Great ideas in the Japanese Mini-Morphosis instructions

[kellebotond]

I have just compared the English and the Japanese Instructions of Mini-Morphosis. I do not know if any of you have found this earlier or not, but there are some great additional ideas at the end of the Japanese instructions that are not included in the English version at all.

There is an idea using a coin instead of one of the balls. (I do not understand how the noise of the coin falling could be avoided). Or maybe the noise is not a problem? It could be that if the coin would really make a noise anyway if it would penetrate the box for real as well.

But it is the other idea I really like. It uses a glass instead of the curtain. It seems for me that the top of the lid is just set up without being locked. And the glass keeps the gimmicked lid from making the exchange before you like. And you just have to move the glass to the side a bit to make the magic happen (of course some cover with your hand is needed).

This reminded me of Simon's presentation without the curtain. But adding the glass really make the effect stronger because it separates your hand and the box.

Maybe this is just new to me, bit I thought I should share this with you.

[SimonC]

What a good idea! I'm going to try that right now (the glass version) it's been a while since I've got mini Morphosis out. Cheers botond!

[Elliot W.]

Interesting! I have seen videos where people used a glass (Here's an example) which i thought was very clever. I did not know it was actually in the instructions. Wonder why it was left out of the English version?

[Rob Rand]

Wowie Zowie!

But I inspected my English instructions of Mini Morphosis to discover that both extra routines, with the coin and the glass, are included!

NB Maybe because I had the Milton Bradley version of this effect...

[Brett H]

That is a neat idea with the glass! This is now the second trick where 'glass' is mentioned and I keep thinking of an actual pane of glass, not a cup. Oi vey.
My question would be what is the minimum diameter that the glass need to be to perform the effect. At that point, you could get creative and do the effect with steiners or brandy snifters.
Sure it would be a bit clunky to present in a bar. But hey!

I have been thinking about putting this on my radar for about a couple weeks now. Are you able to work with non-ball like objects, or do you NEED to use the balls to get the best effect?

I was thinking of doing a mini Siegfried & Roy and having a Lego assistant turn into a Lego tiger. But because they aren't round, I'm not sure if the trick would actually work or if they would transpose and be upside down.

An idea I had about covering up the noise would be to create a custom sheet that's really super long and attach it to the same size frame. So as you pull up, you'll have to grab the cloth portion and pull up on it, then do it again a couple more times. Like mile-long scarves.
I figure that it would be a big enough distraction that they'd forget about the noise. But not too long that they'd forget what's going on.

[VictorS]

JohnM explained the similar routine in his sister website http://funstuffonly.com/tenyo/performin ... -routines/
Is this a coincidence ?

[JohnM]

This is very odd.

The Japanese instructions that I have for the Mini-Morposis in the Japanese cardboard box labeled S3 does not have either of those methods. The instructions are much smaller than what Botond has.

The first we heard of someone using a glass was in a YouTube Video a couple of years ago that Elliot linked to.

The first mention of someone using a coin was here:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view ... c=340251#8
The coin suggestion was mine but I did not read it in instructions. It was also one of my first posts on the Cafe as well.

I wonder if Botond's instructions were printed after these alternative handlings were made public or if it is a coincidence that myself and the other fellow came up with this without seeing the instructions. I know I never saw the extended Japanese instructions.

[SimonC]

This sounds like another case for the Tenyo history and mystery squad!

[David DeTenyo]

Very interesting I'll check my instructions tonight.

Rob, MB never sold this trick. However Eddy's Magic did have a version.

[kellebotond]

As far as I can tell John's idea is different than the one in the Japanese instructions (Because he does not use a curtain for the trick with the coin). I think this is truly a case of independent creation. I think that these ideas are very clever.

From Angelo Carbone's reply in the tread John linked it seems that he did not know about the version with the glass being in the instructions eather:

"One of the tenyo guys showed me a routine involving dice. The lid was set to 'go' but to prevent it from doing it's thing, it was held steady by the forefinger. Next a die was placed slightly off centre on the lid and a large glass was placed over the die - mouth downwards. The edge of the glass now took over the position of the forefinger to prevent the lid doing it's thing. You could let go of everything and all that was seen is a die on the box, covered with a glass. Now the front of the glass was covered briefly with the fingers of both hands and the glass was shifted slightly to the side - allowing the lid to do its thing. The die was heard to drop and when the fingers were removed from the glass, it was seen to be empty. Die penetration. Glass removed, lid removed, die inside. Note: the glass needs to be wide and big enough to allow clearance for the lid to do it's thing within the glass."

At the bottom of the Japanese instructions I have there is a date: 2-8-11 (could this be the date the instructions were printed?).

Rob sent me his English instructions and the bonus routines are included there. Maybe later they discovered this new presentations and added them later to the instructions. So far I had 5 different Mini Morphosis tricks and none of them had these tricks in their instructions.

[Rob Rand]

Very interesting I'll check my instructions tonight.

Rob, MB never sold this trick. However Eddy's Magic did have a version.

You're right David, I have the Eddy 's Magic version, and that one has the expanded instructions

[Elliot W.]

This would not be the first time Tenyo has added routines to their instructions. for instance I believe the English instructions for Sun and Moon tubes have additional routines that are not in the Japanese instructions. Although in this case it is not a reprint but rather English instructions were just printed later than the Japanese instructions.

I don't know about the 2-8-11 date. Wasn't the trick already discontinued at that point? I know it disappears from the English catalogs after 2005 but it could be they sold it longer in Japan.

[Elliot W.]

Rob was nice enough to send me a copy of the revised instructions. It looks like they compacted the original instructions to free up an extra column to add the extra routines in.
My original instructions have (c) 1998 Tenyo on the bottom. Rob's has (c) 1999 Tenyo.

[David DeTenyo]

Just checked my instructions (c) 1998 and no special routines included.
Perhaps it's safe to say that only Eddy's Magic version has the additional routines included? Botond, are your Japanese instructions from a TENYO (and not Eddy's M.) Mini-Morphosis box?

[kellebotond]

I do not know because I do not have the packaging box, just the instructions. Or is there any other way to tell it form the instructions?

The front page of the instructions has the same text as can be seen here so I am guessing it is the Tenyo version:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BhKy2D26MLQ/U ... kage+a.jpg