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By now you have likely heard something about the Coronavirus. You can’t turn on the news without hearing something about it, such as how it continues to spread across the world. Even the US Stock Market has begun to tumble a bit over worries of the unchecked virus, that some are calling a pandemic. At the New York Toy Fair this past weekend, there were rumblings of its possible effects on the toy industry and what it might mean for the latest reveals getting to shelves in a timely manner. For those not familiar, the original outbreak of the disease began in China. While in recent years companies like Hasbro have begun moving their product manufacturing to other places in the world, China is still a place where many of the toy products you collect are made. To try to reduce the spread of the virus, many of these factories in recent weeks have had to temporarily shut down or go on reduced operations. In turn, that seems to have caused a backlog of products getting made, which for the most part means you can likely expect to start seeing delays of new stuff making its way to retail shelves for you to buy. At this point, most of the talk around the show indicated that the delays would be minimal if at all, however it’s unclear if that was more wishful thinking than anything. I have heard that not only are factories having to stop producing stuff, but some stuff that gets made in certain areas is getting held from shipping out due to worries of contamination. In all honesty, I can’t tell you exactly how much of an impact this virus will have on the toy industry or even the world. Depending on who you listen to, it’s either something being blown way out of proportion by the media or it’s the end of the world. My guess is the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Best case scenario though is that I would expect to see some delays begin to happen with the latest product getting to you, which is no-one’s fault and is just something we all will have to deal with until the virus is brought under control.

Sony has announced it is moving the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel from July 10, 2020, to March 5, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Funko today during a live-stream stated they will still be attending this years Emerald City Comic Con despite growing fears of the Coronavirus spreading. The convention takes place in Seattle, WA on March 12-15. Washington has become a hotbed here in the US for the virus in recent days, and other companies like Dark Horse Comics recently announced they were backing out of the convention due to health concerns. ECCC themselves have even started offering ticket refunds for those who decide not to attend the convention this year. Funko has a ton of exclusives they will be offering at the convention which you can check out by clicking here.