![Canberra's Daniel will compete in this season of Lego Masters Australia. Picture: Supplied Canberra's Daniel will compete in this season of Lego Masters Australia. Picture: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/ff400300-4cf8-435e-9a15-861a52d4cc02.jpeg/r0_608_7021_4555_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
For most people when they say "dark ages" it refers to the middle ages. When Daniel uses the term, it's for the time he wasn't playing with Lego.
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The latest Canberran to take up the Lego Masters Australia challenge, Daniel took to the popular plastic building bricks as a kid.
"As a kid, it was probably the main thing I've ever had as a toy. I probably spent every weekend playing with it when I was a kid," the 42-year-old says.
But - as one would expect - the teenage and early adult years were void of most Lego interactions. That is, besides a few Star Wars kits that Daniel would build and put on the shelf.
"It wasn't until I had kids that I got back into it. I took my son, who was two or three at the time, to the Train Expo and they had a Lego train set. My son and I sat there for like 20 minutes just watching the trains go around," Daniel says.
"Then that afternoon, I pulled out an old Lego train set that I had to see if it still worked - which it did - and then from there, because I was missing a few pieces, I found out that you can go online and find things.
"I discovered the whole online community and became a member of the local Lego group in Canberra as well. And this grew into a hobby of just learning how to make these cool things."
![Lego Masters Australia contestants Gene, Kirsti and Daniel. Picture: Supplied Lego Masters Australia contestants Gene, Kirsti and Daniel. Picture: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/c78a4c56-e980-4a12-98e9-1587d56830a0.jpeg/r0_242_7261_4324_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Little did Daniel know, it was all leading up to this moment. The moment that he, along with fellow contestant Kirsti, compete to try and take out the fourth season of Lego Masters Australia.
Kicking off on Monday evening, the popular television series is dishing up challenges that will have Daniel, Kirsti and the other contestants thinking on their feet, and leave audiences gobsmacked as to what they produce. With challenges including The Car of the Future and The Stuntman - which will see teams building a model that can fly through a hoop of fire - this year's competition is rising to new heights.
Eight teams of two will compete as they show off their unique skillsets to impress host Hamish Blake and judge Ryan "Brickman" McNaught, avoid elimination and qualify for the 2022 grand final for their chance to win $100,000.
This isn't the first time Daniel has tried to take part in the television show. He originally auditioned for the first season.
However this time around, producers contacted the Canberran after they found some of his creations on Instagram, and asked if he would partner with Sydneysider Kirsti for the show.
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When it comes to technique, Daniel says he usually just makes the things that he wanted to make when he was a kid.
"I've always liked things that move - so Technic sets and so forth. And I've always been interested in trying to make a four-legged creature walk," he says.
"I remember, back in the 90s, they used to have these Lego ideas for inspiration and there was a contraption that had four legs that walked. But at the time, I didn't have the pieces to make it.
"Now I can build all kinds of cool walking things and do fun things with it and come up with my design."
Lego Masters airs on WIN on Monday from 7.30pm.
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