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Hey y'all, this has just come out on the Kevin Parker site. I must have it, in fact I'm going to download it as soon as I can get my hands on my girlfriends credit card details (!), so expect a review at some point over the next day or two or three depending on when I get it and how long it takes me to practice and beta test it on my lil sis.

Looking foward to your review. I saw it on his site, and almost bought it, but I decided to wait for the reviews.

OK people, here's the review:

The Effect

A coin, which can be borrowed and signed, is placed in the middle of a glass table. You give it a little rub and it drops into your other hand which is beneath the table. There's a demo vid at www.kevinparkerproductions.com

Cost

$22 (about 13 quid at the moment I think).

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)

A solid 3. No super difficult sleights but practise definitely required.

Review

Firstly I'd like to point out that I don't know much about coin through glass effects, in fact the only other one I know of is Cesaral Melting point so I'm not sure how it compares generally. Having said that I do love it even though I haven't performed it yet, for reasons I'll explain in a minute.

The effect is exactly as described above and there's no reason why you couldn't do it as well as the demo with time even though he does do a lovely job in it. The video which you download shows the demo plus a quick clip of the signed coin version which is delightful, you actually see it 'fall' through the glass.

Right then, pros and cons.

Pros - No gimmicks required. Well not quite. The site says you don't need strings or magnets or lasers or pocket flux capacitors, etc, which is all true but you will need something else. Magicians are likely to have this already, if you don't you can get it for a couple of quid, and after I'd purchased the download I got an email saying I'd be sent what I needed in the post for free! Cheers Kev. It can be done on nearly all glass tables, in fact any if you're careful. The coin can be borrowed, and signed. The signed version requires slightly more careful handling but nothing super hard.

Cons - Could be a bit angley, the best way to perform it would be from the point of view in the video, but you could get away with a small semi circle as long as you're clever. He does claim that you can do it surrounded but then doesn't really explain how. Which leads me on to the video, it's filmed in familiar Kevinparkergrainovision which detracts slightly from the teaching. He goes through the handling ok though and you get the idea of what to do, it just makes it look a bit unprofessional. Also you have to practice on a glass table to get the moves down, and I don’t have one. Oops. I’ve played around with a cd case, which does work, but not very well because it’s a small surface and you feel a bit cramped.


Overall

A nice effect that I’ll definitely be performing as and when the circumstances are right. I don’t know how Cesaral Melting Point is done but I’m sure the method is very different and this doesn’t require any rings etc. It’s also about a quarter of the price and looks very similar.

It’s a step up in difficulty from Kevin Parkers previously released tricks, but not massively. If you do coin work already it should be a walk in the park. As he says in the instructional video all the moves are well thought out and natural, plus you show your hands completely empty twice to dispel all suspicion.

8/10 only let down the quality of the video in my opinion.

Oh yeah, and Kevin Parker's customer service is second to none. My computer crashed when I was halfway through the first download and after I told him he immediately sent me another link. Good stuff.

Nice review. The gimmick part is bugging me now. I mean...You don't need a ring like in Melting Point...What is it?! Ah Well...I guess I'll just have to buy this one.

It's not a gimmick as such, it's just a...... well you're right, you'll have to buy it. For the money you won't be disappointed, if I'd bought Cesaral Melting Point and got this effect for that much money I'd be very annoyed, it's more a clever routine than any sort of wondrous penetration device. That's fine by me though.

I was going to post my review today, but it seems that bronz beat me to it. I guess I'll just add my thoughts to his.

The effect and cost are exactly as described. I would also peg the difficulty at around a 3. I'm a complete novice and can see how this trick will be quite easy with practice. I agree its also nice that Kevin sends you the required "gimmick" for free. That was a pleasant surprise.

Despite all of the positives, I do have a few complaints. First off, the production quality is terrible. However, that doesn't detract from the ability to learn the trick, it just looks cheap and ameteur. I also don't think the quality of teaching is all that great. Finally, I think the trick is a bit too expensive as the video is only 9 minutes long.

If the production values were better, or it was a little cheaper I would give it an 8/10, but the way it is I will give it a 7/10.