Product description : Mickael is well known for his creativity in making gimmicks, he created some wonderful ideas with magnets, bits and pieces. I never went to the extent of using one of his creation, I don’t want to have too many gimmicks in my deck. However, Tornado Box is a very good idea which will open up many possibilities and routines and spark your creativity. You will be able to change anything you want drawn on the back of a card case.
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $26.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : As usual with all Mickael stuff, you get all your bits and pieces in a small plastic ziplock bag. It looks cheap and could be better, but Mickael doesn’t look like he’s going to change his habits. Inside, you get a small piece of paper with the link in order to watch the explanation video, which is both in English and French. The video quality isn’t the best, it has been shot with a webcam but you learn everything, the working of the gimmick, how to install it on a card case as well as ideas, more than routines, to use with your Tornado Box. You also receive the gimmick which is very very very well made, you can’t find any default on it because of the way it’s made, I’m very impressed with what Mickael achieved with this one. The gimmick is made in red Bicycle design, and you can only get it like this. I’m very happy and surprised with what I received, this is a really good surprise, for less than $30, you can’t be disappointed !
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 can only get it in red Bicycle back for now, you may ask Mickael for special order.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It does a little bit of noise when it’s activated, there is a way to get over this but you have to think about it.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The card case isn’t examinable after the change, you could remove the gimmick by removing the cards but it’s not that easy.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Since everything is made out of dry erase material, you will be able to write anything on it and erase it after. You’re not limited to only one reveal, you can customize your Tornado Box gimmick as you want, you can draw and erase it as many times as you want.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The fact there is nothing to break is a good point too, you don’t have to worry about repairing the gimmick, it’s a mechanical gimmick so you trigger when you want. The only downside is that you have to shake a bit the pack in order to do the change.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The way the gimmick is made is really clever, it gets rid of the usual problem that kind of gimmick have, which means you can show it from all side !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You can draw on all the surface, you’re not limited to a specific section on the pack ! So if you want to draw something which will take all the surface, you can !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The ideas Mickael gives are quite interesting, but you will develop your owns, and that’s the beauty of the gimmick, it will make your creativity spark : matrix, change, apparition, disappearances etc ..
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It can even be customized to your client name for example, so you have a specific trick for them.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]There is no actual gimmick in your deck so having Tornado Box on your case won’t affect your regular routines, if you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to use it !
Overall rating : I really like this, I first thought it would be garbage but Mickael did a very good job on this one ! This is the best version of changing something which is written on a card case, I still don’t know if I will be using it but I like it very much, 3.5/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, the move is really easy to do, I would say 2/5 stars.
Similar products : There are a lot of routines and gimmicks out there to do the same thing, but Tornado Box is the best in my opinion.