Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
"Scores!" Says He: April 2025
Pez Almost-Quote of the Month
Pez Poetry
May The Fourth Be With You

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top

Hello and Happy May from Pezhead Monthly! Spring is in full swing and I hope you are enjoying it so far.

Looking back on April, there was the first Pez gathering in Austin, Texas in 5 years. Although I was unable to attend, by all accounts it was a great time. The gathering train keeps a-rolling in May, with events in Kansas City (a new gathering that, as of the publication of this issue, has already concluded) and Maryland (celebrating 10 years!). And the month of May goes out with a bang with the next installment of the Virtual Pez Convention (VPC) on Saturday, May 24. This event is always a good time and the May VPC is sure to feature room tours, giveaways, BINGO, and more. You can register for the VPC here. As always, the VPC is free! All you need is an internet connection, a computer (or tablet or phone), and an interest in sharing your love of Pez. I’m looking forward to “seeing” you there.

Also in April, an episode of the TV show “Collector’s Call” aired on the MeTV network that was all about Pez. Hosted by Lisa Whelchel (who played Blair in the classic 80s show “Facts of Life”), the episode featured 2 giants of the Pez community, John LaSpina and Shawn Peterson, and was filmed at the Pez Visitor Center in Orange, Connecticut. I had a chance to see this and it was great. It included some behind-the-scenes pictures of the Pez Visitor Center being built, along with the fact that about 99% of the items there were from Shawn’s own collection. Some of his higher priced items were shown, including the Make-a-Face, the KFC Colonel Sanders prototype, some Pez guns, Eerie Spectres, and more. John appraised Shawn’s collection at about $700,000! At the end of the episode, John traded Shawn what was called a “Pez super collection” of six dispensers and candy for Shawn’s 1984 Vucko wolf with yellow ski hat. Then Shawn gave Lisa an exclusive “Collectors Call” dispenser (not made for the general public) and gave her the opportunity to make her own candy for it back in the factory. As a Pezhead, this episode was a real treat to watch for sure.

In decidedly less happy news, at the very start of April, we lost the wonderful actor Val Kilmer. Val was known for his many iconic roles in movies such as “Top Gun,” “Real Genius,” “Batman Forever,” and “The Doors.” And of course, let’s not forget his amazing turn as Doc Holliday in the movie “Tombstone.” To celebrate this performance, and in the process to Pezzify the famous line “I’m your Huckleberry,” here is a Pez photo parody I made a couple of years ago for Pezamania 32. It includes Val/Doc holding a Huckleberry Hound POP+Pez dispenser. Rest in Peace, Val!

I also wanted to note that one of the holidays in May is Cinco De Mayo. I've written exactly one Pez poem about this holiday, way back in May 2010. Here is that poem, which also happens to be the only Pez poem I've written en Español.

Pez Haiku número de ciento tres (Pez Haiku #103)

Cinco De Mayo?
Un dispensador de Pez
Es mucho mejor.

This month’s issue of Pezhead Monthly includes multiple Star Wars pieces to celebrate Star Wars Day (“May The Fourth” be with you). Kicking things off is a cover image that Pezzifies a well-remembered scene in “Return of the Jedi” when Han Solo shrugs outside of a bunker on the Ewok planet of Endor. (Note that Han’s signature blaster has been replaced with a Pez space gun.) There’s also a Star Wars-flavored Pez Almost-Quote in both text and GIF format. And then there’s this month’s offering of Pez Poetry, which includes a Star Wars Pez poem (among others). All of this month’s Star Wars Pez features are also found on the Pezhead Monthly Star Wars page, along with features from the archive. Rounding out this issue is a rundown of my April scores.

One more note about this month's issue: At one point, the cover image was going to be a Pezzified photo of the legendary band Queen, along with some revised lyrics to the start of one of their biggest hits, "Bohemian Rhapsody." (The opening word, "Mama," was intended to tie in to the May holiday of Mother's Day.) Ultimately I decided it was too wordy for a cover image, but here it is anyway for posterity.

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

Joe Durrant
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

P.S. Did you miss last month's issue? 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 some words, photos, artwork, or videos to Pezhead Monthly to be featured in an upcoming issue? That would be great! Check out the submission details here.

"Scores!" Says He: April 2025 | top

Although I did not find any new Pez out in the wild in April, I still ended up with quite a fun batch of scores for the month.

From Pez.com, I picked up the new set of Naruto dispensers: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, as well as the Naruto two-pack gift set of Naruto and Sasuke. I also picked up two Pez.com exclusives: the Easter Yellow Crystal Easter Egg and Mamacado. Mamacado uses the Avocado mold from earlier this year, and reimagines the avocado as a mother that is holding its child, which is the pit. It’s cute as long as you don’t think too hard about it! I also have to say that both of these exclusives have great cards. The Mamacado card strongly hints at a “Papacado” coming in the future, and the Yellow Crystal Easter Egg card is just amazing- very unique and colorful.

From fellow Pezhead Adam Bourne, who hooked me (and several others) up with the 7 new Disney Parks Pez in March, I picked up four Euro trucks from several years back that I did not have in my collection, with white cabs and green trailers.

From fellow Pezhead Abbot all the way over in the Netherlands, I picked up the sitting Brown Bunny that is exclusive to Europe for Easter 2025, along with the European exclusive Mincecraft Enderman (without printed stem), the 2025 full body ombre Hello Kitty, and the 2025 Hello Kitty with blue with rainbows. I also got from Abbot the 2025 Hello Kitty with printed purple stem, which is not a European exclusive, but still very cool.

From the very talented Mike Herz, I picked up the last of his Flintstones “Missing Link” custom dispensers, Betty and Gazoo. Here is a picture of the official and custom Flintstones dispensers together (the official ones are on the top row and the customs are on the next row).

I also scored from Mike the very well done Adam West Batman and Burt Ward Robin custom dispensers. Astute readers of Pezhead Monthly may remember that I picked up these dispensers at Pezamania 33 last year. However, he made a new set with logos on the stem and a stand with different colored Batman logo, so I was more than pleased to pick up the variation. Here are the two sets, side by side (with the more recent set in a special box from Mike).

From one of my favorite Pez dealers and all around favorite Pez people, John LaSpina, I picked up his 2025 Pez price guide (36th edition). This price guide is a must-buy for any collector who wants to get reliable prices for Pez dispensers, whether it be for buying or selling, insurance purposes, or just curiosity on what particular items in your collection is worth. It will be an invaluable tool especially as we head into Pez convention season. (Out of curiosity, I had a look at John's price guide to see what the most valuable Pez dispensers in my collection are. These appear to be the Eerie Spectres set and Golden SpongeBob.)

And lastly, on the homemade front, I made a variety of custom Batman Pez and Pez on cards in April. For starters, I made a non-functional Funko Pop-style Batman, which is a bit more evenly proportioned than the POP+Pez version (picture for comparison). I also made a custom Batman Grincheux dispenser. Grincheux is the French version of the Grumpy dispenser from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (and if anybody is “grincheux”, it would be Batman!). And, thanks to an action figure find at a flea market, I made a non-functional version of the Robert Pattinson version of Batman, which complements nicely the Michael Keaton version I made last year. Here is a picture of the custom Michael Keaton Batman and Robert Pattinson Batman, respectively.

For the custom Batmans on card, I took 3 of the custom Batman dispensers from my extensive collection made by my Pez pal Topher and placed them in the cards for the first 3 Pez Presenter Girls, making them Team Orange Batman, Team Lemon Batman, and Team Cherry Batman. I also added another Topher custom Batman to the awesome new crystal Easter Egg card, since I think the colors match up really well. Here is a picture of all of these custom Batmans on card.

Here is a picture of all of my April scores. You can click on it for a larger view.

Pez Almost-Quote of the Month | top

"I am a Pezhead. Like my father before me."

For more Pez Almost-Quotes, click here!

Pez Poetry | top

Mace Windu (by way of Yoda)

There once was a Pezhead, Mace Windu,
His hobby he really was into.
The Force did he use,
No Pez he refused,
So many conventions he’s been to.

This One's For The Mamas This one's for the Mamas, Our guides for life's adventures, Particularly for those Who are on Pez dispensers. Hello there Mama Simpson, Or may I call you Marge? Your big blue hair is epic, Your presence looming large. And howdy Mama Parr, Elastigirl, Incredible. You sometimes wear a mask And never are forgettable And greetings, Mama Bear, And you too, Mama Panda, With you as Pez dispensers, I’d say there’s nothing grander. And last but, oh, not least, Our lovely Mamacado. Of your pure charm and style I’m an aficionado. Although these days are long With worry, stress, and drama, They still dispense their love: Thank goodness for our Mamas.

Pez Haiku #189

I should cut the grass,
But I’m here in my Pez room
And want no mower.

Happy Star Wars Day from Pezhead Monthly | top

And finally, Pezhead Monthly is proud to celebrate Star Wars Day, otherwise known as “May The Fourth” (be with you). Over the years, there have been many Pez features about Star Wars in Pezhead Monthly, including poetry, photos, quotes, and more. This includes some features from this very issue!

All of the Star Wars stuff has been assembled on the Pezhead Monthly Star Wars page, and I encourage you to check it out! Here is a taste of what you'll find on that page.