It is time to make our Destination Moon with 21367 Tintin® Moon Rocket, the next set to launch from LEGO® Ideas.
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With new moulds, recolours and stellar minifigures, plus insights from the design team from a roundtable interview, there's lots for us to be excited about here at New Elementary. Are you ready to launch into this review of the LEGO Tintin Moon Rocket?
We were given this product early by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.
21367 Tintin® Moon Rocket
- Release date: 1 April 2026 for LEGO® Insiders, 4 April for all. Pre-order available now
- Pieces: 1283
Price and link to pre-order:
- US$ 159.99 on LEGO.com US
- CA$ 209.99 on LEGO.com Canada
- GB£ 139.99 on LEGO.com UK
- AU$ 279.99 on LEGO.com Australia
- NZ$ 299.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
- 159,99 € on LEGO.com Deutschland, Nederland, France etc
- PLN 699.99 on LEGO.com Polska
- NOK 2099,90 on LEGO.com Norge
- DKK 1299.95 on LEGO.com Danmark
Background
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| © Hergé / Tintinimaginatio - 2026 |
Tintin is a character created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé in his series called The Adventures of Tintin, from 1929 onwards. The iconic red and white rocket first appeared in the 1953 book, Destination Moon and then reappeared in the 1954 sequel called Explorers on the Moon.
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| © Alexis Dos Santos/ LEGO Ideas 2026 |
The original LEGO Ideas submission was created by Alexis Dos Santos (Tkel 86), a Portuguese fan builder who is a programmer and web designer. His submission included the large yellow gantry that you can see on the cover of Destination Moon, but no minifigures.
New moulds
Cone Half 8 x 4 x 8 Elliptic Paraboloid (8097)
The main new mould specially developed for this set is a cone for the nose of the rocket.
- 2x Cone Half 8 x 4 x 8 Elliptic Paraboloid (6595787 | 8097)
The new cone is 8 bricks (9.6 modules) in height with an 8x4 half-circle footprint. The top of the cone is a 2x2 half-circle with two hollow studs.
The base has a one module-wide lip to give an internal footprint of a 6x3 half-circle.
The 8x4 semicircular base fits with a variety of elements, for example:
- 2x Brick Round Corner 5 x 5 Macaroni with 1/3 Inner Side (5532, shown in sand blue) connecting with the inner studs of this element
- 8x4 half circle plate (22888, shown in yellow)
- 2x Brick Round Corner 4 x 4 Macaroni Wide with 3 Studs (48092, in medium azure)
We couldn't spot any matching curved slopes for those parabolic edges, so if you discover anything please let us know.
In the above left image, the two half-cones are snugly combined on an 8x8 round plate at the base and a 2x2 round plate at the top. The conjoined upturned cones in the right image show the anti-stud connection.
This mould is the big brother to Cone Half 6 x 3 x 6 Elliptic Paraboloid (18909), which also appears in the set in red, noted in the upcoming recolours section below.
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Placing the siblings together creates a gap between them that is less than 1 module wide. It can be filled in a haphazard manner with cheese slopes and tiles. This could make an interesting architectural cross-section, and would also look nice with a transparent version of the cones.
In position in the final model, the nose cone is screaming Thunderbird 3.
Dog in a Space Suit (117247)
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- 1x Dog in White with Wire Fox Terrier print in Orange Spacesuit (6593089 | 117247)
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| © Hergé / Tintinimaginatio - 2026 |
Tintin's trusty sidekick – a highly intelligent, wire fox terrier – is called Milou in the original French version, but known as Snowy in the English translation. In Explorers on the Moon, Snowy gets a fantastic spacesuit – just like the humans.
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Snowy has one stud on his back that allows the attachment of the tanks, but the mould doesn't quite fit the helmet that the minifigures in the set use when the binoculars are attached. It can go on if the oxygen tanks are removed, but it is loose at the neck in any event.
We looked at doing Snowy with the dome as well, but this element is just enormous. It's almost the same size as Snowy; it didn't really work. So it was good enough that he's just in a spacesuit because they actually said, if we can't get him in a spacesuit, we don't want him in the set at all. But we can't leave Snowy out, he's the sidekick! So we managed to make it work.
– LEGO® Ideas Design Manager Jordan David Scott
It's understandable, but it would have been nice to have a pup helmet, as Snowy will not survive the vacuum of space in his helmetless suit.
LEGO Tintin hair piece (8096)
Tintin's hair receives a new mould. His front quiff is very distinctive and clearly necessitated a new mould to truly capture the cartoon's style.
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- 1 x Short Smooth Hair with Centre Front Quiff in Bright Light Orange (6595785 | 8096)
The colour choice was explained by the design team:
The Tintin designers were saying that no two images in the comic are the same colour. So if you look at the colour of Tintin's hair and the colour of the rocket, on every single page it's slightly different. They don't actually know the true colour of Tintin's hair, so we went with the closest match.
– Product Designer Ellen Bowley
Recolours
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- 6x Cone Half 6 x 3 x 6 (Elliptic Paraboloid) in Red (6594751 | 18909)
- 1x Plate Round 8 x 8 in Red (6594752 | 74611)
- 6x Slope Curved 4 x 2 Double in Red (6592314 | 7547)
- 6x Slope Curved 1 x 8 x 1 2/3 in Red (6594753 | 7217)
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- 2x Brick Round Corner 3 x 3 Macaroni with 2 Studs in Sand Green (6599347 | 5152)
- 2x Panel 3 x 3 x 2 Quarter Round in Sand Green (6599346 | 3535)
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- 10x Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 2/3 Double Curved Top, No Studs in Dark Azure (6601287 | 3563)
- 1x +1 spare Binoculars in Dark Azure (6603200 | 30162)
- 2x Bar 3L in Medium Nougat (6600809 | 17715)
Rare elements
In one other set:
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- 3x Brick Arch 1 x 5 x 2 in Red (6433642 | 3572) last seen in set 10321 Corvette in 2023
- 1x Dish 8 x 8 Inverted , Solid Studs, Rounded Anti-stud Underside in Red (6402243 | 3961)
- 6x Slope Curved 4 x 2 Double in White (6554416 | 7547)
- 3x Dome 1 x 1 x 2/3 in Blue (6584954 | 6908)
- 1x Technic Beam 1 x 3 Thick in Bright Green (6573947 | 32523)
In two other sets:
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- 6x Technic Brick 1 x 2 [2 Pin Holes] in Dark Blue (6574771 | 32000)
Returning pieces
While not a new element, we do see the welcome return of one element.
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- 5x Brick Special 1 x 1 Studs on 4 Sides in Tan (6609636 | 4733) was last seen in a set in 2018
Minifigures
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The set includes six Tintin characters – Tintin, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thomson and Thompson, and Snowy the dog as mentioned already.
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- 1x Torso in Orange with Spacesuit print (6607486)
- 1x Legs in Orange with Spacesuit print (6593094)
All of the characters are dressed in their spacesuits from the Explorers on the Moon comic, which are standard orange torsos and legs with new print. These new spacesuit prints are great and should be useful for wider use in MOCs thanks to their generic retro feel. I love them!
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| © Hergé / Tintinimaginatio - 2026 |
Snowy may have missed out on a helmet but every character gets their own oxygen tank, in the same style as the comic.
Let's look at the new pieces each character has.
LEGO Tintin
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- 1 x Short hair with front quiff in Bright Light Orange (6595785 | 8096)
- 1x Minifig Head with print in Light Nougat (6593095)
- 1x Torso with print in Orange (6607486)
- 1x Legs with print in Orange (6593094)
LEGO Captain Haddock
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- 1x Minifig Head with print in Light Nougat (6593096)
- 1x Torso with print in Orange (6607486)
- 1x Legs with print in Orange (6593094)
LEGO Professor Calculus
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- 1x Bald Head with Black side hair in Light Nougat (6593090 | 12893)
- 1x Minifig Head with print in Light Nougat (6593097)
- 1x Torso with print in Orange (6607486)
- 1x Legs with print in Orange (6593094)
We have seen this bald head element before, but this time it does not have the printed comb-over hairs (6362687) that was used for two other LEGO Ideas minifigures: Kevin Malone from 21336 The Office and George Louis Costanza from 21328 Seinfeld.
LEGO Thomson and Thompson
In the original French comics, these characters are known as Dupond and Dupont.
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- 2x Hair in Lime (6607967 | 21268) - a new colour for this hair.
- 1x Minifig Head with print in Light Nougat (6593099)
- 1x Minifig Head with print in Light Nougat (6593098)
- 2x Torso with print in Orange (6607486)
- 2x Legs with print in Orange (6593094)
The minifigure heads of the two detectives match the distinctive moustaches shown in the comics: on the left "Thomson, without a 'P', as in Venezuela" has the rounder moustache, while "Thompson, with a 'P', as in psychology" has a curvier, pointy-ended moustache.
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| © Hergé / Tintinimaginatio - 2026 |
Their green hair may seem odd if you have not read the comics, but in Explorers on the Moon the detectives suffer a relapse of their reaction to a drug called Formula 14 that first occurred in the earlier story, Land of Black Gold. This was another point that the IP was insistent on:
When they're wearing their spacesuits, they are experiencing a side-effect from some medication they took. That's what you see in the comics, so they have to have their green hair when they're in their spacesuits.
– LEGO Product Designer Ellen Bowley
Sticker sheet
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One small sticker sheet is included, used to decorate the control room within the rocket as well as the radios carried by Tintin and Captain Haddock.
There is a small Easter egg in the sticker sheet:
It was quite challenging to put in some Easter eggs because the IP partner was pretty particular about not changing from the original. We have a little reference to Alexis [the fan designer]. On the constellations, one of the stars makes up the constellation of his birth, his star sign. So that was something we could put in.
– Design Manager Jordan David Scott
Building the LEGO Tintin rocket
Main rocket structure
We start with the central portion of the rocket near the base, and build up to the nose.
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There are a few LEGO® Technic elements used in the structure to give the 120° angles needed later for the three fins: Axle and Pin Connector Triple (10288, 49155), Axle Connector Hub with 3 Axles at 120° (57585) and Plate Rotor 3 Blade with Smooth Ends (51138).
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The stacking of these LEGO Technic connectors on the central axle is aided by differing colours and a highly detailed guide in the instruction booklet.
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When it then comes to adding beams, the dark blue beams connect with dark blue connectors, the red beams with red and the white beams with white – an effective way to mitigate errors. At this point the transition from LEGO Technic System to LEGO® System begins.
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Looking down from the top of the rocket shows a lovely view of the hub and spoke effect inside that supports the sloped exterior at the top.
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Building the six panels is a little repetitive as you'd expect, but the clever use of Mixel joints at the base and bar/clip connections at the top means that the rocket is not just cylindrical; it also tapers towards the base in a most satisfying manner. The one module-wide row of tiles is attached to the green bar with clip (3484) to ensure that there are no gaps, despite the different circumferences of the rocket at the top and the bottom of this section.
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The top of the rocket also tapers, and Mixel joints are used once more to connect the six sections here. The gaps are again filled with a one module-wide slither of tiles, but this time a blue 1x1 round plate with underside clip (5264) connects to the central yellow steering wheel with 4 studs (67811), which you can just see inside in the dark gap in the image above.
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With the main bulk of the rocket structure complete, it's time to build those fins. The three rectangular slots at 120° angles around the circumference of the rocket will be the attachment points.
Fins
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Three complex feet are created, to ensure the fin sits at the correct angle while also giving the retro rounded base. These clever constructions will be completely covered by the smaller red half-cones (18909).
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The three fins slot into place and are held with axles. The design team explained that reflected triangles were employed, under the guidance of Design Master Mike Psiaki.
We tried a lot of different techniques to get the angle of the fin, from the concept model where we were using wedge bricks to create that shape. We needed a lot of strength, we needed the angle and we needed the curvature, so we ended up with a reflected triangle that Mike told us about. We included that in the top to attach it to the rocket and then also again on the feet to get it back to a flat surface.
– LEGO Product Designer Ellen Bowley
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Nose cone
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The nose of the rocket uses the both of the new large red half-cones (8097), but the interior houses a little cockpit area. This is the only part of the rocket that has an interior; the design team explained why.
It was just down to the space. There's literally no space in the core to do anything because of of how it needs to be built. I think it's more iconic to have the control room at the top, because of that scene in the comic.
– Design Manager Jordan Scott
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| © Hergé / Tintinimaginatio - 2026 |
The new recoloured round elements in sand green are used to depict the cockpit with some stickers that have a close resemblance to the original details in the cartoon. There's a sticker showing the Earth that is just like the view seen in the comic when the rocket is in orbit.
Conclusion
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The final model stands at 49 cm (19.5 inches) tall and it really does justice to the source material in terms of looks. The fact that the cylindrical shaping tapers really seals the deal here. The model has no bad angles!
There will be some who will complain that a new mould was needed for the nose cone, but it also meant that the little nod to the cockpit was also achievable, something that would have been tricky with a brick-built cone and internal structure. The cone is also very much within LEGO System and a great addition to the existing smaller version.
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The minifigures are accurate to the comics in which the rocket appears.
The partner really wanted the figures in spacesuits, so the idea of the rocket being able to be on Earth but also on the moon, so covering both of the books, Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.
– LEGO Product Designer Ellen Bowley
The decision to go with the retro spacesuits a the request of the IP seems appropriate to me, and those suits will have wider use.
It does mean that there can be no 'normal' Snowy which is a shame because if you want to use the characters for other Tintin-inspired MOCs then you will have to look through the existing LEGO dogs for the closest match.
It might also have been nice for Thomson and Thompson to get actual walking sticks rather than the 3L bars – perhaps a plain medium nougat recolour of the candy cane (1612) – but that's a small niggle.
The set is really just a display piece as there's not a lot of play. Lack of play features is not necessarily a complaint of course as LEGO Ideas sets are often aimed at the adult 'put it on display' audience. This was acknowledged by the design team.
I think it's definitely targeting adults that were fans of the show, but I think that could also lead to them then sharing that love with kids in their family and showing them the comic. We've seen that before with a lot of other IPs; that people are nostalgic for them and sharing that with their kids.
– Design Manager Jordan David Scott
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The set is gloriously retro in feel and I love the overall aesthetics. There is understandably some repetition within the building process, firstly with 3x and then 6x subsection builds, but it is not overwhelming. The minifigures are interspaced within this process and I personally enjoy trying to find the most efficient way to build 6x subsections when this arises in the instructions.
The set costs £139.99/ €159.99/ $159.99, which gives a price per piece of 10.9p/ 12.5c/ 12.5c. This is definitely on the high side – even when considering the IP and new elements required for the set. Having said that, it will still have wide appeal as Tintin is a famous, enduring franchise, particularly in Europe. There will be some who lament the lack of yellow gantry from the original submission, others who criticise the lack of play features and also the lack of interior. Personally I would have been okay even without the cockpit interior, but it does offer a nice nod to the original comic.
In summary, Tintin's rocket is eye-catching, retro and looks great on display, but comes with a price tag that makes the eyes water a little.
The LEGO Ideas 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket is available for pre-order already, and immediate purchase from 1 April 2026 for LEGO Insiders, priced at £139.99 / €159.99 / $159.99 via LEGO.com/Tintin and LEGO Stores. If you enjoyed my review, please consider supporting us at no cost to you by using our affiliate link below to buy this or any other LEGO product.
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