Brazil

Brazil, the Federative Republic of Brazil in full, is the largest and most populous country of South America. It is located along the continent's east coast and borders Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay.

The country is divided in states, of which Mato Grosso is one. Another is São Paulo, home to the city São Paulo, which is Brazil's largest city and also one of the largest in the world.

Transformers in Brazil

How can someone ever know that a toy is cool if it doesn't even have "CRASH! BUM! GRRR!! ZUAZ!! VRRR!!" written all over the promo art?

Transformers has had a surprisingly complex history in Brazil, with the country being introduced to the characters through the U.S. comics near the end of 1985 - first published by Rio Gráfica Editora and later Editora Globo ^[1] - and the cartoon eventually airing in 1986. National toy company Estrela, however; had obtained the Transformers license some months earlier and released a unique toyline before any characters or factions were introduced, with molds being named after their vehicle modes instead (e.g.; Bumblebee as Volks, Brawn as Jipe, etc). This toyline only featured the Mini-Vehicles and Jumpstarters in terms of molds derived from the Hasbro toyline - with most having all-new color schemes - and was supplemented by the more gimmicky auto-transforming Bat-Robô and Eletrix toys imported from other Japanese toylines ^[2]. They also licensed out the Transformers toyline to Argentina's Antex, which in turn created even more newly-colored Mini-Vehicles and Jumpstarters.

By the end of 1985, the comic book had introduced proper Transformers factions and characters to Brazil, and with it; the renaming of the Autobots and Decepticons into "Optimus" and "Malignus". Accordingly, Estrela released a new wave of Mini-Vehicle retools in 1986 under the faction names of Optimus and Malignus, yet again with entirely new color schemes, but now bearing completely different insignia from that used by the Autobots and Decepticons. ^[3] Add to this how the cartoon would release in the same year with the factions now returning to their original names, and the result is that the Optimus and Malignus of the Brazilian toyline are often considered separate all-new factions by fans, an interpretation that was eventually adopted by later official Transformers media!

Throughout the 90s and 2000s, Estrela transitioned from being a manufacturer to a distributor of Transformers toys in the country, with their relationship with Hasbro ending in 2007 as they moved towards their own distribution chains in South America instead (and also ensuing a decade-long lawsuit regarding royalties lasting up until its settlement in 2021) ^[4]. Much more about all of this can be read on the wiki's dedicated page on Estrela, but in short; the quirks of their unique toyline have become a major intrinsic part of the legacy of the Transformers franchise in Brazil.

A single extra, non-Estrela Transformers figure that's exclusive to the country exists, with the 2007 Grendene Transformers watch being a funky little working adaptation of Real Gear Robots Meantime and Midnighter XR-4. Multibrink, another Brazilian company, also received the license to produce some Transformers merchandise to tie into the 2015 Robots in Disguise franchise.

Fandom

Given the country's sheer size and the popularity of the franchise during the 1980s, it might not be much of a surprise that Brazil has one of the most active Transformers fan scenes in Latin America. Much of it sprung from the internet during the turn of the millennium with Yahoo Groups' Planeta Cybertron ("Planet Cybertron") and the Aliança Transformers Brasil ("Brazilian Transformers Alliance") website and forum, with the community of these pages eventually uniting into the primarily Facebook-based Nova Cybertron ("New Cybertron") group during the 2010s. ^[5]

Starting as small informal meet-ups between the members of the aforementioned communities, the Encontrebas eventually grew in scale into becoming the country's de facto unofficial Transformers convention. Sometimes done in partnership with toy stores, these events have occasionally involved exhibitions of Transformers toys and all-ages activities. ^[6]

Notable people

• Marcelo Matere, a Brazilian artist who has worked extensively with the Transformers franchise as a character designer, comic book artist, and packaging artist.
• Guilherme Briggs, a Brazilian voice actor who's dubbed various incarnations of Optimus Prime.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

When the Autobots prepared to go to Titan per Omega Supreme, they apparently were located in Brazil. The God Gambit

Kid Stuff Talking Story Books continuity

The Decepticons built their crystal satellite and its launch complex in the jungles of Mato Grosso. This much to Soundwave's dismay, as the jungle humidity had a detrimental effect on his cassette drives. Nobody cared. Once the final piece, a large diamond, had been placed atop the satellite, it was launched into orbit. The Autobots had taken note of their enemy's activities however, so Megatron blew up the launch complex and withdrew with his troops back to base to continue to monitor and control the crystal satellite's mission in safety. Satellite of Doom

The Decepticons' scheme failed and some time later, Megatron and Soundwave returned to the site of the former launch complex, which had been reabsorbed by the jungle. Megatron commented that he aimed to get the oil underneath the South American jungles. As the two Decepticons spoke, a local Native American approached and, armed with a blowgun and poisoned darts, took a shot at Soundwave, but the dart just bounced off. Megatron and Soundwave were not impressed, but supposedly left him alone.

Since the Autobots stopped the Decepticons' plan in Peru, the Decepticons never got far enough to drain so much as a drop of oil from underneath Brazil. Storms of Destruction

The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual

Millions of years ago, the Ark crashed on Earth, leaving only four Autobots partially active. The Ark reconstructed them after the planet's dominant lifeform, dinosaurs. Renaming themselves Dinobots, the four explored the land and at least Grimlock and Snarl were in the area that would become Brazil when they were deactivated due to a meteorite crashing up a dust layer that robbed them of their solar radiation.

In 1994, chaotic deforestation of the jungle that had grown over Snarl's and Grimlock's temporary grave reawakened them. The other Autobots, reawakened since a while too, noticed the Transformer-coded power emission the Dinobots were producing and went to check. The Decepticons followed suit once Laserbeak had reported on the power emission. At first the Dinobots, controlled by their dinosaur programming, attacked the Autobots, but once the Decepticons showed up, Grimlock and Snarl came to their senses and fought them instead. They reintroduced themselves to the other Autobots and promised to rejoin their forces once they'd found their two missing teammates. The Dinobots!

Live-action film series

Dark of the Moon Annual

The discovery of large deposits of iron ore made Mato Grosso a prime target for the Decepticons. Transformers Dark of the Moon Annual 2012

The Last Knight film

Sometime after the fall of Cemetery Wind, a Brazilian named Santos became the commander of T.R.F. The Last Knight

Games

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Autobots/Decepticons

Pictured: A Decepticon Recruit heading to the fleshies' "worst nightmare".

Autobot Campaign

As per Ratchet's instructions, Optimus Prime met up with Bumblebee and Ironhide in São Paulo. While discussing the presence of large numbers of Decepticons in the area, a protoform suddenly crashed at a few miles distance. Optimus Prime rushed to the location and recruited the protoform. Then Starscream showed up, having also intended to claim the protoform, and Optimus Prime attacked him while Ratchet instructed the new recruit away from the scene and back to the city area. Following Ratchet's orders, the recruit scanned a nearby car and adopted a vehicle form. Next, he met up with Bumblebee and Ironhide, who worried about his ability to stay alive in battle. A subsequent attack by the Decepticons allowed the recruit to show his worth, particularly by killing a Decepticon recruit. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Autobots

Decepticon Campaign

As per Soundwave's instructions, Starscream met up with Sideways and Grindor in São Paulo. Decepticon-style pleasant talk was cut short when a protoform suddenly crashed at a few miles distance. Starscream rushed to the location and recruited the protoform. Then Optimus Prime showed up, having also intended to claim the protoform, and Starscream attacked him while Soundwave instructed the new recruit away from the scene and back to the city area. Following Soundwave's orders, the recruit scanned a nearby car and adopted a vehicle form. Next, he met up with Sideways and Grindor, who were quick to call him a liability. A subsequent attack by the Autobots allowed the recruit to show his worth, particularly by killing an Autobot recruit. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Decepticons

Notes

• An unproduced joke for the Cyberverse episode "Trials" would have involved Soundwave popping into Brazil during a music festival. He would then crash the concert and hang out.^[7]

References

External links

• Brazil at Wikipedia