No Export For You / Toys

Hasbro/Playskool

• The Funky Furby from the emototronic line was only released in the UK, Canada, Australia and Spain. Japan also didn't get the Furby Boom, and the Furby Connect was only available in English and Russian, but English versions were sold in China and South Korea.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games: The Midnight Sparkle doll has (at least for now) only been released overseas, despite being showcased at the 2015 New York Toy Fair well before the film's release.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • The first two blind bag waves weren't available in North America. Nonetheless, American bronies craved them, and they were willing to pay crazy prices for them. There is an infamous case of a Wave 1 Fluttershy (actually a Rainbow Dash recolor because Fluttershy was the only Mane 6 pony to not get her own mold) that was sold on eBay for $300. In European stores, it cost €2. Meanwhile, however, there have been a number of blind bag waves that never came to Europe.
  • Of the 2012 San Diego Comic Con "Derpy Hooves" figurines, only three were made available in Europe. And all three were donated by Hasbro for Fan Convention charity auctions: one to B.U.C.K. in England, two to the German Ponycon in Hamburg which targeted at both collectors and bronies. (By the way, a brony and a collector each got one. Needless to say that they did go for crazy bids.)
  • As long as Nici plushies were available in Europe, they only offered Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and a bit later the Svarowski-adorned Fluttershy. Once Applejack and Rarity came out, Nici only sold their plushies in Japan anymore.
  • The superior 4th Dimension plushies weren't available in Europe at all. Having one of them shipped across the pond would have cost so much that many a brony concluded that commissioning a fan-made plushie did give them more value for their money.
• Store exclusives can have this effect. For instance, Hasbro's hotly-anticipated Marvel Legends wave for The Avengers ended up being a Walmart exclusive, meaning that anyone living in countries where Walmart isn't a major presence were out of luck (although there have been several examples of store exclusives becoming exclusives to different stores internationally).
• Microman sets, outside of Micronauts and Transformers, have not been exported, such as Material Force, Micro Force, Master Force, Acroyear-X, Micro Lady and Acroyear Lady.
• The reissue of Transformers G1 Megatron, as well as Masterpiece Megatron, which are realistic gun replicas, are illegal to even possess in the US unless fitted with the obligatory orange plug. And there are countless other Transformers that weren't exported here either, especially those from the Japanese-only TV series, such as Trainbots, Soundblaster and most Beast Wars Neo, Transformers Victory, Transformers Zone and Kiss Players toys. And Masterpiece Ultra Magnus.
  • However, some of the above, like Saberback and Guiledart were redecoed and released in the US.
  • The Dinobot Swoop was not released in the United Kingdom despite his prominence in UK-original stories and the other Dinobots' availability.
    • Add to that Shockwave, Sky Lynx, Trypticon, Fortress Maximus, Omega Supreme (the reason for this was a toy-company called Grandstand (not related to the long-running BBC Sport programme of the same name) had the rights to the Mechabot-1 tooling (which was the same tooling that was used for Omega Supreme) for its Convertors line), Roadbuster and Whirl, the Deluxe Insecticons, Blaster (and co.), Perceptor, Sixshot, Gnaw, the Constructicons, the Predacons... and that's just for the first three years. That said, there's also stuff that we got that the US didn't (most notably Overlord).
    • Like with Omega Supreme, the reason why Sky Lynx, Deluxe Insecticons, Roadbuster, Whirl, and Shockwave were not released in the United Kingdom, was due to licencing issues, but unlike fellow Tomy-developed figure Omega Supreme, the tooling for Sky Lynx was never released in the United Kingdom at all. The reason why Fortress Maximus was not released in the United Kingdom, was due to the fact that the figure failed a UK/EU CE necessitated drop-test, which meant that the figure for Scorponok was touted as "The biggest Headmaster ever" in a commercial.
    • On that note. As Transformers toys was starting to wane in popularity in the early 90s, they where still selling at a decent rate in several European countries. Which lead to several lines of toys (such as the Action Master Elites, Turbomasters and Predators) being made exclusively for these markets, most of them never reaching US shores.
    • The Japanese meanwhile, never released Jetfire, Roadbuster, Whirl, the Deluxe Insecticons^note Made by Bandai, then known as Takatoku Toys, prior to Bandai taking some of their stuff after Takatoku closed shop, Omega Supreme or Sky Linx^note made by a company known as Toy Box into their version of the toy line. Largely due to the fact that none of them originated from any of Takara's other lines (Jetfire in particular). This was eventually lifted for the last two when it was discovered that Tomy^note who at that time merged with Takara were the ones who originally developed them, allowing for a release in the Encore line.
  • In Italy, the N.E.S.T. Global Alliance subline never got released... but they aired the commercials for it on TV.
  • The South Korean releases are a bit of a mixed bag, such as Young Toys two-figure release of the Alternators sub-line, more so after Sunwoo Entertainment (through their Mocom Toy division) got the distribution rights. Transformers: Animated's toyline got the brunt of it though - only the first two waves were released. Same thing in a lot of Middle and Eastern European countries. And since the toys that do come out can cost up to four times as much as in the US, fans have a tendency to just import everything, even what they could easily buy at the nearest toy store.
  • The Transformers: Prime First Edition line saw a limited release in Canada, some Asian countries and in the US (though only the Deluxe-sized figs were sold here). Rest of the world? Nada. This line was originally intended for a wider release, to be then replaced by the gimmick-heavy and down-sized toys from the Robots in Disguise sub-line. Instead, it turned out to be kind of a "come and gone" deal. What makes this irritating is that the people were anticipating the toys' release in their areas, as no one ever said anything about them being part of an exclusive line. So it came as a surprise that the distribution just... stopped. And in most parts of the globe, never even began. The figures eventually did see a re-release, but in the US only. A number of other figures meanwhile have been declared Asian exclusives. Europe still waits.
    • Also on the subject of Prime, The Arms Micron versions of the action figures as well as the Arms Microns themselves are an instant NEFY, as well as the Transformers GO! triple combiners. In particular, Deluxe-class Breakdown was never exported by Hasbro, which determined that their cost of producing the figure would be too high to make a sufficient profit at the Deluxe price point (believed to be the result of the need to retool the molds to remove the Arms Micron mounts and create new weapons), and they couldn't justify releasing it at a higher price point.
  • Although the Transformers: Rescue Bots cartoon series reached Middle-Eastern-Europe pretty fast, there were originally no plans to release the toy-line it's based on, much to the disappointment of the new generation of little Transformers fanatics. Much later, they did release the non-transforming (although more show-accurate) tie-in toys.
  • The Transformers Generations figures get the short end of the stick outside North America and Japan, as in most countries, they only focus on distributing the current big, media-backed lines, such as the movie toys or cartoon tie-in series, as well as lines that have a broader appeal, like Kre-O, Construct-Bots or Bot Shots. Generations is a wildly popular line among fans for its modern updates of old, classic characters, but since it isn't promoted by any widely-available cartoons, comics or movies, is mostly aimed at older fans, and because non-US prices are steep in the first place, Generations lines rarely last beyond their first wave, and in recent years, not even the first waves have came out — since 2010, it has been a dead line in most countries. And no, Generations (along with its former titles Classics and Universe) isn't some exclusive or a Japan or US-only line — it has been a staple of the Transformers brand for near a decade. On the off-chance that Gen toys do come out, they are badly distributed and sold mostly in low quantities in toy stores, where the price is jacked up even further — consequently, not many people buy them, and stores stop ordering them. Big retailer-chains that normally provide good distribution only carry what they deem popular with kids — Generations and other non-cartoon/non-movie lines don't meet this standard.
    • What's even stranger is that in some Middle and Eastern European countries like Austria, a couple of the smaller toys of these neglected lines do come out, such as Fall of Cybertron Soundwave's accessories... without Soundwave.
    • With much of the tie-in toys of the fourth movie line coming out under the Generations sub-series, this distribution method is looking even more absurd. Basically, a lot of places are getting only the oversimplified, gimmicky (or in some cases not even transforming) toys aimed at small kids, and nothing else, despite the huge promotional push for the line being guaranteed thanks to the movie. As well, movie toys have been among the best-selling lines of the entire franchise, making this decision to ignore Generations even more questionable.
    • Italy and other countries in the region got the first wave of Generations in 2010 in order to promote Transformers: War for Cybertron... but every other figure in the line since then didn't.
    • At least with the 2015 lineup, Generations seems to be creeping its way back into some of these neglected countries and is actually running alongside the cartoon-backed main line, though sadly that's a year too late for the franchise's much-anticipated 30th anniversary releases and the bulk of the Age of Extinction movie line, which have been glossed over.
  • Much of the later-wave figures of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were only made available in Asia, due to the earlier waves (which contained characters that most kids likely had toys of anyway) selling poorly in the Western world.
  • Despite the brand-unification of Hasbro's and Takara Tomy's Transformers lines, some figures (mainly exclusives) from lines like Studio Series, the War for Cybertron Trilogy and Legacy were never sold in Japan. This also extends to the Target-exclusive line Buzzworthy Bumblebee, which is never sold in Japan at all.
• Due to strict safety requirements not being met, the RIVAL blasters are not sold in Australian stores. Hasbro currently has no plans releasing them there.
• My Little Pony:
  • There are numerous region-specific ponies. For example, Nachtlicht (Nightlight) was released only in Germany but her "counterpart" Sunlight was released in multiple countries.
  • Takara's 1980s My Little Pony - Stylish Pony line consisted of cute Funny Animal original ponies (such as Pinky and Milky). They were Japanese-only. Takara also released a few Japanese-only G1 keychains in the 1990s.
  • G2 sold very poorly and only lasted from 1997 to 1998... in most countries. In many European countries it lasted until 2003. Thus, many ponies are European-only.
  • Almost like Japanese cultural products until 1998-2004, My Little Pony shared the same fate from being imported to South Korea for almost 30 years until 2011. Of course, it wasn't until 2014 when the franchise first actually reached there.

Lego

• Even Denmark doesn't get certain sets in stores, when they get sold country-wide in the US.
• LEGO Space Police 3 came to the US, Canada and Europe... but not the UK or Ireland.
• In most cases of regular product lines such as Space Police, the reason behind it is explained as such. The lines are presented in advance to the biggest retailers who decide whether they want to stock a particular line or not. When that's the case, most of the time it means you won't find them in regular retail outlets, but you can still buy them online or in LEGO shops. At least when something is available on one of the european submarkets, it's likely it will be available online for the others; but some sets just don't cross the ocean at all. Latest example, the Castle Advent Calendar wasn't meant to be distributed in the US, but they shipped some there by mistake, then ultimately decided to sell them there anyway (after some fan uproar). If they hadn't, the shipment would have been destroyed, which would have cost less than being sent back to Europe.
  • This particular instance ended up being averted, as LEGO Space Police was sold in LEGO's own shops, just not at other major retailers.
• Brickmaster Magazine is only available to American LEGO fans, along with its myriad exclusive sets.
• Several promotional sets are/were only available in certain countries, such as the Maersk Line and Shell promotional sets.
• BrickArms, a company that sells custom weapons and accessories for LEGO minifigures, has ceased international shipping. Fortunately, there are official international resellers, but custom minifigs, and highly coveted Forum Member Exclusives are only available to Americans.
• The Tohunga were given away in McDonalds Happy Meals in the US and later Australia, and two of them were released as exclusives in the Netherlands in 2003^note  curiously, their packaging said "distributed by LEGO Hungary". They never came to other places.
  • Also there are apparently a small few BIONICLE sets that were Japan-exclusive.
• What were BIONICLE store exclusives in the US were a complete gamble in mainland Europe. Even some main-line toys were hard or impossible to come by. For instance in Hungary, sets like Mazeka, the Baranus V7 and the Titan-sized Toa Mata Nui were never released (though one on-line shop did offer them for a short period of time, and for staggering prices). Karzahni was sold only in a certain kind of department store. Toa Lhikan & Kikanalo were obtainable through a very short-lived give-away deal in a combo pack with Sidorak. Takutanuva was released a year after the set's overseas release. Yet some spec-ed sets received a country-wide release.
• As mentioned above, not even Denmark got certain sets released in the country of origin. A great example would be the Vehicle sets of the Glatorians. They never got released in stores, but could be bought online in the online store.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants sets were never officially released in shops in Poland, forcing people to buy them from online shops or Germany.
• The Avatar: The Last Airbender sets were never released in Italy, as the series never had a proper airing on normal TV channels before 2012.
• LEGO Dino Attack was only available in North America, while LEGO Dino 2010 was only available in Europe.
• The 2014 Legends of Chima Ultrabuild sets haven't been released in America.
• The 2016 Summer wave of BIONICLE (2015) hasn't been released in Asia and the Pacific region due to Lego abruptly canning the entire line. They have also been recalled from American stores. Also, a handful of promotional polybags containing exclusive pieces were only made available in Russia and a couple of Eastern European countries received them only for a limited run.
• The early-1980s steam locomotive 7750 was not sold in France, Italy or the UK.

Mattel/Fisher-Price/American Girls

• A more vintage example is the large Rodan action figure released by Mattel in 1979; it was only sold in America, and not in Japan. It is now a collector's item in both countries, although particularly in the latter.
• Fisher-Price's Little People toys are this to Southeast Asia since the late 2000s. Apparently, the toys didn't sell well that Mattel SEA decided to stop bringing more in. Didn't help that they didn't bring in the claymation show to rake in support for the toys either.
  • It seems that Little People toys are finally starting to reappear... however they are only bringing in the Disney-licensed ones. Want the DC Comics-licensed ones or the original characters? Prepare to import.
• To a lesser extent, Fisher-Price's Laugh and Learn toys in Asia. While Puppy toys does get through, not all of them have entered the market. For example, the ride-on Puppy and the Apptivity plush have never seen light of day in Malaysia, and the crawl-around car was only available to one lucky contest winner in Malaysia (although no attempts have been made to stop people from importing their own from the US or UK). Most egregiously, however, is that Mattel SEA is treating Puppy's sister like a redhead stepchild and only two of the toys featuring her likeness has ever been officially sold in Malaysia to this date. ^note A lot of Laugh and Learn toys come in Puppy and Sis variants, and the difference aren't only cosmetic - the Sis variants have a different voice set and very often also have different songs from the Puppy variant
• Want a Power Wheels ride? Live in Asia? Sucks to be you. Fisher-Price stopped selling them in Asian markets since the early 2000s due to competition from Chinese toy manufacturers who hock their electric ride-ons at a much cheaper price than Fisher-Price was willing to sell their offerings, undermining Fisher-Price's sales and causing them to pull the ride-ons of the market in defeat^note In defense tho, the markup for Power Wheels ride was so high that the retail price of a standard jeep ride is comparable to that of a real low-end motorbike. Especially embarrassing when you consider that the Chinese manufacturers' ride-ons are inferior since Power Wheels rides have been known to be able to handle the weight of adults after a little tinkering is done to the ride-on's electrical system.
• The 2nd wave of Mattel's Naruto figures were never released outside of the USA. This was a shame, because the newer figures had much better articulation and plastic quality than the ones in the first wave, and included some important characters that weren't in the first wave, like Shikamaru, Kimimaro and Kankuro. If you want them, you're going to have to order them from the USA.
  • Mattel's Itachi figure was also an exclusive to San Diego Comic Con, meaning if you don't live in San Diego, you have no chance of getting him unless you order him.
• Forget about getting Imaginext toys in many parts of Asia - if you want them, you're going to have to import them. This is especially ridiculous given the popularity of some of the licenses the Imaginext range covers (to wit, DC Comics Superfriends and Saban Entertainment Power Rangers toys).
• Another wallbanger is their reluctance to bring in Julius Jr. toys. Which is ridiculous if you factor in the fact that Asians love Paul Frank merchandise.
  • There's a whole bunch of Fisher-Price toylines that didn't make it through. It's easier to list just those that did.
• Angel Bunny: Mattel did not market the line outside of North America, the UK and Europe, thinking it would never fly outside of these regions. Not that its sale was stellar in the intended regions in the first place.
• Of a sort with American Girl - they do accept international orders^note Save for directly importing their dolls to the European Union due to export restrictions, as Mattel hasn't tested the doll line for the presence of phthalates in the vinyl. but for the most part their wares are exclusive to the US, Canada and Mexico, well since they're marketed primarily towards Americans anyway.
  • For one, most of the games other than the ones for Android and IOS were North American-exclusive releases and never saw a European version, but since the PC and Nintendo DS in which American Girl's games were developed for are region-free, it wasn't that much of a problem for an overseas fan to play Kit Mystery Challenge or Julie Finds A Way on his/her DS. However, for reasons unknown, a number of the Android apps are blocked from being sold in the Google Play Store in several Asian countries. This is extremely weird as the iOS port of the same game faces no such restriction and is sold worldwide.
  • When Canadian bookseller Chapters-Indigo partnered with AG, the law that toys sold by a Canadian retailer had to have bilingual English/French packaging applied, so AG had to shut down imports of most of the collection and stagger their release to Canada, even if you were buying through the AG website and not Chapters-Indigo. They began with Samantha, Julie, Addy, and Rebecca; the Girl of the Year; a handful of modern dolls (26, at a time when there were 39 available in the US); and only one of the two lines that were available for younger children (Bitty Baby but not Bitty Twins, which hadn't yet been replaced by WellieWishers). Even for the characters who were represented, that didn't include their whole collections. The restrictions eased over time, with Josefina being the last to make it past the embargo (though fans joked that it was odd it wasn't Caroline saved for last, since Canadians wouldn't be likely to be interested in a doll representing the other side of the war).
• Partially subverted in that Mattel now has an online store called Mattel Direct that will happily ship American Girls, Fisher-Price and various other Mattel toys to two thirds of the world, at the expense of hefty shipping costs. However, certain toys like store exclusives, as well as oversized toys like Power Wheels rides, are barred from being sold by the service, and thus those remain NEFY.
  • Backpedalled as of April 2017- Mattel revokes their policy to ship toys around the world, and will now only ship to the US and Canada. Even Mexico is getting the shaft. And yes, this includes the American Girls dolls. Fans of Mattel's franchises are frustrated at this new policy.

Bandai/Tamashii Nations

• Due to brand mis-management and falling sales, a good chunk of the end of the Power Rangers RPM toyline never reached American shores. This includes some of the neatest non-Megazord figures, which were even advertised on American packaging.
  • While we're on the subject of Power Rangers there was a time surrounding the Disney buyout where there always seemed to be one major part of the Zord toyline missing. The Elephant Zord from Wild Force was one that most could deal with (it was only a sword-and-shield accessory, there was a smaller, black one released later (the original was blue,)) however, the Cephala Zord from Dino Thunder really aggravated people because it was a combining zord (it formed an arm) and was necessary to complete the Triceramax Megazord.
  • Not to mention the Mystic Force toyline missing a six-inch, show-accurate Solaris Knight/MagiShine and a red Koragg/Wolf Warrior/Wolzard Fire, outside of Environment-Specific Action Figure variants and the Catastros Megazord since Bandai of America said it wasn't right for them to release zords of villains.
  • The Clawzord and Octozord from Samurai were never released in Italy, yet the Bullzord package still mentions them on the box and the instructions, as they're needed for the combination.
  • Another Italian mishap: The jetbikes with the Sky/Land/Sea Brothers Zords from Megaforce are not released in Italy, forbidding the formation of Ultra Gosei Great Megazord... and the aforemented combination is the main selling point in the TV commercials. Same for the card game, excluding the cards included with the various toys.
• The Banpresto EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound replica figures of the series' clay-model official art. Not at all surprising, considering how the series is traditionally treated outside of Japan. That, and the fact that they came from those UFO crane games. EarthBound Series fans who aren't living in Japan and who want them are pretty much forced to import them from eBay, and they're already approaching the point of being just as expensive as EarthBound itself.
• Most of Bandai's collector's toylines (S.H.Figuarts, Robot Spirits, Myth Cloth, etc.) outside of Asia are this, including the dreaded Tamashii Web Shop exclusive sets, or the Tamashii Festival Expo exclusives. Both require a middleman or an online shop to ship to the US/Europe to buy them.
  • Subverted recently with Bluefin Distribution, who has made a deal with Bandai to distribute their collector products to Amazon and US hobby shops. The Tamashii Web exclusives still apply, though, except if there's a popular series in the US that the said lines have (e.g. Dragon Ball Z, Power Rangers, etc.)
    • And the two Samurai Sentai Shinkenger S.H.Figuarts (Shinken Red and Shinken Gold) were distributed by Bandai America as well exclusive to Toys R' Us stores.
  • The Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger SH Figuarts are a no-show from Bluefin due to license problems, which explains the SH Figuarts Red Hawk (which itself a aversion along with the Web exclusive Black Condor) is missing the Jet Winger part.
  • Figuarts connected to the MCU film franchise (Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War) are also left out in the cold because of Hasbro's monopoly over 6" Marvel figures. Same with the Star Wars SH Figuarts, but for some reason the Movie Realization version of Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers managed to be licensed for sale in the US... That is, at least for Iron Man at last: Bluefin announced that a special release of the SH Figuarts Iron Man Mark 6 armor will soon hit the US, with a Hall of Armor display included!
    • The reason why later Marvel SH Figuarts are just now being released in the US was due to adding extra stuff in the figure sets to differentiate them from Hasbro's Marvel Legends line, like adding the aforementioned Hall of Armor displays for later Iron Man SH Figuarts and flame effects for the Doctor Strange one. However, this also has a con- because of these additions, their prices jacked up as well, with some of them almost costing by a hundred dollars!
  • Strangely, despite collectors asking for them, no Figuarts have been released State-side concerning Pretty Cure.
  • The Figuarts ZERO figures of Anna and Elsa are this too despite the fact Hasbro has nothing to do with them license wise (at least until they release their own Frozen merch), which also makes the combo pack a NEFY too, both ways- The set is a Tamashii Web exclusive item AND Bluefin didn't brought them over (since it's the only way to get Olaf).
• The last wave of Bandai's Ben 10: Omniverse toys was never released in the United States even though Bandai America made the figures. Because of this, the figures didn't sell well, and some figures, like Big Chill, Grandpa Max, Frankenstrike and Bullfrag are now extremely rare, and fetch high prices on sites like eBay. This might also be the reason for the cancellation of Omniverse, because of low toy sales.
• Most of the Figuarts models are imported in Italy via Cosmic Group (the official Italian importer for Bandai of Japan figures, among others)... just not the Sentai/Pretty Cure ones.
• Originally Bandai was barred from Disney to have their Star Wars model kits from being imported everywhere outside of Japan due to a rumor that someone tipped them about it (Even Revell, the US Kit makers for the franchise, debunked the said rumor about it that it was not because of them). Finally averted that the kits were finally given a go signal to be sold in the US through Bluefin.
• As of recently, most Tamagotchi devices have not been released outside of Japan. Two such examples are the Tamagotchi 4U and the Tamagotchi m!x, the latter which actually brings the technology to the next level by replacing the dot matrix monochrome LCD screen with a decent resolution color LCD!
  • Averted with the Meets, as that came to America in 2019 as the Tamagotchi ON.
• Gunpla had a storied history in America. When Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Mobile Fighter G Gundam came out on Toonami, their original release Gunpla came out in American stores. While SD Gundam Force saw the release of the SD BB Senshi and G Generation Gunpla, the Universal Century Gundam series had no releases outside of some HG 1/144 kits; this was because models for them were ten years old and way too out of date to be brought to the States. No other Gunpla sets between Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam AGE would be released Stateside officially and it wouldn't be until the release of Gundam Build Fighters that Gunpla would officially set a return to hobby shelves, starting at Barnes and Noble locations at first, then sold in other places like GameStop.
• Anything Bandai made that involves Disney properties will definitely hit by this trope, including the Castle Craft Collection model kits of Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Frozen castles, to name one example.
• Most of the Sailor Moon lockets were never released in North America, with the only one being a combination of the first two lockets based on the one in the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot. Also, while Canada got most of the main wands from the series up to SuperS, the United States only got the Moon Stick and the Cutie Moon Rod. In addition, some of the roleplay merchandise never made it to North America at all, specifically the ones relating to the Inner and Outer Senshi such as the nail polish and lipstick transformation rods.

Leapfrog

• Live outside the US, Canada, UK, Australia or New Zealand? Your Epic and LeapPad Tablet devices will not have access to many desirable third party videos and music content. While the five markets gets Arthur episodes as well as music from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, the other markets only gets old Sesame Street and Barney & Friends episodes.
  • The Leapfrog Epic Academy Edition is only sold in 5 countries (US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand). It is also protected by an anti-theft system called DISA, which requires one to call a certain number and enter a code on the receipt to activate the device. Unfortunately, only numbers for the five countries the device is sold in is shown on the device's activation prompt - there is no numbers for other countries. Even if you do get your hands on one (as many online stores are willing to ship the device overseas) and can get the code (a lot of online stores will simply e-mail the code to you or provide it on a slip along with the device), the idea of making an international phone call that's upwards of US$30 to one of the five countries is off-putting enough to discourage importing one.
  • While the VTech Amazon Marketplace does ship internationally now, some toys are still subjected to being barred from shipping overseas.

Unsorted

• Japanese toys, models, and those candies that come with toys (why haven't they caught on yet?) are typically available at import stores, but as for official localized releases, such as Gundam, and Zoids, the track record for consistent releases has been awfully spotty.
• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon is a BIG offender of this for the vast majority of merchandise. Sure, the trading card game is still going strong and the games are almost invariably imported (with few exceptions seen in the Video Games section of this trope), but if you want a plush or figure version of your favorite critter, good luck finding anything outside of import stores. Most of the merchandise for the franchise is kept to stores called Pokémon Centers that are exclusive to Japan - after the NYC one closed down to become the Nintendo Store anyway, but even the Pokémon area in said store doesn't have the sheer variety of items found in Japanese Pokémon Centers, much less any themed merchandise they'll sell in Japan from time to time. There's a reason anyone who collects Pokémon merchandise of any kind (type or specific Pokémon) will tell you it is EXPENSIVE to do so.
  • The Pokémon Pikachu was only released in Japan and North America.
• Many online stores will not ship toys to addresses outside of the country the store is in, and some will even refuse foreign credit cards even if your shipping address is in the country of the very same store. Yeah, forwarding services can alleviate the issues of the former, but the latter... Planning to live in the US for a few months due to a long project from your company? Sorry, you still can't buy from Toys R Us online, among many other online stores.
• Good Smile Company, producers of the Figma and Nendoroid figure lines, had yet to distribute their products outside of Japan in any major way, shape, or form, despite the rapidly-growing international fandom for the products.
  • The trope comes into effect harder for the Wonder Festival releases, which aren't stocked on any import sites short of middlemen. No life-sized Kyubey figure for you! However, this was recently subverted in that GSC decided to allow international customers to order their summer 2011 WF exclusives (including the aforementioned Kyubey) directly from them, albeit for one week only.
  • Currently this has been subverted (or Averted), as they have an international shop, partner shops in many countries, and many Japanese stores ship the products internationally. Some products, such as a Naruto nendoroid and (originally) a Korra nendoroid were even solely for international release.
  • This is also played straight with the newest Nendoroid Facemaker, as the site is Japanese and will only ship to Japanese address, so, the only way for international customers to use this site and get their own custom face plates is to use a proxy (and things can get tricky on that end). Only the time will tell if it'll be international.
• As of 2011, some North American webstores are blocking non-US IP addresses from accessing their websites, instead landing them on a cryptic Access Denied page. The latest one to join the fray is Target, who started the blocking in August 2011. Understandable that these stores won't ship overseas in the first place, but still...
• When the toy rights to Strawberry Shortcake was taken over by Playmates from Bandai in 2007, SSC toys vanished from Malaysia overnight. This is because unlike Bandai, Playmates didn't have a distributor in Malaysia back in 2007. Playmates only finally secured a distributor in Malaysia long after they lost the rights to the franchise to Hasbro.
  • The trope was zig-zagged by Hasbro - Initially, Hasbro's Strawberry Shortcake toys flooded the market. However, later Hasbro Strawberry Shortcake toys aren't available in Malaysia- Hasbro has stopped bringing them in due to poor sales. In reality, this is because the 2009 reboot show isn't available in Malaysia. See, they thought the show was going to Cartoon Network. It went to Boomerang, which isn't available in Malaysia, instead.
  • And now, the rights of the toys have went to Bridge Direct, which is apparently a US-only company.
• Equally mistreated are the 2013 Care Bears - aside from The Philippines, Asia never did get the Hasbro and Just Play bears, instead we got inferior plushes made from terrible material that feels rough and horrid from a Malaysian company called Toy World.
• Jewelpet: The toys are not exported to North America due to what many perceived as a coincidence that the toys' gimmick resembles Webkinz and that the series is yet another Magical Girl anime. Aside from that, it isn't being exported to Malaysia either even though Thailand and Singapore, Malaysia's immediate neighbors, are getting the toys and the shows.
• The Trash Pack, Shopkins, and The Grossery Gang, all blind bags by Moose Toys, have had exclusive variations of the figures that have only been sold in specific toy shops in specific countries, to the point that even Australia, the company's home country, does not end up with these variants.
• Gogo's Crazy Bones: Oh boy, the amount of sets of Gogo's Crazy Bones that haven't been released in certain places is quite big. For starters, two sets of Gogo's, Superstar and Edge, were only released in Europe. The Edge series used 60 of the 80 characters from the Megatrip set, which was only properly released in Latin America and Asia along with the Foot and Cool/Groovy sets.
• Star Monsters, a series from Magic Box International, the same company as Gogo's Crazy Bones above. Star Monsters was never released outside of Europe; for that matter, a good amount of toy series from the creators of Gogo's have never been released outside of Europe either.
• Despite Spin Master, the manufacturer of said toyline, being based in North America, the toys for Noddy, Toyland Detective haven't been released there yet, and have only showed up in the United Kingdom (the show's home country) and France.
• Shantae is an American franchise that was not released in Japan until Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Ironically, once WayForward did bring the series over, Shantae and company began to rack up quite a list of merchandise and figurines, some as pre-order bonuses, others available in stores, none of which left Japan. Germans Love David Hasselhoff plays a factor: is it really that surprising that Japan would love a game about a cute genie girl?
• While Turning Red did get tons of toys, most of them were never sold in Toronto, which is where the film takes place, and a lot of people in Toronto actually want to buy the toys, since the movie is about their country.
• Licca-chan is a popular Japanese doll line that has sold millions in its home country, but it hasn't had much official exporting. A few exceptions exist, such as a few licensed games being translated as Lovely Lisa. This might be a more justified case, as the doll wasn't created for an international audience.
• Flick-to-Stick Bungees, yet another one of Magic Box Int.'s toy series. The European version of Series 1 did not have any of its figures repurposed for American releases. The American Series 1 is all renamed and recolored Bionic Bungees figures - Bionic Bungees being the set which came directly after Series 1 in Europe - but even then not all of them are included (none of the characters from Bionic Bungees' Ukeles clan got American equivalents).
• Numerous Shimajiro toys. Made exponentially harder in that most of the toys of the franchise are only made available to kids whose parents sign them up for Benesse's educational programs and are generally not sold to the public. And the programs are only launched in Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Indonesia. As a result, getting your hands on the toys can be really hard outside of importing them used off Japanese auction or marketplace sites, or getting lucky and finding them at thrift stores that specializes in used Japanese goods. Also, getting most of them complete and new in box is extremely difficult to downright impossible.
• Many of TOMY's line of Plarail merchandise^note  be it a character from Thomas & Friends, or a set have only been sold both in Japan^note  ex. the Thomas and the Freight Cars set and the U.K. ^note ex. the Bucket Set and were never sold anywhere else. Even after the Thomas products in the line were released internationally, Oliver the Great Western Engine was never released in North America for some reason.
• Build-A-Bear workshop is literally NEFY to Malaysia despite having a presence in both Thailand and Singapore, Malaysia’s immediate neighbors. They won’t even ship to Malaysia on their online store, citing difficulties with the customs and complicated tax rates, a bunk excuse given other online toy stores have no issues shipping to Malaysia.

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