This is great news for the 20ish countries that are still being serviced by Mattel Creations. Unfortunate for the roughly 180 countries no longer being serviced though.
Huge Motu fandoms like the one in Brazil are cut off now and sadly also the Republic of Ireland where I live. Hopefully this will change in the near future

@motuoriginscork agreed. I'm delighted for those who are being catered to but it still sucks for those of us being left out in the cold. 

Come on Mattel, you can do better. 

@motuoriginscork There have always been countries that Mattel Creations wouldn't ship to. Most of them were either low population centers, troubled areas, or people with little interest towards MOTU. Brazil is a suprise but is MOTU popular in the Republic of Ireland?

@longtooth Brazil is weird bruh. They get their own MOTU toys and books that we dont get here in America. they got their own thing going and I don't get it how it works

@longtooth the definition of popular is relative, no? How many fans of motu are there in the world? We have a total population of 5 million in Ireland and a few thousand fans of motu. How many fans are in the US relative to the population? 
But regardless of how many… until February this was the list of restricted countries on Mattel Creations shipping policy:

Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, South Sudan, Crimea Region of the Ukraine

while this was the list of countries they shipped to:

Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macao SAR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Åland Islands, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kosovo, Malta, Mayotte, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Réunion, San Marino, Serbia, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Switzerland, Turkey, Vatican City, Algeria, Angola, Ascension Island, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, St. Helena, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tristan da Cunha, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Sint Maarten, St. Barthélemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Pierre & Miquelon, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, U.S. Outlying Islands, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean Netherlands, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Mexico, French Southern Territories, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Ukraine

now since this week the only countries Mattel Creations is shipping to are:

So yeah probably not all of the previous countries had many fans but you can see how the cutoff is worth mentioning. 
Positive for the remaining countries is improved handling for checkout as the prices now reflect the local currency and include tax and import duties. So yes there is an improvement for most fans! I am honestly happy for them but equally sad for all the fans that cannot complete their collection without going to the after market.

@motuoriginscork That is quite a list. Many of those are third world countries. I'm surprised they were once options to begin with.

@longtooth that’s a fair point. Do I really have to list all the 1st world countries that are no longer serviced? While I get that it didn’t make sense to ship to all of them, This does have an impact to many lifelong Motu fans. In other words the extent of the cutoff is not something to just shrug once shoulders to

@longtooth just look at the list or European countries they ship to compared to the amount of European countries there actually are.

Now imagine that they decided that MC will only ship to 7 or 8 states in the US. It would suck to be in one of those states not serviced right? 

@daavid Yea that would stink.

Posted by: @skeledog

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@longtooth Brazil is weird bruh. They get their own MOTU toys and books that we dont get here in America. they got their own thing going and I don't get it how it works

Europe has some exclusives too like those Filmation altaya little statues. We don't get them here in the US.

Posted by: @daavid

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@longtooth just look at the list or European countries they ship to compared to the amount of European countries there actually are.

Now imagine that they decided that MC will only ship to 7 or 8 states in the US. It would suck to be in one of those states not serviced right? 

Please don't misread my intention other than to understand. If it was up to me everybody who wants a figure would get one. I am only trying to understand the strategy behind Mattel’s decisions. 

@longtooth ah no worries. That would indeed be the dream. It's a real bummer for us over here. We'll find a way to make it work but it will cost us a lot more than it should 😒

That is true! But one should probably distinguish that Mattel is only licensing the brand here and they are produced by Altaya/Deagostini. And Not every European country has them. Only 3 European countries do. And they are not shipping outside of these countries.

@longtooth we are with you there! And of course I do not have a definitive answer but if I were to guess, this coincides with Mattel Creations switching their international courier from landmark to Maersk. Maersk is handling the tax and import duties for them too. So I reckon that if they were to do that for more countries, their contract would have a higher cost listed for the services. But in the end we don’t know if there are other reasons.

I'm going to lose this. Anyway. For me this figure is 2 completely opposite things:
- extremely cool and original
- absolutely ridiculous.
I really appreciate the new solution adopted for the elbow joints ant the more muscular upper torso. In current Masterverse figures in fact the double joints disrupt too much the continuity of the limbs, and the upper torso doesn't represent the '80s concept of great strength and bulkyness.
On the other hand, even if the figure has very cool details, the idea of an elefant helmet spouting water is too ludicrous for my mind. No offense intended towards the people who appreciate it.

Posted by: @alteredquantum

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On the other hand, even if the figure has very cool details, the idea of an elefant helmet spouting water is too ludicrous for my mind. No offense intended towards the people who appreciate it.

I have to agree mate. No offense intended as well. However I must admit this was the first time I found his aesthetics appealing.

Posted by: @motuoriginscork

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@longtooth the definition of popular is relative, no? How many fans of motu are there in the world? We have a total population of 5 million in Ireland and a few thousand fans of motu. How many fans are in the US relative to the population? 
But regardless of how many… until February this was the list of restricted countries on Mattel Creations shipping policy:

Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, South Sudan, Crimea Region of the Ukraine

while this was the list of countries they shipped to:

Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macao SAR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Åland Islands, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kosovo, Malta, Mayotte, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Réunion, San Marino, Serbia, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Switzerland, Turkey, Vatican City, Algeria, Angola, Ascension Island, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, St. Helena, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tristan da Cunha, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Sint Maarten, St. Barthélemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Pierre & Miquelon, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, U.S. Outlying Islands, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean Netherlands, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Mexico, French Southern Territories, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Ukraine

now since this week the only countries Mattel Creations is shipping to are:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom

So yeah probably not all of the previous countries had many fans but you can see how the cutoff is worth mentioning. 
Positive for the remaining countries is improved handling for checkout as the prices now reflect the local currency and include tax and import duties. So yes there is an improvement for most fans! I am honestly happy for them but equally sad for all the fans that cannot complete their collection without going to the after market.

Some of those places are hot zones. The last thing those poor people of Haiti and Palestine and Ukraine are worrying about is action figures.

So I got my Snout Spout and I think the figure is amazing. Huge compared to He-Man. Just feel I can see this figure battling it out. However one of the tubes that comes with the figure that attaches to his belt is missing. I tried to get a hold of Mattel Creations but I'm betting they will just try and ignore the problem and wait for me to not complain.