Battle Beasts and Starcom Action Figures on Sale in 1987

November 28, 1987. Yesterday’s ad for carded Starcom action figures looked lonely, so I decided to keep digging and soon found this Super X Drug Stores ad from Mansfield, Ohio, where we see both Starcom figures and Hasbro’s Battle Beasts on sale in 1987. So why were toymakers starting to create so many smaller-sized action figures in the mid-eighties when the 3.75-inch scale action figures had been a standard for so many years? M.A.S.K., Air Raiders, Battle Beasts, Starcom . . . was there some increase in manufacturing costs that led to these smaller toys?