TRICK REVIEW - Voodoo Needle by Peter Eggink & Aeon Sun
Updated: May 14, 2020
Here is my in-depth review of Voodoo Needle by Peter Eggink & Aeon Sun.
REVIEW PHILOSOPHY
When I review a product, I’d like to judge the product per se, but not putting past record or creator’s name/reputation into consideration. I will provide what is not said on the advertisement and details beyond the product itself.
I have no affiliation with any magicians or dealers, thus you will have everything good and bad about the product. Almost nothing is left out.
I believe by giving you the most transparent information, you will become a better consumer in long run.
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EFFECT
The performer draws a voodoo doll on paper and sticks a needle on it. He writes with a pencil on the paper and the needle follows the writing direction.
WHAT YOU GET?
You will get a 4 minutes and 30 seconds instructional video. Yes, that’s all you receive!
QUALITY OF THE TUTORIAL
The video is shot with Peter Eggink sitting in front of his desk and explaining the effect. Shooting quality is not the best but clear enough.
The whole video is about the explanation. For live performance with real audience, you have to refer to the trailer.
Interesting. this instructional video is just 10 seconds more than the trailer. And there is only explanation for the core mechanism.
I hope that Peter Eggink could spend more time on giving more information on presentation or brainstorming some ideas. Besides, because of the nature of the secret, there should be a lot of tips to talk about. Unfortunately, you’ll get nothing but the method.
To conclude, the viewers may get excited by the core mechanism and don’t care about additional tips or etc during the first-time viewing. But I just don’t feel that much effort was paid to make the best video for learners. (More effort was paid to make the trailer for sure…)
DIFFICULTY
There is no difficult move at all. Anyone with body part that can grab a pencil can do it. It’s literally one of the easiest magic tricks in the world.
ANY GIMMICK?
No. Everything is not gimmicked and could be borrowed. You can even borrow a hand to do it.
EXAMINABLE?
Everything can be examined. You can even give the paper to audience as souvenir after the performance.
PERFORMANCE ANGLE
No angle requirement at all.
CLOTHING REQUIREMENT
You can do it naked if you want.
ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT
I will include my analysis of the effect in my product review. In this analysis, I will present my view on the strength and weakness of the effect. And will also go deeper with magic theory in mind.
Many professionals raved about this effect in Blackpool 2020. I totally agree that it is very impressive in terms of methodology and effect. You will smile when you watch the explanation.
Since it is a very easy effect, learners may be tempted to perform it in its simplest form. The strength of this effect lays in the methodology. You start and end clean, and everything can be borrowed. But this is also the weakness of this effect. Audience may be tempted to repeat the effect with the material in hands. And they may be able to arrive to the secret.
Therefore, it’s important to make the effect look ‘less clean’ to camouflage the method. As the procedure of this effect somehow represent the methodology, it’s utmost important that you need a good presentation or extra procedure to cover the method. The best way, as you may have seen in the trailer, is to cover the needle with a glass. This handling will instill a prop-related assumption to audience and at the same time eliminate some correlations of props you are using.
PERFORMING TIPS
* While you can use borrowed items for the effect, I don’t recommend it for very curious audience. It’s better for them to think your props are related to the effect while you can let them examine the props. If you borrow items from the audience, they will just repeat what you did at once after the performance.
IDEAS
* You can make a slightly gimmicked version so that one needle will move while another won’t. You can take a look at this performance by my daughter below.
* You can replace objects. For instance, make a doll with needle at the bottom of the leg. Use the crayon to control the movement of the doll.
PROS ABOUT THE PRODUCT
* Totally impromptu and everything are examinable.
* One of the easiest tricks with super visual impact.
* The price is reasonable.
CONS ABOUT THE PRODUCT
* More effort could be put to make a better video.
* Method is not well hidden.
FINAL VERDICT
We seldom encounter tricks which are totally original in method. So I am very delighted to see an original idea like this.
With high visual impact of the effect, we often expect it may involve gimmicky device. But it is stunning to learn that it requires even less preparation than most card tricks!
In addition to the main routine, this effect may inspire a lot of new applications and effects. It’s not only a strong effect, but also a fun thing to play around.
This effect has my highest recommendation. This will surely be one of your best purchases in years.
Video Quality: 5/10
Effectiveness of Tricks: 10/10
Practical: 10/10
Creativity: 11/10
Cost Performance: 10/10
Final Score: 10/10
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ONE MORE THING
My daughter is my motivation to write magic reviews. I am here to share reviews with you because of her.
If you would like to read/watch more in-depth reviews, please follow her Instagram for some nice magic performance
Hope the review helpful to you all.
You are welcome to ask any question about the product.
Thank you for reading this review.