LEGO Masters Australia: Bricktacular — Twelve Champions, One Season, Four Iconic Worlds
LEGO Masters Australia has returned to screens in 2026 with its most distinctive format yet: a compact, four-episode special event series called Bricktacular, bringing together twelve of the franchise's most recognized past competitors rather than casting an entirely new group of hopeful builders. This article covers the format, the complete list of competitors, the structure of this year's season, its place in the franchise's broader history, and its impact on LEGO fandom and the wider brand.
About LEGO Masters Australia
LEGO Masters Australia is a reality competition series in which teams construct LEGO builds against a themed brief and a strict time limit, with finished work judged on creativity, technical execution, and how effectively it fulfils the challenge set. The show is hosted by Hamish Blake and judged by LEGO designer Ryan "The Brickman" McNaught, and it is produced by Endemol Shine. The series premiered on the Nine Network on 28 April 2019, based on a British format of the same name.
The show built its reputation partly on the sheer scale of its builds, with finished pieces often assembled from tens of thousands of individual LEGO elements, and partly on the on-screen rapport between its host and judge. The program won a Realscreen award for Best Competition in 2020, placing it alongside internationally recognized competition formats from other markets.
A Brief History of the Franchise
The Australian series has run across several standard seasons, each following new pairs of competitors:
- Season 1 (2019) — won by Henry and Cade.
- Season 2 (2020) — won by Jackson and Alex T.
- Season 3 (2021) — won by David and Gus.
- Season 4 (2022) — won by Joss and Henry.
Beyond these standard seasons, the franchise has periodically produced special formats built around returning contestants. A fifth season, Grand Masters, brought back competitors from earlier seasons for an all-star format in 2023. A sixth season, Australia vs The World, paired new Australian teams against international teams who had previously competed in their home countries, airing in 2024. A seventh season, Grandmasters of the Galaxy, again matched past Australian winners and finalists against international competitors, airing in mid-2025. This pattern of alternating between new-contestant seasons and returning-champion specials is the direct lineage that leads into the 2026 season.
The 2026 Season: Bricktacular
Season name: LEGO Masters Australia: Bricktacular Network: Nine Network (also streaming on 9Now) Host: Hamish Blake, joined by Sophie Monk Judge: Ryan "The Brickman" McNaught Format: A four-episode special event series Premiere: Sunday, 5 July 2026, 7pm
Bricktacular was confirmed in October 2025 as a limited series, and constitutes the eighth season of the Australian franchise overall. It departs from the standard format in three specific ways:
- A trio-based team structure. Rather than the pairs used in earlier seasons, twelve competitors are organized into four teams of three — the first time the Australian franchise has used this team size.
- An all-champion cast. Every competitor has previously appeared on some edition of LEGO Masters, whether the Australian series, an international edition, or a prior all-star or crossover special. No first-time contestants are involved.
- Single-franchise theming per episode. Each of the four episodes is built entirely around one globally recognized entertainment universe, rather than several smaller unrelated challenges within an episode.
The winning team receives the LEGO Masters trophy and a $100,000 cash prize, consistent with the franchise's prior seasons.
The Twelve Competitors
— Jordy, Michelle & Max
- Jordy (Australia) — has appeared across multiple seasons of the Australian show and returns this time as a full competitor.
- Michelle (United States) — a champion from LEGO Masters Australia vs The World, part of the first-ever all-female winning team in the franchise's history.
- Max (Australia) — the youngest competitor in the history of the Australian series, first competing alongside his father during Season 4.
— Oskari, Aura & Gabby
- Oskari (Finland) — winner of LEGO Masters Finland, who later competed in Grandmasters of the Galaxy.
- Aura (Finland) — Oskari's teammate from the Finnish edition and the same crossover season.
- Gabby (Australia) — a four-time competitor on the Australian series, recognized for her use of colour and storytelling.
— Trent, Alex G & Felix
- Trent (Australia) — a multi-season competitor who has twice finished as runner-up.
- Alex G (Australia) — holds the record for the most hours spent building on set across the franchise's history, at 475 hours.
- Felix (Germany) — the reigning champion of LEGO Masters Germany.
— Jackson, Alex T & Fleur
- Jackson (Australia) — Season 2 champion who has since toured an immersive LEGO exhibition of minifigure-scale scenes.
- Alex T (Australia) — Jackson's championship teammate, also involved in the touring exhibition.
- Fleur (Australia) — a fan-favourite competitor from Season 3, who also appeared in a prior festive special.
These twelve competitors span four national editions of the format — Australia, the United States, Finland, and Germany — reflecting the franchise's international expansion since 2019.
The Four Themed Episodes
- Episode 1 — The Lord of the Rings. Teams construct scenes from Middle-earth, including the Balrog Encounter, Balin's Tomb, the Battle of Isengard, and the Battle of Helm's Deep.
- Episode 2 — DC Heroes. Teams build scenes and characters from the DC Comics universe.
- Episode 3 — Bluey. Teams work with the setting of the Australian animated series Bluey, centered on the Heeler family.
- Episode 4 — Jurassic World. Teams take on dinosaur and prehistoric-park themes.
Dedicating a full episode to a single franchise is a departure from earlier seasons, where individual episodes were typically divided into several smaller, unrelated challenges.
Impact on LEGO and Its Fan Community
LEGO Masters Australia occupies a distinct position within LEGO's broader fan ecosystem, functioning as a bridge between the brand's toy-building hobbyist community and mainstream television audiences who may not otherwise engage with the Adult Fan of LEGO (AFOL) scene. Several effects of this position are relevant to understanding Bricktacular's significance:
Bringing AFOL-level building into mainstream view
Competitors on the show typically build at a scale and technical level associated with dedicated hobbyist and professional LEGO builders — the kind of large-scale, highly detailed models more commonly seen at brick conventions or in official LEGO Certified Professional portfolios (McNaught himself holds this designation) than on general television. By broadcasting this level of building to a mainstream audience, the show has introduced advanced building techniques, scale, and creative approaches to viewers who might not otherwise encounter them.
Sustaining engagement between seasons. Because Bricktacular assembles contestants who have already built public profiles through earlier seasons — including Jackson and Alex T's touring Relics exhibition, and various competitors' individual social media followings — the special functions as a way of maintaining fan interest in specific builders across multiple years, rather than each season generating an entirely disconnected pool of names. This continuity is part of why an all-champion special can generate strong audience interest even without new contestants.
International cross-pollination. With competitors this season drawn from Australia, the United States, Finland, and Germany, Bricktacular reflects and reinforces the franchise's growth into a genuinely international format. Each international edition — LEGO Masters Finland, LEGO Masters Germany, and the American edition Michelle previously competed in — has built its own local fan base, and crossover seasons like this one create a shared point of reference across those communities, expanding the size and reach of LEGO Masters fandom overall as a cross-border phenomenon rather than a purely domestic one.
Reinforcing brand visibility around existing franchises. By building each episode around The Lord of the Rings, DC Heroes, Bluey, and Jurassic World, the season also intersects with LEGO's own history of licensed sets tied to these properties, giving fans of both the show and of these specific franchises a reason to engage with the episode, independent of whether they were already regular LEGO Masters viewers.
Summary
LEGO Masters Australia: Bricktacular is the franchise's eighth season, restructured as a four-episode special event series bringing together twelve former competitors from Australia, the United States, Finland, and Germany, organized into four newly formed trios. The season premiered on 5 July 2026 on the Nine Network and 9Now, hosted by Hamish Blake and Sophie Monk, with Ryan "Brickman" McNaught judging. Each episode centers on a different major entertainment franchise — The Lord of the Rings, DC Heroes, Bluey, and Jurassic World — with all four teams competing for the series' $100,000 prize. Built entirely from the show's own history of past winners and standout competitors, Bricktacular both showcases the LEGO Masters Australia franchise's most recognizable builders and reinforces the show's broader role in connecting hobbyist-level LEGO building with mainstream audiences across multiple countries.
