I don't know how mattel has become the world's largest toy company. They couldn't find their collective ass with both hands and a flashlight. Yet what does that say about hasbro that they are unable to overtake an inept market leader?
I think the key words in the story were "license partners". They needed something fast, an established brand name, with established engineering, design, production, etc of building blocks. They have licensed properties with tv shows and movies on the horizon, and they need to get product out quickly. They don't want to go the hasbro route by starting from scratch, climb the learning curve, and three years later, end up a single retailer exclusive.
While I really like Joe and TF kreos, to call the entire Kreo effort a big financial success would be wrong. Flopping at WM & Target, only to become a TRU-only product has to sting. Mattel was given a fantastic example of how hard it is to do a ground-up Lego competitor. If the price was right, I'd have just bought megabloks too. I like the move for mattel; I just have no faith that mattel won't fubar the end result.
Make no mistake, the Lego Movie's success and subsequent building block craze (I know it's sweeping our house. My kids can't get enough) was making Matty feel left out in the cold. They were watching those dollars just fly into their competitors' pockets.