Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
Top Shelf Pez: July 2017
Celebrating Spider-Man

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor

Why hello there! It's hard to believe that we are less than 1 month away from the magic of Pezamania once again. This year will be Pezamania 27, and I am getting very excited to see old friends and make new ones, and to find lots of great, unique Pez scores.

To celebrate this occasion, I pezzified the cover of "Weird Al" Yankovic's album "Running With Scissors." Weird Al is one of my favorite musical artists, indeed one of my favorite people. I have been to many of his concerts, I've met him once (and will be meeting him again at the end of July at FandomFest in Louisville, Kentucky), and he even inspired me to creatively propose to my fiancee this past New Year's Eve. The proposal involved a Weird Al action figure, a USB drive shaped like an accordion, and a re-imagining of his "Homer and Marge" song on "The Simpsons." So it goes without saying that I was quite thrilled to make this image. Even better (or Even Worse, as Al might say), 27 is a magical number for Al (read all about it here), so Pezamania 27 is indeed the perfect one to honor him (The "27" in the image was already on the album cover; I only added the "Pezamania" above it... along with a few other adjustments).

This year, I am planning something special for Pezamania. I am putting together some Pez videos from this site's archives, along with some new videos, and will be selling them on USB drives. I'll have a limited number of USB drives at the convention, but if there is enough interest I may be able to ship some after the convention. As of now I am only planning to sell these at the convention, not online. I'll add more details to the Pezhead Monthly Facebook page as the date gets closer. And, as usual, I will be selling my extra Pez at the Thursday night swap party. I have a lot of extras this year, including many recent releases, so I am hoping to sell them, mainly to make room for all of the new Pez I will be bringing home!

Also in this issue is a look at the top shelf of my curio cabinet, where my newest Pez finds are on display, along with a celebration of Spider-Man just in time for the new movie "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

Lastly, as I mentioned recently, time has gotten away from me and I have not updated this site in a while. I still don't expect to be able to update the site on a regular basis, and I may even reconsider this website's format and possibly even its name. Stay tuned to my Facebook and Twitter feeds for further updates here. In the meantime, you can check out all archived content on the Pezhead Monthly archive page, which is organized by volume/issue, and which also includes archives of various other features such as song parodies, quotes, and haikus.

For those planning on going to Pezamania 27, I look forward to seeing you there! For those on the fence, get off the fence and make your plans to see the biggest and best Pez convention of them all. And for those who can't make it, I hope to see you next year!

Thanks, and Keep On Pezzin'!

Joe
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

Top Shelf Pez: July 2017

My current living situation requires most of my Pez collection to be in storage for the time being. One day, when we move into a bigger house, my full Pez display will be back and bigger and better than ever. Until then, I still have room at my current place for a curio cabinet that holds a select number of Pez dispensers. This includes shelves for all of my official and unofficial Batmans (including 1 that was signed by Adam West, RIP), most of my vintage pieces, my non-Batman superheroes, and most of my Star Wars pieces. Oh, and a few of my favorite giant Pez dispensers on the very top of the cabinet.

This leaves one last shelf in my curio cabinet: the top shelf. This is a shelf where I display my most recent finds. As I continue to add new pieces ot my collection (because, let's face it, this will always be an ongoing process), I rotate out other pieces and move them into storage. It's a pretty good system, until I run out of room in storage! But we'll have our new place long before that happens.

Here is the current version of my top shelf, along with a description of each row.

The first row features the Energizer Bunny, 4 new Smurfs, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, and a mini Rocket. The last piece is billed as The World's Smallest Pez Dispenser. I found it in a mystery bag purchased at the store Claire's.

The second row features the new purple-haired Troll, 2 new characters from Despicable Me, the 4 Super Hero Girls, and the 2 Paw Patrol dispensers.

The only newer pieces on the third row are BB-8 and Rey from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". The other 3 Star Wars dispensers have been out for a while, but I figured I'd keep them with BB-8 and Rey for when I package them up for storage. The rest of the third row and the last row features some of the vintage and fantasy pieces I scored from Pezamania 26. I am particularly fond of Uncle Sam on the third row, and the lips and 4 colored chrome Spideys in the last row.

This shelf will likely be mostly (or maybe totally?) replaced when I come home from Pezamania 27 with all of my new scores. I'll provide updates here, or at least on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, as this shelf continues to evolve.

Here is a picture of my entire curio cabinet. You may notice some other fantasy pieces to the right on the top shelf; this includes a set of 3 fantasy pieces I made for my girlfriend (now fiancee). To see the story behind this set, click here.

Celebrating Spider-Man

With the July 7 release of "Spider-Man: Homecoming", I thought this would be a good time to celebrate the awesomeness that is Spider-Man. Spidey is my second favorite superhero (Batman is #1, of course). Hopefully these Pez tributes can do the web slinger some justice.

From the archives, here are Five Questions for Blue-Stemmed Spidey Pez

Also from the archives, here are 2 fitting Pez Almost-Quotes:

"With great Pez comes great responsibility."

"Oh what a tangled web presents when first we practice to dispense."

And, new for this issue, here is a video I put together called "A Celebration of Spidey Pez." I hope you enjoy it! Lyrics for the song in the video are below.

Direct video link here

Spidey Pez
To the tune of "The Spider-Man Theme Song"
Copyright 2017 JoePez Publications

Spidey Pez, Spidey Pez,
Never fails to impress
Load him up with some treats
Pop them out, they taste so sweet
Flip out! Here comes the Spidey Pez.

Classic Pez? Listen, man...
He had no feet when he began.
Has he changed through the years?
More than once, indeed my dear.
Hey there! Pick up a Spidey Pez.

Find him at the store,
Colored blue and red.
On the shelf with Thor
For some candy, tilt his head!

Spidey Pez, Spidey Pez,
Loose or carded Spidey Pez.
Can't sling a web or climb a wall,
But still the coolest of them all.

To him,
Life's more than spider-sensing,
It's also Pez dispensing,
Hooray for Spidey Pez!