How did people know back in early internet times, that some toys were not released in either the US or Australie?

Eg: Turbomasters, non combining constructicons


Did they see a pic of someones collection one day and say "wahhhh!! what toy is that???? By reagans beard ive never seen that one on sale!"

Before the internet was wide spread, did people know at all which toys had not been released in their countries?