The peruvian "Basa" Line - Why is it so rare?

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Following on from Shane FS Post in the Classsifieds Section I thought I would start a discussion thread as This line has always intrigued me from I first read about it on the SWCA?
Why is it so rare and so few items have appeared?
Did they release any Yoda DSD PD or R5 items?

Look forward to your responses.


Liam
 
You may drop down dead when you see this Liam..

basayodacardback.jpg


Empire Strikes Back 41-Back Yoda - Star Wars Collectors Archive

As far as MOC go, I think Basa just stickered up Kenner MOC like the Yoda shown above, there is another one shown on the Archive: Empire Strikes Back C-3PO - Star Wars Collectors Archive

Skye did a nice write up on the Chewie 12" here too: Perubacca | Basa Doll

And if you wanted some general company information from the good old internet:

BASA ( Bakelita y Anexos S.A.) is a plastic products Peruvian company, founded on april 12 of 1949, began making bakelite products, in 1954 started manufacturing plastic products, had his golden age making toys, in the 70s and 80s, in those years made action figures, dolls, play sets, toy soldiers, cars, and much more. had a huge line of toys, many with original characters created by the company and many were made under lisence of different companies that have the rights reserved of Toys, TV and Movie characters. this are some: Disney, Barbie, Thundercats, He-Man, Star Wars, DC Comics, The A Team, The Six Million Dollar Man, Rambo, Play doh, My Little Pony, Punky Brewster, Playmobil, ALF, Care Bears, Knight Rider, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cabbage Patch Kids, Rainbow Brite and more. in those years BASA was a big budget, world-class company in the manufacture of plastic toys, reason why big toy companies like Hasbro, Kenner and Mattel gave to BASA the lisence to make many of their toys, Also at one time during the 70s, BASA bought toy soldiers to Multiple Toymakers Company, to be included in their soldiers play sets, play sets that included BASA toy soldiers and MPC toy soldiers, doing so, unique toy soldier play sets, that mixed BASA and MPC toy soldiers.

This gold era of BASA toys, would last until early 90s, in 1998 declared the company insolvent and stop the manufacture, some years after, the company began a restructuring and return as a small company, to manufacturing plastic products, but not toys, the company this days only manufacture home plastic products.
 
I wasn't going to mention anything for a while but since this topic came up, it seems an appropriate time to throw out a teaser...

While i was in Peru I actually had an opportunity to sit down and interview the two former owners of Basa as well as a few other employees, including two engineers, who worked for Basa for many, many years. While they didn't have many specific insights directly into the Star Wars line, i was able to get a lot more information about the company in general and some of the toy lines they produced. I'm going to be doing a large article on the company very soon but i still have a few more leads to follow and interviews to conduct with a couple of other former employees down there which i hope provides more info. I hope to have it ready in a few months.

In the meantime, to answer some of the questions - what it more or less boils down to is population and economics. Peru is a pretty small country and in the 70s and 80s, it was not an overly wealthy one either. So by those facts alone, the production and release of Basa items was *significantly* smaller than most foreign licensees. When the distribution is that small, what's survived, especially in a country where there wasn't much need to hold on to old toys, is going to be even smaller.

Basa had a long working relationship with Kenner dating back to the late 60s so it was a given that they'd distribute the SW line. As it's been mentioned, they simply imported Kenner 3 3/4" figures and affixed a Basa sticker to the cardback. While we were at the Lima Comic Con two weeks ago, the Jedi Force group had a large display of Peruvian collectibles and there was also a Bossk cardback featured.

I spoke with a number of shop owners down there too and even they couldn't stress enough just how rare Basa items are, even there. One shop owner who had been open over a decade has only ever seen one boxed Basa toy from that era come through his hands. It was a Knight Rider KITT and he had it in his store when i was there. He wanted a lot for it, understandably so, and i was just thankful to even see it.
 
Nice insight Shane, I am glad you came away from Peru with so much more than the offer I read about on FB :grin:

No but seriously, wow! Awesome read and look forward to the article! Will this be a part of the TV show too?
 
What an awesome trip!

Here's the small toy display from Jedi Fest also featuring a Basa lunchbox and Thermos.

http://forum.rebelscum.com/photogallery/data/500/medium/IMG_6843.JPG
http://forum.rebelscum.com/photogallery/data/500/medium/IMG_6728.JPG
http://forum.rebelscum.com/photogallery/data/500/medium/IMG_6782.JPG

We got a chance to evaluate the lunchbox, game, and thermos at the Fan Meeting the day before and they're truly special pieces. The thermos has graphics from the Kenner AT-AT packaging and the lunchbox has some great, crude, original artwork.

-chris
 
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Looking forward to seeing the article Shane, sounds like some good information was gathered.

Mike
 
How did they import an ESB45 RL 3PO from Kenner when they were never produced by Kenner??!! :eek:
 
Great news, Shane. I'm really looking forward to read that article and learn a lot more about the mysterious Basa items then. So I was right, when I presumed that, unlike TopToys and Glasslite, loose Basa figures are identical to Kenner figures.

Some really amazing stuff on these photos Chris. ,
 
I don't have much to add to this conversation, but I'm really happy that it is happening. I can't wait for Shane's article.

That lunchbox is amazing. It looks like all the images are from the SW era, but the thermos is ESB. They weren't together, were they?

The X-Wing on the game looks a lot like the one in the LXW bootleg that Joe showed on this months Cast.
 
Hello

Answering the question of why the BASA figures are very rare nowadays, I can tell you that I’m from Peru and I live in Peru when the BASA figures were released, then I want to share some facts:

I remember perfectly when the Kenner Star Wars figures were released in USA they arrived to Peru in the smuggler way because by those days we had in Peru the final years of a military government (of 10 years), where the importation of foreign products had high taxes and also we had a high inflation ratio (73% in 1978, 66% in 1979 and 61% in 1980) then by those years the Kenner Star Wars toys cost around 4 to 5 times the same toys in USA L then those Star Wars toys were luxury toys for the kids.

In the beginning of the 80’s with a new democratic government the importation of products runs good again then by those days BASA began to import the Kenner ESB line and they applied a BASA ticker on the front of the cardbacks and boxes then the toys appeared for sale in the big department stores as Sears and Oechsle, and supermarkets as Monterrey and Scala. By those years the BASA/Kenner toys price was 2 to 3 times their prices in USA.

As I remember they import to Peru most of the ESB carded figure line plus some ships and creatures and also the ESB Micro Collection. I have some examples of cardbacks and boxed items with the BASA sticker in my collection.

BASA continued importing the toys also for the ROTJ line but they stopped to apply the BASA decal in the figures then most of the ROTJ figures sold in Peru were without the BASA decal; they didn’t import the POTF line.

By other hand, on 1981-82 BASA produced the only 2 figures made in Peru, they were the 12” Darth Vader and Chewbacca. These figures were made by license of Lucasfilm but BASA made its own molds based in the Kenner 12” Darth Vader and Chewbacca figures. Then these BASA figures were smaller around half inch than the Kenner versions and their accessories were a little different than Kenner’s.

Also BASA made its own boxes for these 12” figures using its own artwork and those BASA boxes don’t have a window (Kenner boxes has it) neither the side piece of cardboard as Kenner has on their boxes. I showed the BASA 12” box to Gus, Duncan and Chris and they confirmed that the artwork is special for these Peruvian boxes.

About the price of the 12” figures, they cost around a 30% more than a carded BASA/Kenner 3 3/4” figures because they were made in Peru and not imported as the small figures.

Finally, to understand the rarity of the BASA products it’s necessary to be more specific that Peru just imported the carded and boxed items (and applied a BASA decal on them) for the internal market that was a small market and also produced the two 12” figures just thinking in the local market and by those years nobody there has the “collecting culture” of keep the items in their original packages , they were just toys and the lucky kids whom has these toys played with them and destroyed them.

Probably some kids take care of the toys and played carefully then this is the reason because few figures still survived.

I hope this information helps.

Best

Luis Galvez
 
Hello

I forgot to mention as Chris said that since BASA was a company that made plastic products for the Peruvian market, they made also in the 80’s Star Wars lunch boxes, thermos and pencil cases all with their original artwork.

Best

Luis
 
Fantastic information Luis - many thanks!! I would love to see a pic of the box! Is it radically different than the Kenner version in terms of artwork layout?

Lee
 
Love the lunchbox. It has some art taken from the give a show.
 
Lee, it is radically different. It's so awesome you're better off not knowing what it looks like because it'll drive you nuts that they're almost not to be had. :)

-chris
 
That yoda cardback is mine. I found it at c5 :-D and knew what it was glad the 10 people looking through the box before me didn't.

I am not aware of any carded figures only cardbacks for this line.

James G
 
I wanna know about THIS cardback!

peru-3po.jpg


If Basa only sold Kenner stock, then that means Kenner must have produced an ESB45 3PO, right? But there are no known examples of an ESB45 3PO! Could Kenner have shipped all the produced example(s) to Peru? Did they send them pre-production items? Or is this an instance where they were produced and distributed across the USA, and we've just yet to find one? Why would Kenner have produced this figure in such small numbers when the Sensorscope R2 saw more normal production numbers?

:wtf: NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE!!! :wtf:
 
Lee, it is radically different. It's so awesome you're better off not knowing what it looks like because it'll drive you nuts that they're almost not to be had. :)

-chris

Well there is lot not to be had to be fair Chris - I would just like to see a picture for my personal 12" figure reference file. :)
 
I wanna know about THIS cardback!

peru-3po.jpg


If Basa only sold Kenner stock, then that means Kenner must have produced an ESB45 3PO, right? But there are no known examples of an ESB45 3PO! Could Kenner have shipped all the produced example(s) to Peru? Did they send them pre-production items? Or is this an instance where they were produced and distributed across the USA, and we've just yet to find one? Why would Kenner have produced this figure in such small numbers when the Sensorscope R2 saw more normal production numbers?

:wtf: NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE!!! :wtf:

Hello Bill

This cardback is one that I bought in Lima-Peru in 1982-83
As I remember it was sold in the Central Market in Lima in one wholesaler toy store.
I remember when the one of the sellers opened a Kenner box and take it from there and I could inspect two MOC C3PO's to choose the one I bought.
Probably a small run of this cardback arrived to Peru imported by BASA those days.
That cardback is on C9.5 because after I bougth it I cut refully the bubble and keep the cardback in a box.

Luis
 
Luis,

Thanks a lot for the background information on the Basa line. It is great that stuff like this comes to light so many years after the fact.

Mike
 
Oh for the love of God that packaging is AWESOME!!! Thanks for the link Chris! And thanks to Luis for submitting it to the archive!
 
Wow now that is really something, what amazing packaging! Thanks Luis and Chris!

So nice to see something new!
 
Hello Bill

This cardback is one that I bought in Lima-Peru in 1982-83
As I remember it was sold in the Central Market in Lima in one wholesaler toy store.
I remember when the one of the sellers opened a Kenner box and take it from there and I could inspect two MOC C3PO's to choose the one I bought.
Probably a small run of this cardback arrived to Peru imported by BASA those days.
That cardback is on C9.5 because after I bougth it I cut refully the bubble and keep the cardback in a box.

Luis

Interesting. So it's a regular production figure, then? Waffle pattern on the bubble and everything?

It's so strange because that C-3PO - ESB45 - has never turned up in the USA. It was a grail piece of mine for ages until I just gave up because there's no evidence it was ever produced. Now it looks like it must have been...

I sure wish you had bought both of them! :D

PS: Awesome 12" box art!
 
Definitely one of the best threads in the last years.

Really curious to know if the 45 back 3PO was a "Basa Exclusive". I don´t think Kenner produced a MOC in such rare quantaties, just to send them to Peru.
 
Wow Chris! Thanks for putting that up there! And thank you Luis for sharing it with the archive! That is awesome!!!! Very, very cool to see something like that!

I love all the added content to this thread! :D
 
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Wow, thanks Luis for contributing that to the archive. I love how the box art is a mashup from the collectors case art.
 
Chris, you were right...it was better not to see it...man o man that is awesome....lets hope some of those boxes show up now that the convention has happened and more people dig around for them....fingers crossed..
 
What a great looking Chewie - awesome to see a NEW vintage piece 35 years after it was originally sold!

Brad, as A Chewie focus collector I imagine you now obsessing over this uber rare piece like Sean Connery drawing Grail pictures in his notebook in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade...

This BASA Chewie may be a quest too far... but as you say fingers crossed.

sean_connery13.jpg

"Dad, you want ME to go to Peru with you to hunt for the BASA Chewie...? Because i've got a pretty full schedule, next week its the Loch Ness Monster, then in August im off to find Atlantis..."
 
It is indeed an interesting thread, I cant for the life of me remember hearing about these before even though I must have.
 
Oh. Muh. Gawd.

That Basa box is absolutely incredible! Thanks so much for sharing it, Luis!
 
Well that wasnt what I expected! Incredible piece indeed! Kind of reminds of the the Mego first issue boxes for the WGSH line - actually has that sort of feel. what I find interesting is that the side of the box illustrates Vader and Chewbacca which of course were released but also Stormtrooper. Now it is probably reading into the intentions somewhat of the design but could there be a possibility of a Stortrooper out there? No catalogues or trade catalogues have come to light to my knowledge. The way I read the design of the box panel it does kind of suggest that Stormtrooper could have been released. Opinions?

Either way its a spectacular piece and a testament to why the 12" line is grossly under appreciated in terms of collecting.

Lee
 
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