Price$29.95
Media TypeTrick
CategoryGeneral, Close Up
Date AddedMay 16, 2015
ReBox
Lehman, Rian
(Based on 3 reviews)
Instructional DVD:
- Gimmick Maintenance
- Basic Gimmick Use
- Secondary Method
- Bonus Vanish Method
- Gimmick Construction (easter egg)
"I love this! Rian has put a lot of work into this effect and it shows."
- Nicholas Lawrence
"I would recommend this for a person who has some knowledge and able to handle cards but nothing too extreme." -Paul Romhany, *Reviews, Vanish Magazine 6/29/2015
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: La Isla Bonita by Madonna
Rebox Review
One gimmick, One DVD, $30 bucks and one Rebox Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Rebox Review: Effect
Pull the cards out of the box, and the box vanishes. Show the deck on both sides, and in the blink of an eye, the box appears around the deck.
Rebox Review: Method
This relies on a gimmick and some basic card handling. The angles a little bit sensitive. It's best for people directly in front of you. If they're on your sides, they may get a glimpse of what's going on. Also, the gimmick itself when not in card box form is a bit obvious. It's easy to hide when you change from boxed to unboxed. However, if you're about to go from unboxed to boxed, you have to be much, much more careful.
Rebox Review: Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy has some issues for sure. If you watch the ad trailer, you'll notice that it's very poor quality and that the camera moves quite fast. You never get a moment to see the deck long enough to see it happen. The camera moves too quickly to see a real performance of it. Further, there's one moment in the trailer where he flips a boxed deck of cards into the air. That cannot be done with this effect. The appearing box is not a full box that can be handled freely like that.
Next, the claim that the gimmick can stay in your deck and then at any time you can perform Rebox is just not true. There are some effects that can be done with the gimmick staying on the bottom of the deck. If it's in the middle of the deck, you cannot, practically, use the deck. If it's on the bottom, you are limited to what you can do with the deck. He mentions ambitious card as an option and shows a brief handling on the training DVD. That is one case where it's doable. However, they claim that it can stay in your deck throughout your routines and be used any time. That's just not true.
Rebox Review: Product Quality
As per the usual we've got three parts to the product quality, gimmick(s), video and the teaching.
Gimmick
The gimmick supplied is pretty good quality. It works as it's supposed to. It'll last quite a while, and is relatively easy to rebuild when it wears out. There's an Easter egg on the DVD that shows you how to construct the gimmick.
DVD Production/Teaching
The production value was pretty bad. The lighting and audio during the performances were both not great. The teaching segments were all done with over-the-shoulder shots and very small pixelated text on the screen with a music track overlay. The effect and method are simple enough that you can still learn what you need even with the poor quality text. However, in the gimmick construction part of the DVD, the text is very much necessary, and it's very difficult to read.
Normally, I don't nit-pick typos too much, especially when it doesn't impact the learning. However . . . on the gimmick construction section the text mentions something about taping two parts of the gimmick together to " . . . keep them aline." I can only assume that they meant to say " . . . keep them aligned." I point this out because it shows that lack of attention to detail. As far as I know, "aline" is not a real word, and even if it were, I'm assuming they would have needed to use "alined" in this case. It goes beyond a spelling error. It's a conceptual error. It reminds me of times I've seen people spell the word "believe" as "be leave." That's not a typo folks. It's a conceptual error.
There are a small things here and there like "aline" that were simply overlooked and could have been caught if more quality control effort were taken.
Rebox Review: Final Thoughts
The gimmick, for the most part, cannot stay in the deck without making the handling of the deck extremely restrictive. The deck is not fully boxed when the box appears on the deck, therefore when the box appears, you have to be very careful with your angles, so careful that I'd personally be afraid to use it. As for the star rating stuff, the ad copy is misleading in more than on place; the production quality is low, and the method only works in restricted conditions that are not addressed anywhere on the DVD.
At a price tag of $30 I would expect a bit more attention to detail and a lot more ad copy integrity.
Final Verdict:
2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble. More gem than rubble, but still grubble.
Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.
(Top ▲)
This was a fun product to have a play around with. I have a few problems with it that I will address in a bit.
First I will say that the DVD was good quality - the menu was laid out well and very easy to navigate with a play all option or a chapter-by-chapter option. The video, audio and lighting quality were not studio quality, but all were good. The teaching was done with text over to background music. The only problem with that in this case is how many times you will have to play back a section because you missed it due to playing with the gimmick...
Which does work as advertised and taught, BUT, as I mentioned earlier I have a few issues with it. They are as follows:
First issue: It may or may not just be my individual gimmick, but this thing can suffer from alignment issues. This would be a problem during performance if they catch the "box" at the right angle, they will see something across the middle of the box, where there should not be anything like that. There is one thing I can think of that would fix this issue and it has to do with the 'stuff' that makes the gimmick work. A single piece of it rather than two strips set at opposite edges would certainly do the trick, pun not intended. Also, Rian shows you a trick to keeping the gimmick in line every time, but you will have to find that.
Second issue: The card box portion of the gimmick does not really look like a real Bicycle box. It may pass unnoticed to spectators but those that play a lot of card games would likely realize this. To give you an idea: At a quick glance, everything on it is correct for a standard Bicycle box, but the finish is all wrong. The ink does not quite 'pop' the way a real card box does and the name 'Bicycle" is a little blurry in a couple of spots. In comparing the gimmick to a genuine Bicycle box, I did not find any of these issues on the real ones and I compared it with a dozen different cases in both red and blue.
Third issue: If you are not careful, both when displaying the deck before you cause the box to appear on it and after, the audience may see something they are not supposed to see, and if they see it, there is no hiding or getting around it. This is easily gotten around with simple, correct finger positioning. Another point on this: Suppose you have the gimmick set up to go in the deck and you are performing some other effects before you cause the box to appear around the deck. You have three sides from which something will be visible if you are not careful. The forward edge of the deck will look just fine and the palm of your hand will hide this 'something' on that side of the deck. You just have to watch your angles and finger positions.
The last issue really is not much of an issue, but I feel it warrants mentioning: I am not sure if all the gimmicks that were made for this production used pip/face cards for the gimmick, but if so, they should have used Jokers. If you plan on using a deck with your gimmick in it and it was made using a face card or a number card, you will likely have to remove its normal mate so you do not end up with, say, two Queens of Clubs in your deck.
This effect is quite angly but it does look quite magical if you do it correctly. As seen in the video, you can indeed immediately spread or fan the deck and show the cards after the box vanishes, but again, you just have to be careful. You can do other effects with the gimmick set up and ready to go in the deck, but you may have to work on the handling of those effects so that the gimmick does not interfere with how freely you can handle the deck.
Rian teaches you a couple of different ways to cause the box to appear around the deck, each one setting the gimmick in a different way at the outset. He also teaches you what not to do and how to store the gimmick properly when it is not in use. There is even a hidden easter egg on the DVD that shows you how to construct a new gimmick should you ever need to. Personally I would recommend that instead of cutting the necessary 'something' into two pieces, use just a single piece and also, if you are adept at such a skill, play around with splitting cards and the box face to reduce the thickness and improve the overall look of the gimmick. It just depends on how much work you are able and willing to do; I think it would benefit from the extra work and that it would be worth it.
As an aside, if you want to have this set up in your deck, inside the real card case, it may be a tight fit for your box. At most, I was able to fit the full deck with the gimmick set up inside the box and only two Jokers. That is, 54 cards plus the gimmick. If you use other gaffs AND Jokers in your decks, you may have to make some choices as to what stays and what goes, depending on how tight your gimmick makes the deck fit in its normal box.
Rian credits Henry Evans, David Stone and Gregory Wilson for inspiration on creating this version of the effect.
This effect does work as advertised and it should last a long time with proper care and while it is made well enough, I feel there were certain things that could have (and should have) been done to make it better. Keeping in mind again that this effect is fairly angly to a point, it is very possible to do this for a live audience but I think it would be best if they audience is looking down and/or standing more in front of you than on your right (supposing you, the reader, is right handed - if you are a lefty, the left side would be your bad angle). If anyone is sitting down where they may be able to see the underside of the deck - forget about it. This would also work pretty well for a show reel, but you must be aware that cameras do not blink and you may run into trouble with the aforementioned first and third issues.
First I will say that the DVD was good quality - the menu was laid out well and very easy to navigate with a play all option or a chapter-by-chapter option. The video, audio and lighting quality were not studio quality, but all were good. The teaching was done with text over to background music. The only problem with that in this case is how many times you will have to play back a section because you missed it due to playing with the gimmick...
Which does work as advertised and taught, BUT, as I mentioned earlier I have a few issues with it. They are as follows:
First issue: It may or may not just be my individual gimmick, but this thing can suffer from alignment issues. This would be a problem during performance if they catch the "box" at the right angle, they will see something across the middle of the box, where there should not be anything like that. There is one thing I can think of that would fix this issue and it has to do with the 'stuff' that makes the gimmick work. A single piece of it rather than two strips set at opposite edges would certainly do the trick, pun not intended. Also, Rian shows you a trick to keeping the gimmick in line every time, but you will have to find that.
Second issue: The card box portion of the gimmick does not really look like a real Bicycle box. It may pass unnoticed to spectators but those that play a lot of card games would likely realize this. To give you an idea: At a quick glance, everything on it is correct for a standard Bicycle box, but the finish is all wrong. The ink does not quite 'pop' the way a real card box does and the name 'Bicycle" is a little blurry in a couple of spots. In comparing the gimmick to a genuine Bicycle box, I did not find any of these issues on the real ones and I compared it with a dozen different cases in both red and blue.
Third issue: If you are not careful, both when displaying the deck before you cause the box to appear on it and after, the audience may see something they are not supposed to see, and if they see it, there is no hiding or getting around it. This is easily gotten around with simple, correct finger positioning. Another point on this: Suppose you have the gimmick set up to go in the deck and you are performing some other effects before you cause the box to appear around the deck. You have three sides from which something will be visible if you are not careful. The forward edge of the deck will look just fine and the palm of your hand will hide this 'something' on that side of the deck. You just have to watch your angles and finger positions.
The last issue really is not much of an issue, but I feel it warrants mentioning: I am not sure if all the gimmicks that were made for this production used pip/face cards for the gimmick, but if so, they should have used Jokers. If you plan on using a deck with your gimmick in it and it was made using a face card or a number card, you will likely have to remove its normal mate so you do not end up with, say, two Queens of Clubs in your deck.
This effect is quite angly but it does look quite magical if you do it correctly. As seen in the video, you can indeed immediately spread or fan the deck and show the cards after the box vanishes, but again, you just have to be careful. You can do other effects with the gimmick set up and ready to go in the deck, but you may have to work on the handling of those effects so that the gimmick does not interfere with how freely you can handle the deck.
Rian teaches you a couple of different ways to cause the box to appear around the deck, each one setting the gimmick in a different way at the outset. He also teaches you what not to do and how to store the gimmick properly when it is not in use. There is even a hidden easter egg on the DVD that shows you how to construct a new gimmick should you ever need to. Personally I would recommend that instead of cutting the necessary 'something' into two pieces, use just a single piece and also, if you are adept at such a skill, play around with splitting cards and the box face to reduce the thickness and improve the overall look of the gimmick. It just depends on how much work you are able and willing to do; I think it would benefit from the extra work and that it would be worth it.
As an aside, if you want to have this set up in your deck, inside the real card case, it may be a tight fit for your box. At most, I was able to fit the full deck with the gimmick set up inside the box and only two Jokers. That is, 54 cards plus the gimmick. If you use other gaffs AND Jokers in your decks, you may have to make some choices as to what stays and what goes, depending on how tight your gimmick makes the deck fit in its normal box.
Rian credits Henry Evans, David Stone and Gregory Wilson for inspiration on creating this version of the effect.
This effect does work as advertised and it should last a long time with proper care and while it is made well enough, I feel there were certain things that could have (and should have) been done to make it better. Keeping in mind again that this effect is fairly angly to a point, it is very possible to do this for a live audience but I think it would be best if they audience is looking down and/or standing more in front of you than on your right (supposing you, the reader, is right handed - if you are a lefty, the left side would be your bad angle). If anyone is sitting down where they may be able to see the underside of the deck - forget about it. This would also work pretty well for a show reel, but you must be aware that cameras do not blink and you may run into trouble with the aforementioned first and third issues.
Suggestions
In my humble opinion, I think the Gregory Wilson version, (which was not named but I can tell you is from his DVD, Card Stunts, and the effect is called Heavyweight Boxing) is much cleaner. I use it very often and his version is quite modular. His method is completely different and you have to make all of the necessary parts if you do it as taught. It is a very strong piece and I recommend checking out that DVD because it has a lot of other great, powerful material as well.(Top ▲)
PROS
There are several card to box and box to card routines available. I can’t say I’ve seen them all, but I have seen quite a few. What I really like about this one is the simplicity and versatility of the design. From the participants viewpoint, the deck of cards becomes instantly boxed or the box instantly vanishes. From a performers perspective, the entire gimmick is hidden within a single card and it is very easy to handle.
The explanation was very good. Be aware that the explanation was done to music with subtitles.
I would think that most any beginner could master this with just a small bit of practice.
The effect is most suitable for street, walk-around, or parlor magic, probably not so much for stage.
The gimmick is very well made.
CONS
The only drawback I see is he doesn’t explain how to construct a replacement gimmick. If you have some familiarity with constructing gimmicks, you might be able to figure out how it is made. Otherwise, you will need to re-purchase this effect when your gimmick wears out. Figure it will wear out at about the same rate as your cards and/or card box does. In my case, that would be about every month or two.
VERDICT
I gave this a five star rating. I may point out an issue with cost or cost of refills, but I generally don't downgrade a rating for cost or cost of refills. I focus on the quality of magic that I think might be possible with the product. If the magic potential is great, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the cost. So, with this product, while I may wear out the gimmick in a month or two, it may last you years.
This is a really great version of the card to box or vanishing box effects.
There are several card to box and box to card routines available. I can’t say I’ve seen them all, but I have seen quite a few. What I really like about this one is the simplicity and versatility of the design. From the participants viewpoint, the deck of cards becomes instantly boxed or the box instantly vanishes. From a performers perspective, the entire gimmick is hidden within a single card and it is very easy to handle.
The explanation was very good. Be aware that the explanation was done to music with subtitles.
I would think that most any beginner could master this with just a small bit of practice.
The effect is most suitable for street, walk-around, or parlor magic, probably not so much for stage.
The gimmick is very well made.
CONS
The only drawback I see is he doesn’t explain how to construct a replacement gimmick. If you have some familiarity with constructing gimmicks, you might be able to figure out how it is made. Otherwise, you will need to re-purchase this effect when your gimmick wears out. Figure it will wear out at about the same rate as your cards and/or card box does. In my case, that would be about every month or two.
VERDICT
I gave this a five star rating. I may point out an issue with cost or cost of refills, but I generally don't downgrade a rating for cost or cost of refills. I focus on the quality of magic that I think might be possible with the product. If the magic potential is great, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the cost. So, with this product, while I may wear out the gimmick in a month or two, it may last you years.
This is a really great version of the card to box or vanishing box effects.