Earliest Battle Beasts Newspaper Advertisement?

March 11, 1987. This Reno Gazette-Journal newspaper ad for the Raley’s Drug Centers may be the earliest printed ad we’ve uncovered yet for Hasbro’s Battle Beasts action figures. This comes from before the toys were a proven failure, so seeing this ad sparks optimism, a hope that Battle Beasts were going to become a big hit and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. I’m sorry, Battle Beasts, but it didn’t happen.