Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
It's a Nice Day For A Pez Wedding
Pezamania 28: Groovy, Baby!
Pez Is Poppin'!
A Revamped Pezhead Monthly Archive Page

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor top

Why hello there! Long time no Pezhead Monthly! Hope things are well with you. I thought I'd share what I've been up to lately, since a lot has been going on. This may also help to explain my recent extended absence from updating this site.

• My collection now stands at over 1700 dispensers. Although most of it is still in storage, I am planning to move into a bigger space next year where my collection can once again breathe free. I still have my ear to the ground to hear about new releases. My most recent regular Pez scores are the 2 new Halloween Pez, the 2018 Witch and Pumpkin. As for vintage Pez, I am still attending Pezamania every year and am already looking forward to Pezamania 29 next year.
• Speaking of Pezamania, I attended Pezamania 28 in July of this year. Below, I offer a (very) brief recap, a picture of all of my Pezamania 28 scores, and a trippy photo of Yours Truly.
• I recently started collecting a new type of Pez dispenser over the past several weeks: Pop+Pez. This has been an adventure, to put it mildly, and has added a great new dimension to my Pez collection. Below, I offer some thoughts on Pop+Pez, as well as a photo of my current Pop+Pez collection.
• Last, but certainly not least, I got married! Pez made multiple appearances at our wedding, as explained below. I really must thank my lovely, patient, and understanding wife for being okay with such an amplified Pez presence at our wedding.

This month's cover image reinforces Pezhead Monthly's view that the creepiest Pez dispenser ever is Egg Baby Pez. For other examples, click here. And, be sure to check out the Pezhead Monthly Halloween page here.

Going forward, and now that I am no longer planning a wedding and have a bit more free time, I hope to update this site on a more consistent basis with recent scores, as well as with more creative odes to the magic and wonder of Pez whenever I can. If you don't do so already, I'd encourage you to follow Pezhead Monthly on Facebook or Twitter to be the first to know when this site is updated.

Take care and Keep On Pezzin'!

Joe
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

It's a Nice Day For A Pez Wedding top

On September 2, 2018 (or 9/2/18, for all of you numbers people out there), I had the honor and privilege of marrying my longtime partner in love and life, Jessi. It was, without question, the happiest day of my life. After all of the time and effort that we put into planning the wedding, and thanks to the help of all of our friends and families who came to celebrate with us, as well as our fantastic venue and vendors, it was a day that both of us will remember and treasure forever. Looking back, I still can't believe everything came together so well and that we are now happily married. It is an amazing feeling and it fills my heart with joy whenever I think about it.

There were numerous pieces of the wedding that were Pez-related, thanks in large part to my patient and understanding wife who has supported my Pez habit for over 10 years. For starters, we had a giant Heart dispenser at our Welcome Table, along with a little poem I wrote:

Pick me up! Tilt my head!
You know you want to, go ahead!
We know it sounds a bit absurd,
But there's a message to be heard.

When guests picked up the heart dispenser and tilted the head back, a pre-recorded message played. The message was from Jessi and me, welcoming our guests to the wedding and thanking them for coming!

Photo credit: Beth Waterman Photography

On the guest tables, there were 2 Pez items. The first was the table number and holder, which consisted of a base made out of a stem from a Pez bank (that Jessi's father kindly spray painted blue for us) and a table number in the shape of a Pez candy.

Photo credit: Beth Waterman Photography

The second item on the guest tables was the wedding favor: a bag containing a crystal heart Pez dispenser, with our names and wedding date printed on it, along with a few rolls of Pez candy and a special card from Jessi and me. I am particularly proud of this one, not only for the effort that was put into it, but the end result as well. We ordered the Pez crystal hearts from Pez.com. Then, after a long process of removing the dispensers from bags and then removing the factory text from the dispensers (mad props are due here to Magic Eraser), we shipped them off to a printing company for production (AblePrint in Mansfield Ohio, which I highly recommend!). I then picked up the completed dispensers on the way to Pezamania in July. The next step was assembling the dispensers in the favor bags, along with the rolls of candy and a special card from Jessi and me. At the top of the card was "LOVE IS SWEET", and it was followed by a picture from our engagement shoot, a Pez haiku that I wrote, and a note of thanks for coming to our wedding.

Here is the Pez haiku, which can also be found on the Pezhead Monthly Haiku page as Pez Haiku #141.

A Pez dispenser,
Like a heart, should be opened,
Filled with love, and shared.

Here are a couple of pictures of the complete wedding favor!

Photo credits: Beth Waterman Photography

On the Sweetheart Table was another table number and holder. This one had our names on either side of the Pez candy brick, and it was placed on a spinning display which slowly rotated throughout the night. Extra points go to the venue for setting this up so nicely!

Photo credit: Beth Waterman Photography

And finally, as you may have guessed, we also had a Pez bride and groom as wedding toppers for our cake. For the bride, we asked our friend Neehar to color the hair to more closely match Jessi's hair color. We were both very happy with how it came out! Neehar did a great job. And in case you're wondering, this small cake was only for cutting purposes; we also had cupcakes for our guests, which were by all accounts a big hit.

Photo credit: Beth Waterman Photography

I'd like to leave you with one final image. On the top shelf of this photo are all 4 variations of party favors that we gave to our guests. The fifth dispenser is one that was made only for Jessi and me. Note that the lettering is in cursive; on the back of the head are the words "Happy Heart Day" (this was a factory error from Pez.com, as "Happy Heart Day" is supposed to be on the front of the dispenser, but we decided to go with it!). On the bottom shelf are the two dispensers that served as toppers for our wedding cake, along with a custom printed photo dispenser that I got at Pezamania (thanks again, Ivan!) and gave to Jessi as a gift on the day of our wedding. The photo on the dispenser is one of our favorites from our engagement shoot back in June. These are going to look great on display, along with the custom set I made for Jessi several years back.

Our wedding day was so wonderful, from the first look to the last dance and everything in between. Pez played a big part in it, for sure, but our friends and family who celebrated with us, and of course our strong, quirky, and ever-growing love for each other, is what truly made it a day we will never forget.

Pezamania 28: Groovy, Baby! top

Somehow, amid all of the wedding planning, I still managed to make my annual trek out to Cleveland for Pezamania in July. This year was Pezamania 28, and the theme was "Peace, Love, and Pez." It was so nice to see so many of my Pez friends again, as well as plenty of new faces. Rick and Sue Marlowe put in another great year as convention hosts and I thank them and all of their helpers again for going above and beyond to make Pezamania a memorable and fun experience for everyone. It really is a big family, and every year I go I am reminded of how rewarding and fun it is to be a Pezhead.

A highlight of the convention was the below picture of Yours Truly, which was made possible by a combination of bluescreen, coordinating blue shorts/shirt, and a groovy attitude. Far out, man!

As for my scores, I really cleaned up this year! In addition to picking up some collector sets that I was having difficulty finding in stores, such as the new Han Solo gift tin and the Crayola set, I got a whole bunch of new European releases and some more loose and carded Batmans. Also, in following my tradition of collecting Pez with dignity, I picked up the **checks notes** Poop Emoji and Rainbow Poop Emoji. In addition, I continued adding to my vintage Bicentennial series, this time picking up the Captain (Paul Revere). My favorite score this year, though, was a custom Batman fantasy cape. Attached to a Batman dispenser, it is huge and awesome. It will make a fantastic addition to my Batman shelf, although I may need to wait until I have more space to properly display it.

Here is a picture of all of my Pezamania 28 scores. You can click on it for a larger version.

Bring on Pezamania 29 in July 2019!

Pez is Poppin'! top

In recent weeks, Pez collectors have been finding themselves sharing a collection goal with the very large community of Funko Pop collectors: the all-new Funko Pop+Pez dispensers. Funko Pops are everywhere and number in the thousands of characters, and now that they are partners with Pez Candy, their reach will only be bigger. The positive side to this is that there is a sudden, massive explosion of new characters on Pez dispensers, some of which likely would never have made it onto Pez dispensers, such as Deadpool and Captain Crunch. However, Funko Pop collectors are larger in number and, it's fair to say, in ambition than Pez collectors, and so far the supply of Pop+Pez in stores has been extremely limited or delayed. Funko also releases "chase" versions (different color variations) that are very hard to find, and this has also led to various accounts of store employees and others not in the hobby buying the chase versions for themselves and turning a huge profit on eBay. In time the climate will hopefully calm down a bit, but at least in these first few weeks of Pop+Pez, things have been quite crazy. I for one have lost track of the times I have gone to Hot Topic recently, mostly with diminishing results.

Some in the Pez community don't consider Pop+Pez official dispensers and are choosing not to collect them. Others do not want to go on the hunt for these dispensers with the current competitive climate, or don't have the space for them. This is perfectly fine, because each collector chooses what and how they collect. It's one of the great things about this hobby that I've always admired.

Personally speaking, although I don't have any interest in collecting the many, many standard Pop figures, I have decided to collect the Pop+Pez dispensers. My view is that they have standard Pez stems, and it's only the heads that are different, so they should be considered Pez dispensers, perhaps even more so than the giants or mini Pez because they dispense a full roll of Pez candy by piece (plus, it's nice to see the multiflavor packs of Pez candy sold with dispensers again!). And more imprtantly, I really like the variety of characters on these dispensers, ranging across a huge range of movie, TV, and even cereal properties, as well as the fact that so much of it is available now, or will be soon. I think the Funko and Pez partnership is a really good thing because of this. Now, whether I will have room to display all of these is another question! But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

As far as hunting for these in stores, I've had limited success so far. So, I am supplementing my store search with ordering online from a few Pez dealers who I've grown to trust over the years. The one issue that I am having is choosing whether to keep the Pop+Pez in package or to open them. For now, my approach is to keep them in package, but to get extras of the ones I really like (including Batman, of course) to set free.

Here is my current collection of Pop+Pez dispensers (you can click on it for a larger version). I know that I will be adding more soon. In fact, several more are set to be delivered next week!

A Revamped Pezhead Monthly Archive Page top

Finally, I recently spent some time revamping the Pezhead Monthly Archive page. My goal was to make it much shorter, while still containing all necessary information. I also added the capability to jump immediately to each of the Pez Poetry Slams, which each contain compilations of several Pez poems I've written over the years (these are in addition to the many more poems sprinkled throughout the archives).

You can check out the updated archive page here.