On the Up: Christchurch duo aim for victory on Lego Masters international stage

Three years ago, bubbly, brick-building Cantabrians Emily Fryer and Sarah Mosley nabbed second place in the inaugural season of Lego Masters New Zealand. Now, they’re gunning for the crown against an All-Star lineup of Lego legends from around the world on the Australian show. Mitchell Hageman reports, putting his Lego lingo to the test.

“So, there is this Lego term, it’s an official term, and it’s called your Dark Ages,” Emily Fryer tells me.

“It’s between where you stop playing with Lego as a person, and then you restart it when you have kids. I did have a Dark Ages, but not for very long.”

This is my first insight into the wonderful world of Lego terminology, as Fryer and her friend and Lego Masters teammate Sarah Mosley send me down a rabbit hole of fun terms, glossaries, and musings.

Snot (Studs Not On Top), greebling (adding details to create texture), clutch power (keeping bricks connected), and murmuration (a special style of build) are all terms the pair are familiar with and had to put to the test when they faced their international opponents on the new series Lego Masters: Grand Masters of the Galaxy.

While it’s no easy feat going up against the best in the world and being judged by certified Brickman Ryan McNaught, Mosley and Fryer do have a few tricks up their sleeve. They previously came second on the first season of Lego Masters New Zealand, something they “never expected”.

“The whole experience of the New Zealand version was so cool. The crew was incredible, and the cast was amazing,” Mosley says.

“We still have a text group with the other contestants ... There’s always a message, and if you have a question, you always know that you can ask them.”

Sarah Mosley and Emily Fryer came second on the inaugural season of Lego Masters NZ. Photo / Nigel Wright

It’s this camaraderie and sense of friendship that have continued to drive the pair in their Lego-building journeys. From starting up a Lego group together at their kids’ school to driving their own creative projects, both Mosley and Fryer clearly have a passion for sharing the love of bricks with the world.

“We also ran a couple of brick shows here in Christchurch,” Fryer says. “It’s really nice for the students to see their stuff exhibited.”

Mosely and Fryer tell me they got into Lego at a young age, and apart from the “Dark Age” have kept going ever since.

“I played with it a lot when I was a kid. I was quite a sick child, and then I also had a special needs brother,” Mosley says.

“Because I couldn’t really do stuff, Lego was a really good outlet, and because I had a brother who was very high needs, it was a good way to entertain us both.”

Part of their successful teamwork, the pair say, is credited to how well they complement each other when working. Fryer, who works daily with museum sculptures and artefacts as part of her job, says it helped her to master an eye for detail as well as gain an understanding of structural engineering basics.

“I deal with large sculptures like [explorer Robert Falcon] Scott’s statue, and the repair of Scott’s statue when it was cut off at the knees,” she says, recalling working on the iconic Christchurch landmark.

“One of the things that we took away from working with a structural engineer was his strategy, one we actually ended up using in a bridge challenge on the show.”

The pair pictured with host Hamish Blake on Grand Masters of the Galaxy. Photo / Nigel Wright

Mosley, who runs Lego workshops to help empower people through creativity, says she “loves quirk” and that she aims to always create something that “stands out, is going to bring joy, or evoke emotion”.

Something that has pleasantly surprised the pair over the years has been the wide acceptance of Lego in the community, particularly in New Zealand.

“It’s great to be able to actually do it as a hobby, and for it to be seen as normal, like to walk into the Lego store and there’s every single type of people buying Lego sets,” Fryer says.

“They’re often buying it for themselves or for friends, and there’s such a diverse range of people there.”

But, as we all know, some passions do come with a price. Lego today is a rather expensive exercise, and taking on personal projects can sometimes set people back thousands of dollars.

“We do joke that you’d be better to take up hard drugs than Lego,” Mosley jokes.

“If you do BrickLink [an online marketplace for certain bricks], you get a tiny plastic bag and then go ‘how did this cost me $50?!’” Fryer adds.

This begs the question, can you really put a price on happiness? Both Fryer and Mosley laugh.

“You probably can, the Lego Van Gogh sunflowers are pretty close to happiness, and I know how much they are,” Fryer says.

And for those budding Lego legends who have no idea where to start on their brick-building journey, the pair say all it really takes is a bit of experimentation.

“Take a set that you already have, take it apart, and rebuild it into something completely different. Do with what you’ve got before you grab something else.

“Also, join your local Lego club; there are plenty out there now, and they are continuing to grow.”

Lego Masters: Grand Masters of the Galaxy premieres on Three and ThreeNow tonight, continuing Monday and Sunday weekly.

Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.