least feel good that we did
00:25:28
Speaker
We did get to have some fun moments where we got to help inspire them in a new direction or really encourage something that they were good at and seeing it develop and grow throughout the season. And to hear some of those builders reflect back after the show on some of those moments is really rewarding to know that
00:25:48
Speaker
Even though, you know, there are times on the show where you think, oh, those judges are being a little bit tough on them. Um, I hope everybody recognizes that there were also additional supportive comments where we were trying to really bring out the best in them and encourage them to really express their creativity in the best way possible. Oh yeah. And I mean, that, that sentiment was for me was never lost. I mean, if, were it not for the one comment that you actually made to, to Mark and Boone, they're, they're, um,
00:26:18
Speaker
their tower would not have transformed the way that it did, you know, like they had kind of fallen into this groove of doing these, these very like, geometric, you know, kind of like straight up towers. And if you hadn't called them out on, you know, really
00:26:35
Speaker
doing that again and kind of hiding all of the work that they were putting into it, they wouldn't have had this explosion of a tower that had moving pieces. I think that the sentiment of you guys helping was definitely there. That was not lost.
Television Influence and Pandemic Adaptation
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate that. And I think it was a learning for everyone, including the builders, to just have to think of making models that just show all of their creativity almost instantly when you see it. It's the medium of television where you want to make sure everybody at home is really enjoying and appreciating
00:27:08
Speaker
all that they're putting into it. So really trying to make sure that colors help things stand out and to make sure that all of the little details actually stand a chance of being recognized. It's not something like at a fan event where some people will just stand around a model and they could just spend hours looking at it and discovering new things.
00:27:30
Speaker
With this one, because of the time crunch and the medium, we were really trying to encourage them to really bring it forward and highlight and showcase as much as they could so that way everybody could appreciate it. So you mentioned the time constraint, and that's something that I think is really unique to the show.
00:27:47
Speaker
how do you handle the logistics of a 24-hour build? Are you guys all there for 24 hours? How does that work? Do we seal the doors and cut off the oxygen supply? It's actually something that varies based on the different challenges because they each have different times and different requirements. In general, we would shoot a single episode over the course of three days. That way, they would have at least a couple of solid days
00:28:17
Speaker
that they would be building. And they would, of course, go home. We would get lunch breaks. We would get those types of things. But yeah, it was very, very intense. And I think that it comes with strengths and weaknesses. In some ways, they could have had more downtime. But
00:28:40
Speaker
I don't know how you are when you're really in the zone and you're building, but I can send some of them. They just really were in that moment and the time just flies by and they can just, you know, when they're, when everything's sparking and you're just building as fast as they're building, it's almost a disappointment at times when you realize the day's up and you're like, Oh, I have to go home.
00:29:01
Speaker
And then you get to start it all over again the next day. I think as fans, some of us might have preferred just going 24 hours straight, but we did want to give them a chance to rest.
00:29:12
Speaker
I could tell you, speaking from experience, putting together like the James Bond Aston Martin, I did that in one fell swoop. Yeah, I just that it was going to be done when it was done. The Batmobile, I did kind of space out over days just because it's it's the biggest thing I've built thus far. So it was. Yeah. But I could definitely kind of feel that.
00:29:37
Speaker
idea of, yeah, I kind of want to go through this just and get it done because I'm having such a good time. The thing that sticks out to me was the, you know, whether it was the with the baseball bat or the explosives or the drop, just seeing things break. And, you know, you're used to seeing Lego stay together. But just seeing it do different things and different things with the bricks and watching
00:30:02
Speaker
you know the um explosive contents and you know bricks fly everywhere it was just kind of something different um and it was cool to see that everything was being used as something in a different way in a way you would normally wouldn't think
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah, considering that the builders are so talented at putting things together, it's really fun to flip it on its head and try to get them to think of how things come apart. And that's the beauty of that challenge. As much as I really don't endorse the destruction of LEGO from LEGO models, it really was a fun exercise in getting people to think very differently about how they construct things. So we saw an ad at the end looking for contestants for season two.
00:30:46
Speaker
Is that a confirmation that there is going to be a season two?
00:30:50
Speaker
Nothing has been confirmed yet. There's definitely discussions because I think most people would agree that the first season had a degree of success. We do have some challenging constraints right now with the current environment, which are being considered. But this was part people thinking about it. And once they figure it out, we really look forward to seeing how season two could, without confirming that it is, but could happen.
00:31:17
Speaker
So speaking of the current pandemic and the COVID-19 situation that we're all dealing with, how are you and the rest of folks at LEGO holding up during everything? How is everything in Denmark? How's everything at HQ? It's quite a strange time for sure, but I think everybody's going through that.
00:31:42
Speaker
We've had the good fortune that I think Denmark was a bit ahead of the curve.
00:31:49
Speaker
and that they were quite proactive in reacting very quickly. And so they did ask all people that could work from home to work from home. And the Lego company has taken that to heart. And so that means that we've had to think of new ways of doing things that we've always done a different way. So we've actually tried to come up with ways that designers can work from home. Some of them have been able to work with bricks at home. Other people are working digitally.
00:32:18
Speaker
and really trying to think of just how we communicate things like using new online tools, visual tools, trying to make sure that we can actually show a digital model to a team of 10 people and discuss has been really fun to think through as a challenge.
00:32:36
Speaker
how to approve models, how to do heat testing. Some of the things that we take for granted that we would always do, we've just had to rethink how do we maintain the same level of quality and maintain the same high degree of standards and make amazing models, but in a way that we've never had to think of making them before. And so far, I'd say we're doing quite well with it. We're learning a lot, and some of these things will probably benefit from going forward, that it does change the way that we do things, but not
00:33:04
Speaker
not necessarily in a bad way, I think we've actually gotten a lot smarter about how to do things. So things are going fairly well. We're slowly opening things back up. We're slowly starting to get back to normality or, yeah, as best you can call it that.
00:33:24
Speaker
But yeah, I think the company has been fortunate that we found that people are still being creative. A lot of people are at home right now. So we've been fortunate that people have been enjoying Lego products at home, which means that we're still able to maintain the staffing that we have and the production that we need to do. But we don't take for granted that it is impacting other people. So we're just happy that those that can are choosing to be playful.
00:33:53
Speaker
at a difficult time and we just want to make sure that we continue what we do the best we can to bring future products to market.
00:34:02
Speaker
Yeah, Dave mentioned his stress relief build of the Batmobile. I was actually chatting with Amy on Instagram, and I'm now hooked on a BrickHeads. I'm in a big BrickHeads mood right now. I've been tinkering with a BrickHeads version of myself on and off for three days, just trying to get the hair just right.
00:34:25
Speaker
messing with the t-shirt and trying to just kind of make it as accurate to my LEGO self as I can, which has been a lot of fun. So it's great that there are still products and opportunities out there for people to kind of lose themselves in. And I think that's important, especially in a time like this.
00:34:46
Speaker
That's cool. And I think the brickheads are a great way to get into that because they're so forgiving and that you can just really experiment and start to realize, wow, actually just by changing a little bit of hair, it looks like me or it looks like this other person because otherwise their faces are usually quite similar. So it's all about how you dress them in the hair, which is a fun exercise. I've also just started doing brickheads because of the Lego master show. Yeah. So you guys were hiding a brickheads versions of yourselves, like in the set and everything. That was cute.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah. And Amy's gotten totally hooked on it. She was making a special one for each of her outfits. Yes. Yeah. That's, that's why I ended up sending, well, we had, we had met Amy at, um, at toy fair. She actually happened to be in the Lego booth in New York while we were there and she gave us a tour of the dots stuff. So that was, you know, an awesome opportunity. But, um, when I saw that she was posting all this stuff about the brick heads, I had to ask, I was like, how do I get into this? Is there like a specific set that I should buy?
00:35:45
Speaker
And, um, and I ended up getting the groom, the bride and groom, uh, set and, you know, on her recommendation, along with just kind of like a kit of bricks and, you know, I've been. Been tinkering. So that's been a, been a lot of fun. That's great. Uh, before we let you go, Jamie, is there, is there anything that you wanted to tell us, let our audience know anything new and exciting that you wanted to, um, talk about?
Working with Will Arnett on LEGO Masters
00:36:12
Speaker
That's a tough one because I work in the future so I can never talk about the things that I'm working on. I guess I can just reflect back and say what a journey it has been working on Lego Masters and also with Will Arnett, one of the coolest guys in the world.
00:36:28
Speaker
We haven't really touched on him, but you did mention him earlier. He just was really talented. And I have to say that sometimes when you meet people that you have high expectations of, you can be a bit disappointed, but not in the case of Will, in that he's just so present. So many of the jokes and things that you see on the program, they legitimately are just him on the spot, just rolling with it and having fun.
00:36:53
Speaker
So being able to work with someone like him, getting to meet such talented builders that just, you know, every day that we went in our minds were blown.
00:37:03
Speaker
And then getting to work with Amy, someone that actually, it's a strange thing. I had to go all the way to Los Angeles to get to know a colleague that I work 100 feet away from. But it just reminds me how sometimes, even within the design studio, we can be working in very different worlds. So getting to spend time with her as well was super fun.
00:37:24
Speaker
So yeah, just a great reflection to say, I hope it sounds like you enjoyed Lego Masters and I hope that many other people did as well. But I also hope that they can appreciate that we had a lot of fun making it too. That definitely came through from watching it for sure. It was, you know, all of the fun that was definitely happening there was coming through and kind of having us have fun watching it. Nice.
00:37:52
Speaker
Well, thank you again so much for, for taking the time to join us today. I know with quite the time difference, you're, you're ending, probably ending your day now all day workshops. So the timing is perfect. Oh, awesome. Perfect. Well, Jamie, we're going to give you back the rest of your day. Thank you again so much for joining us on the podcast and hopefully we'll have you back on again in the future. Great. Thanks a lot. It's really been a pleasure meeting you guys. Thanks a lot.
00:38:22
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:38:39
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:39:03
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information visit non-productive.com.