Fisher Price Friday - Mystery Mailman/Pilot

I've talked about whoops and rare vintage Fisher Price pieces before and I've got a new mystery today.  It's a little boy with a black body and a mailman/pilot hat.  He's been popping up all over on the Internet on eBay and Etsy recently. He's referred to on listings as a rare Mailman or Pilot.  On thisoldtoy they guessed that he was a "burglar" which is hilarious since as far as I know there were no criminal sets produced by FP. :)

There were many Fisher Price Little People figures that used the same pilot/mailman/captain (and in two cases "farmer") hat.  Also two older mailman/pilot figures with a slightly different hats (grey and turquoise).

He's a cutie, smiling with his little blue hat and shiny black outfit.

I did a little research and talked to one of the main sellers who informed me that he'd bought a lot of them from a prior FPLP worker at the NY plant.  He believes that they made the little mailman/pilot out of leftover parts from other pieces.  I'm inclined to agree.  My theory is they were leftover from one of these other black bodies little guys/dogs pictured above.  As Fisher Price was phasing out the classic people (1990) and introducing the chunky/larger people they made unusual combinations to use up leftover parts.  

Because there are quite a few "mystery mailmen" figures currently out there it is clear that it cannot be a "whoops" as some sellers have marked.  A true whoops would be a rare anomaly, only one or at most a few created by accident.  Because there are so many more out there they had to have been made intentionally.

Do you have any of these little guys in your collection?  Did it come in a set or by itself?  If you have any more information to share about him I'd love to hear it!

And if you don't have him yet look on eBay and Etsy, they're out there right now.  I've saved a couple for my girls and have a few available in my Etsy shop too. :)  

How cute are these guys? :)