Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:03 pm
Toy licenses can be, and very often are, subdivided into specific categories. They're also not usually exclusive anyway. For example, while Mattel/Mega have the "construction toy" license for TMNT, another company holds the "action figure" license, and a third has a "roleplay toy" license - a shared license, in fact, with the "action figure" company. This maximizes exposure and profit for the brand itself, while allowing multiple companies a slice of the pie.
Of course, you'll rarely get the big companies to acknowledge this sort of thing, despite it being right in front of our faces. ;-)