Spring is coming and now is an excellent time to take a look at your pez collection to discover which pieces are missing and add them before the next crop begins appearing from Pez Co! There are a few new pez dispenser additions in the Pez Collectors Store this month and more information on those coming in the future. Pez Convention season kicked off this month in California and the Northeast Pez Convention is coming in April!
The Sparefroh on the 3KCAL banner card has arrived and these are a really nice variation. Only 1000 of the final Sparefroh Pez were packaged on this special card!
The Valentine pez for this year included the two new pink Hugs Teddy Bear and white Kisses Teddy Bear which joined last year’s brown Love Teddy Bear. The new Valentine Hearts included the purple or lavender heart with black print and the rubine red heart with white print. These were primarily found in Target stores on double cards. We were also able to get the rubine red heart with white print on a printed 5.9 stem and a purple or lavender heart with Happy Valentine’s Day printed in white instead of in black! This awesome variation is available now in the Pez Collectors Store.
The Easter Egg pez are new for 2012. They are only being sold in the tubes with 7 rolls of pez candy. We wish Pez Co. would have released them in bag for those who display loose, but at least for now, it looks like we can only get them in tubes.
There is something interesting going on with the new stems. We have noticed that Kermit and Animal from the Muppets, the revised Yoda from the Phantom Menace set, and the Easter Eggs stems all have a new edge that sticks out at the top of the stem on the sides and joins the lip that sticks out to meet the back spine. It does not seem to be only on new 7.5 patents – the Kermit, Animal, and Easter Eggs are all 7.5 patents while the Yoda is on a 5.9 patent stem. We also found it on all of the mini pez and on Gandolf from the Lord of the Rings! I have no idea why this lip has been added, but it makes an interesting variation!
March is the scheduled month for a release of the updated Marvel Universe pez. The packaging will have Avengers themed graphics and Ironman is supposed to be revised with a new color scheme. These will be released by Pez but will likely be added to the other Marvel Universe pez as the old Ironman version supply is exhausted, so we will have to wait until they begin appearing in shipments to have them in stock.
In April, HyVee Grocery Stores will be receiving shipments of a new Promotional Pez Truck with the HyVee logo on the side! We have made arrangements to get these exclusive dispensers and will have them available in the Pez Collectors Store just as soon as they are released!
Last month, we told you about the European Pez. We have learned that the Snow White and 3 dwarfs (why 3 and not 7 – only Pez knows!) Dopey, Happy and Grumpy that are scheduled for release in Europe will have their names printed in another language. We are thinking it will probably be in French, but it could be in German. Only time will tell, but those will make an interesting variation!
The ISM International Confectionary Trade Fair in Cologne was quite a success from all reports, and the Pez Soft Candy Shooter took third place for innovation! Quite a nice accomplishment! These are Soft Shooters are not quite the typical pez dispenser, but a hit nonetheless! We have just a few sets remaining in the Pez Collectors Store!
The Pez Convention season kicked off with PezCific in California and from the reports it sounds like it was a wonderful convention! The PezHead of the Year is always named at this convention, and this year’s recipient is Joe Paravati! Joe has a special feature section on the PezHeads the Movie DVD and is well known among the pez collecting community. Congratulations Joe, you will represent the PezHeads well - Valentine Boxers and all!
The next convention is the Northeast Pez Convention, April 19 – 21 in Stamford, CT and it is sure to be a fabulous convention. Host Richie Belyski always organizes a wonderful convention with many activities, but this year he has added an optional bus tour for registered guests to go visit the newly opened Pez Visitors Center at the Pez factory in Orange, CT. Orange is not far from Stamford where the convention is held, so even if you were unable to book a seat for the tour bus, you could still make the short drive from the convention to the Visitors Center. We will be attending the convention as buyers from April 19 until April 22, so any orders placed in the Pez Collectors Store during that time will not be shipped until our return April 23. We anticipate bringing back a good deal of exclusive merchandise from the Pez Visitors Center, so we will have these exclusives available for those who can’t make the trip or visit the factory.
