Just an exercise in curiosity at the moment: please list what you feel are the worst Tenyo tricks and why.

I'll go first: I think "Credit Card Slasher" is a really poor trick. Not because the illusion of the cut credit card is bad--in fact, using that lenticular material Lubor found for "Blue Crystal," it looks very good. But that silly plastic stick with something that looks like a mini-pizza slicer would never in a million years convince anyone that it could cut a credit card. So, we have a nice end result, but a dumb way to get there.

Agree? Disagree? Your nominees for terrible Tenyo?

Richard you got your names mixed up. Very easy to do. What you are talking about above is Credit Surprise.

My worst would be China Surprise. The weird thing is that you would think there is a glut of these and that they would be selling for $10 but it still sells for around $40. ????

The China Surprise is a real piece of crap.

I thought China Surprise was a stupid concept soon as a read the effect. Simply awful has to be the worst.

Here you'll find some nominées already!

It's funny, I really like Credit Surpise , and I hate The Cutting Edge (wich is the best tricks of the 2000 line according to Richard Genii Review ), So as usual tastes are so different that it is difficult to get an idea.

My worst trick are : Money Cutter /Cloud Money / Psychic Money / Pillars of Thor (never understand how to perform like in the video ). It seem that The trick names with the word "Money" are cursed for me.

Occident can not understand China Surprise. As I say in my trivia on the blog there is a reason of that plastic food.

And for The Credit Surprise :
"would never in a million years convince anyone that it could cut a credit card"

This is the principle of all of this kind of trick. Do you really think that spectator think the lady is really cut in half with a thin blade in the grand illusion ? or they think the plastic red blade from Trisector can cut the bill ? Etc etc etc...

And if you want there is Tips for Credit surprise on the review on blog : " there are magicians who prefer to use a real knife to cut the credit card for more realism , for that you have to cut, before the trick, the "gimmick" in a straight line whit a cutter and thus give the illusion that the card is clear cut in a straight line."

I like Credit Surprise as well. I just have fun dramatically cutting the card with the pizza cutter. No, noone believes the credit card is really cut but the illusion always generates a smile. So even though it is not the most mind blowing trick, the fun I have performing it makes up for it.

My worst tricks I would have to say are Money Cutter, Magician's Finger, and Illusion Truck. Besides not fooling anybody there just not much to them that I would find interesting.

China Surprise is one of the only newer tricks that I haven't gotten yet. While there may be other bad tricks this is the only one that can not be performed at all on any level. Look everyone! It has turned into a...a...what is that thing?

By the way Madhatter Magic sells China Surprise for $12.95 in case you were interested in buying it for some reason.

John, you're correct: I definitely meant "Credit Surprise."

Magic is magic: if there's no genuine illusion of destruction, there's no genuine illusion of restoration. I don't "buy" the humorous aspect of the cutting. It's dumb and totally ineffective. What is the effect? "Look, I'm obviously faking when I pretend to cut this credit card. But, hey, it really looks like I've cut the bottom off!" That's not good magic. In fact, it's just a puzzle, which is bad magic.

Yes, of course you can alter the gimmick and use a real knife, however EVERYONE knows how difficult it is to cut a credit card in half! Even with a sharp pair of scissors it's a pain in the arse to cut. So the idea that you could zip through it with a knife is no better. This problem also affects "Credit Card Slasher," but it's mitigated in some way I can't exactly explain, but I "buy" it as a trick. The little sword really appears to penetrate the credit card. The trick would be much better if you did NOT use a credit card, though--but a signed business card or playing card. Everyone knows you can cut through paper very easily, so when the paper is cut and then shown to be restored, it becomes magic. "Credit Surprise" might become a viable trick if done this way.

Stereo: Grand illusion is an altogether different thing. Do people think you're murdering a person on stage? No. But the illusion itself is convincing and produces mystery and sometimes horror (in the case of Richiardi, whose buzz saw completely with flying guts and blood made people faint). But even in close-up magic you can achieve this. Just think of the Finger Chopper. Most spectators are afraid to put their fingers in it! That's the whole point of the trick--it scares people, even though they know at some level that you're not really going to chop their finger off! "Tri-Sector" is yet again different: it's a partitioning rather than cutting, like Harbin's "Zig-Zag."

I won't even dignify "China Surprise" with the words to describe how bad I really think it is.

"Illusion Truck" is actually a decent little trick. I've done it and fooled people. It's not immediately apparent how the figure could fit into the truck, particularly if you keep it turned the other way, so the figure's head is in the same orientation as the front of the truck.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=258

Thanks, tweety; I hope a moderator will merge these two threads.

Agree with John..... China Surprise is the Worst. Certainly the worst of the last 15 yrs or so anyway if not forever. Nothing surprising about it other than Tenyo actually deciding out of all the tricks they have thrown at them to actually put their name on this one and market it.

I agree china surprise is the worst one.

China Surprise is an abomination. Still, from a business standpoint, I wonder if this one was a profitable decision. It may have been. Isn't the majority of Tenyo's magic sales in Japan, where this food would be considered common place? I can't think of an American analogy, since so much of our culture is infused into the entire world (e.g. the hamburger), but maybe a similar trick would be successful in America if it utilized a commonly consumed American food.

Just rambling here...all conjecture...so feel free to bash me. God forbid I make excuses for this frickin' waste of money.

I often have DimSum and thought it would be fun to show wait staff --- Let me say again what a piece of crap!!!

One of the problems with "China Surprise" is that dumplings don't look like that in this country. The actual dumpling reproduced is called shumai, a steamed dumpling. And while it may be the custom to top it with a green pea in Japan or China (since in Japan all dumplings are considered Chinese food), I've never seen shumai topped with a pea here.

Of course, the fact that the method is ca ca doesn't help.

I've seen people fooled by Silk to Egg, even before the "explanation."

China Surprise looks so awful that it is the only Tenyo item I didn't buy since 1997 (Magic Rabbit)...

That plastic saw looking thing is pathetic. Tenyo really crapped out on that one. I lost the saw.

It's always helpful to remember that we are not Tenyo's target audience: it is laymen. Some of the items named in this thread have been items designed as big sellers for laymen, such as "Cloud Money."