Sometimes a quick, ingenious LEGO build can have a surprisingly impressive effect. These PEZ dispensers from Alego instantly awaken some of my childhood memories. I remember taking short walks to the village bakery to buy some sweets with a coin I had rattling in my pocket… and these colorful and playful creations hit that sweet spot!

You know how much I like building with funky colors, but after seeing these PEZ dispensers, I couldn’t resist going to the supermarket to buy some for my children because to scratch that itch of nostalgia.

I was also curious how long PEZ have been around and found this on their website: “In 1927, Eduard Haas III conceived a new type of candy in Vienna, the first dispenser of which was not put on the market until 1949. Its name comes from the German word PfeffErminZ, if we take the first letter, the middle one and the last one of the word, we obtain PEZ.”

With memories renewed and history on hand, I reached out to Alego with some very serious questions:

Sam: There is a question we all need to know! How many PEZ are there in a dispenser?

Alego: Ha, there are twelve in the real version and fifteen in the LEGO version.

Sam: Ha, that’s great. Where did the inspiration for these come from?

Alego: As often I dig in my drawers to find “the” piece that will inspire me and I build around it, for this MOC, it’s the simple 1X2X5 brick that made me think of a PEZ collector. I was not very excited by the result of the first version, but it is by creating the series that I was more seduced by the concept.

Sam: If you continue the series, which other heads would you use?

Alego: I really like the Star Wars series, so the ideal parts for this build are any character with big heads.

Sam: Could you offer us a break-apart view so that the readers of BrickNerd can recreate their own PEZ dispenser?

Alego: Sure, here it is!

Sam: Thanks! They are so simple but very iconic. I’m curious, what does the LEGO community mean to you?

Alego: The community has definitely brought me out of my dark age, it’s really what made me want to build and inspired me a lot. It’s always a pleasure to see hundreds of creations per day that come from all over the world.

Sam: You built this after being inspired by the April Tools challenge on Flickr. Was the April Tools a creative inspiration for you, and do challenges like it help create connections between builders?

Alego: I don’t have a favorite theme when building MOCs but I feel more inspired when a challenge is launched like April Tools. It helps spark my imagination and encourages me to build some of my creations. And it’s always a pleasure to discover other creations inspired by the same subject.

Sam: Would you consider creating a Flickr group specifically for LEGO PEZ!?

Alego: Considering the simplicity of the construction, I think that most people can run with the idea, but the imagination has so many limits that I could be surprised!

Sam: Thank you for this colorful build! And excuse me, I’m now going to eat some candy…

What other LEGO minifigure costume head would make good PEZ dispensers? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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