• A haunted Tic Tac box
• An impossibly balanced Tic Tac box
• A drawing that penetrates a Tic Tac box
• A Tic Tac which penetrates out of a box
• A coin pentetrating into a box (similarly Hate Tic Tac and Minted)
• A corner of a card melting through a Tic Tac box (similarly C-Through)
• A whole signed card appears inside a Tic Tac box
• Borrowed bank note to Tic Tac box (and version 2 on DVD)
• A Tic Tac is magically crushed in a spectator’s hand
• An appearing, vanishing and penetrating Tic Tac
• Lots of Tic Tacs penetrate the box at once
• A collection of Tic Tac tricks
• A dollar bill turns into a box of Tic Tacs
• A prediction written on a Tic Tac box changes to match a chosen card which then changes to match the original prediction
• Another prediction – this time stored inside the Tic Tac box
• Rip and restore the cover of a Tic Tac box
• An empty Tic Tac box instantly fills and then the Tic Tacs jump from box to box
• Not forgetting Mint – a card in box we reviewed some years ago…

Today we’re going to review and contrast Minthru by Arnel Renegado and The Box by Mickael Chatelain – both of which have the same effect – a Tic Tac penetrates the box.

Although the effect is the same the methods are completely different. So, I would venture, are the explanations. Both releases come as a digital download – The Box runs to around 12 minutes whilst Minthru manages a performance and an explanation in less than 2 minutes! Yes, you read that correctly! Less than two minutes.

The 16 second trailer is worth watching and gives you a fair view of the effect.

It is very visual, everything is examinable at the end. In fact the only drawback is that it isn’t exactly instant re-set. (Though you could arrange things so that you could repeat it I suppose – but I think it is more of a one off or even a showreel effect).

The Box (not an imaginative title!) is slightly different. The penetration takes place under momentary cover (you wave your hand over it) – but again everything can be examined – more or less. In fact, the box itself is gimmicked, but it could be pretty fairly handled by the spectator without fear. Again, the trailer is accurate.

SInce this is a download, you will obviously need to make your own gimmick.  But this is just about the easiest of these kinds of things I have seen. It will take you less time than watching the Minthru video!

I really like The Box. In the past I have not always been a great fan of Chatelain’s gimmicked card magic – but this is really good. The gimmick is very simple yet effective and hidden in plain site. It could be instantly repeated and still be just as fooling.

Minthru is not terrible, but I think you can tell which I prefer. And at less than three times the price but 8 times the teaching, The Box somehow feels like better value too!

You can download Minthru for £5.50 or download The Box for £14.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Minthru v. The Box – Tic Tac magic review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

At this point it is probably worth showing you a video – and it really is as fair as you see.

What do you get?

You get a simple but ingenious little gimmick, some supplies to make a replacement one (and you could get more supplies fairly easily I think), and a link to some online instructions. This really has to be the most minimal release I’ve ever seen! You will need to supply a deck of cards, including (for the routine taught) a duplicate card.

Chris Webb covers the teaching – which is only about 15 minutes long. He carefully explains how the gimmick works, how to perform the basic routine (including how to force a card if you can’t already do this), how to ‘get clean’ at the end, and how to make a new gimmick. His explanations are clear and well-paced and cover all you need to know.

The restoration really is very visual and slightly eerie. It is very easy to do – probably the hardest part is actually ‘ditching’ the gimmick at the end since there will be quite a bit of heat on the card at that point. But with a little practise to get that smooth it seems feasible.

I like the simplicity of the effect and the visual nature. Reset is fairly simple (positioning the gimmick on a new card) though I would probably want to do it out of sight – which might make this a good ‘closing’ effect. That being said, although in theory you could keep the gimmick in place on a card for a whole set, in practise I think it would be rather awkward – so this might be more of a ‘one off’ sort of a trick.

You will need a little distance from the spectator to make this really convincing and you wouldn’t want to perform it surrounded since angles are a little awkward. This isn’t really a big deal though. I think this is a neat effect though for me it probably won’t make it into my working set in spite of the great visuals.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £23.50 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Arnel Renegado – Mutate – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.