The ABC series Welcome Back Kotter (1975 - 1979) made a star out of John Travolta well before Saturday Night Fever did in 1977, and also resulted in a whole slew of merchandise and toys that have, over the years, become highly prized collectible.
In particular, Mattel produced a line of nine-inch-tall action figures of the main cast, including the school teacher, Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) and his troubled students known in toto as "the Sweathogs."
Independently, the Sweathogs consisted of Barbarino (John Travolta), Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) Washington (Lawrence Hilton Jacobs), and Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo). The molds for the action figures should look familiar: they were used by Mattel on every important line of the era, from Space:1999 (1975 - 1977) to Mork and Mindy (1978 - 1981) to the Sunshine Family.
To go along with the Kotter action figures, Mattel also released a very impressive playset of Mr. Kotter's classroom.
As the promotional material described it: "The sweat hogs sneak in a little school work. Complete Kotter classroom has four chairs, four notebooks, teacher's desk, globe, blackboard with piece of chalk and coat-rack."
This "vinyl play area" could also fold up into "a carrying case." A second, "deluxe" edition of the toy was also released which came with all the figures in the line, plus a record album of the actors playing in character.
Mattel did a great job on this set and figures. While I was not crazy about the rubber arms having no articulation in the elbows, the figures overall worked well and the playset is one of the smartest designs I've seen in a long time. I'm proud to have this complete set in my collection. Anyone who is a fan of the series should have the figures AND classroom set.
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