Would love to see Ellusionist address the real issue here, which was the accusation of false advertising. It seems that through all their responses, they have skillfully avoided addressing this issue. Not one word backing how these lenticular cards were a revolutionary new technology.

I also own Change and it is permanently in my junk drawer. I think most of us here on the Café are smart enough to know when we've been bamboozled

Their marketing guy made an attempt in the topic on "Iris" at justifying the release and claiming it was beloved by nearly everyone ordered. It was an insult to anyone capable of putting 2 thoughts together rationally.

They have made their thinking and ethic perfectly clear.

They'd all make decent politicians.

Sad story

I was just reminded of this product by a mention in a very interesting blog. It seems that the comments here are pretty one-sided, so I guess I'll give it the credit it deserves.

As an effect for magicians to perform, no....it's not good. However, as a "magic toy," I think it's pretty cool. And parts of it CAN be used.

My son had to perform something (anything) in a class late last year. As has happened in the past, he asked if I can teach him something magic. It's always more interesting than baton-twirling, don't you think? I had purchased "Change" on the secondary market for about ten bucks. I think that's a fair price, and I would likely get a little upset if I has purchased it at full price. The blurry king is the one item in the set that works well, so we put together a little routine where my son causes his spectator to imagine the card going out of focus.

Well, he was a hit. Got an "A." It certainly justified the ten dollar investment.

This is actually a very nice toy. Obviously, there's nothing new or revolutionary about it. It's not exactly "life-changing." Lloyd Barnes simply went to the wrong manufacturer. If he presented it to a toy company, many thousands of these would possibly be sold. As a toy, it really IS that good! Even the hobbyist magician would get a kick out of it. If it retailed for $10, it could be a big hit (and still make money....a LOT of money....there's really not much to it).

Personally, I would never, EVER buy anything from Ellusionist unless there were overwhelmingly good reviews for it. And then I'd try to buy it in a way that avoids Ellusionist directly.

I have a psychological problem. I despise liars and ripoff artists. Please note that those last two sentences are a separate paragraph and have no bearing on the previous paragraph.

Oh, by "late last year," I meant last school year. It was actually a summer program, so it was only a matter of a few weeks ago.

MJE, Unfortunately the majority of us bought this not as a toy......but as an effect that we could perform for our audience. Glad your child had fun with it though

Hey, if you get something out of it, that's great. MJE, had Lloyd gone to a non-magic dealer, many more may have been sold!

I think that most of the 'problem' lies with how the quality of the effect compared with the marketing it was given. One was poor, the other was outrageously overblown. The reaction some are having is not due to a (well) below-par effect (we've all bought them), but that something that was known by the dealer to be - to put it in the words of many reviewers - awful, was hailed by the dealer as revolutionary, etc...

Then there were the childish, "We've only got 999...really, that's it." which turns into, "Holy crap, we've got to get more. Let me call the guy that makes these at 3:00am..."

I agree with your comment,in that Lloyd/ellusionist hyped this effect as being revolutionary and a new concept to the magic world:

Ellusionist/Lloyd are either naive or it was a marketing ploy to take as many orders/money and make a quick profit, and then deal with the complaints afterwards.They certainly couldn't think that this was an actual new miracle to the magic fraternity...Unless they think most of there customers are naïve.
Iff they would not of hyped it so much as being a game changer in the world of magic,then maybe they would of just got the thumbs down and not recommended.Then people would of moved on after general criticism. But now they have dug a deeper hole for themselves to get out of.

But are they bothered ?

Graham

You've got to bare in mind that it was only Café members who were disappointed with this product. Allegedly.

I wasn't disappointed with CHANGE because I was a Café member. I was disappointed because I felt cheated by the advertising. I've heard a lot of people downing this board (not you Pegasus) because "we all" had a "bad attitude" about this product. Well, it was a bad product! If I wanted a toy I would have gone to a joke shop. But I didn't think Ellusionist was a joke shop and I foolishly preordered the product.

The real joke is when I hear people saying that the only reason we didn't like the product was because we use this board. Really?

P.S. Again, not a slam on Pegasus. His post just reminded me of how many times I have heard this board being accused of the failure of CHANGE.

Don, I believe pegasus was sarcastically referring to Ryan Jacobs - the Ellusionist Marketing Rep's - comments. I'm sure he wasn’t getting down on the Café. See this post on the Iris topic:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/searc......=8762244

Jim

No, I totally got that. That's why I put in two disclaimers in my message I totally agree with Pegasus. It just reminded me how crazy the whole thing was.

I just got this effect in new condition, second hand for $10 and I'm not sure I will ever use them at all (the first owner certainly didn't ever do anything with it). They look like badly produced toys, not real cards. At a bar, where it is dimly lit and people are intoxicated, you may get away with the blurry king or the headphone cord through card. I feel bad for those who spent $30 for it. I feel bad for spending the $10.

But how can that be???

Ellusionist claims that everyone (besides all Café members) loved it!

I really think everyone is just upset about the horrible way it was promoted. I bet if Tenyo put it out (which is probably what SHOULD have happened in the first place) and you got it for ten bucks, you'd love it. As magic, of course it's garbage, but it's still a cool little curiosity.

Nah.....I'd still hate it

First off, I'm not saying I like this trick at all (I'm actually never going to use it for real people) BUT if you want to check out a video of me using Change in a promo video here's a link: https://youtu.be/ATXRc4kLW1U

Change actually looks pretty good on video in my opinion