Clear Surprise
Tenyo
Real money materializes within a clear envelope!
Producing real money from a transparent envelope is a magical delight!
The envelope looks so innocent that there couldn't be any room for trickery, but it still enables you to perform this extremely baffling illusion. Keep the props in your bag or pocket, and you'll always be ready to perform.
Use currency from your own country - dollars, pounds, Euros, etc.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Clear Surprise is a pretty simple and direct production of a bill (any currency will work) from a seemingly empty plastic pouch. You start off by showing two playing cards and an empty pouch. The two cards are held above and below the pouch with the bulldog clip provided. You reach into the pouch and produce a bill of your choice, end of trick. There is very little to work with from the introduction of the cards and pouch to the final production of the bill. If you are happy just doing a trick without creating a moment for the spectator then this one will be fine. I personally would prefer to have more byplay between the spectator and performer and more opportunities for the magic to happen.
As far as the quality of the trick itself, it seems to be fairly well constructed. The pouch is sturdy and appears to be able to withstand lots of use. The clip itself is not too bulky and looks fairly durable as well. I do have issues with the cards provided. The cards appear to be from some cheap dollar store stock. It would have been nicer to have Bicycle back cards which would have allowed one to ring them in from a deck you were carrying. That being said, making the one gimmicked card from Bicycle stock yourself would not take too long if you wanted to. Taking the "cover cards" from a deck would allow you to perhaps deflect the fact that they could be special cards.
As mentioned earlier, if you just wanted to show a quick trick without any handling and no presentation this would be OK. Overall, I think for what you receive in the package it is a bit overpriced. Having a list price of just shy of $30 I think there is a lot more impactful magic you can buy instead.
(Top ▲)
Let's look at two things:
- Ad Copy Integrity
- Gimmick/Method
Ad Copy Integrity
There's not much ad copy, and the video is pretty short. The ad copy claims that money magically appears inside a clear envelope. That is true. Just keep in mind that (as you'll see in the video), there is a playing card on either side of the envelope obscuring the production. So you don't see it appear. However, what you see in the video is exactly what happens. So I'll go with 100% accuracy on ad copy.
Gimmick/Method
The gimmick is well made. You get two playing cards (one gaffed) a small bulldog-ish clip and a clear envelope (gaffed). The props can be handled (by the magician) very freely. The gimmicks are well concealed. However, they cannot be examined. The envelope is very well made and likely has applications for other effects (though nothing specific springs to mind). The cards are definitely cheapy cards. Also, just in the time fiddling around with the cards, the paint/ink on the back of the cards is already wearing off from the bulldog contact.
This is just from the usage of testing the gimmick for this review, so beware. It doesn't look horrible, but it's evidence of the quality(?) of the cards. One other thing to consider with the gimmick is that it won't work if your currency is much bigger than American money. I tested it with a Bank of Zambia note (don't ask) which is about a quarter of an inch taller (i.e., wider) than an American bill. It does not easily dislodge from the gimmick. The length of the bill isn't much of an issue, but the height is.
However, there are two work arounds . . . One I discovered myself and one that is shown in the trailer. In the trailer you'll see that you can use a piece of paper with a message or prediction on it, so if you're currency is too tall then this could be a good alternative. However, if you omit the envelope and the clip, the effect can still be accomplished. You'll have to work out that handling yourself, but I thought of it within' just a few minutes of fiddling with the gimmicks. This will allow you to use a slightly taller currency.
I think I prefer my own envelope-less handling to the envelope handling which is a little clunky, especially if you have big hands like I do. Overall the method is very doable with the right sized currency, and the gimmicks are very well made (other than the cheap quality of playing card used).
Final Thoughts
With the above mentioned props, you also get paper instructions that are very minimal, but clear enough. If you like the effect you saw in the video - I'm not sure that I personally do - you'll be happy with your purchase. Just remember that you'll need American sized money or a American sized paper. If I ever added this to my repertoire, I'd use a novelty Million Dollar Bill. I've tested it and it works great. Due to the fact that the cards wear and tear life seems to be pretty short, the gaff is impacted by this. You, likely could construct your own replacement gaff out of different cards, but due to the nature of the gaff, using other cards might tip the gaff.
Because of that, points were lost.
Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of gem (with the caveat that your gimmick my start looking pretty worn sooner than you'd prefer).
(Top ▲)
It looks exactly the way it does in the demo video, but the envelopes and cards are not really examinable, so you need some distance from your audience so they don’t reach to grab the props out of your hands. I don’t think this will be a huge deal since the audience will probably be more interested in the twenty dollar bill.
This is probably not the best thing for most professionals, but if you like interesting props and toys, then you’ll like this.