Mr. T
Galoob
1984
Mr. T did indeed, "Pity the fool." Sadly that fool was George Peppard who failed to see that T was the star that kids around the world tuned in to see on the A-Team, and not him. Rather than embrace this aspect, and capitalize on it, the aging actor grew jealous, and made co-stars and producers of the series more than aware of his dislike for the man. For a great in depth look at this check out Justin Lee Collin's Bring Back...The A-Team (or any of the Justin Lee Collins Bring Back... episodes for that matter - They're all incredibly entertaining).
While producing a highly insulting series of figures based on the A-Team in 1984, Galoob also managed to produce a more respectful "doll" line based on Mr. T. Both a standard and talking version were produced, and both skyrocketed in popularity with children. Mr. T was the baddest mutha of them all, but in a respectful way to his mother, and kids of all ages looked up to him, making him a very iconic - very rich - young man.
Mr. T*Talking Mr. T
Though a pull of the string didn't have Mr. T spouting things such as "Hey, sucka," or things of that nature, it did include one of four phrases including;
1) I pity the poor fool
2) Always listen to your parents
3) Study hard in school
And one other that just wasn't working right, and we couldn't understand.
Combat Attack Set*Fire Rescue Set
The last item produced (at least in the US) was the smaller Wrestling Mr. T figure. It doesn't really incorporate into this particular line, but it incorporates well into the other wrestling figures of this era from the various toy companies.
If you have a chance, check out the original commercial for the Mr. T doll. It's a riot. It depicts kids with balled up fists just punching away on the doll, all to a jingle about how T is tough and mean. These days, that kind of commercial wouldn't go far with parents.
Join us next time when we take a look at From Filmation's Ghostbusters (AKA Filmation's Ghostbusters)!
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I have the 6 inch A-Team set with Mr. T and the NECA Clubber Lang, but none of these. I would love, love, love to have more Mr. T related merchandise. I think there is a huge, untapped market for Mr. T related merchandise.
ReplyDeleteWe'd personally love to see a toy line based on the Mr. T cartoon series by Ruby Spears which ran for thirty episodes between 1983 and 1984.
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