Clash of the Lego masters

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"I have to ask if these (master model builders') skills are that much better than mine," he said to another finalist while on a tour of Legoland on Monday, "or if it's just the resources they have. Where I'm paying 10 cents a brick, they're probably paying 10 cents a bushel."

Meanwhile, one finalist sees playing with Lego as a way to validate what he once felt was a "sad and lonely" childhood obsession.

"Damn the consequences. This is cool. So I don't hide it."

--Mikhail Blokh, actor and Lego builder

A 29-year-old from Los Angeles, Mikhail Blokh said that the plastic bricks were his "fantasy place" as a child with few friends.

Today, the would-be actor--"which means that I have an office job"--doesn't trumpet his Lego addiction, but he's far from ashamed of it.

"It was one of those things, as a teenager, you don't talk about publicly because you think people are going to make fun of you because you still play with toys," Blokh said. "Once you become an adult, suddenly being a dork becomes cool. (So) damn the consequences. This is cool. So I don't hide it."

Since moving to L.A., Blokh has become a regular camper, frequenting California's Joshua Tree desert, and he's quick to talk politics and share his "pretty defined opinions about most things" with strangers.

But when it comes down to it, there's no doubt Blokh is a Lego fanatic. In the biographies Legoland issued for the competition finalists, he stated that the best thing about getting hired as a master model builder would be "Lego, Lego and more Lego."

Perhaps one of the front-runners for the job, however, is Gary McIntire, a 25-year-old construction professional from Highland, Utah.

A Lego addict since he was 4, McIntire said the best thing about Lego is that "you can create anything you can imagine. It's an incredible artistic medium."

And he said he appreciated that medium from an early age, explaining that as a kid, he built an entire Lego town in his bedroom, as well as spaceships and a Batmobile. But his favorite Lego constructions ever are a giant volcano moon base that erupted smoke and a 5-foot-tall candy cane.

Of course, McIntire does other things as well, beyond work and Lego. He said he and his wife run a DJ business, and he can often be found as "DJ Rocket," spinning techno beats at house parties.

In any case, among the 23 finalists here, there's no shortage of vibrant personalities with interesting and impressive backgrounds who consider themselves artists at heart, regardless of their day jobs.

Among the group, which ranges in age from 19 to 46, are a mechanical engineer and an electrical engineer, an assistant to a member of congress, a tattoo artist, a theme park assistant manager, several students and teachers, a bank customer service representative, an electrician, a fishing lure assembler and even a current Lego store employee.

And while they all want to be hired as the next Legoland master model builder--even though several conceded it would require taking a pay cut--many would be happy just ensuring they don't get stuck in dead-end jobs.

"I couldn't stand to not be creative at my job," said Jason Poland, a recent college graduate from Houston, who, aside from fashioning Lego creations, draws cartoons in his spare time.

Others couch the opportunity to be a finalist for the Legoland job as a kick in the pants to move on with their free-spirited lives.

"If I don't get this job, I'm going to move to California anyway," said Hall. "Maybe sand kick ball is way cooler than grass kick ball and I don't even know it just yet. I might just have to find out."