Price$49.95
Media TypeTrick
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedFeb 04, 2015
CLIP
Ben, Taiwan
Taiwan Ben Magic Shop
(Based on 2 reviews)
Every Magician knows the most powerful magic happens in the hands of their spectators.
Imagine with just the powers of your mind bending a normal looking paperclip in your spectators hand!
CLIP is an Illusion you can (and will) take with you everywhere you go. CLIP is as close to real magic as you can get and there is no "gimmick" to find.... Because the CLIP IS the gimmick!
A real Illusion that is extremely compact and well made.
No Skill necessary Well Made No "gimmick" to find Compact Take with you everywhere No threads, etc. 2 CLIPS included with Online Video Instructions"It's a very powerful moment to the layman's eyes when the paperclip bends and fixes itself in the glass cup of water. It's definitely a reputation maker." - Shin Lim
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Effect:
Self bending paper clip or self "un-bending" paper clip . . . take your pick.
Method:
Memory metal. It's metal that changes with the temperature. You get two clips, one already bent, and one "normal" looking one. To cause the magic, take the bent one, get it super cold (liquid air cold) and shape it like a normal paper clip. Then put it on ice, and keep it on ice until you're ready to perform. When you're ready to perform, you'll remove it from the ice. The moment you start touching it, your body heat is enough to cause it to start bending.
To "un-bend", you take the clip that is shaped like a paper clip and bend it however you'd like. Then you must drop it into water so hot that you actually can't touch it without it burning you. They're self-working and therefore easy for any skill level. However, read product quality and ad copy before you get too excited.
Ad Copy Integrity:
The written ac copy is pretty fair and accurate. The only exception is the claim that you can take this anywhere. Um . . . sure . . . I guess . . . if you want to lug around a bag full of ice and a can of liquid air. However, the ad trailer is lie after lie after lie. First, it shows a clip container full of paper clips. Then he starts picking them up and dropping them. If you were to do this, the clip would have already started bending due to the room temperature. If, however, it did not start bending, you'd never be able to distinguish it from the other clips in the container. Further, the implication here is that you can just grab any paper clip from any paper clip holder. WRONG!
Next up, he picks up a paper clip (around 14 seconds in) and holds for about 5 seconds without the clip so much as twitching. WRONG! Once you've touched it that long, the clip has already automatically started (actually completed) bending. To further sell the lie, the camera cuts to a different angle where the clip is now bending. Of course. The only way to accomplish this is to switch clips when they cut the camera.
Then to add further to the lie, they bring the camera around the back of (I'm assuming) Taiwan Ben. They start over his right shoulder showing him holding the bent clip. Then they pan the camera completely behind him and over to his left shoulder showing him holding a bent clip. What they don't show you is that they switched clips again so that now he's holding the other clip that will fix itself in hot water. Cut, cut, cut, drop the clip; it un-bends.
Further, the final lie is the un-bend. I tested this thoroughly. I have a self-heating tea kettle that I keep on my desk. I boiled some scalding hot water — when I use this water for tea, I have to wait a good 10 minutes before I can even think about drinking it because it's so hot . . . even then I usually have to add some cold water. I also filled a cup of as-hot-as-I-could-get-it tap water. I dropped the clip in the tap water, and it didn't even flinch. It completely maintained its shape. I dropped it into the scalding hot water, and it instantly un-bent.
However, the water was so hot that I couldn't put my hand in there to get it out. I let the water cool for just a few minutes. It was still super hot to the touch, but I was (barely) able to put my finger in the water. I dropped the clip in that water . . . nothing. It just kept its shape. The instructions say that how quickly it un-bends will depend on the water temperature. Thus, I figured that if I left it in the water it would eventually un-bend. WRONG! It never un-bent. I had to pour more scalding water into the cup to make it fix itself.
Product Quality:
The streaming video is less than 10 minutes. The "instructions" are done with text and music over the top. There is a method taught for carrying the clip around by having it clipped to a baggie of ice in your pocket. Then it shows you removing the clip from your pocket and causing it to magically bend. The instructions then show your doing a false transfer to swap it out for the other clip that is designed to fix itself. It does not teach the false transfer, and it looks like crap. Further, after the switch, the face-less crotch-man on camera makes a big act and move out of clearly and obviously putting the "hidden" clip back in your pocket. Um. If that hand is supposedly empty, then why are you putting a clip that isn't supposed to be there in your pocket in such an open way?
Let's assume that we can come up with our own good looking false transfer and we secretly ditch the other clip. We still have a failed effect because the water will not be hot enough to reset the clip. Further, the reset requires you to carry around a can of spray air with you. They make this look like it's something you just do on the streets anytime. They don't address the reset or anything.
Finally, they wrap up the video by showing how much gall they truly have. They show a paper clip container full of about 30 or 40 clips, all of which are the clips that un-bend themselves when placed in hot water. The clip container is full with the clips all in normal clip shape. The effect they "teach" is to have the spectator reach in and chose any clip. Then have the spectator twist and bend the clip. Then have the spectator drop it into a convenient bowl of water that happens to be on the desk. The clip then rights itself.
First of all, that would cost at least $1500 bucks to do it (assuming only 30 paper clips). Secondly, it won't work anyway, unless you always have a scalding hot bowl of water just sitting around.
Final Thoughts:
This product is one lie after another. The only thing that has some merit is the self-bending clip, but the prep work on it makes it pretty much impractical. But with all the crap that is found in this product, there ain't no way this is getting anything but rubble from me.
Final Verdict:
Half Star with a Stone Status of Complete and Utter RUBBLE!
(Top ▲)
PROS
This effect uses the same method as several other self bending metal effects out there.
This one, obviously is a paper clip. Magicians may have mixed feelings about bending a paperclip with one’s mind vs something else. After all, if you can bend metal, why not bend a skyscraper instead of a paperclip. I have heard other reviewers make this claim. I don’t think this requires that leap of logical conclusion. Magic is always about how you sell it. Bending a paperclip with your mind is a demonstration. You don’t have to bend the Empire State Building to demonstrate your mind power. Also, if you did have a bit of power to bend metal, perhaps you could bend a paperclip, but not a massive skyscraper.
I think this is a great prop, not only for it’s simplicity, but because of your ability to work it into a set with other effects involving paperclips. See the “Suggestions” section.
CONS
Participants may want to keep the paperclip as a souvenir. After all, it’s just a paperclip, right? Why would you need to keep it as if it is more valuable than a paperclip. First, I don’t think that many people will want to keep it. The miracle is not the clip. The miracle is what you have done with the clip. Second, if that is the case, you could easily switch out this paperclip for another to give out.
VERDICT
Great effect with great potential
Here is a really fun bar bet sort of trick. You tell them that the metal bending was real, but you are now going to teach them something they could do. After you have done an effect with a paperclip, followed by the "Clip" routine itself, challenge the audience that you can take a paperclip and make it float on water. You take the paperclip and say: “Let me grab a few more paperclips and you can pick any one for me to make balance on water.” Hold the gimmicked clip between your pointer finger and thumb. Reach into your pocket, ditch the gimmicked clip and come out with a handful of paperclips and one between your pointer finger and thumb. Drop them all on the table. First, challenge them to try to balance a paperclip on water. Once they give up, you take a paperclip and bend it into an “L” shape. Lay any other paperclip on top of the bent paperclip. Lower it slowly into the water. The paperclip will displace the water just as a metal ship in the ocean displaces water. The bent paperclip allows the entire paperclip to displace water without the water climbing over your fingers and over the paperclip. The paperclip will actually float on the water.
This effect uses the same method as several other self bending metal effects out there.
This one, obviously is a paper clip. Magicians may have mixed feelings about bending a paperclip with one’s mind vs something else. After all, if you can bend metal, why not bend a skyscraper instead of a paperclip. I have heard other reviewers make this claim. I don’t think this requires that leap of logical conclusion. Magic is always about how you sell it. Bending a paperclip with your mind is a demonstration. You don’t have to bend the Empire State Building to demonstrate your mind power. Also, if you did have a bit of power to bend metal, perhaps you could bend a paperclip, but not a massive skyscraper.
I think this is a great prop, not only for it’s simplicity, but because of your ability to work it into a set with other effects involving paperclips. See the “Suggestions” section.
CONS
Participants may want to keep the paperclip as a souvenir. After all, it’s just a paperclip, right? Why would you need to keep it as if it is more valuable than a paperclip. First, I don’t think that many people will want to keep it. The miracle is not the clip. The miracle is what you have done with the clip. Second, if that is the case, you could easily switch out this paperclip for another to give out.
VERDICT
Great effect with great potential
Suggestions
Jay Sankey has an effect called “Paperclipped”. This has become a bit of a classic amongst magicians. If you don’t have it, get it. Learn a routine involving a regular paperclip. Switch the paperclips and do the "Clip" routine. Keep it simple as in the demo. I saw a review where they twisted it up and dropped it into a glass and you see it re-forming. IMO, that ruins the initial effect of making it bend in your hands. End your routine leaving “the” paperclip with the audience. See the next bit as a way of doing that.Here is a really fun bar bet sort of trick. You tell them that the metal bending was real, but you are now going to teach them something they could do. After you have done an effect with a paperclip, followed by the "Clip" routine itself, challenge the audience that you can take a paperclip and make it float on water. You take the paperclip and say: “Let me grab a few more paperclips and you can pick any one for me to make balance on water.” Hold the gimmicked clip between your pointer finger and thumb. Reach into your pocket, ditch the gimmicked clip and come out with a handful of paperclips and one between your pointer finger and thumb. Drop them all on the table. First, challenge them to try to balance a paperclip on water. Once they give up, you take a paperclip and bend it into an “L” shape. Lay any other paperclip on top of the bent paperclip. Lower it slowly into the water. The paperclip will displace the water just as a metal ship in the ocean displaces water. The bent paperclip allows the entire paperclip to displace water without the water climbing over your fingers and over the paperclip. The paperclip will actually float on the water.