A year in the life of PEZ: the 2020 range at a glance

PEZ is once again offering a line-up of children’s favourite characters from the world of films, series and games in its 2020 range, too. A brief overview of this year’s PEZ highlights.

PEZ kicked off the year with a burst of colour in the form of the Trolls. The second animated film featuring the merry mythical creatures is set to hit the big screen in late March. As with the first film, the focus is on vibrant colours and lots of music. Friends Poppy, Branch, Guy Diamond and rock Queen Barb are already available in stores as PEZ dispensers.

Girls all over the world look up to the Disney Princesses. PEZ is now celebrating some of these role models with dispensers: while Cinderella, Belle, Rapunzel and Ariel are already available, a new version of Sleeping Beauty is set to be released in summer.

PEZ just wouldn’t be the same without Hello Kitty. The little white kitty gets a makeover every year. This year’s Hello Kitty looks like she’s just come back from an expedition in South America – with a llama in tow! The new Hello Kitty collection is now available in stores.

PEZmojis have become a popular gift – not only (but also) from people of few words. The only one to make it through from last year’s range is the poop dispenser. New additions include mean-smirking, laugh-out-loud, glitzy poop and thumbs-up dispensers. The story behind the laugh-out-loud dispenser is rather special: it was voted into the new line-up by social media users.

PEZ is dedicating an entire range to some of the biggest Marvel superheroes of all time. From the beginning of the year, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America will be available as PEZ dispensers.

The first big highlight of the year will start in spring with a special 2020 limited edition (250,000) trendy panda couple. This will be accompanied by the addition of special nashi pear-flavoured candies to the PEZ range.

Legendary American cartoon series Scooby-Doo, featuring ghost-hunting friends Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Great Dane Scooby-Doo, has been around since the late 1960s. Now a new animated film is set to be released in cinemas this May in virtually exactly the same illustrative style as the series. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo will be available as PEZ dispensers from as early as mid-March.

PEZ has a long tradition of bringing out Mickey and Minnie PEZ dispensers in a whole host of different styles. Late March this year will see the release of Mickey in a black tuxedo with a white bow tie and Minnie in a matching turquoise dress with a string of pearls and a large bow on her head. A more casual version will be available for those who prefer something a bit less elegant, with Minnie in pink and Mickey in red with mouse prints. After all, we all need an outfit for every occasion.

Another PEZ Disney range is set to be released towards the end of spring: Sheriff Woody from Toy Story, Lightning McQueen from Cars, Winnie the Pooh and clownfish Nemo will see a line-up of some of the most popular Disney characters as PEZ dispensers.

July marks the much-anticipated return to our screens of a global sensation: the Minions. Protagonist Kevin, rebel Stuart and childish Bob will appear alongside a completely new Minions character as PEZ dispensers. The new PEZ collection will feature the entire upper body of the yellow Minions atop the dispensers – overalls included! And to top it all off, a whole new flavour of candy will be added especially for the Minions range: you guessed it, banana!

Another PEZ highlight will also be coming to stores in early summer: Europe’s first PEZ Harry Potter range! The collection featuring trainee wizard Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron will be chibi style: originating from Japan, chibi is a greatly simplified version of a caricature. Here the emphasis is on childlike elements. A black PEZ dispenser stem featuring a white logo provides a striking contrast and carries some of the story’s mystery and suspense over to the three characters.

The focus in autumn will be on animals: the Italian preschool series 44 Cats is exciting, funny and to some extent educational – because it shows the importance of being friendly and helpful. The three cats Lampo, Milady and Meatball will be available as PEZ dispensers. And because people all over the world love cats, not only fans of the series are expected to be delighted.

The animated series Spirit is primarily aimed at girls from the age of six and is about a love of horses, friendship and shared adventures. Twelve-year-old Lucky finds fulfilment after moving from the big city to the countryside, where wild mustang Spirit becomes her trusted companion. As of autumn, Lucky and Spirit, along with the two horses Boomerang and – from 2021 – Chica Linda will be available in stores as PEZ dispensers.

The second PEZ edition of L.O.L. Surprise is also set to be released this autumn. The little L.O.L. Surprise dolls are sold as hidden surprise balls. Much to the thrill of collectors, some of the characters appear frequently, some less frequently, while others are rare finds. In keeping with the element of surprise, PEZ has hidden the dispenser heads inside a turquoise (in the second edition) box. Out of a total of nine different dispensers, three have been assigned to each frequency category – guaranteeing a whole new wave of frenzy amongst collectors.

There will also be new additions to the range of PEZ candies in 2020: Exotic Mix marks the in-store release of a PEZ fruit refill pack featuring the tropical fruit flavours banana, lychee, mango and nashi pear.

PEZ Fizzy Rolls will be packed in an all-new bag: a bright and hairy laughing monster with a mouthful of fizzy candies will greet customers from the shelves. One bag contains 10 rolls of fizzy candies in the flavours apple, strawberry and tutti frutti.

For dispenser images, please go to the press release of each licence.