History Recap / TintinTheBlueLotus

* InspectorJavert: Thomson and Thompson have to chase Tintin ''again'', though in fairness, they're really JustFollowingOrders. They themselves claim at the end that they didn't really believe Tintin was guilty.

* {{Catchphrase}}: A [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Rajaijah-poisoned]] Didi's "Laozi said: I must cut your head off!".

* StaircaseTumble: Happens to one of the servants carrying Tintin's luggage downstairs. It helps to discover that Snowy was locked in one of the trunks.

* DeusExMachina: This book is not nearly as bad about this as some of the earlier ones, but an agent of the Sons of the Dragon having replaced the insanity serum and tinkered with Mitsuhirato's gun and knife ''just'' when Tintin is captured is pretty darn convenient. Much less so in the Nelvana AnimatedAdaptation of the episode, where it's revealed that Mitsuhirato's butler is actually an undercover member of the Sons of the Dragon.

%%* SecretPassage: Through a safe.

* {{Seppuku}}: Mitsuhirato commits Seppukubafter being captured. As was usual for the time in western sources, this is instead called 'hara-kiri.'

* SecretPassage: Through a safe.
* {{Seppuku}}: Mitsuhirato commits it after being captured. As was usual for the time in western sources, this is instead called 'hara-kiri.'

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the start of the story, the Fakir is reported to have escaped. He never shows up again, however.

* OffModel: The first pages were redrawn to look more like modern Tintin stories... up until Tintin goes to China, where the comic retains its old art. Hergé probably didn't want all his research-backed depictions to go to waste.

* OpiumDen: The titular Blue Lotus.

* ShownTheirWork: This issue is often called Hergé's first real masterpiece. Compared to the previous albums it's well documented and researched, has a strong and logical plot, is beautifully illustrated and also takes the opportunity to debunk some inaccurate western stereotypes about China.
* SneezeOfDoom: A loud sneeze from Tintin leads to his capture after he witnesses the FalseFlagAttack on the Shanghai-Nanking Railway.

* CharacterDevelopment: For Tintin (and in RealLife for Hergé) from ''Tintin in the Congo'', as Tintin is now lambasting ethnic and racial stereotypes. And the fact that that bit made it in implies either CharacterDevelopment or replacement for the editor of Le Petit Vingtième.

* VillainHasAPoint: When Dawson turns Tintin over to the Japanese, Tintin protests that he is on neutral ground. Dawson then makes the perfectly legitimate point that since Tintin does not have papers allowing him to be in the settlement, Dawson has every right to throw him out - evil, yes, but he ''is'' correct.

* OverlyStereotypicalDisguise: In the first and arguably funniest instance of the Thom(p)sons doing this, they show up wearing 17th-century Qing-dynasty Mandarin robes, confident that they will blend right into a Chinese town. They then fail to notice an entire town parading behind them and laughing.

* ShownTheirWork: This album is often called Hergé's first real masterpiece. Compared to the previous albums it's well documented and researched, has a strong and logical plot, is beautifully illustrated and also takes the opportunity to debunk some inaccurate western stereotypes about China.

* CloudCuckooLander: A Chinese businessman is hit by a dart dipped in Rajaijah, the ''poison of madness''. Later in the story, Didi has also turned insane after being poisoned with Rajaijah. Tintin is injected with what appears to be the stuff by Mitsuhirato, but a Sons of the Dragon swapped it for water.

''The Blue Lotus'' is notable for being the first album for which Hergé actually did a degree of research, being aided by a Chinese art student named Zhang Chongren, with whom he formed a close friendship and based one of the characters in the story on. As such, it is generally considered the point at which the series fully [[GrowingTheBeard grew its beard]].

''The Blue Lotus'' picks up right where ''[[Recap/TintinCigarsOfThePharaoh Cigars of the Pharaoh]]'' left off, with Franchise/{{Tintin}} still staying as a guest of the Maharajah of Gaipajama. The story begins when Tintin is visited by an unknown Chinese man wanting to discuss matters of great importance with him. However, the man is hit by a dart containing the madness serum from the previous album and before losing his grip on reality [[HisNameIs only manages to tell Tintin that]] he must go to UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}} and seek a man named Mitsuhirato.

* OffWithHisHead: Mr. Wang's crazy son is obsessed with doing this.

* AxeCrazy: Mr. Wang's son. It's not his fault, though, as he's been infected with the Rajaijah juice.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar and PublicSecretMessage: Hergé's friend, a Chinese foreign exchange student named Zhang Chongren, told him a lot about Chinese culture and society, including the then-current situation in Asia, where Japan had militarily occupied China. He also wrote all the Chinese signs, billboards, ideograms and texts seen in the backgrounds. As a BilingualBonus only Chinese people could read these. This also might explain why the book wasn't censored from the start because many of these texts are anti-Japanese slogans, like for instance: ''Boycott Japanese products'', ''Abolish unfair treaties'' and ''Down with Imperialism''. Upon realising the anti-Japanese tone of the story, Japan's diplomats stationed in Belgium issued an official complaint and threatened to take their complaint to the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague. Zhang congratulated Hergé, stating that [[StreisandEffect it would only further expose the actions of Japan in China to further international scrutiny]] and would make Hergé [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity "world-famous"]]. [[invoked]]