Hasbro’s Battle Beasts Blowout in 1988
April 4, 1988. I posted a 1987 Battle Beasts ad last week where I stated that the deep discount of the toys proved that Battle Beasts was never a successful toyline. The Battle Beasts were listed as a door buster at Boscov’s for Christmas of 1987, so it’s arguable that the toy wasn’t a failure and only that the retailer was trying to use the toy to attract buyers. Well, that argument is blown out of the water by this ad (from The Sentinel newspaper of Carlisle, PA) listing Battle Beasts at up to 78% off only five months after that previous ad was run.
Playsets, vehicles, figures, and even the bandolier carrying case (which makes an appearance in my Action Figure Carrying Cases* book) all on sale at dramatic discounts proves without a doubt that Battle Beasts never succeeded. It’s unfortunate, because those designs are so very cool, but the advertisements don’t lie or mislead. Retailers couldn’t sell Battle Beasts at MSRP, so the line was quickly killed and left to rot on the piles of failed action figure lines of the eighties.
It’s weird to think that Battle Beasts weren’t successful, because I remember thinking how cool they looked and I could have sworn that almost everyone I knew had some.
However, memories are odd, because it could be that only one or two people I knew actually had some, and I know that my two siblings and me never got any, so there you go.
Oh, to have a time machine…