Great snakes! The first ever LEGO® Tintin® set is here

Way back in 1929, in the youth supplement of the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, a brand-new character appeared. He was an intrepid reporter with a fearless curiosity and a distinct quiff hairstyle, and everywhere he went (and he traveled far and wide), he was accompanied by his faithful dog, Snowy®. 

His name was Tintin®. 

In the almost one hundred years since then, The Adventures of Tintin® graphic novels created by Georges Remi (known as Hergé), have become iconic, and their characters have gone on to appear in books, TV series and films. 

Now, Tintin is embarking on his newest adventure and becoming a LEGO® set based on one of his iconic comic book adventures. 

So, grab your magnifying glass and be ready for anything, as we launch into an investigation worthy of our hero. We’ll leave no clue unfollowed, no stone unturned, as we seek to discover everything there is to know about the LEGO Ideas Tintin® Moon Rocket set.

Destination Moon

Tintin® is famous for his adventures, and perhaps his most daring of all took him and his friends to the furthest reaches of human experience: the Moon.

They traveled there in a red-and-white checkered rocket that is the subject of this set. It first appeared in the story Destination Moon, a story that concluded in Explorers on the Moon. 

These stories where first published in the early 1950s, and so when Tintin® and his friends landed on the Moon, a real-life lunar landing was still over 15 years in the future. 

Even so, Tintin’s rocket became an inspiring symbol of technological progress and innovation, and these stories captured the imaginations of the world with a blend of fantastic adventure that was always grounded in well-researched modern science. 

The rocket in the set is colored in its famous red-and-white checkered pattern, and has a panel in the cone that can be opened to reveal a detailed control room.

The 1,283-piece set measures over 19.5 in. (49 cm) high and is sure to make a striking display and a loving tribute for any fan of Tintin® or space exploration.

A LEGO® Ideas set, to be precise

The idea for this set came from the cunning mind of Alexis Dos Santos, a Portuguese fan designer also known by the alias Tkel86. It had long been this designer’s dream to turn The Adventures of Tintin® into a LEGO set, and he combined his passion for the series with his love of the LEGO Technic™ Space Shuttle to arrive at this idea. But he didn’t work alone. After the set yielded the prestigious 10,000 fan votes and passed through the rigorous LEGO Ideas review process on the LEGO Ideas platform, it was handed over to our team of designers.

This was not the end of Alexis’ involvement – in fact, far from it. Throughout the process, our designers are in constant communication with the Fan Designer. They share feedback, new ideas and innovative solutions to problems, all as they work together towards the final set.

In fact, it’s a lot like Tintin® and his friends working together to solve their latest mystery. And if you want to learn more about how Alexis and the team worked together to complete the final set, then read the full article by clicking this link.

The crew of iconic characters

Every Tintin® fan knows that the only thing more outlandish than his adventures are the memorable bunch of characters he meets along the way. 

This set includes five of them. There’s Tintin®, of course. The charismatic hero with his signature spiked ginger hair and holding a detection device. 

Then there is the famous seaman Captain Haddock® with his trademark black hair and beard. Thundering typhoons! 

Adding a dash of scientific brilliance (and probably more than a little chaos) is Professor Cuthbert Calculus®. He’s instantly recognizable with his bald head and round-rimmed glasses. 

Finally, keeping an eye on proceedings are the blundering pair of detectives, Thomson and Thompson®, to be precise. Their hair is dyed bright green, much as it was in Tintin and the Land of the Black Gold, after they accidentally took a dangerous chemical known as Formula 14, believing it was aspirin! 

And before anyone cries “Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!”, we haven’t forgotten about Snowy®. Tintin’s faithful friend is here, too. He’s even got his own space suit for the long journey to the Moon.

Tintin’s latest adventure

Tintin® has been all over the world, and now this intrepid reporter is ready to venture into your homes. So, if you’re looking for a gift for a Tintin® fan or a Tintin® decoration for your home, get your hands on the LEGO Ideas Tintin® Moon Rocket today.

And if you want to learn more about the design process that helped turn this set from a fan submission to a finished set, then check out this article.