Review : 18+ by Bond Lee

Product description : This is something new and cool, far from your classic triumph trick ! It still uses cards (or not, it’s up to you) and will bring some new aspect to your magic. The basic effect is that you let the spectator selects and signs a card, lost it in the pack and you then hand out a condom to your audience. When they open it, they find their signed card inside ! But it’s not all, you can various object to condom, from ring, coin and even corner of cards. It’s a very versatile product, that can bring you a lot of laughs and amazement ! Is it worth anything ? Let’s find out !

Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $32 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !

What you get : You get a DVD case, which is quite unusual these days with all the downloadable videos ! Inside, you will find the DVD which is pretty well shot and even if the English is not their mother language, you still get everything you need to know. You also get 4 prepared condom with a red card in it and 4 condom with a blue card inside. I opened one, it’s actually a bicycle brand (which wasn’t the case with an other trick with condom called Magix) so it’s perfect ! You also get 8 unsealed condom, so you can load them before or during the routine with anything you want, a special gimmick is provided to be able to load it during the routine (so you can place a signed and folded card inside it). Overall, the quality is great and you shouldn’t be disappointed with it ! There is a lot provided and the refills are not even that expensive !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atCtTw-GRDU

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]The unsealed condom packet do not have a little sticky band so you have to put some double sided tape to close it.

[if !supportLists]– [endif]There is no visual moment on this routine, it’s just a “simple” object to condom. In Magix, you have the visual transformation of a card into a condom (what I suggest is you buy Magix and built the gimmick with the condom provided with 18+).

THE PROS :

[if !supportLists]– [endif]The routine is fairly easy to do, even the load is pretty easy to achieve ! Of course, if you don’t want to have the signed option, you can still perform the trick with a preloaded condom and you will just have to force a card.

[if !supportLists]– [endif]The fact that you can have preloaded condom with bicycle brand is an amazing plus. I’ve had Magix and the cards inside the condom are like poor plastic copy of bicycle which can easily be noticed by the spectator !

[if !supportLists]– [endif]It’s very practical, however you will need a jacket if you want to load a signed card inside the condom.

[if !supportLists]– [endif]The condom is fully examinable, people can look at it without finding anything. As I said, since there is no visual moment in the routine, I think the best to do is to buy Magix and remake the gimmick with the condom of 18+. So you will have the choice to use a preloaded one or no and have a bicycle brand inside it.

[if !supportLists]– [endif]The reset is pretty simple, just use another condom ! Since the refills are not that expensive so it’s something I would use a lot.

[if !supportLists]– [endif]I know people can be bothered by the fact you’re using a condom and that it would not fit any venue but still, I like the fact of performing new and fresh magic ! I think that with a correct pattern, people will like it a lot.

Overall rating : I like this a lot, I wouldn’t use the loading method because it requires a little bit of setup and I want to do it on the fly, with just a pack of cards, but still, I will perform this, 4/4 hearts.

As for the difficulty level, the load is easy to do but will take some practice, if you don’t do the load, it’s nearly self working ! I would say 2/5 stars.

Similar products : Magix by The French Twins is another option, with a very visual moment. Unfortunately, the condom are not as well made and you don’t have the choice of the card inside, they are plastic replica of bicycle, they look aweful.