E9.2 POST REST Connector where entire body content is an input variable erroring out

[DaveWagoner]

See image below. I'm trying to pass an entire valid JSON string to the body of a local AIS REST POST call. When I do this, I get a maddening error. The error I'm getting is "SyntaxError: Unexpected token '$', "${dave}" is not valid JSON"

Using vars within the body of other json in the body works (such as media obj REST posts), but it seems I'm running into where just using the entire body as a variable is not working. Anyone run into this? In the example below, the body var is just called ${dave}, and I'm passing in a valid JSON string that works directly via Postman, for instance.

We're on 9.2.5.4 which is a few tools releases behind current, so "dave, you idiot, this is fixed in 9.2.6" is a valid response to my question.

 

[DaveWagoner]

Awaiting moderation might have been a blessing in disguise.

It seems this error is happening when I use the "Test" button. When I call the surrounding orchestration, the variable & body seem to populate as I would want.

Rather than delete I figure I'll leave this up in case anyone else pulls their hair out over it like I did.