Exo.Rant-Review of "TnR" by Mathieu Bich

[JKDragoon]

Heya!

Had time for another one... And this one, I'm want to shed some light on... XD

Exo.Rant-Review of "TnR" by Mathieu Bich...

We, card magicians, never seem to grow tired of the incredibly wonderous plot of restoring the pieces of a card into a souvenir for a spectator to keep. OVer the years, there have been many attempts at making the 'best' Torn & Restored effect (T&R). Needless to say, TnR would be one of them.

The effect is a solid piece of magic... What sets it apart from the rest is that the actual creator is not teaching the trick (i.e. Chris Kenner teaches it... Not Mathieu Bich).......
No, I was just joking!
What really sets it apart is that you restore the apparent 'WRONG' selection and, upon turning the card over (note the slow-mo effect on the demo video), it is revealed that the card has magically MORPHED into the correct selection.

Sounds crazy? Yeah... That's what I thought when I first saw the demo video. I was pretty shocked...
I showed it to some lay people (just the restoration segment) and UNBELIEVABLY they were.......
Not impressed... They actually felt the whole thing was 'cheesy'... That was a painful blow to my initial shocked reaction.
Anyhow, as I watched through the teaching video, I found the fatal flaw... The fact that they didn't know the final reveal was the 'Right' selection. However, their comments opened up a point... "He switched the card or something like that...". How unfortunate that their brief inspiration of magic was actually RIGHT. (I mean yeah... They would prb. say it for Daniel Garcia's "Torn", but if they THOUGHT about it, they would think it even more impossible). The problem with the trick is this... You restore the wrong selection to make it into the right one. The spectators see the wrong card... And then they see the right one. Your first reaction? Two cards are involved...
Hence, the confusion spoils the magic, though you could possibly get over this problem with a change of storyline/patter (or exertion of the fact that you have access to 'magical' abilities... perform this trick AFTER a few other tricks is what I'm saying...).

The trick involves a home-made gimmick. You'll need to get some stuff, though you prb. have most of the basic equipment needed. It's quite finicky to construct and I'd rather waste my time on the "Fire In The Hole" gimmick (Huron Low) then making this one. Honestly... FitH is more visually appealing.
The handling is a little awkward, but not too much of a challenge if you've had previous experience with other T&R effects. A force is, unfortunately, necessary compared to other T&Rs where this isn't compulsory.

Bare-Bones Bottom Line...
There are better T&R effects out there... Period. But then, I suppose, it depends on what you like. TnR has potential to be a killer effect as long as you have the APPROPRIATE presentation... The one on the video was long-drawn, boring and a little time-wasting for the spectators. I prefer a faster pace and more visual restorations (which is why I like FitH!). Torn by DG is much fairer and cleaner. I've also seen many who prefer Guy Hollingworth's "Reformation" but I have yet to read into that.
On Exo, this involves 6 links... Unless you desperately want it, I'd go for something else.

Feel free to comment or 'spar'... I'll reply as soon as I can...
J

[jack1234]

I agree. It depends what type of torn and restored your into. Like you have fire in the hole by huron low and then you have torn by daniel garcia. But TnR has a completely different look and set up to these. This is what makes it unique. By the way nice review.

[Cherryramune]

In my oppinion i would just cut out the card change effectto this torn and restored, i showed the preview vid to my friend and he was convinced he just tore up another card. I wouldn't want to confuse my audience like that.

[JKDragoon]

Originally Posted by Cherryramune

In my oppinion i would just cut out the card change effectto this torn and restored, i showed the preview vid to my friend and he was convinced he just tore up another card. I wouldn't want to confuse my audience like that.

Exactly how I see it...
For me, the effort put into making the whole rig is not justified for the potential reactions from spectators.
An gimmick that takes quite a lengthy time to make, could've been put to better use splitting cards for "VDP" or cutting stuff for Huron Low's tricks.

[reddragontoejam]

I like how visual this effect is (allong with all other TnR effects) this one just trys to hard and falls a little sort.

[Alex Hess]

I really loved the review JKDragoon! It was almost as good as mine ; ). Keep up the excellent reviews, and if you ever need material, just PM me.

[ohgod808]

i agree with u bro.. anyone of you know the gimmick of fire in the hole?? because i love the effect of it..

[JKDragoon]

Originally Posted by Exo

I really loved the review JKDragoon! It was almost as good as mine ; ). Keep up the excellent reviews, and if you ever need material, just PM me.

Thx Exo!... For now, I'm taking a short break because of exams... So my posts/reviews will be less... XD
I'll still try to keep up a few posts though and perhaps a review every now and then...

Full-blown Exo forum-ness rebegins after May 23rd-ish!

To reddragontoejam...
Now THAT is a great one-liner to sum this trick up!

To ohgod808...
Yeah... It's one heck of a gimmick... Do take time to read up my other review on Huron's "Fire In The Hole"...

J