The A-Team

The A-Team is a TV-show that ran from 1983 till 1987. It sits in the tradition of other Reagan-era TV-shows where violence is the answer. The heroes of the show are four Vietnam veterans. Three of them were arrested at the end of the war for "a crime they did not commit" and were sent to a military stockade. They escaped, went underground and survive as soldiers of fortune. The fourth member of the Team had snapped a little earlier and was sent to a psychiatric hospital. A recuring theme on the show is breaking him out to go on missions.

Hannibal
Lieutenant-Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith is the leader of the Team. He's the man with the plan and often seen clenching a cigar between his teeth. When not on a mission he's an actor in B-movies. He also loves to dress up and disguise himself to check whether people contacting them are legitimate and not sent by the military police. though the audience can usually see through Hannibal's disguises, the characters on the show never do.

Murdock
Captain H.M. "Howlin' Mad" Murdock is the Team's pilot and by his own admission can fly anything that has wings. Helicopters don't appear to be a problem either. Murdock's Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom seems to manifest itself in alternative personalities for himself and assigning personality to inanimate objects. It's unclear whether his insanity is an act or real, 'cause despite his quircks he functions very well within the Team and on missions.

Face
Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck is the scamman of the Team. He can organise anything from anyone. He's the pretty boy with the smooth talk. The ladies' man. The man the bad guys like to punch most.

B.A.
Sergeant Bosco "Bad Attitude" Baracus is a big man with a mowhawk and forty-five pounds of gold around his neck. The King of Bling, before bling became a pop-culture reference. He's the Team's mechanic and driver.

Amy Allen
Amy is a journalist that tracked the Team down and got caught up in their cause. She often accompanied the Team on missions until she was written out of the show.

Tawnia Baker
Also a journalist. Short lived replacement of Amy.

Decker
Lieutenant-Colonel Roderik Decker is a member of the military police. His mission is to capture the A-Team. He often fails and when he doesn't the Team still manages to escape. Hannibal knew him in Vietnam and wasn't too impressed with his methods then.

Stockwell
General Stockwell made the Team work for him after they were saved from a firing squad.

Frankie
Frankie "Dishpan" Santoro is a Special Effects man that was added to the Team in the fifth season of the show.

In Badfic
The Team always help out the underdog: people (often with small businesses) that are harassed by local bullies. In a way the A-Team are the protectors of the American dream. This gives Sues access to the Team in two ways:

The Victim
Victim!Sue hires the Team to help her. Additionally the Sue can be a family member or an old friend of one of the Team, usually Murdock. A few of these Sues have displayed fighting skills and ingenuity to degrees that the Team didn't need to rescue them at all.

The New Team Member
New Team members come in many forms. Often they are military women that are forced on the Team or asked to join by the Team. On ocassion a Victim!Sue is made a Team member so she can be better protected. One time the new member was Murdock's six year old daughter. Often the new member will get romantically involved with Murdock.

Slash
Slash stories often involve Face and Murdock where Murdock professes his love for Face and Face suddenly realising he likes Murdock that way too. Less common is slashfic involving Hannibal and Face, which has the added bonus that fanon sees Hannibal as Face's (surrogate) father, and Hannibal/Murdock. Still less common is slash involving BA. But he also gets very little love from the Sues.