It was a really big deal to encounter your favorite characters — The Thundercats, Barbie, My Pet Monster, Rainbow Brite, The Care Bears — embodied in living, breathing form back in the ’80s and ’90s. People can call it hokey now, but kids really appreciated the opportunity, and, looking back, these were cool jobs that predated the modern era of cosplay and booth babes. Ronald McDonald was the gig with the most cachet — McDonalds actually started an academy/training program for its host of Ronalds — but Masters of the Universe had a certain cachet of its own. Actors promoted the Saturday Morning Cartoon in costume, appeared at Universal Studios, in the Power Tour stage show, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, at toy stores, malls, and even visited recovering kids in hospitals. The 1987 live-action movie had performers battling it out in the street at its Hollywood premiere, a big spectacle that I wouldn’t mind seeing repeated when the loooooooong-awaited new movie opens. H/T>






