The Ideas design team discuss bringing the adventures of the famous reporter to the brick in LEGO 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket brings and why these stories are still so popular today.
The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé spanned 24 comic book volumes and 39 animated episodes across three seasons. As Tintin investigates strange mysteries and defeats villainous foes, he’s joined by his dog, Snowy, and clumsy friend, Captain Haddock. These beloved characters would also later inspire The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn, an animated 2011 movie that follows the reporter as he tries to hunt down the lost treasure hidden within a sunken ship.
21367 Tintin Moon Rocket was recently unveiled and is available to preorder now ahead of its release on April 4. The set uses 1,283 pieces and is priced at £139.99 / €159.99 / $159.99.
This lasting legacy helped 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket easily blast past the 10,000 votes required to be considered during the official LEGO Ideas review process, fuelled by the love that so many fans still have for these comics. It was then up to LEGO Design Master Ellen Bowley to front up mission control, translating fan designer Alexis Dos Santos’ concept into a set, which she found extremely enjoyable as she’s a huge fan of the work of Hergé.
His storytelling and classic artwork have made Tintin a beloved character that has proven enduringly popular. You can still buy the books in comic book stores around the world. “Building this set could lead fans to sharing that love with the kids in their family,” says LEGO Ideas Creative Lead Jordan Scott, who found a new appreciation for Tintin when working on this project. “This is the cartoon. This is the comic. People who grew up with Tintin can share that with their kids, so it’s a nice halo effect. Maybe kids will get curious about where this cool rocket is from and then they’ll go read the comics themselves.
“There’s something so iconic about it. It’s one of those iconic yet pretty simple designs and it’s got a really punchy colour scheme. Wherever you go, there’s Tintin stuff for sale, whether it is action figures or display models. It’s transcended through time because a lot of the stories are really nice adventures across different parts of the world.”
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Throughout these many different adventures, Tintin travels in a host of amazing vehicles, from motorbikes to submarines that are literally in the shape of a shark. “I think the vehicles are especially cool in Hergé’s work,” says Ellen, who is a huge Tintin collector herself. “They’re so recognisable that even if you didn’t know it that well, if you saw the rocket, you would still know it’s Tintin. Same with the shark submarine and a lot of his other vehicles. They’re just really, really cool.”
“There are all of the good elements that you’d see incorporated into any LEGO play theme,” adds Jordan, who believes that Tintin is an extremely relatable character. “It’s adventure. There’s good versus evil with some of the villains who want to stop Tintin. Some mystery. It’s explorative. It’s curious. Then you’ve got iconic vehicles, iconic characters, even iconic objects. It’s going to different places across the world, going to space and even underwater. I think it just has all of the ingredients of a great story for kids and adults alike.”
And adding a playful touch was the final ingredient to bring 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket to life. Although it’s meant primarily as a display model, there’s a small interior section that captures the control room where Tintin relays messages to mission control during takeoff. “I think that moment in the comic when they look out for the first time and see that they’ve left Earth – it’s such a nice scene that we wanted to add in,” says Ellen, who had the comic books to hand the whole time. “So we just wanted to include that little element of story where you can put any of the characters up there in the control room together with Snowy.”
Those comic books were also useful for the rest of the team. “The control panels have to look like they do in the comic. As we had the books in the office, we gave them to the graphic design team to translate into the stickers,” explains Jordan. “Then we have a little reference to Alexis, one of the constellations is his star sign, which was challenging to put in as an Easter egg as nothing could be changed from the original comic. This was a subtle way that we could pay homage to him.”
Learn more about the model design process and how the team crafted the set’s minifigures.
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