Review: LEGO Ideas Tintin Moon Rocket (21367)

LEGO Ideas Tintin Moon Rocket 21367 New set Review Brick Banter cover

Blast off to a comic world from the past with LEGO Tintin’s Moon Rocket!

After the success of the LEGO Ideas Tintin Rocket on the LEGO Ideas platform, this was a set I’m glad to see fly its way here. Tintin comics have been around for over 70 years, with this particular comic being serialised around the mid 1950s. I remember reading these comics in my High School’s library, and this is a franchise that I, and many others, will hold dear to their hearts. So how does it hold up? Read on!

Tintin’s Moon Rocket

The one thing I can say about the LEGO Ideas Tintin Moon Rocket is that LEGO have done incredibly well at making it as cartoon-like as possible. The rocket’s core is mainly filled with structure bricks, but the subtle change between fuselage and cockpit is great. The entire design is built around a rounded out hexagonal shape, with great detail made to arch out the ‘legs’ to hold the model up.

The top of the rocket gives us access to a small command console, with the only stickered elements in the entire model (excluding the two on the Minifigures accessories). There is little space to fit even a single figure up here, but I’m glad there is something rather than nothing.

The table in the middle has a nice picture of a Tintin-styled earth drawing, as well as having a wheel to act as the hatch to lower levels below.

There is a lot of parts to the build, but ultimately the final shape is the most important detail. For that reason, we don’t get much else in the model, but it keeps the price down.

Minifigures

Tintin

Tintin, alongside all of his peers for this set, are all wearing the same space outfits. With suits that match the classic drawings of the comics and bright vibrant colours, these suits are certainly striking. The simplistic design here isn’t a fault, and is of great accuracy. We also see the return of the globe elements in trans-clear, used to wrap around the heads as helmets. These elements haven’t been used as helmets since the LEGO Ninjago Movie.

As for Tintin, he sports a new moulded hair element and a rather simplistic face. The two expressions are new, but almost look dime-a-dozen. It’s incredibly hard to put a generic face into LEGO form, and it’s passable enough for me.

Snowy

Snowy makes an appearance here in a new mould! Unable to have a helmet on, Snowy still suits up in an astronaut suit and air tanks. There is a lot of detail in this mould and its printings, and might be the most detailed element in the set.

Professor Calculus

Professor Calculus has a new recoloured hairpiece for his figure, as well an iconic expression of surprise. He unfortunately doesn’t express an additional face, as the figure’s hairpiece would not cover it from behind.

Captain Haddock

As far as characters go, Captain Haddock was the one I was most interested in seeing their LEGO form. He has a signature bulbus nose and growly disposition, and I think LEGO did incredibly well translating it to a headpiece. His nose is implied through the facial hair, but it isn’t distracting from the figure.

I will admit I was first not happy with the Captain’s hairpiece, as I envisioned it much rowdier. But looking it up online, this is actually pretty spot on.

Thomson & Thompson

If you asked me whether I thought these two figures would be the same or not before seeing this set, I would have assumed LEGO would make them identical. Thomson and Thompson are two characters that act and think like they are the same person, and are almost identical, bar the slight moustache difference. I didn’t think that LEGO would discern this difference enough to make new prints for both of them, but here we are.

You’re also probably wondering why they both have green hair – in the comic that this set alludes to, they accidentally consume Formula 14. What is formula 14? Well, it shouldn’t be consumed by humans, and when it is, it makes your hair grow incredibly quickly and wild, and these two dolts managed to both do it.

I like this obscure reference.

Verdict

If we were to judge this model on the rocket alone, this set is a perfect encapsulation of the Destination: Moon comic line.

Its subtle tapering and details are fantastic, and it works as a great display piece. But as a fan of the Tintin comics, when we bundle in the figures, I am a bit disappointed. With no iconic outfits for the characters and an astronaut-snowy, it isn’t possible to remake these figures in their normal attire with pre-existing parts.

I don’t quite like figures that have repeating outfits. This is a set that definitely needs it, as the context demands it. But being a entryway into the Tintin universe, I can only desperately hope that there is another set on the way.

A bit of a ramble for a closing verdict, I know. Simply put, fantastic rocket and incredibly accurate to the source material; desperately praying for another set in the future to make the classic figures.