Here’s how LEGO Ideas Tintin Moon Rocket’s minifigures came to be
There was much debate over which versions of 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket’s standout minifigures should be included in the LEGO Ideas set.
Fans of Belgian cartoonist Hergé’s work will be able to get their hands on 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket next month when the LEGO Ideas build launches for all. In addition to the main vehicle itself, the set also comes with five must-have minifigures (plus a Snowy dog figure), although the final character selection sparked a lot of back-and-forth as to exactly who should be included in the set.
“We had a lot of conversations, and there was a sort of internal debate on should we do them in their classic outfits, or should they be in their space suits?,” explained LEGO Ideas Design Manager Jordan Scott. “And it was almost a 50/50 split, where people voted for whichever one, but the IP partner wanted the space suits, which was really great because it works for both comics.
“But that came with some challenges, obviously, because then we had the kind of dome bubble as well as Snowy in a space suit, which is a different type of mould than if we were just to do Snowy as a regular dog.
“We knew we needed Tintin and Haddock and Snowy and, because of the characters that are going on the rocket, it was like, well, we need the twins, and then we need the professor as well. It’s easier to call them twins, because they look identical, even though they’re not actually twins! I think those were always going to be the five characters that we wanted to include. We looked at doing Professor Calculus in his boiler suit, his sand green one, but the [IP partner] wanted him in the orange suit as well.”
That debate and attention to detail extended to 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket’s minifigure faces and other specific new elements created just for the upcoming LEGO Ideas set.
“The expressions, yeah, there was a lot of challenge around them,” added Jordan, “because they wanted to stay as true as possible to Hergé’s work, which is very stylised. But when it comes to making minifigures, we have a style guide as well. So, it was trying to mash the two together without it feeling like we’ve done something unique here, but I think the graphic designer, Anthony [Palmaro], really nailed the expressions.
“Then we made the new wig for Tintin because we didn’t have anything that would work for him. So yeah, Tintin’s wig and Snowy are new moulds and then a couple of colour changes for the backpack and the binoculars for Snowy. We looked at doing Snowy with the dome as well, but that element is just enormous – almost the same size as Snowy. It didn’t really work, so it was good enough that he’s just in a space suit.”
21367 Tintin Moon Rocket will blast off on April 1 for £139.99 / $159.99 / €159.99, with pre-orders for the LEGO Ideas set now live. You can also take a deeper dive into what we thought of the upcoming model here.
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