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The Tic Tac book

Price : not yet agreed on

Ok here we go..

This is a compilation of effects using.. shock horror Tic Tacs..

I was 'lucky' enough to get a free review copy . So lets get straight into it.

Tic Tac'd ( Micheal )

A coin visually penetrates a tic tac box.

Ok, inspired by Pual Harris and I understand it is the same method ( I will have to check that when I get home ) . In any case.. how many coin in tac tac boxes do we need. The method doesn't seem practical to me. 4/10


Morphed ( Raymond )

Two Tic Tac boxes are shown.. one orange.. one original white. With a shake, one of the white Tic Tak boxes jumps to the organge Tic Tac box.

Nice Idea, not greatly executed. It has potential, but this isnt going to get strong reactions. 5/10


An Impossibility ( Mike )

A large Tic Tac box and a small Tic Tac box are shown. The Large box is full to the brim and the small box is empty. The magician pours all the Tic Tacs from the large box into the small box and they barely fill it up.

Sounds interesting, but again, this is a manuscript with NOT ONE SINGLE PICTURE, so understanding whats needed for the prep is confusing and the handling is so shady, I just dont see specs being impressed. A nice IDEA.. but not developed to its 'potential' yet. 4/10

Not My Taste ( Mike )

Effect : The magician shows an 'everest wintergreen' box of tic tacs.. Offers the spec one and has one for himself. The magician comments that he hates that flavour, takes the Tic Tac out of its mouth and it is now orange. To top it off, the whole box has changed to Orange.

Mixed feelings. First thoughts.. hated it. I mean why would you have a flavour that you didnt like?? After a few moments thought, I find it interesting.. with a little work.. it can be a nice little gag.. its not strong by any means.. but someone with experience and a love of Tic Tacs could work with this to make it something. 6/10

Out Taced ( Raymond )

Effect : The magician shows a photocopy of a single Tic Tac and explains that he has a revolutionary way of transoprting Tic Tacs so they pack flat. He dumps a real Tic Tac out of the photocpy and hands out the now blank piece of paper.

This one.. I actually like.. a lot. Very practical.. kind of suits my style too. The method is practical, the handling is extremely practical and you can be left clean with a little thought too. 8/10


Overall Comments

I dont know how much this is going on the market for but there is only one effect in this manuscript that feels finished. Sure the first effect is finished but it sounds like 4 or 5 other coin in Tic Tac boxes that already exist. Do we need another?

It does feel rushed. Apparantly this has received Rave Reviews all over the place. I dont know who has been reading it.

The Ideas themselves are nice.. but Mike seems to have an aversion to diagrams, which does nothing but hurt the final product!! With not one diagram throughout.. and with explanations as confusing as 'An Impossibility' its hard to get what is being described.

5 Effects by 2 very very young magicians, not very experienced ones at that (although the manuscript seems to praise them to high heavens with the now common sentence ' Mike has been a magician and sleight of hand artist for over 8 years.. etc etc ') and the fact that I can buy 10 effects from the likes of David Forrest for under £10, I dont see how this manuscript could be marketed for any kind of profit.

Effort: 8
Ideas: 7
Execution: 5
Content: 4

Overall: 5

Final Word

Raymond Vasquez saves the day with a finshed effect in Out Taced. by no means orginal in idea, but I felt relieved that there was something in this book I actually enjoyed and would be comfortable performing.

Sorry Mike.. Ideas are there, but this is way too early for release and I dont feel the content justifies a price tag. Its not finished.

Thank you for your review ID, and your thoughts. And no, Tic-Tac'd doesn't have anywhere near a similar method to the Harris effect. The two are VERY different.

And, this is going for $9.99 at Fearson's new website project, to be released soon. Check out another review of this, and

Note from Mods: Sorry Michael but we don't allow uncredited copy and paste jobs from other discusion boards. ID has offered his personal Review and, until someone else buys the effects and adds review comments, that's about as far as it can go for now.

Michael Kras wrote:Thank you for your review ID, and your thoughts. And no, Tic-Tac'd doesn't have anywhere near a similar method to the Harris effect. The two are VERY different.

And, this is going for $9.99 at Fearson's new website project, to be released soon. Check out another review of this, and

Note from Mods: Sorry Michael but we don't allow uncredited copy and paste jobs from other discusion boards. ID has offered his personal Review and, until someone else buys the effects and adds review comments, that's about as far as it can go for now.

See this is why I dont buy from youngins. They just jump in without looking.
From the sound of it you didnt put a lot of effort into writing the manuscript. Which is a big deal.. if the people cant understand what your saying, they arent going to be happy.

You say your "major" is English, so I would expect them to be very clear and crisp. But thats not what I hear.

Professional Magicians will sit on an effect before selling it. They will test them out on public, and perfect both the method and presentation. This can take years.

I would pull it from production or whatever, and re-write it, Add pictures, give credit where its due, etc.
Actually, I would also just hold off, and work on the actual effects and presentation. Sounds to me you just "figured" out some "neat" tricks and decided to sell them. Again without putting in the work they need or deserve.

Your so caught up with making a name for your self and making money, your just making a mess.

[And it seems the topic with your videos are gone... ]

Steve agrees, and we are editing and adding photos as we speak. Thank you for your advice, and I am sure this will be edited into something great.

Just a thought. This is the MTV generation.

Why not have a performance of one effect in the range, as an advert for the group of them. Then have video explanations available as instant downloads. Just a thought.

Steve Fearson is making studio videos of this, and they will be up soon.

hmmmmm sounds interesting

Michael Kras wrote:Steve agrees, and we are editing and adding photos as we speak. Thank you for your advice, and I am sure this will be edited into something great.

This does rather depend on whether or not the tricks are any good. I read the review thoroughly, and it doesn't sound that good to me. One can't make a silk purse, etc.

Good on you for trying, but try reading I'm Special, a post by Craig Browning before making any great leaps. Certainly what you don't want to do is damage your reputation by delivering c*** (not the best).

As for anyone, I am quite happy to offer free-ish (ie. no cash) pre-release review services. Not so much for content and copyright, but structure, readability, ease of understanding and use of English. PM me if interested.

5 tricks, ten dollars? With those descriptions, I'd go nowhere near it. They don't sound strong enough.

In terms of tic-tacs. I'd be impressed with:

Tic-tacs change colour with one shake, and again and then back.
Tic-tacs change colour in box under spectator's hands.
Tic-tacs switch from box to box under spectator or spectator's hands.
Tic-tacs change colour as you pour them out.
Tic-tacs openly and gradually change colour or swap colours in box(es).
Out of This World, with tic-tacs.

Good ideas, and I immediately thought of real worker's methods for those!! Great! I have Pm'ed you something. By the way, These ARE good effects... everyone except ID who has seen it before says so.

MIchael.. those were my opinions. They dont sound strong, certainly not enough to be part of a working prefessionals repotoire.

I like Out Tac'd. The rest just dont sound strong. I cant see anyone but young kids buying it. And the manuscript is no better written than your previous manuscripts.

I wasnt being harsh in my reviw either. I suggest you let someone else on Talk Magic review it for their opinion. If I am wrong, I will admit it, but I honestly cant see anyone else disagreeing with me.

You are full of ideas and I applaud you, but your not ready to release your own magic to the world.

Thank you ID, but maybe you should take a look at the Review I sent you Via email.


These are all tried and tested routines.... You are truly the first person to say anything bad about The Tic-Tac Book. I respect your opinion and thank you for it. And these effects do work well in the real world. They are real reaction getters, they just don't read well in print is all. Trust me, you try An Impossibility, MorphTac, or Not My Taste while doing walkaround and I guaranteee you will get good reactions. Raymond and I wouldn;'t be releasing this to the magic public at large if the effects weren're practical and killer.

Ok

checked Paul Harris Tic Tac.. the method is different.

As said though, the effect plays out the same and Pau Harris' handling is so much easier. How many methods do we need to get a coin into a Tic Tac box>

You have been told about posting links to other forums Micheal and no.. the link doesnt work

Tried and tested or not, they are not strong effects. You are a kid, what do you know about releasing magic to the world? I give you credit where its due.. but if you cant get your desciptions across in print, why print it?

It's happening again... how many times has he been given this advice? I also find this comment interesting - bear in mind this was after having read ID's review:

Michael Kras on The Magic Cafe wrote:But so far, we have heard nothing but good things about The Tic-Tac Book

He simply wants to do things his way? Let him.

Ok, it has been fixed. Anyway, what would a Tic-Tac magic book be without a Coin Thru TicTac Box..... Especially since the coin really doesn't have any way to get back out.