History Trivia / TintinTintinInTheLandOfTheSoviets

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: As Herge despised the story and refused to republish it, for many years only the original 1930's editions remained available in circulation and at very high prices; notably this led many fans to visit the Bibliothèque Nationale in order to read the copy held there. Fan demand finally led to a tiny run of 500 being published in 1969 but this did nothing to decrease demand and by the 1970's a number of bootleg editions were being produced and sold. As such Herge relented and in 1973 it would be reprinted in the Archives Hergé collection. With bootlegs still circulating Casterman finally produced a facsimile edition in 1981. English readers had to wait until 1989 to finally read the book in an official edition.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Real life example for Herge and this book, inspite of multiple offers and requests he stuck to his guns for more than forty years when it came to not reprinting Soviet's under any circumstances. This included turning down a World War II request from a German company who wanted to use it in the Axis war effort as Anti-Soviet propaganda!

** In a retrospective example, the Soviet officials are seen holding a crowd of voters at gunpoint and then declaring that, since none of them have said otherwise, their votes will all be counted for the Communist Party. In reality, the Soviets ''did'' have a law stating that, unless voters cast a ballot to the contrary, they would be assumed as supporting the Communists. However, said law wasn't implemented until a few years after the story finished publication, and even then, it wasn't usually enforced at gunpoint.

* OldShame: Hergé came to regret making this one.

** In a retrospective example, the Soviet officials are seen holding a crowd of voters at gunpoint and then declaring that, since none of them have said otherwise, their votes will all be counted for the Communist Party. In reality, the Soviets ''did'' have a law stating that, unless voters cast a ballot to the contrary, they would be assumed as supporting the Communists. However, said law wasn't implemented until a few years after the book was published, and even then, it wasn't usually enforced at gunpoint.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: While nearly everything about the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion's depiction in this story is laughably inaccurate (due to the fact that Creator/{{Herge}} never visited the country and lifted entire scenes from a popular anti-communist tract), one thing that actually ''was'' TruthInTelevision (albeit probably exaggerated) was the "election" seen halfway through the story, with several former Soviet citizens attesting in later years that implied and even open threats of violence toward voters weren't too out of the ordinary. Obviously the open stuff would have been the exception rather than the norm given the Soviets' more subtle way of purging.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: While nearly everything about the Soviet Union's depiction in this story is laughably inaccurate (due to the fact that Herge never visited the country and lifted entire scenes from a popular anti-communist tract), one thing that actually ''was'' TruthInTelevision (albeit probably exaggerated) was the "election" seen halfway through the story, with several former USSR citizens attesting in later years that implied and even open threats of violence toward voters weren't too out of the ordinary. Obviously the open stuff would have been the exception rather than the norm given the Soviet's more subtle way of purging.
* CreatorBacklash: Not exactly what Creator/{{Herge}} would call his favorite Tintin strip.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: While nearly everything about the Soviet Union's depiction in this story is laughably inaccurate, one thing that actually ''was'' TruthInTelevision (albeit probably exaggerated) was the "election" seen halfway through the story, with several former USSR citizens attesting in later years that implied and even open threats of violence toward voters weren't too out of the ordinary. Obviously the open stuff would have been the exception rather than the norm given the Soviet's more subtle way of purging.

* CreatorBacklash: Not exactly what Hergé would call his favorite Tintin strip.

* CreatorBacklash: Not exactly what Hergé would call his favorite Tintin strip right now.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: As Herge despised the story and refused to republish it, for many years only the original 1930's editions remained available in circulation and at very high prices; notably this led many fans to visit the Bibliothèque Nationale in order to read the copy held there. Fan demand finally led to a tiny run of 500 being published in 1969 but this did nothing to decrease demand and by the 1970's a number of bootleg editions were being produced and sold. Finally in 1973 it would be reprinted in the Archives Hergé collection. With bootlegs still circulating Casterman finally produced a facsimile edition in 1981. English readers had to wait until 1989 to finally read the book in an official edition.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: This was the case for several decades after its publication. Hergé felt this story was an OldShame and refused to have it redrawn or reprinted. It's not even considered part of the canon. Only in the 1970s, when several bootleg copies kept popping up, did he finally decide to publish again.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: This was the case for several decades after its publication. Hergé felt this story was an OldShame and refused to have it redrawn or reprinted. It's not even considered part of the canon. Only in the 1970s, when several bootleg copies kept popping up, he finally decided to publish again.

* AccidentallyAccurate: While nearly everything about the Soviet Union's depiction in this story is laughably inaccurate, one thing that actually ''was'' TruthInTelevision (albeit probably exaggerated) was the "election" seen halfway through the story, with several former USSR citizens attesting in later years that implied and even open threats of violence toward voters weren't too out of the ordinary. Obviously the open stuff would have been the exception rather than the norm given the Soviet's more subtle way of purging.

* AccidentallyAccurate: While nearly everything about the Soviet Union's depiction in this story is laughably inaccurate, one thing that actually ''was'' TruthInTelevision (albeit probably exaggerated) was the "election" seen halfway through the story, with several former USSR citizens attesting in later years that implied and even open threats of violence toward voters weren't too out of the ordinary.

* LifeImitatesArt: Hergé and his magazine colleagues staged an event where an actor portraying Tintin and a white fox terrier would arrive at the station of Brussels, just like the characters did at the end of the story. Hergé liked the publicity stunt, but didn't expect anyone to be there. To his surprise the place was crowded with enthusiastic fans! It was such a success that it was done again with ''Tintin in The Congo''.