[André]

Nice thoughts and thanks for your opinion Maureen,

I agree with the quality of the CNTs.

And I am not saying the CNTs are licenced. Then as Maureen says they would definatly have been marked with Schleich and Peyo.

The thing I mean is that they maybe had the same thoughts regarding these factories. Either Spain or Portugal. Just like either Brazil or Argentina. But just a thought and could be big differences that I don´t now.

Regarding the comics Maureen you write this:
" I know most Americans didn't know about the smurfs before the cartoons (big difference to Europe who fell in love with the comic books) so I can see that the Herings were made after the introduction of the cartoon series which started in 1981 (I think) in the US. As to when it was introduced to Brazil..again ...more than likely a year or so afterwards, so we could put the timing of the Brazil Herings around 1983/4? (Give or take one year after the cartoon series started to be shown). "

Just one thing I want to add. If you would compare to the US it would be something like this. You say the comics started in 1981. But note that the Schleichsmurfs was sold in the US 1979 which is 2 years before the comic you dated. So if the comic in Brazil would be sold in 1982 and you do the same thing as the US market ( 2 years before comic) the Schleichsmurf would have been sold 1980 in Brazil??? Sorry Maureen couldn´t help correcting this?

For me around 1982 is a good year for the Heringsmurfs to have been made??

[Smurfysmurf]

You have a point...I forgot WB got the license in 1979.

However...

We all know that those who want to open their products to the worldwide market will put them first on the US market since it's so huge..and based on the success will then expand it to other countries...so I think the early 80s is still correct for the South American market.

One thing that fascinates me though is why Schleich not only gave the license to Hering and Minimodel but also their molds...you'd think they would put it in the contract that the quality is the same as those of the original figures

What I mean is....WB held the license for the smurfs in the US market but didn't actually produce them (unless I am mistaken)...they were still produced by Schleich in their HK factories...however, Brazil Hering and Minimodel produced their own smurfs whose quality is really not up to Schleich standards.

[Macbee]

Thanks Marcelo,
it is really good to have a member living in Brazil in the 80s when we are talking about this.

Thanks =)

Why do you think they erased the marking on the smurfs??

I don´t think they did this just because it was fun, do you!! There had to be a reason for erasing the Hering and made in Brazil markings.

But there is one more thing. They did not erase the Schleich and Peyo marking? Did they Lia??

I have no idea. I'm sure there's a reason but they removed only the less relevant stuff. All credits and original brands were still there.

So it could be that they made these in Argentina after 1983.

So only made in Brazil 1982 and then all southamerican smurfs were made in Argentina. And Minimodels got these molds and maybe used them for a while and blocked the marking Hering and made in Brazil and only left the Schleich and Peyo???

I don't think so. I'll quote myself (from http://www.forum.bluecavern.com/viewtop ... g&start=20):

(...) I'm sure that all of them are Brazilian since imported products were not common here in the 80s. Until 1985 we were ruled by dictatorship governments and we had little or no access to foreign products (only licensed, made in Brazil versions of international stuff was available).

President Fernando Collor was one of the big responsibles for opening Brazil's doors to foreign companies and products - but this happened much later (1990).
In fact the only foreign Smurf toy I see in my ENTIRE life was Gargamel. I had a rich classmate in 3rd grade and after an international vacation she bought a Gargamel. Everyone at school was impressed since we only had seen the same few Smurfs over and over for years.

But Marcelo if you seen them in stores in Brazil in late 1980 or around 1990. We have to open our minds again and start thinking from the beginning!!!

Yep. I'm sure I had bought Tailor Smurf when I was WAY older (8, 9 or 10 years old, I don't remember). The weirdest thing about this is: Tailor was one of my few Smurfs with non-erased markings.

And Marcelo,

I don´t expect you to remember anything before 1985 if you were born 1979. Not many people remember things before 5 years old. Usually memories from before this age is things others have told us and we sometimes think are memories. I only have vaugue memories from my early childhood. I remember we made big landscaping scenerys with smurfs and animals and parents and friends had to pay to get inside the room and look. Like on a zoo!!

That's why I ALWAYS say these memories are guesses.

I'm not trying to prove anything but I trust a lot on my memories (even the ones from my early years) when I talk about TV shows and toys. For some reason these subjects were always important to me.

I remember completely irrelevant things like the exact place in my house where I was when my aunt Amelia gave my first two Smurfs (Cowboy and the guitarist) and how euphoric I was gor getting them. I really think it had happened a few months before (or after) the 1984 Christmas when I've got my Papa Smurf plush and my sister got the Smurfette plush ( http://www.forum.bluecavern.com/viewtop ... f64e7b5b97 )

But I think you are the man to search internet regarding Hering history for us since most of the information probably are on Brazilian sites and in portugese?? So I hope there are more information to find regarding Hering history. See what you can find for us??

In fact there's no much info about Hering AT ALL.
Major companies are located in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro - and Hering was a smaller company located in the State of Santa Catarina. They were doing well with the musical instruments for kids (I still have my Hering Xylophone!) so they opened this department for "other" toys in the 80s.

The funny thing is when people (including me) talk about other toys by Hering we ONLY remember the Smurfs. I'm not sure if they had released any non-musical toy other than Smurfs.

Hering's toy department closed many years ago but the company still exists under the name "Hering Harmonicas": http://www.heringharmonicas.com.br/a-hering/

Sometime ago I had sent an e-mail to them but I've got no replies.

As to the timing of those South American smurfs...no idea...Marcelo's timing makes sense, I know most Americans didn't know about the smurfs before the cartoons (big difference to Europe who fell in love with the comic books) so I can see that the Herings were made after the introduction of the cartoon series which started in 1981 (I think) in the US. As to when it was introduced to Brazil..again ...more than likely a year or so afterwards, so we could put the timing of the Brazil Herings around 1983/4? (Give or take one year after the cartoon series started to be shown). I am pretty sure they weren't produced for many years, or we would have more of them (doesn't mean they weren't available in the stores for many years though if they didn't sell that well)

The cartoon made the Smurfs popular in Brazil but they technically had arrived here in 1975 under the name "Strunfs". 10 (unsuccessful) "Strunfs" comic books were published between 1975 and 1976. I had never heard about "Strunfs" comics until a few weeks ago:

http://www.guiadosquadrinhos.com/thumb. ... p=&total=7
http://www.guiadosquadrinhos.com/thumb. ... p=&total=3

Until the early 1980s Brazilian toy market didn't used to sell foreign toys here (with the exception of a few ones like 'Playmobil' by 'Trol'). We had our own characters like "Suzi" and "Monica's gang". The only foreign buddies we had as toys were Disney characters or classic Super Heroes (Batman, Superman). And even these toys based on american properties were created and molded in Brazil.

I don't know exactly what happened - but in the early 80s it changed dramatically. "Estrela" company got the rights for many foreign toys and suddenly Brazilian stores were full of never-seen-before stuff here like Barbie (1982), GI Joe (1984), Care Bears (1984?), My Little Pony (1985?) and Strawberry Shortcake (1984?). All these toys sold very well in Brazil.

Hering (and other companies like Glasslite) surely had followed Estrela's trail and made international deals to release toys that were successful in ohter countries (specially if these characters were on Brazilian TV).

I'm sure any Brazilian toy collector can confim this extreme change in our market from early to mid-80s. So I'm not only considering my childhood memories when I say I doubt we had Herings before I get my first ones (in 1984 or 85). I'm also considering how our maket used to be back in the day.

[Ritter_Schlumpfenherz]

for the excellent information, guys!!! I highly appreciate learning from you.

[André]

Great information Marcelo,

it is really good to know this. And I think we can´t compare to the open markets we were used to when I was young. We could buy a lot of different foreign brands without any different rules compared to swedish.

But I remember when I was in China many many years ago.

Buying chinese products was very easy but if you wanted buy a foreign brand it was very complicated. First you had to make the order at one counter, then pay in another and last go to a thind place to pick the item up.

The funny thing is that it is the same at IKEA in Sweden today. If you want to buy a new bed for example. You tell them in the warehouse what you want and get a reciept, then pay it on your way out and then go and pick it up in another building where they have all large items stored.
This is off course because they don´t have the space to have everything in the store. In China they then wanted control of these brands I guess.

So maybe we have to think in other ways regarding the Brazilian smurfs.

Another thought I have is, if like you told us Brazil was very closed at this time. Schleich would never have produced smurfs there for other markets outside Brazil. That to me sounds very stupid. So then the smurfs were made by Hering, would you say these were meant to stay in Brazil only??

[André]

What I mean is....WB held the license for the smurfs in the US market but didn't actually produce them (unless I am mistaken)...they were still produced by Schleich in their HK factories...however, Brazil Hering and Minimodel produced their own smurfs whose quality is really not up to Schleich standards.

That is a good question Maureen.

The history information on W Berrie is that other companies had turned down the offer to sell smurf in US if I understand this corrrect.

"The company was founded in 1966 by Wallace Berrie, a successful manufacturer of drugstore novelty items, as The Wallace Berrie Company. Early growth was slow until 1979, when a package arrived containing little blue characters about "three apples tall."

Unaware that other companies had turned down the property, Berrie obtained worldwide rights to the little-known characters otherwise known as The Smurfs, created in 1958 by a European artist named Peyo. "The Smurfs Song" was recorded for Decca in 1977 by the "characters" and Dutch singer Vader Abraham, followed in 1978 by two other singles, "Dippety Day" and "Christmas in Smurfland," all of which became hits in Europe. A Belgian company called IMPS was marketing the little blue characters, including a hit television series, product merchandising, and even a theme park in Lorraine, France.

Berrie's company released the little blue figures in 1979 at $1.50 each, compared to the industry's standard $.29 and $.39 little stuffed figures.

[Macbee]

Great information Marcelo,

Another thought I have is, if like you told us Brazil was very closed at this time. Schleich would never have produced smurfs there for other markets outside Brazil. That to me sounds very stupid. So then the smurfs were made by Hering, would you say these were meant to stay in Brazil only??

Thanks!

Brazil was very closed about importing products from other countries - but our governments always have supported exportation.

This KINDA happens even these days: We are the third biggest agricultural exporters in the world but if you dare to import anything (even if it's an inoffensive Ebay auction) you'll suffer paying abusive taxes. They're abusive just to make people in Brazil avoid any type of importations and "give a chance" to Brazilian products.

I'm not a Smurf expert and I don't know anything about Schleich in Brazil but I think it was perfectly possible they had made Smurfs here and exported to other countries.

A few posts ago I had mentioned Brazilian characters like "Monica's Gang". Brazil exports "Monica" merchandise like comics, toys and movies since the 70s, for instance:

[Cassiebsg]

A few posts ago I had mentioned Brazilian characters like "Monica's Gang". Brazil exports "Monica" merchandise like comics, toys and movies since the 70s, for instance:

That I can confirm, as I grew up with these lovable characters.

[Lia]

I`ve been thinking about the Hering smurfs and anout someone , who really has some knowledge about them and suddenly I thought of the ( Dutch) man who sold me the Heringhouse and who worked as an agent for toys, incl. Hering and Playmobil in South- and Middle-America!

http://www.forum.bluecavern.com/viewtopic.php?t=9620

so...I contacted him and asked him a few questions.
He answered that he sold lots of Brazilian toys, also Hering (!!) between 1984 - 1990 and that he sold them elsewhere, outside Brazil too, but not in Europe and the USA!
He said that that period was a bad economical time in Brazil and that he cruzados were very cheap.
He never saw the Heringwrapping, but he said that the Brazilian papers and packages were very good and very professional.

He says, there is a depot abroad, where he kept all the bills, brochures etc, but that he has no opportunity at this moment to enter,,,,

Lia

[André]

Great Lia,

Would be great if he could get these papers sometime and show you!!

Then they would be in very good hands.

[Lia]

that`s exactly my idea too André!
He has kept my emailaddress ( and he still needs to unpack 40 boxes in his attic, who knows what he will find?)
I`ll keep in touch with him!))))

Lia

[André]

Maybe the erased Hering markings has something to do with that Hering was bought by Trol in 1986??

[Lia]

I asked him,but he doesn`t know that.
He did not work for Hering, but for an agency that distributed all sorts of toys.
He says, that ( because of the bad economy) everything was so cheap in Brazil in those days, that loads of things could be bought for a very low price and easily sold elsewhere.

Lia

[Azrael]

THis is amazing information. I only started my Hering collection a few months ago (Thanks! ) and I love some of the variants.

It's great to hear the history!

[Lia]

About the Hering markings:

I received a lot of pictures and I think, it`s like this:
22 Herings have markings and each one can have written markings plus another version, that is either erased or covered with stripes.
Till sofar, I have not found one Hering, that has all the 3 different markings.
From the surfer, I only know the one with written markings, but I hope to get another one soon.
I think, only the smurf with gift and flowers, the cook and the tailor exist written and with stripes. The others have written or erased markings.
If someone has another Hering with 3 stripes, I love to see a picture.
The smurfette seems the only unmarked Hering.
But I expect a group of Herings to arrive soon and it will be interesting to check the markings, especially because there are 2 smurfettes in it.

Lia

[Tintin]

Hi Lia

From the 20041 walker, the 20060 with candle, and the 20062 telephone there are Hering smurfs with the stripes to...............i will look for others.
The surfer i am 100% sure there is one to.

Pictures soon !!!!

Tintin

[Lia]

yes, pleeeeeaaaase!!!
We need to see a lot before we know more, right?

Lia

[André]

Great information Lia,

Looking forward to see pictures from both Frank and when you get your new Herings.

[Lia]

My lot with Herings has arrived and I took lots of pics ( for myself )
All these Herings have written markings.
The paintwork is on some of them quite bad and confusing, because they seem to have used different blue paint for the same smurf ( but this is not unusual for Hering)
The smurfettes are, as always, unmarked ( I have 5 now)

[Lia]

There are slight colordifferences, for instance with the candles and the hikers