Thought Transmitter - by John Cornelius
Price: around £37.95 from emagictricks.co.uk
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=2219
Difficulty: 2/5
(1=great for begicians, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Description
A small black wallet-style jotting pad - about the size of a regular card wallet - with a notepad inside and a 'symbols' card in a plastic pocket on the outside top. Can be used to read spectators thoughts, or to magically influence their thoughts. The wallet can also be used as a shiner.
(example of performance)
The spectator is handed a pen and the notepad. The magi walks away and turns his back. They're asked to open the notepad and think of a symbol, number or word, and write it down inside the wallet. Then, they close the wallet, secure it with an elastic band, and the magi returns. He shows them the 'influence' card which was stuck on the back of the wallet, and explains that they could have drawn anything.
The magi takes another piece of paper and draws a small 'smiley' on it... which freaks the spectator out - because that's exactly what they drew inside the wallet!
Review
John Cornelius - who's he? Well, he's responsible for probably more magic than you'll think... He's been a consultant to Siegfried and Roy & David Copperfield, and he's a performer and teacher, travelling the World, winning accolades such as World Champion for close-up card magic, and World Champion for card magic - plus numerous creativity awards.
You've all heard of the Bendable Pen, Pen Thru Anything and the Perfect Pen??? What about the Muscle Pass - where a coin 'falls up' out of your hand? And have you ever heard of the 'Every Card Trick in the World in Ten Minutes' routine?
That's John Cornelius - FISM prize winner, and IBM Creativity Award winner - 3 times! His magic is close up and personal, and his effects are pure creative genius.
The Thought Transmitter was one of those must-have devices... I saw one being used at a small gathering in Spain, where a young American guy was freaking people out with mentalism effects. As I strolled over, I saw him do a routine with the Thought Transmitter - and I was blown away. I've seen 'peeking' devices before, but this was something really different - totally black and opaque, small, flat - no way could he have peeked inside.
When mine arrived, I was greeted by a small gold covered box containing the device. At this point, it must be said, I had no idea how this effect was done - and when I read the accompanying literature, a cold shiver ran down my spine... I picked up the wallet - drew a picture, and worked the gimmick - awesome.
I'd created myself a routine within 10 minutes, and I'd performed it within half an hour to 3 people. Each was more stunned than the last - they were looking so hard to try and work it out, but to no avail. This is seriously good, I thought.
The quality of the goods is a bit iffy - there are improvements which could invariably be made, but all in all, perhaps I'm being picky, as the device works ALL the time, EVERY time. It can be repeated over and over and over - even to the same crowd. It's almost perfect.
My main concern is that although this is quite obviously a note-pad, the spectator is required to write or draw on a small post-it note stuck onto the pad... seems a bit illogical, but curiously, no one's questioned it. And it's a bit lumpy... it could have been made flatter, I think. Some Seige modifications in the future, perhaps?
But then again - the actual mechanics of this device are something which could not have been done 10 years ago, and the device is said to use 'space-age' technology.
Ahem... I've read about similar devices being in existence for some time, but I agree that the neat, compact appearance and sheer portability and innocence of the lovely little gimmick seem to outweigh the poor quality by some degree.
Overall
If you are into mentalism in any way, you'll love this. There's no sliding doors, no holes, no flaps, no see-through bits - quite literally, something is drawn inside, the wallet is closed, and yet you can 'see' whatever it is quite clearly.
What more do you want???
Rating: Effect/item: 10/10, Quality of goods: 8/10, Value for money: 10/10
The bottom line...
This can be performed by a beginner, but the actual effect itself needs to be done by someone with experience of patter and misdirection - hence the '2' difficulty rating. I think the 'gaff would be blown' by a begician, although there's absolutely nothing complicated about the actual performance.
Near £40 is a lot of money for this gimmick - but if you consider that used casually, it could be a reputation maker, then perhaps that's not such a big price to pay after all. The gimmick is said to last for hundreds of performances, but 'refills' are available.
The secret AND the gimmick together are certainly worth the money, in my opinion, and this has gotten some of the strongest reactions I've had. It's a break from card magic, too, as cards are normally the centrepiece of many of my own mentalism routines.
This device makes you an instant mindreader. That's the bottom line.