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Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 7:59 am
by Mark F
Hi - I'm new to posting here (obviously :crazy:).

Sorry if this has already been discussed...

An online magic shop has posted news that Tenyo discontinued their whole line of tricks and has stopped manufacturing. I assumed that this store posted the news to create demand for their own stock but my local magic shop owner told me that he heard the same news. All of this seems hard to believe especially given that a seller in Japan sent me a preview of the 2010 offerings. Can anyone confirm the news as truth or rumour?

Thanks!

Mark

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 10:22 am
by Richard Kaufman
I've sent an e-mail to someone I know who works at Tenyo and will publish a response as soon as it comes in.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 11:00 am
by Dale Shrimpton
I know one thing. If this is true, watch the prices on ebay rocket.

( Lets hope it isnt.. Tenyo is a huge part of all our lives.)

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 11:01 am
by Seuss
Dale Shrimpton wrote:( Lets hope it isnt.. Tenyo is a huge part of all our lives.)


was that sarcasm? if so kudos

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 11:15 am
by Mark F
I see snarkiness is the same here as it is on music forums. :grin:

If dislike Tenyo then I'm sure you'll be happy if the news turns out to be true. However, I love Tenyo and I'd hate to see them go. Clever toys like that are a big part of why I've loved magic since I was a kid. So it may not be your loss but it would be for me.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 1:57 pm
by Richard Kaufman
I still have a big Tenyo collection and every year I add all the latest items to it, be they good or bad. The bad ones stay in the boxes; the good ones come out and play.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 3:11 pm
by Steve Cohen
I am currently working on the English instructions for one of the five new 2010 Tenyo items.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 3:15 pm
by magicman1953
Cool Steve, glad to hear that, no hints though?(not surprised)

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 3:32 pm
by Mark F
A Japanese seller I buy from saw the 2010 line as I said above. Based on his descriptions I wasn't too knocked out. However, there isn't any official info just previews the seller saw demoed.

But still I'd be curious if its true that they're discontinuing everything. I do wonder if they are going to stop distributing in the US. Maybe that's what the on-line seller is referring to??

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 3:44 pm
by Mark F
Richard Kaufman wrote:I still have a big Tenyo collection and every year I add all the latest items to it, be they good or bad. The bad ones stay in the boxes; the good ones come out and play.


They're neat things. I don't perform or anything so I like having cool little gimmicked things to show - and I just like toys and odd gimmicks. I know they're not real magic props but I love the invention.

I can really kick myself for not buying up a lot of them in the 90s when I had the chance. I never figured they'd discontiue so many.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:12 pm
by Richard Kaufman
I've also been tipped off about the new items. They are a step up from last year's disappointing line. I think you're all going to enjoy Angelo Carbone's Floating Card.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:20 pm
by Mark F
Richard Kaufman wrote:I've also been tipped off about the new items. They are a step up from last year's disappointing line. I think you're all going to enjoy Angelo Carbone's Floating Card.


Ah, now I'm encouraged. Didn't know that was Angelo Carbone's. How about Shrinking Pen?

Have to admit that I really like Animation Frame from 2009. I know its a lot like Floating Lady (which I don't have) and yes its kind of obvious if you're good at figuring tricks out but I got my 14 year old son with it and he figures most of my tricks out. It's cute.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:24 pm
by Seuss
Sorry Dale I assumed you meant our performing lives. Like Richard I do like them for the "toyness" of them and indeed toy magic drew many of us into the craft.

Sorry again if I came across salty.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:34 pm
by Richard Kaufman
As a collector of magic sets (perhaps ex-collector is more accurate, though I still have quite a few), I have always appreciated the qualities involved in these types of tricks. In Japan, all Tenyo magic is sold to laymen ... magicians aren't interested in them. It's only outside Japan that the tricks are popular among magicians. So, it's difficult to criticize the tricks unless you define which group of people you're speaking for.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:34 pm
by Mark F
Seuss wrote:Sorry Dale I assumed you meant our performing lives. Like Richard I do like them for the "toyness" of them and indeed toy magic drew many of us into the craft.

Sorry again if I came across salty.


I understand that folks do mistake Tenyo for performance magic - which is probably frustrating for people who work years to perfect an act. But wouldn't it be disappointing for a company like Tenyo to discontinue its product?

For me, if it wasn't for the old toys like King Tut or Imp Bottle and that kind of junk that my grandmother had lying around I probably wouldn't care one bit about magic. Tenyo just takes that stuff to a new level.

Anyway, maybe this thread is for naught and Tenyo will be alive and well?

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:36 pm
by Richard Kaufman
The problem with the Animation Frame is that it was designed to be done with Disney's character Pinnochio. And then it makes sense. And that's the way the version sold in Japan is--it uses Disney's artwork. Unfortunately, Tenyo doesn't have a license to use Disney artwork outside Japan, so we got an anonymous type of puppet. The larger problem is that Animation Frame is not as good as Tenyo's old Floating Lady--the method is inferior.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 5:47 pm
by Mark F
I hear you Richard and if I can ever track a Floating Lady down I'll have a full fledged comparison. I get the gist of the FL method - and it is curious that they didn't just replicate that.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 6:01 pm
by Magic Newswire
Ok.. this is a two week or older story started by a posting on MagicLegends.com which reads:

Please Note: In mid 2009, we received very disturbing news from the Tenyo Company. Their entire product line is being discontinued, and manufacturing has stopped on all of their effects! We are not sure if any of their products will be released in 2010 or not! We will try to get from them as many of the tricks that they have available, and if the trick is still listed on this page, it should be still available. Quantities are extremely limited, and if the trick has been on your wish list, now will be the time to purchase them. We are very sorry to see this happen with Tenyo, and their products will be sorry missed as they have created so many great effects over all these years!!! We have reduced the price slightly on each trick until they all magically disappear...

I don't know who these guys are, and I could be wrong, but it feels like they are trying to drive demand to clear inventory.

Steve Brooks is intimately involved with Tenyo right now with regards to the development, marketing and selling of the Tenyo Elite line of products.

I had heard heard this elsewhere, but reconfirmed with Steve that it is nonsense. He spoke to his contact at Tenyo when this rumor first surfaced and that person was none too pleased to hear that this was being circulated. Steve has no reason to think that this is true and, I think that based on what others like Steve Cohen have said, we can rest assured that Tenyo is alive and well. BTW.. isn't this their 50th anniversary year?

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 25th, 2009, 10:28 pm
by Richard Kaufman
I can confirm that the rumor is not true. There are five new effects coming out this year, and here is an advertisement for them in Japanese!

Image

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 12:07 am
by Mark F
Thanks Richard (and Dodd). Sad that a seller would post false information.

Also cool to see the ad for the 2010 line.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 6:25 am
by Henley
Thanks for the info, Richard. May I ask where you got the ad for the 2010 items?
I see the middle one on the left is Shinpei Ogawa's "Kore de Oshuumai!" (now renamed by Tenyo as "China Surprise"), a great little trick I've been getting a lot of mileage from. A tissue and a pea transform in the magician's hand into a "shuumai", a food well-known and loved throughout Japan.
Looks like now every time I perform it in a pub I have to wonder if any of the patrons own the trick! Anyway, I don't imagine they'll be releasing that one in the States.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 8:36 am
by Dale Shrimpton
Seuss wrote:Sorry Dale I assumed you meant our performing lives. Like Richard I do like them for the "toyness" of them and indeed toy magic drew many of us into the craft.

Sorry again if I came across salty.


No apology needed.

Of couse i didnt mean performing lives. most of their stuff looks too toyish. But the tenyo range for many people, ( myself included) that stepping stone between the kids magic set, and decent properly made magic.

though having said that, i still use my tenyo spots card now and again, and I have used the pencil through borowed hank at a couple of gigs, because the thing is well made, and quite deceptive. :)

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 27th, 2009, 4:56 am
by Mike Carr
I don't know who these guys are, and I could be wrong, but it feels like they are trying to drive demand to clear inventory.


Doesn't anyone remember this guy?
Web Copyright 1996-2009 Cyrene & [size:11pt]Hardeen H. Houdini[/size] & MagicLegends.com.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: August 27th, 2009, 5:10 am
by Matthew Field
Angelo Carbone has shown me his Floating Card (in prototype) and I can tell you it is a killer.

Matt Field

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 11:50 am
by Mark F
The excellent eBay Tenyo seller Magico has the 2010 line up for auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wow-How-did-you-get ... 286.c0.m14

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 6:32 pm
by Richard Kaufman
Tenyo is putting out five tricks in the US, so unless they've substituted something entirely different for the Shumai, it will be in the line up.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 8:14 pm
by erdnasephile
I think the Shu Mai trick is hilarious (but I suspect it will be lost on many US audiences--at least for those that have never had Dim Sum). I'm pleased that it's not a cut and restored, penetration, or mental effect (which are Tenyo's historical leanings).

It makes me wonder, however, where would it be appropriate to perform this trick? In the US, the only place that would make sense is at a Dim Sum restaurant.

However, if you perform it at a Dim Sum restaurant, you'll be expected to eat the thing, which I'm sure would not be a pleasant experience (plus a shuttle pass with Dim Sum sounds downright messy!) :grin:

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 9:35 pm
by Richard Kaufman
It depends on how well the shumai is steamed. :)

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 7th, 2009, 4:21 am
by Matthew Field
[Homer Simpson voice]:

Mmmmmmm. Pork shumai!


Matt Field

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 7th, 2009, 4:31 am
by Henley
Besides the fact that most people in North America have probably never seen a shuumai, the patter for the trick is based on a Japanese pun.
"kore de oshimai" means "this is the end", so in this case when the trick is over you say "kore de oshuumai".

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 7th, 2009, 8:25 pm
by Richard Kaufman
Maybe Steve Cohen, who is writing the English-language instructions, will post a note here and tell us if the shumai trick is included in the line for outside Japan.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 7th, 2009, 11:21 pm
by Henley
Last Sunday the 51st Tenyo Magic Festival was held in Tokyo, where they introduced the new line.
http://hms.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2009/ ... -5670.html
(some guy's blog in Japanese)

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 5:29 pm
by Magic Newswire
Mike Carr wrote:
I don't know who these guys are, and I could be wrong, but it feels like they are trying to drive demand to clear inventory.


Doesn't anyone remember this guy?
Web Copyright 1996-2009 Cyrene & [size:11pt]Hardeen H. Houdini[/size] & MagicLegends.com.


I don't. Tell me more.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 6:26 pm
by Magic Newswire

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 6:54 pm
by Dave V
Looks like him. As nice as he seemed to be in person, I don't buy his story. Not then, not now. Having said that, I wouldn't trust him to be a reliable source either.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 7:50 pm
by Richard Kaufman
The guy is full of baloney.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 9:28 pm
by Terrence
Agree -- I think this is the pretender that 'Houdinis Ghost' was referring to.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 10:22 pm
by Steve Cohen
Yes, I have written the English instructions for the shumai trick.

The shumai dumpling looks perfect - really perfect. I showed it to my Japanese wife, who said that the Tenyo gimmick looked good enough to eat!

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 10:43 pm
by Richard Kaufman
At least it will be fun to perform in Japanese restaurants.

Re: Tenyo - Status of Company?

Posted: September 20th, 2009, 10:54 pm
by Jonathan Townsend
What next, chink-a-chink using dumplings?

Anyone frying dollar bills into eggrolls - is that your cabbage?