The Novel News (03/05/2026)(Major Update)

Hello Novel Community,

It's time for another Novel News!

This time, we are going to be rolling out with a whole lot of updates which is somewhat unfortunate given that I've sprained my thumb...

Anyways! We have alot to go over, since we are going to try combining Figure News AND Merchandise News into one newsletter.

So, get your reading glasses out because this is going to be a long one!

General News

Industry-wide Tariffs changes:

The ongoing global/world theater is not being kind to any facets of our production pipeline. Due to the changing cost of things, not only are things more expensive, but import/exporters are forced to hold anything as they work to get correct pricing.

This is a direct result of the tariffs, then removal, and then addition of blanket tariffs which are affecting things that had once slipped under the rug by not being mentioned. This has lead to a surge in costs that we have been combating step-by-step atop of the mounting delays caused by these fluctuating costs across the industry.

This increase in costs has made our original system of Figure Preorders entirely unviable on cost alone without drastic measures, such as charging customers the difference. Which we refuse to do on principle.

So at this time, we are exploring new flagship product options. Until such a time that Scale Figures becomes a potential avenue to return to.

International shipping:

International shipping is currently plagued by several similar issues to what we are experiencing on the production side. Increasing shipping costs, fees, and an uptick in lost/missing packages.

For this reason, we enacted a temporary hold on international packages in our last update so we could wait for a time where Customers would not get hit so aggressively by these fees. At this time, we are going to announce a continued hold on international parcels unless the customer in question reaches out to us to release it with an acknowledgement of the risk of doing so. (Fees, import taxes, etc).

Industry slowdown:

The industry slowdown continues with production/manufacturing continuing to grind down. Several other leaders have already implemented delays of upwards to 12+ months, holds, or outright cancellations. At this time, we are navigating through step-by-step as a much smaller player in the sector.

This is why we modified our Estimated Release's from months to quarters. Our current plan is to enact delays in quarters. Although, we have been advised to follow closer to our bigger "brothers" method of "ripping the band-aid off at once" and doing a full delay all at once, rather than hoping on a development that is not guaranteed.

This is currently being discussed internally.

Figure News

As mentioned before, Scale Figure projects are not viable for us to continue pursuing due to the uncertainty of costs and the softening economy. To compensate, our scale figure costs would need to increase to a baseline of 275$+, which we know is not viable as people are looking to save money and spend smarter. So, rather than "try our luck", we've decided to enact Common Sense Law and wait until 2027 to see if things get better.

Excess System Revamp:

We've heard from our community regarding excess units and having to wait until the end of the year super sales and summer sales to pick them up. Because of that, we're considering enacting a new opportunity for fan's to get their hands on excess stock.

This opportunity being once a project finishes fully fulfilment.

Rather then sending it straight to storage, the item would go onto the Horizon's Merch site for a short span of time (1-2 weeks) before then being sent to storage for the next Sale event.

Thoughts on this small addition would be appreciated, if there is enough support, then we will be implementing this with the next projects to arrive!

Blanket Delay:

At this time, we are going to be enacting a 1 quarter delay on all ongoing figure projects. This applies to all projects unless specifically addressed in one of the following project-specific sections. We understand that this may be frustrating to hear for some, but we ask for your continued patience as we continue working through the current global logistical landscape.

Project Henya:

Project Henya <Dayo> is one of the projects exempt from the additional quarter delay.

This project is expected to arrive within the next month at our warehouse, it unfortunately got held up due to the tariff-shift and a paint-related issue we were investigating. But we expect her to arrive soon for fulfilment for all of the Hen-Tai to enjoy!

We'd like to thank everyone for this patience in this project and we hope you enjoy the final product, Dayo!

Project Racing Juniper:

This project is also on the exempt list for the quarter delay and will be part of the same shipment as Project Henya. The biggest challenges with fragility we believe have been solved and she should be able to traverse safely to her final destination with the changes we've implemented!

Once again, we'd like to thank everyone for their patience here. It's with your support that projects like these can become reality and we are particularly happy with how the details on Project Juniper came out.

Project Bao:

Another exempt project.

Pillow Princess Bao is one of the larger, complex figures we've released in terms of scale and pieces.

This led to several iterations to maximize efficiency of space, protection and not fall into "oversize" territory.

Based on our current timeline projects, Pillow Princess Bao will beat out both Henya and Juniper to the finishing gate. We are excited to get her into your hands and we hope everyone enjoys the final product!

Project Sitti: Arielle/FroggyLoch/ GhostySaige

Another round of delay exempt figures. The sitti's were meant to be sent out by early February, but a delay in transit forced them to sit in storage for the duration of Chinese New Year as all our logistics came to a holiday close.

These little guys will be hitting our main warehouse VERY soon with the exception of "OG Egg". Which encountered a minor mix-up as mentioned previously..

Project Sitti: OG EGG

OG Egg Sitti is currently in production on an expediated production cycle.

We are hoping to get her out within the next 2-odd months. In the meantime, we have another sitti that got made in it's place for the Yolks to enjoy!

Horizon's Merch Merchandise News

A new section dedicated specifically to our Horizon's Merch Merchandise!

This area will serve to answer the various questions as situations arise every now and then in that sector.

Yokai GEEGA Drop

This project was met with great fervor and achieved massive success on all sides.

Because of that, items went out of stock very quickly and several mobs were unable to purchase their desired piece of Gerch.

Because of this, we are doing a restock of the drop so more fans can obtain these limited time goods.

Once the production is finished, we will be restocking all at once when the items reach our warehouse. When this happens, expect a notification from the General herself!

Miki #1 President Drop

Another recent drop that was met with massive demand that far exceeded what we'd predicted. Over the span of 2.5 minutes, all items in the drop were sold out and because of that, we were requested to place the drop on backorder.

For items on backorder, customer can expect to get their orders within the next month or so as we have to reproduce the units to meet current demand.

Regardless, we are sending out as many orders as we can using the units we made and we hope everyone enjoys them!

Grimmi Coin - The First .999 Silver Vtuber Bullion Coin!

In times of economic turbulence, when the dollar is losing buying power and things seem to be chaotic. People often turn to the power of the precious metals to invest in and provide a hedge against the daunting powers of inflation!

It was this mindset that inspired us and prolific horror Vtuber Grevillea Grimoire aka "Grimmi" to collaborate to create the first piece of merchandise in Novel Horizon's new "Merch that gives back" Initiative! The Grimmi coin!

Starting off as a joke in the community, we decided to make it into reality while also enriching her communities lives a little! Sold only a handful of months ago at 50$ when Silver was 38/oz, the coin is now valued in raw silver weight at over 80$ an ounce!

But like most things now a days, great victory comes with it's own hiccups and hurdles.

With the launch of Grimmi Coin, a few months after, Silver entered a massive shortage period that is far too complex for me to outline well in this News.

But, because of this shortage, we have only been able to receive a portion of the coins that we ordered. Fortunately, the coins we did receive is enough to cover a majority of the orders, but that is not "all" of the orders.

At this time, we are unsure when the remaining coins will be minted, but we do know that they will be made. It's because of that though, that we are offering the following options to those who will be left waiting for their orders.

Option 1: Wait

Option 2: Full order refund at the amount paid.

Option 3: Exchange your order for a Horizon's Merch Gift card equal in value to the number of coins ordered x spot value(80$ as of writing this news).

Silver coin orders are currently going out, so within the next week or so, if a notification isn't sent to you regarding your silver Grimmi Coin, then you are unfortunately one of the few affected by this partial order.

When reaching out to support using the proper channel. Please make sure to make the headline "GrimmiCoin - Option X (selected option)". If you wish to simply wait, no action is needed.

Customer Support System Revamp(Urgent)

Not long ago, it was brought to our attention that customers were having trouble without customer support. Upon hearing this, we launched an investigation as mentioned in the previous news to find the root cause. Which turned out to be much worse than previously anticipated.

After looking into the issue, we've tried various solutions, but after several failed attempts, it's been decided that a soft system reset will need to be enacted. As well as a minor restructuring of our Customer Support Systems.

What this means:

-All support records on all channels dated from January 31, 2026 and earlier, will be archived.

-the email "Support@novelhorizons.com" is being fully purged and converted into a non-monitored container. For Figure inquiries, please use the contact-us form located on the main Novel Horizons site. Please avoid emailing directly as it will be missed by the new system.

-For small merchandise/non-figure inquiries please use "merchsupport@novelhorizons.com".

If you still need assistance still (and whose inquiry falls within the archive dates), please resubmit via the appropriate channel above. We're ramping up and targeting 7 business days for replies while everything stabilizes.

Your support means the world to us, and we'd like to thank you for your patience as we navigate/improve upon our systems so we can provide a continued greater experience to our customers.