talkmagic.co.uk

http://www.ellusionist.com/order/Mindbender-Card-Bend.php

They say
Tired of bending forks? Borrow a deck of cards. Ask the spectator to pick out any card from the deck. It does not matter which.
You can barely even touch the card as it is placed on the back of your hand.

As you stare at the card intently you will draw your middle finger across the length of the card from a few inches above - at no time do you touch the card. Slowly, at first almost imperceptibly, the card begins to bend upward.

The only way a card can bend normally is for a person to apply pressure to the edges and actually bend it, but at no time does this happen. You. Don't. Touch. The. Card.

They see it happen. It happens before their eyes as the seconds tick by. They can stare at the card until their blood runs cold and they won't know what happened.


Cost
$16.95 for the download


Difficulty
Either 1 or 3 depending on how you want to use this.

(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)



I say:

Well I was intruiged by the demo and wasn't disappointed with what I got in the download. In fact I still haven't watched all of the video, I just had to rush off and try it for myself. This is truly a little thing of beauty.
The trick is practically effortless (depending on how far you want to take it).

Once you know the secret you will marvel at its simplicity. Its an anytime, anywhere trick that you can perform close-up, surrounded, show your hands empty, perform in the nude if you really want to, with a card from someone else's pack of bikes - they select the card and they can check that there are is nothing attached to the card.

This may not be to everyones taste but if you like the effect that you see in the demo then this is for you. It has to be one of the cleanest tricks around. Once you've placed the card on the back of your hand you don't need to touch it ever again in order to get a pretty reasonable bend, which leaves you free to focus on presentation and ham it up as much as you think you can get away with.

I also love the fact that this was invented by a guy in the Phillipines.


Overall
9/10

I wrote this in the Request Reviews thread. It's probably better placed here so I've deleted it an moved. Hope that's OK.

Mindbender is a very old trick it's a good principle but it is not new.

My review: Not worth the money.

People have complained that the bend is EXTREMELY SLOW, which it is. The Bend is a flourish NOT a trick. You need a routine to counteract the slowness of the effect and possible method-exposure.

Disclaimer
i. Comments are based on my opinion only.
ii. I'm biased, I am about to release a routine that features a bending card as part of the effect, for $6.

Having said this, it's worth learning the method. Ask your Grandad, he probably did it once, I'm learning that it was once quite well known. I thought I invented it, researched it and found that many people know the method.

It's not limited to cards, you can bend money, tickets, etc. You can also get the bend to work on other people - which is best. I've used this effect many times and always get good responses, i've learnt not to perform it for people who play a lot of cards as they are most likely to know the method.

copyright wrote:My review: Not worth the money.

like i said somewhere else, its alot like revolution coin magic from ellusionist. it should be cheaper, but hey its a pretty good trick

I saw the video and fell off my ass laughing. Not only did the preview put me to sleep but it took me all of 5 seconds to figure out what he was doing, and thats only because I was so busy laughing.

This is beyond not worth the money. Watch the preview and figure it out then do it if you want, although the "bend" is so slow some people will ask what is happening. The funny thing is any post not praising this trick at Ellusionist was deleted ( they have major censorshipt at thier forums ). Also Brad has said to never show the trick to anyone twice as they will instantly figure it out and he has said to never post any video of it being done as again people will figure it out. With those caveats how could anyone want to buy it.

FlipBack wrote:it took me all of 5 seconds to figure out what he was doing

FlipBack wrote:Brad has said to never show the trick to anyone twice as they will instantly figure it out and he has said to never post any video of it being done as again people will figure it out.

well I gotta admit I've watched the video twice and I can't say I know for certain what is going on
Oh well - maybe I'm just having a blond moment (no offence intended to any blonds !!)

FlipBack wrote:I saw the video and fell off my ass laughing. Not only did the preview put me to sleep but it took me all of 5 seconds to figure out what he was doing, and thats only because I was so busy laughing.

This is beyond not worth the money. Watch the preview and figure it out then do it if you want, although the "bend" is so slow some people will ask what is happening. The funny thing is any post not praising this trick at Ellusionist was deleted ( they have major censorshipt at thier forums ). Also Brad has said to never show the trick to anyone twice as they will instantly figure it out and he has said to never post any video of it being done as again people will figure it out. With those caveats how could anyone want to buy it.

I'm pretty sure you didn't figure that out from the vid. If you know how it is done you will know why. You might have seen some of what he does, but not the main secret.

FlipBack wrote:I saw the video and fell off my ass laughing. Not only did the preview put me to sleep but it took me all of 5 seconds to figure out what he was doing, and thats only because I was so busy laughing.

This is beyond not worth the money. Watch the preview and figure it out then do it if you want, although the "bend" is so slow some people will ask what is happening. The funny thing is any post not praising this trick at Ellusionist was deleted ( they have major censorshipt at thier forums ). Also Brad has said to never show the trick to anyone twice as they will instantly figure it out and he has said to never post any video of it being done as again people will figure it out. With those caveats how could anyone want to buy it.

I have to disagree. The secret is probably not what you think. I've been doing magic for a couple of years and this principle was completely new to me - it certainly wasn't on the list of basic principles I read in a book somewhere.

As I said, its not to everyone's taste. Also, if you know the secret already then of course you are not going to shell out $16 to find out.

But if you don't know the secret of how to do this bend (you literally do not need to ever touch the card again after it is placed on the back of your hand, if you don't want to) then I think this is good value.

I've paid out much more than this, many times, for tricks which initially promised great things but then I've stored away in a cupboard never to see the light of day again.

This does exactly what it says on the tin. Sure it takes a minute or two to get there but in the right context that's not a problem. If you were trying to convince someone that you really could bend a card solely by the force of your mind, with no gimmicks and without ever touching the card, then this is probably how it would look. Its all in the presentation.

I'm not sure I agree with Brad on the 'not showing this to the same person twice bit' either. The secret is so clean and so unlikely I can't imagine anyone easily guessing it unless you are really careless.

I've been doing this for a long time and spent a lot of thought on it. It is more powerful than people think. Don't waste it by sticking a card on the back of your hand and waiting 2mins for it to bend slightly. There are much much better ways of presenting the effect. If you are dependent on others showing you exactly how to perform magic do not buy this trick.

Damn, and i already buyed it, its heading this way.
I hope i'll like it.

Anways, is this trick easy to figure out?
I'm doing magic for almost 1 year now, and i still cant figure it out, or maybe its because im dumb.

I purchased this trick.. or at least I tried to. My debit card wasn't accepted, so I've been trying to think of another way to pay for it. A few days ago I watched the clip again, read the reviews and the description.

And then it hit me.

I honestly believe I know how this is done. I tried it out myself, and it worked.

Sort of.

I managed to sort of bend a card, but not as much, or as fast as the video.

However, I am extremely confident that I know how this is done. They describe that a force is acting upon the card. The force is invisible to everyone. That got me thinking, I tried it out and it sort of worked.

However, like I said, it wasn't perfect. At the moment, I don't know whether to pay an extra 17 dollars for a trick that I'm 99.9% sure how to do. I know the video says that whatever you think it is, it isn't it, but I truly believe I know this.

I suppose I should pay for it just to get the few extra pointers I need, however my debit card is not accepted. I also don't have a job, so I'm very limited on what I can spend, although I am waiting for my Chris Angel coin in soda can DVD (forgot how annoyingly tempting and expensive this hobby is!!!!)

if this trick interests you masked maybe it would be a useful buy just to make sure you give it the full justice it may or may not deserve, i thought i knew how criss angel's coin to can worked, but golly gosh how VERY wrong was i.

don't know where golly gosh came from?

Hmm.. perhaps some form of subliminal messaging has caused you to say that?

And I know I could be wrong about mindbender, but I would bet my M5 that I'm right....

Well, actually, no I wouldn't I love my M5. I would bet ... 2p that I'm right. No, wait... 5p. D@mn straight.

Ok it may be that I don't know the principle but I'm darn sure that I do because as soon as I saw the video I knew it and performed it for others. So firstly I dislike the trick not just because of that, but the crazy price E is charging for a single trick that they have admited is insanely easy for people to figure out.

Also to the people out there who cannot figure it out from seeing the video it is by no means a reflection on your skill or talent, it will either come to you right away or it won't. Some stuff people tell me to watch and say how obvious it is while I sit there cluless. So it depends. It reminds me of Paul Harrises Invisible Palm from Art of Astonishment. A magic friend asked me to watch the video because he thought it was so cool and immposible. But to me how it was done was done was screaming out like an opera aria. I told him it was obvious and I got the ususal "oh yeah then lets see you do it". So I did and blew him away. Sometimes it just comes to you. Of course the more sleights you know the better your chances of figuring it out.

some people might just realize the method instantly, but others (like me) almost all laypeople DO NOT KNOW how its done
to me, i think thats all i need for a good trick, people not knowing how the trick happened.

The problem Zero is the my friend, 10 year old sister, mother, grandmother, and grandfather, all easily figured it out, saying there is only one way he could be doing it.