Product description : This is the new collection of tricks that is brought to you by the one and only Jeff Prace. Inside you will find 4 effects and 3 bonus one. Gum, ring, lighter, tic tac, no card tricks inside ! That wil be a strong pros for me, at least a multi trick DVD without a single card trick, yeah !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $24.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphys partner (so you can get it at your favorite magic shop)
What you get : You get a DVD of more than an hour, a bunch of stuff to make out your own gimmick. Everything seems to be quality, the teaching on the DVD is great and the atmosphere they put is very cool, you don't have the impression watching a magic DVD, very cool indeed.
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 :
It will be a 100% art and craft DVD. Don't get me wrong, I love DIY stuff, I love making my own material, I find it to be a very good way for creating new stuff and you know you can rely on the material since you built it. But this could be a con for anybody who hate Art and Craft, since literally every trick on there will require it at some point (There are some exceptions)
You do get a lot of stuff but you need buying some other things (lighter, necklace..) so you can't, for most of the trick, start of directly performing them (or you have the stuff needed at home). I wish the add copy would state what you need so that you can buy it before receiving the DVD and be ready for the making of the gimmick.
Some trick may won't fit your style, those who don't use headphone won't use the headphone trick for example (but at the same time, it can sparks your creativity and you may discover new things you wouldn't have done before)
THE PROS :
As I said, you do get a LOT of stuff, this is very generous from Jeff, he gives you enough to make multiple gimmick for each trick.
Some trick, well at least one, are completely impromptu. The straw thing is very cool if you are in a fast food since it requires no setup or gimmick and the illusion is (very) convincing. Other tricks, as long as you have them on you, do not require any kind of extensive setup which is a nice thing.
The color changing tic tac box is a thing of genius, the method is very cool. You do see tic tac moving before AND after the transformation, it's not a simple picture stuck on the box. I think this method can be used with other object, I just have to find which one.
The part on creativity where Jeff gives you some advice is great. You could be the best inventor in the world, you still have things to learn and those 15 minutes weren't wasted at all, it was fun and interesting.
I love the ring flight, I think it beats every other methods on the market, it's very simple but so effective ! You borrow a ring, make it vanish and it reappears on your necklace ! How crazy is that ? The method is ingenious as every other one on the DVD.
The routine called « Fuel » is the one I will definately use. It's an organic piece of magic with a regular Bic Lighter. Jeff has added a few of his own touches so the whole trick looks awesome and you have a nice kicker at the end.
The price is very reasonnable, for $24.95 you get at least 3 workable tricks with stuff included ! It's less expensive than a download.
Overall rating : I really enjoyed this product, I think it has one or two gems hidden in it. The only thing is that you will need to make your own gimmick, which doesn't bother me at all so I give it a big 4/4 hearts, I really liked this, since one trick went straight in my repertoire, it's worth the $24.95 !
As for the difficulty level, all tricks are fairly easy to do but will require some skills in art and craft so 3/5 stars but only for the making part of the tricks.
Similar products : I can't find any other project about various trick not using a single piece of card ! This is kind of unique which is quite cool I think, nice work Jeff.
Thanks to Murphys Magic for sending me this product !