Mr. T and Me: About

About Greg Rivera

I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1979, I am in essence a child of the 80s. I had an Atari 2600, I had every He-Man toy, I cried when Optimus Prime died, GI-Joe was my real American hero, and a big black man with a Mohawk and a ton of gold chains around his neck was my idol.

I remember watching the A-Team with my dad (who has a very heavy latin accent) and him pointing out every time one of the bad guys would come out of a flipped over jeep after flying though the air after driving over a land mine, my dad saying “Not even one scratch” as well as yelling “hey fool” whenever Mr. T entered a scene.

Growing up in the 80s, what child wasn’t inspired by Mr. T. From Rocky, to cartoons, to breakfast cereal, guest appearances, commercials etc. there was no way one could miss Mr.T or not know who he was.

I didn’t start collecting Mr.T memorabilia hardcore til about 1998. But I did have some stuff from when I was a kid. I also had the intuitiveness to buy a few things at flea markets growing up. I bought my life size Mr. T Cereal display at the Deland, Florida flea market for $3. It’s still one of my most expensive and best pieces. When ebay became huge in the late 90s, I started buying anything and everything Mr.T.

Even before that, I worked at the Pop Culture collectible toy store in Orlando, Florida (my parents moved to central Florida from Connecticut when I was 9) called Populuxe. The owner, Brian Cain, was the first fan and collector of Mr.T that I had met. He had this great store, and the first time I went in, he had decided to sell his collection of Mr.T and A-Team memorabilia. Needless to say, I bought everything that he had (at TOP prices… this was before you could get UK soap on eBay for $5, I paid $50). This is where I was also able to purchase a hand painted, wooden Galoob Mr.T prototype. A customer sold this to me for super cheap, and it’s basically the holy grail of my collection. The piece de resistance that separates Mike and me, even though he has the guitar, a super rare lcd game (that I now have mint in box!), and some hella cool animation cells.

I have over 80 homemade Mr.T dolls (see homemade doll section). Mike thinks they’re creepy but they are the highlight of my collection. I can imagine grannies and moms in the 80s making these dolls for their kids.

I currently live in New York City. I am an eBay power seller and work freelance in Television/Film production. I have one Mr.T tattoo, a dog, and 3 kids. Ok, no kids or a dog, but a tattoo, yes.