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ENJOY THIS PREVIEW!

I'm always striving for ways to improve pezpax, especially with so many dispensers to see. This page shows elements I am experimenting with to make the site more informative and fun.

You may notice the photos look different than the current galleries. That's because these are from my older site, for the sake of displaying this concept page. I kind of miss these old photos, actually!

Please let me know what you think, particularly if you have any ideas or suggestions for making these pages more enjoyable.

Look for the new updates and posted galleries throughout 2013.

- Greg

Fred Flinstone was among a bag of 10 dispensers I bought at a garage sale. That's the day I started collecting!

"Pinky" Pink Panther (with yellow eyes) was released after the first version. From what I understand, it was deemed that first one was not pink enough.

I found this light pink-stemmed Dino at a flea market. Several have told me they think the stem is faded; I don't think so. It's evenly colored and it perfectly matches Dino's snout. Too much of a coincidence, but maybe...

Sponge Bob in his underwear was deemed unsuitable for U.S. buyers, so was it was discontinued. You can find him in Europe - still in his underwear - however.

The European "half-dressed" Sponge Bob. So named because his clothes are only printed on the front, and not around the sides like the U.S. version.

Classic & Recent Cartoons

The PEZ that started it all! Well, the ones that started me collecting, anyway. Many of these beloved character dispensers actually date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Click the colored rectangles above for Quick Facts about some of my personal favorites.

The "Silver" Shrek Donkey was only released in Europe as a promotional for one of the Shrek sequels.

A lot of collectors pay close attention to paint and color variations from the Madagascar releases. See if you can tell the difference.

Sometimes a character - like Melman from Madagascar - is initially released in one part of the world (Europe). Collectors elsewhere will spend a bit of time and money tracking these down, only to see them released locally later!

During a recent trip to Austria, I passed on some of the Ice Age characters, thinking they were the same. Of course, it turns out that when I returned back to the States I realized there were new euro-variations!

True Story: I saw most of the animated films represented here for the first time AFTER I had collected these sets of dispensers! What can I say? I'm a PIXAR fan.

Feature Animated Films

Disney/Pixar has its own page. What I've listed here are other major animated releases, listed in the order of the theatrical release dates.

Some of these sets represent more than one release, i.e., sequels, with additional characters being added later, or earlier characters re-released with a variation. These sets also represent a mix of European and U.S. releases.

Some early Daffy Duck releases were made with a a "split" beak, like the one shown here.

Among my favorites are Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk. These are both non-footed vintage, and hard to find. I found Foghorn about a year before Henery.

I bought Petnunia Pig from a seller online that I later met in person. She (the seller) turned out to be one of the "great" earlier collectors of PEZ back in the 1980s!

Notice the head color variations between the two Wile - E - Coyote releases. The later is often referred to as "the green" one.

Look closely and you'll see that the first Tweety has tiny "removable" pieces for the eyes, and the next has hand-painted eyes. Many early PEZ were hand painted by homeworkers..

Looney Tunes

Everyone's favorite classic animated characters. My collection represents a mix of both vintage and non-vintage, as well as European and U.S. Releases. Like so many PEZ licensed characters, you can see a progression that also represents the evolution of the animation through the decades.

Click for more Looney Toons Fun:

Obviously there are a lot of different little variations for Sylvester as he progressed through the years. Among the less common, is the Sylvester with "midnightt blue" head coloring.

Tasmanian Devil, another personal favorite. Those shown here include several European release with printed stems.

Speedy Gonzales. Here is an example contrasting the older with newer animation. Vintage Speedy can be found with a lot of interesting head colors, from rich brown to olive green.

Q: Why does Yosemite Sam have two different mustache lengths?

A: Because the European version made room for snap-on "body" parts.

What is your favorite Looney Tunes Character?

As you can see in the Tom and Jerry variations, there are small molded plastic pieces used in the earlier releases, while the later ones are all painted and/or decals.

A comparison of the Droopy Dog variations shows how the earlier one had ears made of separate pieces, while the later one was revised.

Speaking of dogs, Spike the Dog variations shown here include a combination of hand-painted and multi-piece features. The purple stem is a bit more rare.

Tuffy the Mouse, both a U.S. and a later European version shown.

Barney Bear is perhaps the lesser known of the MGM cartoon characters. His head is very similar to the Icee Bear, though his is made from two molded pieces. Barney was only available in Europe.

The total number MGM characters that were produced is shown here. Notice a number of earlier pieces had small plastic parts, while the later releases are painted or decals. There are actually quite a few variations of characters out there, making for a potential MGM collection much larger than what I have.

Some vintage MGM can be found as well (pre-1987) though mine are all non-vintage, including a few thin-footed pieces. Scroll over the Fun Facts Buttons to test your knowledge of these classic animated characters.

MGM Characters