Product description : João Miranda seems to be a very prolific inventor and producer these times, but this doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing ! When someone puts a lot of tricks out, it may be trash releases, just for the sake of money. Here, João proves that not only he is a prolific inventor but also a good one ! And one of the example is Mental Pen, one of his latest release. Basically, it’s a gimmicked pen which will allow you to do amazing routines, mainly mentalism ones but not only. Is it as good as the ad-copy says it is, let’s find out !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $39.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop and also on the website of the creator, João Miranda : http://www.joaomiranda.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=9091 !
What you get : You get the standard packaging from João Miranda which is a very nice cardboard box, fully printed with an amazing artwork. I really like those packaging, they’re good, neat and well done. Inside, you’ll find a card with the link in order to watch the explanation video, it is approximately 45 minutes long. João does a great job explaining the working of the gimmick and 5 very strong routine (especially the voodoo one). In the box, you can also find a regular sharpie as well as 3 gimmicks which is very nice attention because they’re so small and losing one would be easy. You also get something to reset the pen. Basically, you’re provided with everything you need to perform this trick right out of the box ! I’m really amazed by the quality of the small gimmicks, they must have been a pain in the *** to make. Really happy with what I received.
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You have to carry an additional tool in order to reset the pen, I would have liked something self-contained.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The most impressive thing with the Mental Pen is that the spectator will do all the work for you, you don’t have to touch, switch or do anything with the pen ! The spectator himself will trigger the gimmick, which I find very cool.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The gimmicks are really well made, I can imagine all the work that was needed to make such small gimmicks ! They did an amazing job and they provide you with 3 gimmicks so if you lose one, you can still take another one.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It will work on any Sharpie so you can easily fit the gimmicks on another gimmicked sharpie such as Smoke 2.0, Double Cross or anything else. You will have a powerful weapon all built into a simple Sharpie pen.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Even if you need something else is needed to reset the gimmick, the reset is very quick, I would say less than 10 seconds.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]This is more a tool than a trick in itself, I like the fact you can come up with your own routines, but I wouldn’t do all of them to the same spectators because they may find something weird about always writing with that Sharpie.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]This is much more intelligent than a pen that doesn’t write when it is hold upside down, João and his team really work this a lot !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It doesn’t take any space at all, it works as a regular sharpie so you don’t have any excuse for not carrying this !
Overall rating : This is an amazing tool that you can carry everywhere, you must have this in your pocket ! 4/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, nothing hard, the gimmick works itself, so you can fully concentrate on your routine and presentation, I would say 1/5 stars.
Similar products : I don’t know any other pen that can achieve the same effect. In the Engraved set by Metal Writing, there is a similar tool but it is used for another thing.