On January 22nd, the Brazilian fan club “O Poder da Força” (The Power of Forces) has been celebrating its 5 years of existence, this is a group here in Brazil dedicated to collecting Star Wars items.
Fantha Tracks congratulates the group on this important milestone and hopes that the group will still have many years to come.
But 2018 is not only special for the group, but it also represents historically some important facts for fans in Brazil. The years of 1978, 1998 and 2008 were important years for Brazilians and we have much to celebrate in 2018.
In 2017 was celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of the first film of the saga …. but only in February of 1978 is that “Star Wars” finally reached Brazilian cinemas, at 40 years.
Until the mid-1990s, the films officially arrived in Brazil with a delay of nearly a year, unlike today where premieres take place simultaneously around the world or with a slight delay compared to other countries.
In 1978, “Brinquedos Estrela”, one of the toy giants here, was launching its first Star Wars toy, the “Death Star Escape” Game.
And also was released the official album of figurines on the first film of the saga, one of the first collectible items released in Brazil.
There was also a national version of the comics released by Marvel in 1977, published by the extinct publisher Bloch, a curiosity of this publication were the colors used that did not have the same standard of the original American publication, with a Darth Vader represented with the yellow and pink colors.
In December of the same year the film “The Trapalhões in the War of the Planets” arrived at the cinemas, making a parody with the world-wide success of Star Wars. A classic of the national cinema made by the group of comedians of the country on that time.
11 years later in 1988, “The Return of the Jedi” was shown for the first time on TV, and we also had other releases this same year, with the animated series “Droids” with the adventures of C-3PO and R2D2 and the animation ” Ewoks, “focused on the adventures of the characters of the planet Endor, both released in 1985 in the USA and arriving in Brazil in 1988.
In 1988 also came the shelves of stores in Brazil, the first figures based on the saga released in 1977 in the USA licensed by the famous toy company Glasslite, line that gave the name to the group of collectors, because it had the name of “The Power of Force”.
After years, with us brazilians being satisfied with the unofficial reproductions made by the company “Model Trem” with the line “Adventure in the Galaxies”, Glasslite brought to the market the toys based on the classic trilogy, they were, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, “Imperial Soldier” (not Stormtrooper here), C-3PO and R2-D2, plus ASA-X (or X-Wing) and Interceptor (or Tie Fighter) ships.
Due to the launch of the animation Droids in Brazil, Glasslite, already with the tradition of producing toys of TV series and animations, took advantage of and produced also figures of the series, with the famous Vlix (I will tell the story of this one in another article).
In 2008, the first official exhibition with original models of the two trilogies arrived in Brazil, the exhibition was set up in Ibirapuera Park, in the “Porão das Artes da Bienal”, and was attended by Antony Daniels (C-3PO) who inaugurated the exhibition in February of that year. The exhibition had more than two hundred pieces provided by Lucas Films.
The show had among its attractions the robots C3PO, R2D2 and the uniform of the villain Darth Vader. Other attractions included mockups, conceptual illustrations, the historical costumes of the great female characters in the story: Queen Amidala and Princess Leia, as well as life-size ships and replicas in proportionate miniatures.