talkmagic.co.uk

I was watching some old Wizard Product Reviews and I had put my foot down that I wasn't going to spend any more on magic for at least a month, but when I saw Detach by Rick Lax I thought it was worth CUPSing one last time.

The Effect

You blow up a balloon, stretch the neck and then detach it, leaving you with an apparently unbroken spherical balloon with no neck or air inlet, then reattach the neck, allowing the balloon to deflate. Can be done with any normal pear shaped balloon.

Cost

Mine was £15.99 from Dude That's Cool Magic

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

2-3 no classic sleights but you need to be able to pull the balloon about a bit and be conscious of your angles.

Review

I usually steer clear of one trick DVDs but when I saw this on WPR I immediately thought that it was slap bang right in the dead centre of the type of magic I perform and I knew I had to get it. The illusion of the of the balloon nozzle just popping away is a moment that just hits you and the audience as something which just can't happen... But did.

I think what made me notice it was the fact that it's basically a 3D analogue for the professors nightmare move where you take the ends off and end with an unbroken loop, because the vision you are showing is that of an unbroken rubber sphere full of air and a nozzle which was used to inflate it moments earlier. Somehow this elevates it above a standard snap restore trick.

The teaching covers pretty much everything but you'll need to rpactice a bit to figure out how best to tension the balloons... I cant say much more than that without giving the method away. there's one bonus effect which I wasn't much of a fan of but could go down a storm at a kids party, a one shot multiple balloon production.

I was worried that the effect (shot in that YouTube way on the trailer) would be angley. I'd sort of figured out through multiple watchings what was going on (but had no idea how he got it into that position) and I though if this has any flaws it's the fact that it might be angley. But it's not. With careful handling you can cover all your angles (except maybe over the shoulder) for the entire performance?

If I had to find a flaw it's that you can't show the balloon clearly separate. The trailer shows a kind of crossed hands position and I can't see how you would get the same effect so cleanly without it.

Overall

Beautiful effect, quick to learn, ends and starts clean, would go down a storm at any party where there are balloons ( which is all of them ) 100% my cup of tea.

8.5/10

Because it is mayyyybe a little pricey for a single trick, but I am going to get some mileage out of this. If you think you can too, it's well worth it.