Love is in the air this month and we love new pez! Valentines pez, Easter Pez, Star Wars Phantom Menace Pez, Muppets pez and new European pez are the highlights this month. Pez convention season is kicking off with the PezCific convention in California and we are loving it all!
The Muppets arrived with a revised Miss Piggy and a revised Kermit plus a brand new Animal! These are just as cute as can be! They are in stock now in the Pez Collectors Store.
The Pez Collectors Store has had a heck of a time trying to get new Valentine pez. We have received just a few of the new version of the Lightning and Sally loving Disney Couples. This year, Lightning has been updated to include the emblem on his hood and the mold is a wider version of the car with a higher spoiler in the back. Mickey and Minnie Disney Couples are still being shipped 3 x more than the Lightning and Sally Disney Couples and there has been no change in the Mickey and Minnie dispensers. These loving couples come in a special gift box with a heart shaped window and hearts printed on the stems.
There are two new Valentine’s Teddy Bears for 2012. We had a few of these available in December and now have more in. The pink bear with a heart that says Hugs and the white bear with a heart that says Kisses have joined the brown bear with a heart that says Love.
The new Valentine hearts that were promised as part of the 2012 Valentines have been strangely absent in the Valentine assortments. The purple or lavender heart on a lavender stem says Happy Valentine’s Day in white or black print. We have only found the black print and these seem to be a Target exclusive this year, packaged on a double candy card (6 packages of candy). We have only found this one on a new 7.5 stem. The Rubine Red heart says Happy Valentine’s Day in white print and it comes on a white stem with pink hearts printed on the stem. We have found both 5.9 and 7.5 stems for this heart, but again, it seems to be a Target exclusive. We have seen lots of older short hearts that were released in 2009, 2010 and 2011. It seems that Pez must have lots of left overs of these in red crystal, light pink clear crystal and cloudy pink crystal with sayings Happy Valentine’s Day, Be Mine and I(heart)U. The difference is that they must have made some new stems as both 5.9 and 7.5 patents are being found in far greater numbers than the actual new hearts!
Star Wars Phantom Menace is available with Darth Maul and a new revised Yoda. The new Yoda has a shorter, wider face with a neck. It is definitely a new mold for Yoda! Also included in the sets we have in the Pez Collectors Store is an Emperor Palpatine with Made in China pad printed on the stem below the 5.9 patent. R2D2, C3PO and Darth Vader are also included in the set and all come on 5.9 patent stems.
We have had a lot of requests for the PezHeads the Movie pez dispenser to be sold separately from the movie and we now offer that option. You can purchase the PezHeads the Movie DVD with the dispenser or you may now purchase the dispenser by itself in the Pez Collectors Store!
The Sparefroh pez has reached the end of the line and the last 1000 of these dispensers were packaged on a different European card with a 1 candy = 3 kcal banner. These are shipping to us now and are clearing customs. We expect to have them available within a week or so!
The new European Releases for 2012 include some great new dispensers. A press release for the ISM –Confectionary Trade Fair being held in Cologne provides some insight into a few of the new releases scheduled.
The dispenser highlights for 2012
PEZ, the cult brand, delights kids all over the world! In 2012 too, the company plans to live up to this claim with a great selection of comic heads. And of course PEZ is employing the most popular and up-to-date licenses. In 2012 the following children's stars make it into the PEZ portfolio:
Ice Age
The adventures of this most unusual herd of animals, led by Manny, Diego and Sid, are continued in summer 2012. The fourth edition of the number 1 family film will be hitting the cinemas - of course in 3D! This time the three friends encounter exotic sea creatures and struggle against ruthless pirates. The four popular characters will also be on sale as PEZ dispensers from April 2012 onwards.
The photo suggests that Manny, Scrat (squirrel with nut version), Diego and Sid are the four dispensers being released in Europe and we see no difference in this set from the Ice Age 3 previously released in the USA.
Spiderman
A reboot of the Spiderman saga can also be expected in 2012. The 3D animated movie also features a new cast, because now Peter Parker returns to high school. The comic hero will be coming to cinemas in 3D for the first time. And of course a PEZ edition will be marking the event in summer 2012.
This closeup photo shows a very detailed Spiderman! Pretty cool! The photo looks like the Spiderman will be the same as the one in the Amazing Spiderman set which is scheduled for release in May in the USA shown on the right above. The European timeline schedule suggests that Spiderman won’t be released there until mid-September.
Madagascar
Dreamworks is presenting the third part of its film success Madagascar. This time Alex the vain lion and his friends return to their roots - to New York. Or at least that's what they plan... Melman, Gloria, Skipper, Marty and of course Alex will be on the confectionary shelves from the second quarter of 2012 onwards.
Yet again, it seems that Melman, Gloria, Skipper, Marty and Alex will be the same as previously released, but in the USA they were pretty scarce!
Disney Cuties
After Winnie the Pooh in 2010 and Mr. Men in 2011, PEZ presents its third Click'N'Play range in the shape of the Disney Cuties. This sub-brand features removable full-body figures and is intended to encourage playing and collecting even more strongly. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pluto will be appearing in their full glory from July 2012 onwards.
Now here is a new release that is easy to get excited about. These click-n-play Disney characters are well named as Cuties, because they are absolutely adorable! We will be getting these in the Pez Collectors Store just as soon as they are released in July!
Snow White
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves form another product focus in 2012. The young beauty, white as snow, red as blood and black as ebony, together with three of her faithful dwarf friends, will soon be delighting fairy tale fans as PEZ dispensers.
This is the first release of Snow White in European countries. Too bad they will only be getting three of the seven dwarfs! We still have Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs gift sets available in the Pez Collectors Store!
Handy Manny
Thanks to the major success of the Handy Manny television series, the four famous characters will be available as PEZ dispensers for the first time from January 2012 onwards. The story of the workman Manny Garcia and his exuberant tool friends (Pat, Flicker and Dusty) is particularly popular with the 2-5 age group. Together they repair all kinds of broken items, help neighbours and show pre-school children how they can solve day-to-day problems.
Europe is still a bit behind the USA for releasing this set. We have Handy Manny in the boxed gift set available in the Pez Collectors Store. It looks like Europe will be getting the dispensers on card, sold individually.
Winnie the Pooh
Is there anyone who doesn't love the cuddly, honey-loving bear and his many adventures? Winnie the Pooh, the foolish bear, has been enchanting young and old for many decades. So it's high time that he and his faithful friends - Tigger and Eeyore - once again adorn the confectionary shelves from February 2012 onwards. The figure of Pooh himself has been improved even further for the occasion.
The Winnie the Pooh is supposed to be a different mold, while Tigger and Eeyore seem to be the same molds as previously released.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons certainly belong to the group of 'old campaigners' among the TV stars. And they really have something to celebrate in 2012, for instance the 500th episode and the 23rd series! And that will delight 60 million viewers of all ages, all over the world. So it's no surprise that Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa are once again available as PEZ heads in the anniversary year.
Again, there seems to be no difference in Bart, Homer, Marge or Lisa. The only difference seems to be that Maggie is not included in this rerelease of the Simpsons Pez. These are scheduled for release in January, 2012.
The press release (in italics above) stopped a bit short of telling everything new that is coming. The sports pez in Europe will be released in Sports bags with a variety of European pez candies and stickers. The Pez Collectors Store has the Hockey Puck, the Baseball and the Basketball European Sports pez dispensers in stock now. As soon as these are available, we will be adding the Soccer ball and the Football pez which have been in short supply in the past!
Europe will also be releasing a Pirates bag which includes a variety of European pez candies and an eye patch. The bags will have a Toti skeleton pez dispenser or a new hockey puck mold dispenser with skull and crossbones! The Pez Collectors Store will be getting the hockey puck mold pirates dispenser soon!
While we celebrate Valentine’s Day in the USA and have dispensers available only around Valentine’s Day, Europe has taken this a step further by introducing the Love and Friendship Pez series. This means more new hearts!
There is also a Love and Friendship twin pack with a heart and a teddy bear! Cute package!
It seems that the plush line with hands and feet hanging on string arms will be ending. Instead, the plush head is being placed on a mini pez dispenser with a key ring clip and Hello Kitty is kicking off this new concept called Mini Pez Friends. These are great looking plush dispensers! Hello Kitty is also adding a new gift tin for Europe - it includes the Hello Kitty Skulls and other previously released pez!
Holiday Pez for Europe also include a few new releases. The Christmas Pez include a new Santa and a new Reindeer and the Halloween pez assortment includes the new version of the pumpkin. We are expecting that these will also appear in the USA!
In other news in the world of pez, the 2012 Pez Convention season is kicking off with PezCific – the 11th Annual Pacific Coast Pez Convention – PEZcific in Los Angeles, February 9 – 11! There is still time to register and attend. For more information, visit the website at www.pezcific.com
The next convention scheduled is the 14th Annual NorthEast Pez Convention in Stamford, CT, April 19 – 21. This convention will feature a bus tour to the newly opened PEZ Visitors Center at the factory in Orange, CT. Find all the information about this convention at www.pezgathering.com
The Pez Collectors Store has been hard at work to make your online pez shopping experience as easy as possible. Besides offering all the newest pez that you want, available now at your fingertips, we will soon launch a mobile app to make it easier to view and purchase all the pez you want from your cell phone, tablet or iPad! More news about this next month!
Happy Pezzing!
All the best,
Chris Jordan
www.pezcollectors.com