MiniBook Pro by Noel Qualter and Roddy McGhie Review

Welcome to Real Magic Review, my name is Steve Fulton and this is Mini Book Pro by Noel Qualter and Roddy McGee. Before we do this, very importantly, can you like and subscribe, and even more importantly, can you have a look at OnlineMagic.co that is my membership site, been going 10 years, we just had John Allen on who did a stunning session and we have special guests every now and then, live sessions every week uploaded, there are now 150 on there I think and over 900 videos of me teaching stuff and just about to put on a new course section on rubber band magic so there's everything you need on there, OnlineMagic.co, learn from a pro. Right, so this is the first trick from Roddy McGee and Noel Qualter's new company Trick Trick Boom and what a very interesting one it is, you need to listen to this review because there's lots to be said. Now a little bit of history, so full disclosure, Noel Qualter is a good friend of mine, as is Roddy, Noel showed me the idea of this and the prop used in this and I think he showed me the whole trick or some of it anyway at the session convention but he was working on it then, he's been working on it for an awful long time, I mean that was in January right and it's kind of end of September now, and I really really loved the idea of it, I thought it was sweet, I thought it was quirky, I thought it was cute and as with Roddy's stuff as well, Roddy's stuff is the same, I love it, I love all of it. Now some is more commercial than others, some a bit niche but I just love the thinking and all that kind of stuff but that's all well and good but does it work for lay people, is it going to go out and get the reactions? And because of all that bias in my head, none of us are immune to it right, if we've got a friend, we are biased even if we're trying not to be, we can't help it, so I thought right, well I love it but I need to take it out and show people and what I usually do is I take it out and show people in the cafes around here but people kind of know me and I wanted to take it out on a paid gig and I wanted to take it out on a paid gig that was a good, you know, like it was a well paid one, it was people that have seen a lot of entertainment, it was a big corporate event and I took it out, performed it loads and that's what this review is based on right, it's based on the responses and it's also based on the fact that I like it and all that kind of stuff First things first, what is the trick? So this is an impossible object trick which is always a bonus, so they end up with something cool to keep and it's got, and it's a car treat yes, but it's not really because it starts off with something completely different. You show either on your phone or their phone which is very important, you can pull this little MacBook Pro out of their phone, you show it and you say look it looks just like the Apple page, obviously it's not exactly because of copyright reasons but it looks really really good, there's a little animation of it of the computer and I say, Apple have got this new computer coming out, they've just released the iPhone 15, that's going to date well isn't it in 10 years, and they've got this out but they're not really telling loads of people about it anyway and I pull the thing out of it and then when you pull this out, reaction number one, always always a really really good reaction, because you do actually pull it out of the screen, the image vanishes from the thing as you pull it out, easy easy easy, good reaction and by that time you've got them. Then it goes into this card trick, you say right I'm going to, the good thing about this is it doesn't look that much but it's really powerful, so it does card tricks and I say, just justify that by the way, you can just say that as Noel does, it does card tricks but I kind of go, the way they demonstrate the power of these things, they obviously have these demos and the way they did this on all the ads was that it did a trick, a proper card trick, not like a rubbish sort of AI one, so anyway, do the card trick, they choose a card, sign their name on it, you give that to someone to hold, you go through the thing, they look at it again and it turns, they realise it's different, it's actually a folded something, it's not what it was, they unfold it and it's the playing card. So there's three moments in this, three big moments, there's the moment you put it out of the screen, big response, there's the moment they go oh it's not that thing anymore, what's going on and then they open it and it's their card. It's easy to get caught up in the fact that just with the, that turns into the other thing which is amazing but what I didn't realise was the strength of them realising it was their card because obviously they've signed it and now it's not a playing card, it's got a different back and all that kind of stuff when you unfold it. Very rambly, sorry. But all that's important because you get those three moments. It's, the reactions I will say were absolutely brilliant and some tricks I talk about like level one, like John Allen's destination box and like this get a reaction that feels different from a lot of tricks. Part of it is because it's a free stage thing, part of it is but it's that moment of going and you know credit has been given, you know Dan House, the idea was not just from Dan House's lit but the idea of lit was a thing with a matchbook and as Noel says, you can't, there's not a lot of matchbooks in this country so it didn't seem to fit as well, it's still a great trick. But there's MacBook Pros everywhere and obviously when you show that it's so funny. If you really play it straight and kind of go yeah it's great, it's pretty powerful, you know don't acknowledge the fact that you've put it out screen and they're acknowledging it, brilliant. So brilliant trick, great responses but you're going to want to know how easy it is, all that stuff, can you do it surrounded etc. There's nothing in here that is difficult. There is a move and a lot of you are going to know the move to get the card into the state that you need to get it into. This is aided by a thing that you do or been done, that's all I'm going to say. I know I could just say but I'm not going to. It is very, very easy. But what it's even more aided by is the fact that this routine, at all the moments you've got to do something that those of you that aren't as familiar with cards and moves and misdirection if you're sort of a bit more new to the game, you're going to really worry about. But every moment you've got all the time in the world to do what you need to do. Because the scripting, and it's not like a difficult script or the doing of the bits you do where you go, you know, type the name of your card in there. Everything is built so you have all the time in the world to do what you've got to do. So much so, and this is the truth, and I do have footage but I haven't got it yet because it's on a GoPro that someone else took, is that I did the thing wrong, realised I'd done it wrong, had to redo it, realised I'd done it wrong again, then redid it, then did the routine. By that time I'd kind of given up. I thought they'd seen everything and they hadn't seen the thing. So that's going to be the bit. So the pain points of this trick are the misdirection you're going to need for the things, that's all sorted. The moves themselves, easy. There's another move in this that's super, super easy. But it's going to require that kind of boldness that you only get from practice, rehearsal and doing it. So on that, and this is all, I did it, the first three or four times I did it was awful. For my brain, the difficulty isn't the slights at all because I've spent hours and years and years doing them, it's the remembering the stages. And there's not many stages to remember, but I have ADHD, so anything like that is a real struggle for me. So quite a few times, halfway through it, I did something wrong, I forgot something, I did the thing, but because I'd practised it and rehearsed it, I knew how to correct that. So slight-wise, things like double undercut, a very easy switch, I'm going to say that, really easy, that requires no difficult sleight of hand, that you're going to be able to do very, very quickly, and the thing you have to do to get it in its state, again, made very easy by a thing, and courage, and that's it. But that is what magic's about. For me, if you don't want to do that and have that courage to use misdirection stuff, then magic's going to be difficult anyway because all moves require that, I think, well, most do. So you're all going to be able to do it with practice and with a bit of rehearsal. There's nothing in it that you're going to have to take... You're not going to have to do a classic pass if it takes years to get right or anything like that. You're going to feel that thing of, this is scary, am I going to get away with it? And do you know what? The good news is, if you don't get away with the certain bits, that there's a... Basically, when you put it in their hand, and it's a card, what you want is them, at the very end, to realise, now, quite a few times I did this, and they realised before, because I got all tongue-tied and weird and I didn't misdirect properly away from it. It didn't matter. The point is, it was that, and now it's that, and they never see the bit where it becomes that, if you see what I mean. So that's... So if they get that early and go, oh, something's different, it doesn't matter, because they go, oh, yeah, I think I did it in one of the bits of footage, I said, oh, has it done it already? And they just did it early, they noticed it early, and it's... So many people don't do this on tutorials. They go through all these pain points, and they say, you're going to feel this, you're going to have this, this is what you're going to experience at this point. They do a director's commentary over performances, which I think should be way earlier on in the tutorial, because I think it's one of the most important bits, and make sure you watch it all. They go through the moves, even the double undercut, all that kind of stuff. All the moves are in here, taught by Noel and Roddy really, really well, so you get all the detail. And when I opened it, I said to Noel, it was a nearly three hour, or two and a half hour, three hour download, and I looked at it, I said, you are joking me, and he's like, don't worry about it, it's got all the tutorials and the moves in. But I did watch it all, and I'm so glad I did, because right up to the end there are little hints, little tips, loads of things that are going to make it easier for you. And once you've learnt it, you realise that actually you can mess with it quite a lot and come up with your own ways of doing things. So there's various switches you can do. Noel's got a different one than Roddy, but you're going to be able to come up with your own, because it's that intuitive. It's really exciting. Once you get this, and you realise you can do what you want to do, it's brilliant, and then you start getting really bold with it. I will say, I've been talking about putting it on the hand, put it on the table, just as strong really, not quite as strong as in the hand, but it's incredible, and that's even easier. So I think this is really special. It's cute, it's quirky, but it's not just cute and quirky, it's really, really strong. And they end up with this. They do kind of go, can I keep this? When you give someone a normal sign card, it's like, yeah, great, whatever, but they're really like, can I keep this? And they're talking to people about it. So I'm really excited about it. I'm really glad I could review this after taking it out again and again and again and again and again, and knowing that it wasn't just that Noel and Roddy are friends of mine, and I like them, and I like what they do. And if this is the first release from Trick Trick Boom, it's going to be really exciting. So if you're interested in this, do use the links below. It's going to be sold everywhere and all that kind of stuff, but I think this is one where new company and all that, it's a big risk, and I'm very glad that I can review something that I genuinely think is really, really good. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is going in my set. I'm never going to stop doing it, and I don't say that very often. By the way, I do have a playlist on there called Steve's Favourites, and not that much gets into it. So have a look at that. Now, refills is going to be, obviously people are going, you have to buy refills. The price at the moment, I'm not going to say it, because it might change in a year, it might go down, it might go up, but it's really, you get 52 refills, and it's really good, a really good price, all right? It's going to be well worth it, they're going to last you for ages. It's not a sort of, well, it is a sort of trick you're going to want to do a lot, but 52 is quite a lot. And if you think of, you know, if you do fork bending and stuff, that's pretty much a quid of fork or whatever for one trick. And this is a good, solid routine that lasts a fair amount of time, so you could just do this and maybe one other thing, and that would be a good thing for a table. And just brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Clean, you know, you end, like, super clean as well, which I love. Once you're done, you're done, there's nothing to see, and it's an instant reset, pretty much, you know, a second. And I hate doing resets, and I hate putting loads of different cards into place, you don't have to do any of that. So there you go. Loads more to say, probably. Sorry it was a bit of a rambly one, it always is, but I'm trying to edit myself in real time so I don't give too much and just go on for two hours. I will be talking about this live if you've got any questions on Thursdays at five. I know I haven't done the odd one recently because it's been super busy, but make sure when you like and subscribe you hit the bell icon, and you will know when I go live or not. So that is MiniBook by, MiniBook Pro by Noel Quarter, Roddy McGee, highly, highly recommended. I've had so much fun with it, and I think you will too. Have a good one, take care, and have a look at OnlineMagic.co and Roddy and Noel are going to be coming on talking about creativity and stuff on there too. Take care.