Unhanded by JP Vallarino Review

Hello, welcome to Real Magic Review. Can you hear me? Because I set this up quite quickly. I was going to record one, then I thought, no, I'll do a live one. And today I should be reviewing Unhanded by JP Valerino. Valerino, Valerino. Yeah, I thought I got it wrong then. For a good, well, first of all, like and subscribe, do all that stuff. Check out onlinemagic.co. That's my online magic course, over 600 tutorials, live sessions. We had Steve Reynolds last week. It was absolutely, it was a belter of a lecture. Every single trick was super commercial, different, not like really difficult, knuckle-busting, just some brilliant stuff. So we have live guest lecturers most months and me every week and lots of recorded tutorials. Anyway, so have a look at that onlinemagic.co. Learn from a pro. I thought I'd review this because I got it a while ago and then I kind of forgot about it from Murphy's. And then something popped up on my feed, an ad for it. And I was, hey, Glenn Morphew, how are you doing? Me and Glenn were talking about is, I always interrupt myself. Don't I, but there you go. It's more interesting to talk about Glenn Morphew. Me and Glenn had a little Skype the other day, didn't we Glenn? And we were talking about your one-handed top palm because I made a video and Glenn's one-handed top palm download is absolutely amazing and his method and his way of doing it is just absolutely brilliant. So there you go. Glad you popped up. Yeah, good timing. So I thought I would do this because it popped up and it was one of those trailers that I thought, oh, and I missed, this was back in, this came out in March or February or March or something, but I missed most things because I'm usually reviewing other things. For example, I'm reviewing Harapan Ong's optics by learning all 26 effects. So that's been about two weeks so far. So I kind of get into these things and miss other things. So I thought I'd do this, a bit late to the party, but I have taken it out and played with it, which I think is important. And this is why this intrigued me. I'm gonna show you the trailer, but I'm gonna stop the trailer. Now I will say that there has been released a full performance of this by Murphy's because the trailer did have an edit in which I'll talk about, which I found a little bit misleading when I first saw it. Now, I kind of didn't, but you'll see what I mean. So I'll play the trailer of this. Do ask any questions because I think this is a really interesting one. For me, it's interesting in a way. And then I'll show you me performing it for the first time ever. And as I always say, when I say perform, I mean demonstrate quite badly. And I have also cut a little bit out of that because I think it tips too much, but we'll talk about that. Hey, Brulafu, how are you doing? Brulafu, is it Brulafu or Brulafu? Anyway, yeah, correct me. So, oh, and by the way, this was an unadvertised, wasn't put on the socials or anything. So most of you will be watching this after I've done it live. So the fact that there's anybody here at all, Glen Brulafu, I always go for this, don't I? Brulafu, right, Bru with double O, thank you. Where are you from? Anyway, Brulafu, thanks for somebody, someone to talk to. I didn't think there was going to be anybody here. So here we go. Here's the trailer. Imagine handing a deck to your spectators that you will never touch again. With unhanded, they select. They sign, they lose their card, and they even get to shuffle and put away the cards themselves, utilizing a brand new method. So I'm going to sort of tie the review in with this. That's all true, but there's some clever kind of, JJ Herman, how you doing? I'm glad you're there. There's some clever kind of, yes, arguably you don't touch the deck, but there's something that you don't see in that that is a part of the process which makes it all possible. Now, as all magicians will look at that and go, well, you have, there has to be some sort of, you know, with a signed card, there has to be something involved. You can't just, you can't just sort of, and it shows you the trick in a minute. You can't just do that and don't go anywhere near it and ends up in your hat or in your pocket or whatever. So I will say that. Is it a brand new method? This is based on things like key card principles and things like that. It kind of mixes a few methods that I've seen before. I was learning a Marlowe trick the other day. I think it's the first trick in, oh gosh. No, I'm losing it now. I forgot. What's it called? Hierophant. Which uses a similar thing, but then this kind of, so it's a, yes, it's kind of a brand new method. I would say the gimmick is something I've not seen before. I don't know loads about loads of gimmicks, someone might be able to correct me, but I did feel that when I saw this, I went, all right, that's kind of weird and different and is that gonna work? And it does, by the way. You'll have complete control over their selected and signed card without ever touching the cards. Again. Great questions. Keep asking questions. I'll answer all of them. Forgot the time today, I'm just, because this isn't a, I haven't got to get home from a dinner. So. Do you touch the, again, it's clever way of playing. You do go near, I'd say you pick up the, anyway. Well, the fact that they've put a whole unedited performance on it makes me think it's okay to say, you touch the box, all right? It's fine. And that's fine. I like this, by the way, I do. Got it. I don't know if you saw, she blinked a little bit when I said diamond. Four of diamonds. So that's what's happening now. You can name the card with a peak. This does lots, as it will tell you in a minute, does lots of different things. It is, it does, you can do a peak, you can do a force. You can, we'll talk about the download in a minute. And if I don't remind me, go through a whole, this card, every version, it's got any card at a number. It's got a sandwich trick. It's got, they call it the travelers. It's a card across trick. I thought it was a version of Vernon's Travels. It's not, it's a card of cards across is what I think they mean. There's, you can do kind of a lot, you can do a lot with this. Whether you're gonna want to is a different thing. You took the card out, you lost it in the deck, and then you shuffled. I haven't touched the cards. Watch. Can I let it there? Do you see that? Go inside, please, take it out, show everybody. Just lift up your phone. Well, that is a signed card. I don't want to, no. Just lift up your phone. Please. Okay, now, I was gonna think this goes without saying, but it depends, actually, because you might think that there's a gimmick that allows you to get it under their phone or things that it doesn't. To do that, you've gotta be, you're handy with a deck of cards and you've gotta be at a, it's almost like a card under box, card under glass kind of thing. I presume that's the way that kind of happens. At the end of the day, because I promise you, I looked at my phone, it was nothing there. It won't allow you to get it under their phone. This is a utility device that gives you so many options. Yeah, it does all that. It's absurd. I'm not gonna look. You're gonna take any card from the middle, take it out, put it against your chest. You got it? Yeah, do I look at it or no? Yeah, look at it. You can show the camera, remember it. Now, we're gonna loose it, so I have no idea where it could be, so put the card on top, face down on top of the deck. Got it, it's on top. And you're gonna cut the cards, loosing it somewhere in the middle. All right, and you know what? You can give the cards another cut. And then why don't you also give them a little shuffle. Okay, so this is really important again for the review. That audience management, that process of them doing what they've gotta do, they have to do it as you tell them to do it, which isn't a major problem, but it's important that there is some serious audience management required for you to do the thing that I think that is the best about this gimmick. And it is good, I like that. The whole thing is about this whole hands-off thing, but it doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean it's self-working. You've got to talk them through it, and I think that's fine, and it does go through this on the download in detail. You know, they talk about subtleties to make sure certain things don't happen, but that is the part that requires some audience management and some confidence with this trick. So rehearsal, I think, is quite important. Now think about this. I've been turned away while you pick the card, when you put it back, and after the shuffle, right? Right. So go ahead and put the cards inside, and I'm gonna try to show you a, have you seen the trick shots? Yeah! Oh, I didn't mean in there. Oh, my bad. No, no, no, it's okay, because we're gonna actually shuffle it a little bit more. I meant inside, inside the back. This is great. This is a full performance. Take this, shuffle it like this. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take the case, put it inside, and then I'm gonna shake the bag. I'm gonna try to make your card go from somewhere inside the deck, fly up, and have it land inside of the card case, and there it is. There it is. I literally felt it happen. Check it out. Inside one card. What was your card? Jack of clubs. If it's real, I can't work out whether the reaction's real. Of clubs. No! Holy crap, man, that was cool, that was cool. Let's see. Is that a real reaction? Yeah, it probably is, it probably is, but let's see, you know, if you say to someone, make sure if you like it, let us know about it. It's great. Cool. In the instructions, you'll learn routine from beginner to advanced, from magic to mentalism. If you're a complete beginner, you'll be performing slight free routines within minutes, but. Now this, again, the slight free routine, if you're a beginner, and you get this, and you take it out within minutes, it's probably gonna go wrong. Now, it is easy, but this goes down to that whole thing, doesn't it? What is easiness? I find sleight of hand nowadays really easy, because I've been doing it for a long time. I still find routines and remembering stuff, and I get handshakes when I'm doing a routine that's really set, because I'm, you know, when I first do it. So I find that more difficult than sleight. So I think that, yes, there is no sleight of hand in versions of this trick, but that confidence you need, that audience management, I think, isn't something that comes easy to a beginner, or actually might do, or, you know, maybe a good actor or something like that, but, and I think acting is really actually very important in this routine. There's a moment in this routine where you have to be convincing. If you're not convincing, it's not hard. It's more about subtlety and less is more and all that. You're gonna make something that would be invisible and unremembered remembered, and that's the really important part about this. If you add in just a little bit of work, you'll actually have unlimited and endless possibilities. No matter your skill level, this will take your magic to the next level. The Jack of Diamonds. With Unhanded by J.P. Valerino, the applications are endless. What you do with it. That was insane. Thank you, thank you. It's completely up to you. There you go. What you do with it is completely up to you, and there is so much you can do with this. So first of all, the bag one, that's what this thing is. That's why it's called Unhanded, right? They do it all. Because I've just performed it, there's a couple of things that I think I'm so glad I took out and performed it, because straight away there are a couple of sort of sticking points. Not problems, but you have to kind of know, and like I said, he does go through this in the download. But when you're facing a two hour and 20 minute download, it's easy to miss stuff. The download is way too long. It doesn't need to be that long. And when I saw it, I thought, two hours, 20 minutes, and then I thought, fine, because I remember Spidey, I can't remember how long the Spidey one was, ABC, but I remember going, oh, that's long. But it was great, because it was full of really good tips and tricks and stuff that you do. For me, after these first routines, yeah, there's some clever applications, there's some things you could do, the sandwich trick, but I wouldn't look at any of those routines, see them and go, I need to be able to get that to do that. A lot of them you can do with slights. A lot of them use slights as well. So you kind of think, well, I might as well, if I'm going to do a sandwich routine using a spread co, you might as well do a gaffler sandwich routine using a spread co. You could even do a sprammage routine as well, because they're quite good. So I think all that extra did feel a little bit like filler. I can see why they've done it, but I really think less is more. I think those two routines, and then if they'd have gone, right, take it away, have fun with it, you know, the Facebook page or talk about it on the forums or whatever, that'd have been enough. I don't think it needed that. But, you know, it's there, and I suppose there's no harm in it being there. But for me reviewing stuff, I suppose I'm biased because I've got to watch all of it, and I just can't. I don't want to do that. But fine. So it's all about those two things. Are they good? Yes. Is this something different? It was to me. I kind of looked at this and thought, that's not going to work. And it does, like I said, but it feels scary. And I did have a quick look at the forums, which I don't always do. And I know people have replaced certain things and made sure that, you know, there is a part of this you're going to have to replace. It's easy. It doesn't cost anything hardly, but things are going to kind of wear down a little bit. Not the gimmick itself, without giving anything away. And again, that comes down to this sort of old, it's a method that's used in a lot of tricks. So that's fine. The bit that isn't going to wear out is the important bit, and that's kind of what you're paying for. The bit that allows you to go through this process. And this bit is, you know, the bit that they don't show you in the ad is the bit that allows you to do what you want to do. But once that's happened, if you do it properly, they're going to forget that that bit happened. They are, because I did. When I saw the full performance, I did forget that this bit happened. And I went, how did he do that? And then I went back and watched it. I went, I've completely, it's completely flied. Flew, flued? Fly, anyway. Because, so that was a good sign. But I'll show you my rubbish, absolutely rubbish first performance of it now. And then I'll come back to questions. I don't want to touch your cards. Spread through the cards and slide one card forward in the middle of the pack or something. All right? And then I'll take that card out and look at it. Yeah. And put that card on the top of the pack. All right, it's a card face down. So you take, you just open the deck, taking the card out the middle. And you see what I'm doing now. I'm kind of, I'm not confident that I'm going to be able to turn around and talk him through the whole thing. And now I know James and I know he's not a card player. So I know that when I say cut the pack, things like that. Yes, he can do it, but it's not going to become easy. And I think that's something we have to be aware of. That if someone hasn't handled a deck of cards or they're not used to doing it a lot, there's going to be even more audience management. On the top. Actually, just so you know, I can't switch it. I'm going to turn around again. Turn that face up and put your name on it. Sign your name on it. And then turn it back face down again. Yeah, there you go. And actually give the, you know, cut the pack of cards, no? Cool. Yeah, yeah. Give them a complete cut. I think it's worth saying, by the way, it's totally, it's a different thing. And I know for some people it's, but I always do that thing of going, do you know how to cut a pack of cards? You know, a lot of people don't. You say you cut the cards and they go, what do you mean? So I think it's really worth doing, do you know how to pack it? And if, well, you know that thing where you cut half, you can talk them through it. And again, so important for this routine. Right, now I've cut that in the same place it was cut before. The thing that happens at this point that they forget that you haven't seen. But look on YouTube, you'll see the full performance. So I'm, I'm padding there because I'm confused. And I'm doing something. It's funny, the usual, it's the awkward thing of when nobody really knows what to do at the end, do it when it's just you and one other person. But I talked to James afterwards and he had no, zero idea. He had, and I've done loads of stuff with him. I don't give it away, but he just had no idea how I got that card. And that was just a basic card to pocket. He does the card to hat, the card to the bag. It's all the same kind of thing. But, but the, the, the point is, I think that if you get it and you go, oh, they didn't show that, don't worry. It's, it's really good. It's really subtle. And I think those two things are great. The rest of it isn't really required. There's a way of sort of getting a card out where you use a gambler's cop and use all this and that. Again, I'd rather do it with a, with a standard deck if I'm going to do that kind of stuff. But the thing is, fairly easy, audience management, a really strong effect. You really big it up, the whole idea, not like I didn't really then, but the whole idea of them doing it all. There's, something happened when I first tried it with my partner where it didn't go well because I was just a bit too heavy handed at the moment. It's a light touch. Take your time with it, do things gently and everything's going to be all right. Right, questions on this. Thanks for reviewing. I love your reviews. Thank you so much, Michael. Good to have you here. Do you think this is more impressive to magicians than laymen? Can laymen tell the difference between this and other card controls? And this is where I think it's really interesting. If you really make a big thing, almost make the performance around the idea that you're not going anywhere near the cards. And, you know, I can imagine doing this on stage and go, right, you've seen me do this, you know about sleight of hand, but, you know, you might not think that's real magic, but let's do something where I am not going to touch the cards and make that a performance piece. I think it could be really impressive. But do I think when a lay person watches a show, no, it comes down to that thing of, it's like technology, you know, with mentalism. You can do something incredible. You can say, write on that thing and they've still got it and you tell them what they've written or you can get free envelopes out with free billets and do all that kind of stuff. I've done both. And I don't feel any difference really in the response because it's about how entertaining it is. But let's be honest, we're magicians and we like these things and we get a buzz out of getting these things and we enjoy methods. So I'm less worried that does it impress people more than another thing. It's more like, is it fun to do and do I like it? Is this fun to do? Yeah, it does feel fun to do. It feels like it feels a bit different because they're doing it all and I enjoy doing it but it does scare me a little bit because it is so hands off. Having your head turned away while giving critical instruction seems like you wouldn't know they didn't follow correctly yet. And I wouldn't and actually a trick went wrong for me the other day on stage because I did just that. It wasn't a card trick and it was something I wasn't expecting. So it was a learning process but I always think when you get a bit of confidence that I want to, like I did then, want to go back, check everything's all right. I'd rather do that than turn away and just hope for the best. And I think most people would. I think you're going to check in but it still feels like, you know you can just look back every now and then as I do with a lot of key card tricks. You know, you look back and it's very incidental but you're just sort of checking something out. Excuse me. Red box only. I don't know. Yeah, I presume so. You get this in red. You do have to provide your own deck. So this comes with the box but you have to provide your own deck. Now, if it was something like Phoenix cards I wouldn't, I don't care about putting them in a red box deck. No one's going to know the difference but you're not going to want to get a completely different deck out. So I think that, I think yes, that's the case. Would you perform more than one trick with this gimmick and the same set of the same group of people? You could actually, because there are, like I said, I wasn't that interested in them but there were a lot of different things. Forces, different ways of getting the card selected, a load of stuff. So you could, because it won't see, you're using the same gimmick but you're not using it in the same way. So you could, you could use it for a number of things. And I think it is, you know, it is quite a cool thing. Spencer, I'd rather do a regular routine with a regular pack of cards. If I perform things correctly they won't even remember when it, yes. And that's the thing. Now, I think there is a valid thing is people that aren't, that aren't into sitting and spending, you know, hours with slights. It's something that achieves a similar thing. That, and it doesn't use sleight of hand. So I think that there's, it's a kind of cool thing to play with. And would I rather do sleight of hand? Yes, absolutely. For most of these routines. But it's still something quite, I really, I did really enjoy doing it. Could they remove the card from Glen? Put it on the bottom of the deck, turn the deck face up and then sign the card, then do the cuts. Might be easier than if they don't have a... Kind of. Yeah, if they do that, it opens up another possible issue. Again, with good audience management, but I think that there's some, because it's in the hand, there's something that may be a giveaway if they do certain things a certain way. So yes, and there's, you know, again, with the different things you can do with it, there's also different ways of doing the same thing. So I think it's a good point. And the answer to that, I suppose, Glen, is yes. But would I want to? Probably not. I like the safety of getting the card on top, cutting the deck and then moving from there. It feels like a safer way of doing it. Will you use this at a paid gig? Magic Magic Man. The answer to that is no, I won't. Does it mean it's not a good trick? No, I'm just not. If I'm going to take an extra thing out, it's got to be something. And I would say even stuff that I absolutely love, I don't necessarily do it at gig. They're two different things. And I don't do loads of gigs anymore. So gigs are there for a certain thing. I think it's, would I do this? Like I always talk about, yeah. I always talk about do it after a dinner party if I ever have dinner parties. Nobody comes to my house, but if they did, I get them off people's houses sometimes. But I would try, you know, I would. I'd kind of play with it and I'd try something. But will I? Probably not. But then I'm, you know, I get loads of stuff to review. It's different. I think that we've got to admit that we are, many of us magicians are people that do the same trick, different tricks to the same people a lot. If we weren't, then magic shops would be out of business. Because when it comes to gigs, I mean, the odd thing I add, you know, maybe to my show, but this is about our hobby and our interest and what we love to do and what we love to have and what we love to play with and what makes us happy and all that. And that's different than a commercial thing. So no, I won't, but it doesn't mean it's not good. And I'm a jaded old magician anyway. So I enjoy unhanded. Did the standard paper bag effect to friends and family? Yes. And they loved it. However, for everyday carrying, gimmick box to really like boom box by Andrew Niner. I haven't seen boom box, but unhanded is great. Yeah. And that's a good, good one, David. And I think that there is that as well. I like the bag one, but I don't, you know, it's like when you start getting a bag involved, it becomes a thing. Now, if someone was saying, can, you know, can you come and show us something different? I might do it as a standalone piece. You made me think about something. Oh yeah. That's what I've written. See, in a similar way, I've really been enjoying, what's the one with the two pictures come together? Oh, big picture. I've had that in my bag and I've now done that about 15 times and I really enjoy doing it. Does it absolutely slay people? Not really. Does it get a really nice reaction? Yeah. And that's nice sometimes, but I enjoy the process. I enjoy, I enjoy the talking through it. And so, you know, again, will I do it again? Probably not. Do I do it all the time? Is it still in my bag? Absolutely. Don't ask me to prove it. I think it is. But yes, I'm glad you're okay. And I think it's a solid thing. So there you go. I've enjoyed that. King, okay. How you doing? Thanks very much. Very long one, but I hope you get more out of this than just a product review, but do check out. Thanks to Murphy's for sending that to me. The details are below. If you want it from Murphy's, if you want it from anywhere else, you know, if you're not in the business, then you can get it. You can get it pretty much everywhere. Any questions, let me know in comments after this and I'll take it on to the next show. We'll be here Thursday evening doing a comment show. So do come and join us at five. Is it fairly pricey? Yeah, it's not bad. Should we have a look? Should I Google something for your entertainment, which is always great fun, isn't it? I always forget to have a look because I think it kind of sways me in unhealthy ways sometimes. I mean, if it's like 300 quid, no, it's not. Let's have a look. Blimey, oh no, that's not, that was a wallet. I'd say it's a bit on the pricey side. It's 40 quid. Yeah, I think that's it. I would expect it to, I thought it was gonna come in about 28, 48. That's what I thought it was gonna come in. Oh, is it $35? That's all right then, isn't it? Because I thought it was more, yeah. It's probably different prices, let's have a look. But it's, yeah, I've got it here, 40 quid. Here we go. How much is it on VI? Oh, $34, yeah, yeah. So don't get me in dollars and pounds all wrong. Steve, you're awesome, have a great week. Thanks, David. Thank you. $40, yeah. Yeah, so Vanishing Inc, I think it's $36. I think you're right, it's $36. So yeah, it's all right, isn't it? I mean, it does quite a lot and you're gonna have fun. And it's got, I guess, 25 yards, but you get 17 hours of download for it. So there you go. Right, thanks very much. Whatever you're doing for the next couple of days, have a good one. Come and join us, five o'clock, Friday, Thursday. Do check out onlinemagic.co. That's my online magic. You can have a look at it now. It'd be lovely if you do that. And if you want me to, I'm gonna write a blog on there soon, but I don't know what to write about it. So let me know if you've got any questions and I'll write a blog about that too, because I'd rather write what you ask for than guess. And it takes one job away from me. All right, thanks for dropping in, everyone. Take care. 34.95 at Penguin, there you go. Any questions in the comments, like and subscribe. See you later, bye.