1986 saw more case assortments and individually packaged figures than any other year in the Generation One Transformers line. In addition to all the '86 figures, many retailers began clearancing older figures from 1984 and 1985. I've listed the clearance ads for the previous years' assortments first. 1986 also saw the beginning of assortments with both Autobots and Decepticons mixed in, as was the case with the Special Team combiners, cassettes and Triple Changers. I've listed those mixed factions ads next (although I haven't yet found ads for the '86 cassette 2-packs). Then I broke it down by Autobot and Decepticon followed by line-wide sales and inventory reductions. Finally there's licensed merchandise, which isn't as large as the selection of licensed merchandising ads I've found from 1985. I expected to find a lot more tie-in merchandise since 1986 was the year Transformers: the Movie was released in theaters. Despite not having many licensed tie-in ads, it's my experience that 1986 is second only to 1985 in terms of the number of Transformers newspaper ads published.

1986 is also notable for having introduced the biggest selection of figures in what I call the high price point range (near or above $30). There was Sky Lynx; the three combiner giftsets Menasor, Defensor and Superion; and the two cities Metroplex and Trypticon. Sky Lynx, Metroplex and Trypticon are well represented in circulars from many stores but ads featuring the Defensor and Menasor giftsets have proven elusive. In fact, the only chain I've found advertising any sort of combiner team giftset after 1985 has been Toys R Us. This is odd because in 1985 there are multiple examples from many stores of ads for the Devastator giftset.

There is enough data to make general estimates of the regular retail prices for various 1986 figures. The Special Team Mini-Vehicles were usually $4.99 and the Special Team leaders were regularly $11.99 at most stores. Triple Changers were usually $11.98, Autobot Minicars averaged $3.50, Autobot cars were $10.99, Autobot Heroes $14.99, and Ultra Magnus ranged from $19.99 to $24.99. Sky Lynx was around $39.99 and Metroplex $32.97. Decepticon Planes were usually $11.99, Predacons were most often $13.99, Galvatron was $24.99 and Trypticon averaged $49.99. Of course all these are my unscientific estimates from a very small sampling of data and shouldn't be considered absolute or manufacturer's suggested retail.

• For more thoughts and musings on old Transformers 1986 toy ads you can read my blog post:
  • "Astro Major starring in: 'Curse of the 1986 Clearance Robots!'"