I was asking about the definition of a "toy" in general, not a "Transformers action figure Toy" (which is the tangent most of the posts here have gone off to already)... so why can't a licensed Transformers ball or skateboard could be considered toys, since all toys are essentially "merchandise" for a Brand.
Back to the original question in the first post... how would you define a "toy", and how would you define "merchandise" (understanding that they aren't mutually exclusive - one could include the other).