Tenyo underrated

[Angelo Carbone]

I think Tenyo magic is seriously underrated. The effects and methods of Tenyo tricks are far original/diabolical/ingenious than some of the non Tenyo tricks on the market. People diss them as plastic kids tricks but to be honest, you can justify them in performances by telling your audience that you are about to show them the very first trick you learnt as a kid. This justifies the toy like nature.

Then again, not all Tenyo tricks looks like plastic toys. Three of the four new 2013 range look like 'ordinary' props.

[MagicGraphics]

Tenyo's plastic is like the Mahogany of plastic. The quality is superb, the finishes and colorings are amazing. Nothing is done simply or inexpensively. The way they use texture for both aesthetic and practical purposes is brilliant. To flatly say that a trick is not valid because it is made from plastic is naive IMO. I have seen items made out of wood that look cheaper than a fine Tenyo plastic trick. The small size of the Tenyo are ideal and the intricate nature of the ingenious mechanisms could not as easily be done in woods and metals. They are perfect little works of magic.

So in review we have SUPERB AMAZING BRILLIANT IDEAL INTRICATE INGENIOUS PERFECT works of magic.

[Richard Kaufman]

I grew up on magic sets where all the tricks were made of plastic and other lesser materials. The My Favorite Martian Magic set from AC Gilbert (1964) is an example of nice thick well made plastic. European sets still had good quality plastic into the late 1980s (not sure about now).

In the US, all the plastic items in magic sets are thin and poorly made, like Chu's Magic from China. Hanky Panky Toys (of Thailand) has some very good quality plastic items in their magic sets.

Whoever manufactures Tenyo's plastic items for them does a superb job.

[Tom Leyland]

Most things are rarely made with the love and care they used to be.

I agree with Angelo though, even from plastic, there is very little quite as brilliant as Tenyo magic.

[steve henderson]

I think Tenyo Credit Slasher is very underrated in my opinion. it is a classic mechanical gimmicked prop and I for one love performing it with my spectators credit card. Great trick! SH.

[Jonathan Townsend]

I think Tenyo magic is seriously underrated. The effects and methods of Tenyo tricks are far original/diabolical/ingenious than some of the non Tenyo tricks on the market. People diss them as plastic kids tricks but to be honest, you can justify them in performances by telling your audience that you are about to show them the very first trick you learnt as a kid. This justifies the toy like nature.

Then again, not all Tenyo tricks looks like plastic toys. Three of the four new 2013 range look like 'ordinary' props.

there's no such thing as "ordinary". The scare quotes make the point of <<<obvious at a glace contrived, fake, suspect, probably made in a factory for trick things >>>

The product engineering and design work on Tenyo items is fine/impressive/inspiring. I would not be surprised to read that Tenyo is six-sigma company. Opening up a Tenyo item is like unwrapping a present that keeps on giving delight as you inspect the props and consider how the mechanics operates. But that's about you the consumer of clever/trick/magicshop items. Not sure what that means when you are looking to offer audiences an experience of magic.

Are the tricks scalable? Can one replace the props with things which are mundane in context to have tricks that will get "diabolical" reactions. You know the ones - where people take you aside and start talking about their occult beliefs and such..

[Pete McCabe]

there's no such thing as "ordinary".

Jonathan, please don't take this the wrong way but you have lost your mind. I hope it is only temporary.

I remember reading about a magician many years ago who visited some "less civilized" society and made a coin vanish. The response was "fascinating, you have a coin that vanishes." When he took one of their objects and did the same vanish, the response was "holy [censored], you are a man with the power to make things vanish."

There is such a thing as ordinary. It's the most ordinary thing in the world.

I have read that one of the most reliable idea generators the members of Monty Python used was to imagine either 1) an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances (a customer at a cheese shop that has no cheese) or 2) an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances (I'm sorry but if you say "mattress" to Mr Lambert he puts a bucket over his head). Perhaps this can be applied to magic. We can do something extraordinary with an ordinary object (vanish a borrowed coin) or do something ordinary with an extraordinary object (print money with a plastic pair of rollers).

[Jonathan Townsend]

It's the distinction between scare quoted 'ordinary' and what we accept as ordinary in context. I agree with the argument you made with your example of audience reactions. Harry Lorayne's been championing using a borrowed deck of cards in his writing for a long time. Yours truly went away from using special silver coins to borrowed quarters to help bring the effects from the magic shop/theater pretend world across "once upon a time ..." into the audience's immediate reality. Doing a copper/silver transposition with a borrowed quarter vs using a half dollar was an eye opener.

BTW my mind is not lost. It ran away one night and sends me postcards on occasion with no return address.

[Pete McCabe]

But can we agree that the notion of "scare quotes" is entirely made up by you and has no bearing on Angelo's meaning? At least, until we hear from Angelo?

[Jonathan Townsend]

...can we agree that the notion of "scare quotes" is entirely made up by you and has no bearing on Angelo's meaning? ...

I can't take credit for the notion of scare quotes so that's a no to the first part of your question. Here's a link for more about scare quotes.

Agreed that Angelo can speak for himself about the mundane contextual relevance of the props in question and to what extent that affects the mystery and magic for audiences.

[Pete McCabe]

Sorry, I misunderstood the use of "scare quotes." My bad.