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May 2021
Thinking Outside The Dispenser
Since 2001

Spring Loaded: A Message From the Editor
Just Shoot Me: Taking Photos of Your Pez Collection

Pez Poetry
A Long Overdue Update to the Pezhead Monthly Store Page
May the Fourth!

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top

Happy May, and welcome to Pezhead Monthly! I hope you enjoyed this month's cover image, which is a Pez-flavored twist on a poster for the latest Disney Plus Marvel show, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier." I've enjoyed this show quite a lot, but perhaps adding a Pezhead to the mix would kick it up a notch next season!

This month in my Pez world, the big activity was that I reorganized my POP+Pez display to arrange some sets together. I also took some updated photos of them. I continue to think that the Masters of the Universe POP+Pez set is the best one, and I also really enjoy the Star Wars set because of all of the characters that have not (yet) made their way onto official Pez dispensers. Also in April, I was glad to get my second dose of the COVID vaccine, which makes me feel even better about heading out to Pezamania in July. It's hard to believe it's less than 3 months away. I have not been to Pezamania since 2018 and I am very much looking forward to it.

There are a few new developments about this website that I am pleased to share. First of all, you may have noticed the new Pezhead Monthly logo at the top of this page. I actually came upon the design of this logo by accident, but I am quite happy with it and I hope you like it too. In addition, the Pezhead Monthly CafePress store has been updated with a new shirt with this logo as well as a couple of face masks. Also in the CafePress store is a new t-shirt to celebrate Pezhead Monthly's 20th anniversary this year (officially August 2021). Check it out here! I've ordered one myself and can say that although the fabric for the deluxe style is really nice and soft, and the 20-year design turned out great, the sizes run a little small and only go up to 2X. There are other styles available with different fits, colors, and sizes if you scroll down the page.

I had some neat scores in April. For starters, I was able to get the limited edition Bees from Pez.com, including the online exclusive crystal bee. As with the Leprechaun last month, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, as they were expected to be made available for a while (it became a running joke on the Facebook Pez groups) and, once they arrived, they sold out pretty quickly. (The non-crystal bees have since been back in stock.). Also from Pez.com, I picked up the newest dispenser in the Harry Potter Wizarding World set, Voldemort. And once more from Pez.com, my luck struck again as I was able to get the online exclusive "Best Mom Ever" crystal ball dispenser. This is somewhat of a bittersweet score, because while I always enjoy getting new Pez, I am also reminded of my own dear mother who passed away a few years ago. I loved her very much and I miss her every day. From the Virtual Pez Convention, I received 2 great dispensers: a color one that I ordered and a black and white one that I got for participating in the "Creators in PEZ" panel. I was not expecting this second one and it is really quite nice! They both are, for that matter. From Cracker Barrel, I found the new Pokemon/Evee twin pack collector set. (An employee there now recognizes me as a Pez collector and was surprised to hear that I have over 2000 dispensers in my collection.) From Mercari, I picked up a Captain Crunch POP+Pez chase dispenser that I realized I was missing when I was reorganizing that part of my Pez display. Also from Mercari, I picked up the Kobra Kahn/Spikor POP+Pez twin pack. These are the latest additions to the Masters of the Universe set, which as I note above is my favorite set. Still, I was hesitant to even look for this latest twin pack because of the high price it typically commands. But I found it for what I thought to be a good deal, so I jumped on it. And ALSO from Mercari, which was really good to me in April, I added a new carded Batman to my collection. Last but not least, I picked up the new 32nd edition of "The Original Collector's Price Guide to PEZ And Other Candy Dispensers" by John LaSpina. This is an invaluable price guide that I use to value my collection and also to check the prices on new and vintage Pez before buying.

I have mixed feelings about the new trend towards online exclusives on Pez.com that are selling out very quickly and are not made available again, and soon show up on places like eBay where resellers list them at a high price. There have been a number of these exclusives already this year, starting with the Happy New Year dispenser. I've been lucky enough to get most of them, but I also know that could easily change with the next release. I understand that these exclusive dispensers are exciting and that they're geared towards collectors such as myself. I also understand that this is the approach companies like Funko have been taking for a while. But it's also very easy to miss out on a certain dispenser, for good, if you are not online at the right time. In the past, this has not usually been the case with Pez. This means that many Pez collectors don't get the exclusives and become frustrated with the experience (especially for dispensers that may hold sentimental value such as the Best Mom Ever dispenser), which I think is completely understandable. On the other hand, it's not hard to find people on the Pez Facebook groups who are willing to trade or sell these new exclusive Pez for a much more reasonable price than you'd see on eBay. I am sure that they will also be available at Pezamania and other conventions. Yes, these exclusives will still be harder to find than the more common dispensers, but as always, it's the goodness of the people in this hobby that makes it so rewarding and worthwhile.

Moving on to this month's issue of Pezhead Monthly, I talk a bit about the value of taking photos of your Pez collection, including some basic tips for taking the photos and some things to avoid doing when taking pictures of your Pez (featuring some pictures of my own collection as an example). There is also some Pez Poetry, including a poem where I play on the dual meaning of the word "lot" when it comes to Pez listings, as well as a note that the Pezhead Monthly store page has been updated. Lastly, in honor of the Star Wars holiday known as May The Fourth, there is a reminder that Pezhead Monthly has a special page dedicated to all of the Star Wars features from the archives.

Did you miss last month's issue, where I talked about my experience on the Virtual Pez Convention's "Creators in PEZ" panel and unveiled a new song and video called "The Limited Leprechaun"? You can still read it here. To search the full Pezhead Monthly archives, hop on over to the archive page, where you can browse by feature, Pez Poetry Slam, or issue. There's also a Google search bar to help you search the content across the site. And hey, maybe you would like to submit something to Pezhead Monthly to be featured in a single issue? That would be great! Check out the submission details here.

Thanks as always for reading Pezhead Monthly. Take care and see you next month!

Joe
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com


Just Shoot Me: Taking Photos of Your Pez Collection | top

One of the best things you can do as a Pez collector is to take photos of your collection. Pictures of your Pez room are great, especially when someone asks to see your collection. But it's also wise to take pictures of each shelf, or better yet, each set. Then, keep a copy of these pictures on your phone or tablet, or maybe print them out in a physical photo album if you so choose. This will greatly help you when you are out hunting for Pez at stores, flea markets, conventions, or on vacation. It's sometimes easy to forget which Pez you are missing, whether it is a certain variation or an entire set, and having photos right at your fingertips can help you keep much better track of things. Plus, it never hurts to have a portable photo record of your collection for insurance purposes.

There are some quick tips I can offer for taking photos of your collection. First of all, try to get a nice clear picture, but don't feel like you have to go for a larger file size. Remember that you may be adding many photos to your phone, tablet, or physical photo album, and as long as the picture is clear it does not need to be in 4K or higher. Most phone cameras these days take decent pictures with smaller sizes. Also, make sure there is enough light to see the important details of your dispensers, but avoid using the flash, especially if you are photographing collector boxes or Pez that are still on card, as the flash often reflects off of them. Remember, you are not doing a professional photo shoot, you are just taking pictures of your collection to keep handy when Pez hunting.

These are just some basic tips to help you take pictures of your collection. In a later issue I might share a few more technical ones. Further on in this article, I will also show a few examples of what types of photos NOT to take.

Above all of this, though, it's important to keep the photos up to date. Over time a Pez collector will not only add new sets, but will fill in gaps for previous sets. If you don't take the time to keep up with the photos, it's easy to fall behind.

Looking back, I see that I stopped taking pictures of my Pez collection in September 2019. While this is only a year and a half ago, I've added a lot of Pez to my collection since then. And thinking about it, it kind of makes sense that I stopped taking photos at this time. My wife and I had just moved into our new house and I was in the early stages of setting up the new Pez room. Most of my Pez were still in boxes, including anything new that I added since moving.

As the Pez room came together, I finally started to unbox my collection. I spent a lot of time organizing sets together (as some of them were spread across multiple boxes depending on when I packed them). As I was building the shelf displays, this might have been an ideal time to update the set photos. But I did not think to do this. I did take a picture of the main Pez display, which I showed in the December issue:

I also took pictures of each shelf for my own reference. This will help, but I still need to update the set photos. This past month, I took the first step by taking set photos of my POP+Pez collection, most of which I had not photographed yet. I also took updated pictures of the display, with the dispensers more organized into sets (you can click each picture for a larger view).

You may notice that I don't have a lot of room for many more POP+Pez. That's okay, because first of all, I don't think there are any more out there that are in my price range at the moment and I am not sure when there will be. Also, if I ever do add more, as needed I can swap out the smaller display stand on the top shelf with a larger one that spans across the whole shelf.

But back to the set photos. Not only do I have a lot more new Pez to take photos of, but looking back at the photos I've already taken, I am realizing that some reshoots may be needed. So below I am offering examples of things to avoid doing when taking pictures. Learn from my mistakes!

Avoid putting multiple sets in a single picture

Here are some examples from my photo collection.

Not only did combining sets into a single photo make the sets harder to search and sort by name, but it also made it a little harder to see exactly which dispensers are in each set, especially if the set is not in the front row. Plus, in some cases one or more of the sets will grow and it is easier to retake a picture of a single set than of a bunch of sets in one picture.

Avoid spreading sets across many pictures

Some sets can be quite large, and when you factor in variations, will need to be spread across multiple pictures. Some dispensers have so many variations that there is not room for any others in the photo! But sometimes a set only grows by one or two, and it seems tempting to just take a picture of the new dispensers to save some time. Instead, take the time to pull out the earlier set and retake the picture. I did not do this in a few cases and it resulted in more pictures than needed, which means it takes longer to get to each picture, and your photo album as a whole. Here are some examples of photos that I will be retaking because of this.


The Shopkins set, spread across 3 photos


It's a-me, 2 photos instead of 1!

(I will say here that for a few years my options here were limited, due to limited space at my former residence. I had to box up new Pez as I got them every few months and take them to storage. This meant that some sets were simply not able to be photographed together. I am so glad to have a dedicated Pez room in my current house!)

Do not put too many Pez in one picture

I think a good general rule of thumb is to take photos in rows of 1 or 2 at most, if possible. If there are any more rows than that, and you're likely to lose the details of the Pez that are further back in the photo. Important, defining features of the dispenser may be obscured by whatever is in front of it.

Here are some instances where I went overboard in adding a lot of Pez in a single photo.

In the second picture, the Christmas Pez in the back row have printed stems. Unique stems like these are perfect examples of Pez that belong on the front row of a picture!

~~~~

Wrapping things up, I highly recommend that you take photos of your Pez to keep with you when shopping or traveling. There are some basic things you can do to take simple yet effective pictures of your collection, and there are also some things to avoid doing, so that you don't end up needing to do reshoots down the road.

I've got a long way ahead of me to get my collection completely photographed, and I know that it will be an ongoing process as my collection continues to grow. But I am looking forward to spending the time on it. It's yet another aspect of this hobby that I enjoy in so many different ways.


Pez Poetry | top

A Lot of Pez

A lot of Pez are on my shelf,
I see them ev'ryday.
There's always more, I tell myself,
To add to my display.

A lot of Pez are found online,
Just waiting to be bought,
And when together they're combined,
It sometimes is a lot.

A lot of Pez did give me pause
One night when I was scrolling;
A diamond, right there in the rough,
Oh man, good times were rolling.

A lot of Pez was bought that night,
And while I am in heaven,
To get the one that shined so bright,
I purchased sixty-seven.

A lot of Pez is now for sale,
So don't pass up your shot:
When searching for that one white whale,
You sometimes find a lot.


Pez Haiku #152

Light side or dark side?
The answer, young Padawan,
Is always Pez side
.


A Long Overdue Update to the Pezhead Monthly Store Page | top

One of the parts of this website that I have not given nearly enough attention to in recent years is the Pezhead Monthly store page. This year, as I celebrate 20 years of Pezhead Monthly and "thinking outside the dispenser," I thought it would be a good time for a store refresh.

The store page links to the Pezhead Monthly CafePress store. I've recently added some new items, including a couple of new t-shirts, one with the brand new Pezhead Monthly logo and another celebrating 20 years of Pezhead Monthly. There are now 4 different t-shirt designs to choose from, and each can be customized to a variety of styles and colors at different price points. I've also added some face masks.

Also, be on the lookout for sales on CafePress. For example, through May 2, 2021, t-shirts are on sale.

Also on the store page is a PayPal donation link. If you enjoy the different approaches that this publication brings to the hobby, you are welcome to donate if you so choose.

What I really want you know is this: whether you buy stuff from the CafePress store, donate thru PayPal, or simply enjoy reading Pezhead Monthly, I really appreciate your support!


May The Fourth! | top

Finally, in honor of May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day, be sure to check out Pezhead Monthly's Star Wars page, featuring all of the different Star Wars poems, photos, and more that have appeared on the pages of Pezhead Monthly, including this Pezzified tribute to The Child himself, Grogu. In addition, there are some photos of my Star Wars Pez collection. There are also a few new additions to this page from this past year, and in fact one from this very issue!

 

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