Tenyo Magic Forum

As the tenyo haul on eBay got unlisted with two days to go, I had to console myself with some retail therapy. I saw this set earlier in the week and I'm really impressed with the range and quality of effects. There's been a long few years of drought for kids wanting to get into magic (in England at least) with very few specialist magic shops (my nearest one is in London) their only option is the standard array of low quality plastic tat. I was surprised to find effects if not heard of amongst classics (toast prediction? Genius!)
I'm not sure if its on sale in the US but it seems to be an American company (dollar bill used in instruction booklet) but it would make a fantastic starter set for young relatives.
It cost £20 ($30) which is a bargain considering the amount of items included.
Just thought I'd share it with you guys as I was pleasantly surprised.
The props included include..

Arm stretcher (you need a friend to help with this)
Production tubes
Bitten/restored Oreo
Toast prediction
Houdini rings
Marked/stripper deck & two gimmicks cards (unique marking system)
Toast prediction
Billiard balls
Egg bag
Money printer & gimmicks bills
3 hankies (a bit naff, definitely not silks)
Production box
Levitation gimmick
Money paddle (Moonspinner 'lite')
Book of 150 effects using the props
Instructional DVD (I've not got round to warp watching this yet but it says it has various magicians demoing effects)
That's about £1.25 per item.
On reading the book I noticed a few of the effects were created by none other than Angela Carbone so I thought it would have particular pertinence to us here on the forum.
All in all a great set and if you come across it I'd definitely advise grabbing one.

Si

The company that made the set is Fantasma Magic which is here in New York City. Last year one of their employees, Steve Vil, came over a few times along with John B, and we had some Tenyo show and tells. Steve invented the trick with the metal rings with the purple clip. I think it is called Houdini Escape. Steve told me and John B. that the owner sometimes brings Carbone over to do some consulting.

What you should look for is this set which is called the Astounding Set.


You can buy it here but the shipping will probably cost as much as the set.
http://www.toysrus.com/buy/games-puzzle ... 12-3806127

It contains a very cool illusion by Carbone called Squeeze Thru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOxIIm4bBE

I did a makeover on mine to make it look more like an older wooden apparatus with the nice Japanese paintings. I used the cord and pearl from Merlin's Coffer and made a dragon decal.


I sell the decal for the front and now sell along with it a really nice red cord and pearl.

Most of us here have the Squeeze Thru and many have the Dragon Emblem as well.

Fantasma Astounding Magic DVD Set at Toy R Us is another great one to get if for only one reason. It has Squeeze Thru by Angelo Carboner! It is only 20.00 USD Worth the 20 bucks just for this one effect alone.



Toys R Us:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3806127

Video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOxIIm4bBE

Richard

I think I was lucky enough to stumble across a random seller in colchester (it was an independent party shop) a little bit of online tinkering has opened up a whole new can of worms, I hope fantasma makes its way to England properly. I'll need a new rant for the pub tho, it'll blow my "there's no new stuff to get kids into magic anymore" schpiell, and gladly so.
Great stuff

Hummm I see John trumped my post while I was making it.
I'll have to be a little faster next time.

I need another sticker as I'll be damned if I know where I put it.
And didn't get the nice red cord with the pearl on it.

Look on your back, I stuck the sticker there along with a kick me sticker.

I just had an idea for a psychic routine..

As you lead your volunteer to the stage, you secrete a sticker at the top of their back, dead centre.
Then you tell them, "I will now make you kick yourself. Place one hand on your chest, just below your neck, and the other hand on your back, opposite the first" they'll discover the sticker and read "kick yourself".
They'll be "kicking themselves" you duped them with the sticker on the back gag.

Richard W wrote: I need another sticker as I'll be damned if I know where I put it.
And didn't get the nice red cord with the pearl on it.

Duh, you should have put the sticker on the magic trick when you got it and it would not be lost.

Now instead of charging you $3 for a new one I will charge you $30 to teach you a lesson.

For $30 you do get the red cord (very cool, it is shiny and looks like it has scales) and a real pearl.

I hope my wife does not notice that her antique pearl neckless is getting shorter.

Look at that, the CrazeCo. Acme "kick yourself" sticker has its first customer

It's not lost it is in the envelope someplace in that cabinet of 1000's items.

Good call, in a few years there'll be a forum for collectors of johns tricks, you'll be able to show off

I can get a Mr. Creepy magic set from a nearby toy shop for 15 EURO (20 USD) which is pretty cheap. Does anyone own it and if so, is it worth the price?

I've read some reviews and some of them aren't exactly very promising ... .

When my litle niece visits she always gets one trick from me when she proves she can perform the last one I gave her

Usually those sets have at least one or two 'gems' and the rest you can adapt to make better. I'd give it a shot, what a nice way to spend your Sunday afternoon

Thanks Simon, I just updated my post, it is actually for my litle niece but if there is a gem I will keep it for myself

I read David's recent post regarding magic sets and it reminded me of my favorite sets (aside from the Tenyo World set)! Melissa and Doug have produced a few magic sets for kids and all of the pieces are made of durable wood and are nicely decorated. Where were the sets like this when I was a kid? I had an Adams set that I received at about age 10 and it was filled with plastic stuff.

I have purchased three of the Melissa and Doug sets from Amazon, and my favorite is the Deluxe Set shown in the photo below:
It includes a small change bag, nest of boxes, vanishing cube and others. The other sets are good as well, however.

Discovery Set: Illusions Set:

I also like magic sets....I have a few (my most recent: the HolograFX)........I have learned that in most magic sets if you take appart the typical tricks you can find a gem......quick example: the Fantasma magic set with the Angelo Carbone trick.

I strongly recommend it to you David!..........not very innovative in methods but very neat props with special touchs on some classic effects.

I like magic sets....I have a few (my most recent: the HolograFX)........an I agree with Simon that in most magic sets if you take appart the typical tricks you can find a gem......quick example: the Fantasma magic set with the Angelo Carbone trick.

I can make a few observations about the Deluxe Set. This is something I picked up a couple of years ago.

The wooden Age Cards are solid and easy to handle. Each is a different color. A performer would not need to see the fronts. In the "Linking Ring" Dan Stapleton has a routine in which he presents this on stage with large cards in a cruise ship show. He gets a lot of mileage out of it, but I don't remember exactly what he does. Now I wish I had kept that issue of the magazine.

The most pleasing one is a cube that fits in a cage-like box, This is made of thin craft plywood and looks great. There are at least two interesting videos of it on YouTube. I wish I could remember what it is called.

Another winner is the large ungimmicked box with a circular cutout on top and hinged to open. For me it is a great way to do effects normally done "behind the back" out of audience sight. Because of numbness in my fingers, watching what I do is the only way to be sure I haven't dropped everything.

I am disappointed with the wand-without-a-middle box (the box with striped interior sitting on top of the die box type prop in the above picture). Mine has a gimmick cut too large and deformed when it was assembled at the factory. This destroys the illusion, rendering it unusable.

Another is the change bag. The wire is too soft and bends rather than operating the flap. I can fix this by doing some work using heavier wire.

The "coin tray" uses wooden disks, but the tray is so heavy and clunky it just doesn't feel good in my hands. It works fine. Maybe I can find a presentational reason for it to be so robust.

The equivalent to the Viking ChipSational is also heavy. Because it is a sarcophagus this might pass as reasonable. Still, it feels crudely made. (I know, considering the difference in price this is not a fair criticism.)

There are two or three other things included. I have mentioned the ones that are the most memorable to me.

I have a very old video of the Cube in the cage box (I also don't remember the name).....I performed it using a big die (not included in the set):

This is a magic show available on Ebay. Some of the tricks pictured on the package appeared to be fairly well constructed and several perhaps worth displaying on a shelf of props. I saw two large die and some tubes etc. Anyone know of this set. So many sets now offered are shoddily constructed from cardboard. Any opinions on the Melissa and Doug sets-worth the money? Any sets worth recommending because of their better quality?

Can you give us a link to the set David? Is this the one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kids-POOF-Slink ... 3a8af57ace ? If it is, it doesn't look so bad in my opinion. Some good tricks in there, the quality looks pretty cheap however.

Melissa And Doug's sets are more than worth the money from what others tell about it, one of the best magic sets there is, if not thé best. The items are made from wood.

The Fantasma magic set with Angelo Carbon's Squeeze Thru is worth the price because Squeeze Thru is in it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fantasma-Toys-A ... 19ed3c1b05 - the other tricks are so-so.

Marvin's Magic used to sell 'The Executive Collection' (two versions) with quality props, but they stopped selling it a few years ago. It is still for sale sometimes.

Another magic set that gets great reviews is Tenyo's Magic World: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenyo-Japan-115 ... 4d1d9795d1 - unfortunately there are no English instructions as far as I know.

I recently purchased one of the Mr. Creepy sets, here's an example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-John-Adams- ... 4acfd6ae89 - while most of the tricks aren't good quality some items are decent.

Hope this helps

That is the link to the set I mentioned. I saw two or three tricks that looked better constructed than usual, The Die Box(which is to the left) and a several tubes. Of course, that they actually look like when you open the package is another story

Your link doesn't work I'm afraid.

We started a thread about Melissa and Doug sets several months ago. Can we merge all of the magic set threads together? I think it would be helpful to have all of these discussions in one thread.

Perhaps we should use the Search function first... before posting a subject.