talkmagic.co.uk

[mistress of magic]

The Effect
While it would take too long to reveiw every effect in this set, I will just tell you about what's in it, and what the effects are like. In this set, you get- a magic drawer box ( make items disappear and reappear), a zigzag pencil (zigzag girl illusion but with a pencil), mystery dice (You can tell which number a spectator has chosen on the dice), the disappearing coin (vanish any coin), Anti-gravity bottle (suspend a peice of rope form a bottle, or suspend the bottle on a rope), magic cards/svengali deck (cause an entier deck to change from being completely different to all the same card) and of course, a magic wand. It also shows you how to do several effects with everyday objects. There's quite a lot of effects in here but I suppose the best ones are probably the cards and the magic drawer box as they have so many posibilities.


Cost
I'm sure this is about £17.99, from index

Difficulty
1
Review
This is a half decent magic set, it comes with lots of effects but doesn't really concentrate a lot on presentation, I suppose this is same for most childrens sets but I would like to see more sets explain the importance of presentation. Also, there are a few 'dodgy' effects, such as "Ten out Of Ten". The spectator selects a card and the magician asks what it was, after they have been told, the magician says "Well done, you should be the magician". But apart from those things this set is very good, and finishes with some "tips" like "Always look after your tricks". When I got this set, it also came with a video showing a couple of the effects being performed quickly, but no secrets as the video was the same for another set. The video showed how to do a few homemade magic tricks.


Overall
Do I like this set? Yes, it's not as good as my Marvins Magic Executive set but is ideal for someone just starting out and neading a few effects to start them off. Would I buy it again? Yes. Perhaps worth a look if you are looking for an inexpensive set for a young magician just starting out.

[Mandrake]

If I remember right, one of Stephen Mulhurn's Magic Sets was voted tops in a recent poll of 'must have' Christmas toys. Even if it has a few drawbacks, it's infinitely better than a lot of the expensive dross peddled during the season of peace and goodwill!

[mistress of magic]

Was just having a look at his website, www.stephensmagic.com/
I especially enjoyed the magic tricks section, it read
"Page under construction. My team and I are currently working on some magic tricks that you can make from things you might have at home."
This worries me due to the fact that they've been working on these tricks for about 3 years now, and that the stuff needed to make them will probably not be found in my home, well, nothing can actually be found in my home due to the mess.
I also like the great games bit - "My team and I are currently working on some crazy magic games. Keep checking back to see if they're loaded, they're going to be really mad fun"
Does anyone else find that a tad scary?