[Joe Moore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticPlastic

I completely get that, but like Wonderful Toys stated, it'd be nice to get the master license away from Mattel, so that other companies could make 6-7" lines. Yes, I mean NECA, because they actually care about the products they release. Mattel's offerings are just plain bad. DC must not care how they are represented in the major retail market, as long as they get their big, fat check. It's a shame. One way to solve that problem would be to start selling DC Collectibles widespread, but I know they have no interest in that.

Unfortunately, NECA has said they would never want the DC master toy license. DC (and Marvel) wants stuff specifically aimed at kids, and it's not NECA's area. Really, the only 2 choices for a master toy license like DC and Marvel is Mattel or Hasbro. You need a big, big bank account with a large workforce to to do stuff at every size class and potential age market, or sub-license to numerous companies to do so.

That varies by property, but the larger the brand, the more age brackets you need to market to. That's why there's sub-licenses now, where potential competitors are working together. Using NECA as an example, it's how their sub-license for TMNT works. They can't make stuff that acts as a direct competitor to Playmates stuff. Even if fans see it as a different market, Nick and Playmates don't necessarily agree.

Licensing is a complicated mess. I deal with it myself, and it's a nightmare. And I'm only doing stuff with photography, music and video for advertising.