| September 2024 |
Thinking
Outside The Dispenser Since 2001
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Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top Hello and Happy September from Pezhead Monthly! While I did pick up some new Pez in August, the highlight of the month was definitely the Alaksa cruise that I went on with my lovely wife. Despite my being a bit ambivalent about it beforehand, I really had a great time both on the ship and in the port cities. The ship had a bit of everything, including a lovely view from our room's balcony, robot bartenders, and unlimited pizza. The 3 Alaskan ports and the 1 Canadian port were all nice and we also really lucked out on the weather. It was so nice to get away with my wife. This was easily the best vacation I've been on in a long time, and I didn't even find any new Pez on it! (However, I did pick up some chocolate Pez candy in the Indianapolis airport.) Because of the cruise (both preparing for it and going on it), my Pez room is in a bit of a transitional state right now. I still have not fully unpacked from Pezamania in July and, given that I'll be taking a few things up to Fort Wayne next month for INCrowd 2024, things might still be a bit displaced for a little while. And that's okay! If the room gets to be in a decent state by the end of the year, I may post an update here on Pezhead Monthly. The big feature in this month's issue is my Pezamania 33 recap. Pezamania happened in July, but putting together these words and pictures made it feel just like yesterday again. Also in this issue is some Pez Poetry and a rundown of my August scores. Looking ahead to
October, INCrowd 2024 will be happening in Ft Wayne, IN on Sat 10/12.
For the first time, this Pez gathering will be at a hotel and not someone's
house. While I'll be staying at the hotel the night before, I don't
think there will be any room hopping, but just the event itself on Saturday.
I'm really looking forward to this one! Thanks as always for reading Pezhead Monthly. Take care and see you soon! Joe Durrant 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.
Despite being on vacation for a third of the month, I managed to order from Pez.com on 3 separate occasions, including once on said vacation (thanks to Royal Caribbean's handy wi-fi). I kicked things off with the SpongeBob SquarePants 25th anniversary tin. This tin is in the shape of SpongeBob's pineapple house and includes 4 dispensers: SpongeBob and Patrick (which were recently released here in the US), Gary (which was previously only released in Europe), and a silver SpongeBob dispenser (which is exclusive to this tin). While a tin exclusive, the silver SpongeBob is still not anywhere near as valuable as the golden SpongeBob, which I scored from my brother-in-law a few Christmases ago. Along with the tin, I scored the updated 2024 version of Princess Tiana and the new two-pack from Moana (Moana and Maui). Later in the month, I picked up the Pez.com exclusive crystal Donal Duck. This was a surprise release to commemorate 90 years of Donald Duck. It really quacked me up! Lastly, as the month wound down, the final Pez.com score showed up in my mailbox: the Orange Presenter Girl. This joins the previous Cherry and Lemon Presenter Girl, as well as the Sweets and Snacks blue version from May. In another callback to golden SpongeBob, from my Pez pal Jim I picked up the Japanese golden SpongeBob keychain. Again, not nearly as exclusive as the standard stem golden SpongeBob, but still very cool! From the talented Mike Herz, I picked up the next in his Classic Monsters custom pieces set: White Zombie. Very well done, Mike! And lastly, it is always a treat to get something from my Pez pal Topher. In August, it was a pair of trippy dispensers with the theme of "Fit The Vibe": an astronaut and a Rocket, with some wild color designs on the stem. To top this off, these dispensers also glow in the dark! How cool is that! Here is a picture
of my August scores, which you can click for a larger view.
This year's iteration, Pezamania 33, was once again hosted by Landon Proctor and Morgan Rhinehart, along with their respective spouses Christene and Jeff. The theme for this year was "The Pezlympics," to go along with the Summer Olympics and Paralympics that took place this year in Paris. As with this hosting team's debut last year for Pezamania 32, it was very evident that this was a very well-thought out event, designed with Pez collectors in mind, and brimming with interaction, information, and most of all, lots of Pez fun to be had. Preparation and Swag Preparation for Pezamania gets a little easier every year, but it still takes a while. This year I pared down my inventory of extras to sell significantly and focused more on newer releases, as well as some new and unique homemade stuff from the Pezhead Monthly side of things (more on that in a bit). As I've been doing for the past few years, I put together some swag for Pezamania 33. The first part of my swag this year was a new version of my Pezhead Monthly coin. I make swag for some other conventions that I attend, but I only make a new coin for Pezamania. It includes a picture of me in the Pez clown mask, with some minor tweak to fit the convention's theme (except for the first year). On the flip side is a Pez haiku that also fits the convention's theme (this haiku is included in the Pez Poetry feature in this issue). The current year's coin is for swag trading only, but I also bring extras of coins from previous years to give away. The other part of my swag this year was a magnet featuring one of two Olympic-themed movies, with a Pez twist of course. The movies were "Blades of Glory" (which was turned into "Bricks of Candy" and was the cover image for the July 2024 Pezhead Monthly) and "Cool Runnings" (which was turned into "Cool Flippings" and is the cover image for this current issue). I first made magnet swag for INCrowd 2023 last year. It's fun to make and fairly easy to assemble (unlike the cowboy Pez that I made for Pezamania 33, which took a lot more time and money than I had anticipated). I expect to make some more magnets for future swag and selling. Here is a picture of the coin and magnet that comprised my Pezamania 33 swag.
In exchange for this swag, I got lots of other great swag from fellow Pezamania attendees. Here are some of my favorites.
The Arrival, The Setup, The Pez Pals, And The Out And About As with the attendee box last year, this year's box was fantastic. Since I paid for the premium registration, it included 2 convention dispensers, along with lots of other goodies including a custom mini skateboard, pins, a tote bag, a patch, a sticker, a pen, a red/white/blue headband, a t-shirt, and a "Passport" which served as the convention's program. What a haul, and you get it as soon as you show up! The program laid out the agenda, description of events, and scavenger hunt clues. It also had some other fun stuff, including a Pez poem by me! The poem is titled "Let The Games Begin" and is featured in this issue's Pez Poetry section. I am very honored to have been asked to contribute to this program and to have my work featured. Big thanks again to Stacy for reaching out, as well as to Landon and Morgan for your kindness and consideration. After I got my convention attendee box, I made my way up to my hotel room and spent a good amount of time setting it up for room hopping. On the outside of my room, there was a sign attached to my door as well as a room door sign (with an extra boost form the Pezamania team, who made name signs for my door and the doors of all other attendees- this was a really nice touch!). Outside of my room, I also hung the poem "At Pezamania" that I wrote for last month's issue, as well as the Pez song parody I wrote for the theme song of "The Monkees." The inside of my room included some personal touches, such as a digital photo frame that cycled through many Pezhead Monthly images and quotes, a random smattering of some Pez Almost-Quote printouts on the wall, and a projector that showed various Pezhead Monthly videos. I also included a Batman gumball machine filled with M&Ms (free for room guests), as well as Batman lights that I hung around the perimeter of the TV. In another Batman nod, I brought along the giant Batman Pez that I made earlier this year, just for show. This year's "Tap Me!" button was placed in front of a Darth Vader Pez dispenser. Not everyone tapped the button, but those who did were treated to a Vader-ish voice intoning "I find your lack of Pez… disturbing" (which also happens to be a Pez Almost-Quote). And then, of course, there were some things I brought to sell. In addition to newer releases and Pez.com exclusives, I had some older Pez and some other Pez items such as ornaments, comic books featuring Pez ads, and more. These were all just my extras that I mostly wanted to sell for at or very near what I paid for them. There were also some Pezhead Monthly items. A lot of these started out as swag that I created for previous conventions and gatherings, such as photo frames of superhero Pez parodies, Pez magnets, and CD cover parodies. Here are some pictures of my room setup.
Another big part of Pezamania is catching up with old Pez pals and new ones alike. It was such a thrill to see everybody again. These are folks from all over the country and sometimes the world who are all united in our love of Pez. Whether wandering into other rooms to room hop, or hanging out in the hallway or at events, there was always a smiling face not too far away. There was Karen and Rusty and Kevin and JoAnn. There was Karla and Wendy and Molly and Mike. There was Chris and Mary and Joe WHAT and Larry. There was Maheba and Susan and Laura and AJ. There was Karen again, JoAnn again, and Chris again. There were former convention hosts Linda Gliha and Rick and Sue Marlowe! And this is just to name a few! There was also Mike Herz, a really cool guy who makes some amazing custom pieces (including a couple that I picked up at this convention- more on this later). There was the Pez Outlaw himself, Steve Glew. And, I also met some notable Pezheads for the first time. One such Pezhead was Pamella Ruffhead, a fellow Batman Pez collector who has quite an impressive collection of caped Batmen Pez and some nice customs too. Pamella was also the one who showed me how to make a custom giant Batman Pez earlier this year. It was so nice to finally meet her! Also, Straight Outta Arizona, it was quite a thrill to finally meet the legend, Jim Dubberly. Jim is one of the moderators of the Let's Talk Pez Facebook group and is also a great source for Japanese Pez stuff. Jim also cracks me up on pretty much a daily basis with his Facebook posts. And on top of all that, we share a love for the 1960s Batman TV show! Sadly, I did not
get a picture with any of these Pez pals. I really can't explain why
I didn't think to do this. Next year I will try to make a point to get
more pictures. That being said, I did get a couple of pictures with
some costumed Pezheads, however. Here I am with Pamela dressed as a
Pez Girl and Brian dressed in a full body clown Pez dispenser costume!
Another staple of Pezamania for me is visiting some of the great nearby local restaurants. It was a treat to eat at The Winking Lizard (twice!), Hot Dog Diner, and Harry's Steakhouse, although it was a bummer that the nearby location of The Melt closed since last Pezamania. This year I also planned ahead and made some breaded chicken cutlets, which allowed me to stay closer to the action and in my air-conditioned room. Pezamania also had a couple of food trucks like they did last year (a very good idea, by the way), but between the cutlets and my other must-stops I did not get a chance to check them out. Maybe next year! And of course, no Pezamania is complete without a trip to the BA Sweetie Candy Warehouse! This year I picked up a couple of Pez for custom jobs and some other candy. I also ran into a few Pezheads there, including my Pez pal Tim, who surprised me with a custom Batman Pez puck he made. Thanks again Tim! When I got to the checkout, I could not believe when the total rang up because it was the lowest it had been in years! Friday Game Night If Pezamania has a main event, it would have to be the Friday night games. Ever since I started attending Pezamania in 2001, this is when pretty much all of the attendees get together in the big hotel ballroom to have some fun, laugh, eat, drink, and play some games. This year, I had the privilege to sit with the following fine Pezheads, along with their friends/partners/enablers: Lindsey, Harold, Marty, Tom, and Cameron. This was a fun table and I was glad to sit with them all! Throughout the night, Lindsey was very focused on building a wall of Pez brick candies and Marty was very focused on knocking it down with tiny plastic cats launched from a "cat-a-pult." As for me, I always bring a lucky Pez dispenser to game night. This year, it was a homemade one: a Batman on a bee stem that reads "BEE Happy." Before the evening started in earnest, there was a silent auction. I try to bid on something every year for the silent auction, and have had varying degrees of success in winning. (Well, I guess technically just two degrees of success- winning and losing.) This year I was very thrilled to see the May 2024 issue of Reason magazine, which featured some Pez art on the cover. It is no exaggeration to say that I've been looking for this magazine every time I've been near a Barnes and Noble since April. I'll even admit to sometimes basing my meals or other plans around their proximity to B&N. But I have consistently come up short, so I when I saw that issue up for auction I gleefully added my bid. Unfortunately, I should have checked my bid more closely in the final minutes of the auction, because I ended up losing out on it. One day, it shall be mine!
Mixed in with all of this were some pretty nice auctions, including some Pez fabric, some artwork, some sneakers, a really cool custom full body Vucko dispenser by the ultra-talented Angelo Canale, and the original convention logo concept by the incredible artist Eddie Santiago. There were also a number of auctions that ended up going for a pretty penny, including a custom skateboard for $750, some custom pens for $750, a painting for $600, a hockey jersey for $825, and a fabric quilt in honor of the late Tom Ream for $850. One of the more unique auctions was for Flat Rick. Flat Rick is a cardboard cutout of former Pezamania host Rick Marlowe. The idea is that the winning bidder spends the next year taking Flat Rick out and about, all over, taking pictures and adding to a journal. Then this resets the next year, when another person wins at the following Pezamania. I didn't catch what Flat Rick ultimately went for, but I did see that the winner this year was my Pez pal Austin Judson, aka AJ. I am sure AJ will take Rick on some great adventures this year! I can't wait to see the pictures. Another tradition that has moved to Pezamania (since the Pezcific west coast convention ended) is the unveiling of the Pezhead of the Year (POTY). This is a big deal, as the winner is selected exclusively by previous winners. The POTY demonstrates not only a love of the hobby but an interest and track record in growing it, and in going the extra mile to help others and be a positive influence on the hobby. The winner of the 27th POTY this year was none other than Mr. Tom Zellmer. Those of us who have known Tom for many years know that this was well deserved. Congratulations, Tom! As game night winded down, there was one more big reveal: the theme for Pezamania 34! The theme was announced to be The Wizarding World of Pez. This includes anything magic, from the Wizard of Oz to Hocus Pocus to Lord of the Rings. The biggest and most obvious example would be Harry Potter, and this is where I must make a confession: I have never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie. I don't know why, but it never managed to capture my interest. But given the theme of next year's convention, maybe I'll do a HP movie marathon as we get a little closer to next Pezamania. When I brought this up to my lovely wife, who has read all of the HP books and seen all of the movies, she was quite delighted and may very well be joining me in my movie marathon. Saturday: To The Floor Show, And Beyond! The Saturday floor show is another highlight of every Pezamania, and this year was no different. And it was really something to see this year. It was by far the biggest Pez floor show that I've seen. How do I know? Because for the first time, some of the dealer tables were actually in the hallway outside of the ballroom! I would say there were at least 6 or 7 tables out there, maybe more. It was a really great thing to see and to walk around in, but it also made me wonder how the convention is going to handle this if it keeps growing. Maybe next year we'll spill out into the parking lot? This may also have been the first year that I had not picked up any vintage prior to the floor show. I definitely picked up some other stuff before then (see below for details and a picture), and came close to getting some vintage, but before the floor show it never came to be. I picked up a couple of pieces that had been on my wish list, and within my price range: Tinkerbell and Casper. I got these from 2 great dealers, Carl Webb and Russ McKimmie. I think this is the first time that I've picked up a vintage piece from either of them, but I've bought from them before and have known them for years. I consider them both great people and great Pez pals. I am very happy with my new/vintage Pez! I also picked up a few other pieces on Saturday, including a gray-haired Aral Pez pal, the trio of new Pez Outlaw dispensers from the Pez Outlaw himself, Steve Glew, and the 2023 Wawa hauler. There may have been a few other scores too. All I know is I walked out of that ballroom with two things: a wallet with pretty much no cash left, and no regrets! After the floor show, I broke the recent tradition I'd started of hitting the road to Erie, PA for a visit to the nearest Wegmans grocery store. The 3 hours total drive time just felt like a bit too much, and on top of this, I'm also planning a visit to Rochester, NY later this year, where I'm sure I will be visiting one or more Wegmans! So instead, I used the time on Saturday afternoon to start packing up my room. I've recently been doing this on Saturday night, but this year, for the first time in a while, I decided to participate in the Pezamania Saturday night events. And I am glad I did! The first Saturday night event was titled "The Closing Ceremonies," which included karaoke and some more giveaways. This was a great time! Several Pezheads (and I think maybe some non-Pezheads?) got up there and sang We Will Rock You, Tainted Love, Knock Three Times, Barbie Girl, Your Song, and more. A special shout-out goes to fellow Pezhead Bill Faith, who knocked it out of the park with a couple of Prince songs. In a hilarious turn, AJ played Milli Vanilli and lip synched the entire song! And Landon and Chris Wiley tore the roof off the sucker with their rendition of I Got You Babe. As for me? Despite being pretty introverted most of the time, in certain settings I do come out of my shell a little bit. Karaoke happens to be one of those times (perhaps aided in this case by some Bailey's on ice). I sang three songs that night. The first was a song I wrote at last year's Pezamania called Friends on Bookcases, which is a Pez parody of "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks. This was a little tricky to sing, because the words of the original song are on the screen, so I had to memorize the alternate lyrics and make sure I was keeping time. That took a bit of practice for sure, and even though I messed up part of a lyric towards the end of the song, I had a great time and I think it went over pretty well. At the end of the song, Landon awarded me one of the Pez medals that he had been handing out to various Pezheads over the course of the convention. I will treasure that medal forever! As a bonus, my Pez pal Karen Canterbury filmed my performance in a couple of videos. Thanks so much, Karen! I stitched the videos together and the result is provided below for your viewing pleasure.
As for my other 2 karaoke songs, I first opted for "Yoda," originally performed by my close personal friend and life coach "Weird Al" Yankovic. This was aided by a giant Yoda Pez dispenser, which I raced up to my room to get before the song. Quite frankly I can't remember why I brought Giant Yoda with me to Pezamania, but he sure came in handy! As for my last song, it was the one and only "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. This is always a fun one because it gets the entire room involved. Bom bom bom! I will have warm memories of karaoke night for a very long time! After karaoke, everyone made their way out of the hotel bar and lounge. Most of us seemed to stick around the hotel lobby for the final event of Pezamania, the Lounge Lizards. This event goes back a number of years. As I understand it, it started out with a few convention attendees just hanging out in the lobby on Saturday night. It eventually grew in size, with my Pez pal Bill Heltemes becoming the event leader. Bill made a limited number of custom trucks just for the event, and sold them for the Gliding Stars charity. As the event got more popular, unfortunately not everyone was lucky enough to get one. I am guessing that there was some kind of a giveaway system. (Keep in mind that I don't think I ever made it to a Lounge Lizard event before this year.) Flash forward to
present day, and the Lounge Lizards event is bigger than ever. When
Landon and Morgan took over as convention hosts last year, Bill stepped
down from event duties and handed the reins to Rhonda Rasmussen. Now,
for a nominal cost, anyone can get a truck and a raffle ticket for giveaways.
And, more raffle tickets are also sold before and at the event. All
proceeds, of course, go to Gliding Stars. I decided to participate this year, and I was quite blown away by the crowd size. This was 9pm on Saturday night, mind you, and with the hotel lobby upgrade since last year, seating was at a premium to say the least. But most of us were fine standing anyway. I was quite happy with my truck (I believe it was 1 of 4 or 5 different designs). There was a big table with raffle giveaways of Pez items, using a first-come first-serve system depending on when your number was called. There was also an auction for the complete set of Pezamania 33 Lounge Lizards trucks. I didn't catch what they went for, but fresh off of his Flat Rick win on Friday game night, AJ ended up taking home the prize. Usually the last Pezamania event I attend, and the last time I hang out with other Pezheads for the convention, is the Saturday floor show. But this year, with karaoke and the Lounge Lizards, I was grateful for some more time with everyone. I definitely look forward to Lounge Lizards again next year! Thanks again to Rhonda and her husband Adam for all of your hard work for the event. He Shoots, He Scores! As always, my Pezamania recap wraps with a rundown of the scores I brought home from the convention. This year, many of my scores were about filling gaps: I picked up 9 color variations of 1990s trucks that I did not have, the last remaining LOL Surprise dispenser from Series 3 (Luxe), the last monocolor coach whistle I needed, the last psychedelic flower remake color variation I needed, and the most recent Wawa hauler from 2023, which was the last one I needed. On top of this, I picked up a giant General Grievous Pez, to replace the one I had to sacrifice in order to make my custom giant Batman Pez earlier this year. That's a lot of filled gaps! Even one of my vintage
scores, Tinkerbell, technically filled a gap: Tinkerbell rounded out
my Peter Pan set (Peter Pan and Captain Hook being the other two), not
counting variations and the Captain Hook softhead, which is shall we
say a bit out of my price range ($3500 according to the 2024 LaSpina
price guide!). I also got my fair share of custom pieces at Pezamania. This included the 3 Pez Outlaw dispensers from Steve, the Gliding Stars duffel bag puck from Larry, a Burning Man puck form Misty, and a surprise Batman logo puck from Tim. I also made my own custom Batman using the rocket stem from the recent Space Mission Pez. This was actually the first custom piece I made that I put back on card. Although this was not a perfect transfer back to the card, I enjoyed the process and may continue to do this in the future. There were some other cool items that I picked up, like a Batman Pez tin here, a crystal Elf there, a golden Playmobil knight, a Watermelon Sourz Pez with copyright, the 2024 Michigan Pez Convention attendee package, and the new Power Market promotional truck. As for my favorite
scores of the convention? At the top of the list is always vintage,
so let's hear it for Casper and Tinkerbell! But man, let me tell you
about the mind-blowing custom Dynamic Duo I picked up from Mike Herz:
none other than Adam West
as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin! Pictures do not do this pair justice.
They are so extremely well done I just can't put it into words. On top
of that, they even have custom capes! Mike only brought a couple of
sets to Pezamania, with the rest being available for pre-order. I believe
that AJ and I were the only 2 who were able to get them in person. (Mike
also mentioned that he may eventually do a Yvonne Craig Batgirl, to
which I say, heck yeah!) And an extra special shoutout goes to my Pez pal Jim Blaine, who hosts the Michigan Pez convention (and also, from what I hear, does a pretty mean Olympics dance). In his spare time between that convention (which was only a few weeks back in late June, it should be noted) and Pezamania, Jim 3D printed a bunch of incredible custom giant dispensers. Most of these were skulls but there were also some gargoyles and maybe some other designs. I picked up a blue skull. On top of the very well-done dispenser itself, the sleeve slides out to reveal a 3D printed roll of candy that serves as a storage box. Simply amazing work, Jim! Thanks again! All of that being said, perhaps my very favorite score of Pezamania 33 is the medal I was awarded from Landon on karaoke night. Here is a photo of most of my Pezamania scores, which does not include all of my Pezamania attendee box goodies, the swag I received, and some larger items like t-shirts or shelf displays.
And there you have it! Another Pezamania is in the books. Big, big thanks are due to Morgan, Landon, and the entire Pezamania crew for putting together an incredible convention once again. They had a fantastic debut year last year and really kicked it up a notch this year. To all of my Pez pals new and old, it was great to see you and I look forward to seeing you again soon. And to all of my new Pez scores, welcome home! Have a seat, you'll be here a while. Or maybe stand in a display? Whatever works, man. I am so glad to have attended Pezamania 33 and am already counting down the days to Pezamania 34 next July. The Olympic torch may now be extinguished, but the Pez fire keeps on burning!
Let The Games Begin! We gather here from
far and wide, There are no sides
or squads or teams, From Austria, US,
Japan, The bronze, the
silver, and the gold So light the flame
and join the crowd,
If there were medals
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