Tintin in America America"). The dog Snowy was given a diminished role in "Tintin in America", which contained the last instance in the "Adventures" in which Tintin and Snowy have a conversation where they are able to understand each other. In the banquet scene, a reference is made to a famous actress named Mary Pikefort, an allusion to the real-life actress Mary Pickford. That same scene also featured a prototype for the character of Rastapopoulos, who was properly introduced in the following "Cigars of the Pharaoh" story. The strip's serialisation coincided with the publication of another of Hergé's comics set in the United
The Adventures of Tintin the series. Tintin memorabilia and merchandise has allowed a chain of stores based solely on the character to become viable. The first shop was launched in 1984 in Covent Garden, London. Tintin shops have also opened in both Bruges and Brussels in Belgium, and in Montpellier, France. In 2014, a Tintin shop opened in Taguig, the Philippines, only the second of its kind in Southeast Asia. The first Tintin shop in Southeast Asia opened in Singapore in 2010. The British bookstore chain, Ottakar's, founded in 1987, was named after the character of King Ottokar from the Tintin book "King Ottokar's