From Fan History Wiki

[edit] Introduction

Seargant Bosco "B.A." Baracus is a character from The A-Team, portrayed by Mr. T. With a "Bad Attitude" yet a heart of gold, B.A. is the team's mechanic who can fix just about anything, and make a weapon or a tank out of nearly anything as well. B.A.'s one fear is flying, however, something which often puts him at odds with H.M. Murdock, the team's "crazy fool" pilot.

Mr. T was already a celebrity on the rise before the launch of The A-Team, due to his appearance in Rocky III. However, The A-Team shot him to super-stardom and the character became a classic 1980s icon--interchangeably with the man who played him. The popularity of B.A./Mr. T was noted to have caused conflict behind the scenes on the show, most particularly with George Peppard who played team leader Hannibal Smith.

Despite the popularity of B.A. to the general public and mainstream media, he was perhaps the least favorite--or at least, least focused-on--character in most fanworks produced by the fandom. Rarely featured in shipping fic, writers seemed turned off by the cartoonish nature of the character (although the same could really be said about any of the main characters on the show) and one might wonder if racism played some part in this as well, as B.A. was the only character of color regular on the series until the 5th season edition of Frankie Santana.

[edit] Terminology

Below is a list of terms and their definitions that are used in this fandom.