Product reviews

Is he serious?

Why is Penguin still selling this?
It defrauds the buyer.
This is awful

Total control

Im thinking of going up to a forth star.... hmm not sure. It's a ballsy effect, takes a bit of risk to pull it off. You could be called out easy enough. So i think you need your best showmanship to convince the participants. So have an induction or something for the hallucination bit. It's good though, with ten quid

Great hit!

This really does hit hard, so long as you have at least two spectators. More would be better. You *can* perform this for just one person, but you need a camera to record everything, and it won't be nearly as impressive.

It requires precious little setup, and you really can predict just about anything; numbers, colors, shapes, simple pictures, etc. You're limited by your own imagination and creativity.

Pros:
Simple
No gimmicks
~30 second setup
Uses very common, very inexpensive items.
Very genuine feeling

Cons:
Doesn't play well under certain lighting. Had a colleague who simply couldn't get it working in a stage setting.
Doesn't play well for only one spectator.

All in all, definitely worth the money many times over.

Amazing!

That's an awesome effect from Matt Mello!

WOW!

This is really cool to do!! An amazing situation with you and your spectators. Try it now!

Disapointed

This is not worth the price or effort to perform. I am in disbelief that anyone would attempt to market this. Stay away!!

Total Control

Jury is still out on this effect. To use this Effect you need low light and a small audience like a low lite bar on street area. yet enough light for your subject to see the work but not anyone else. Under proper lighting this can work very well. It has limits and presentation has to remember that. Enjoy Total Control, but plan your local.

kind of alright.

Review for the good folks of penguin. This is dual reality but the problem is that he tries to structure it as mind reading. It would have been better if he did everything based on dual reality and then added some mind reading mumbo-jumbo. There was no need to try to mix things and get stuck in limbo in some parts of the routine. That just made it more complex that what needed.
Overall, great effort from the creator/true mentalist. I recommend this if you like very bold mentalism.

Good, but not for everyone

This effect can play big IF you feel comfortable with audience management! Not a trick for everyone but if you're able to control it and if you do perform it under the right circumstances, it plays very well. For me, this is an effect that I wouldn't use regularly. Good thinking though.

Not Total But Close

Total Control is a very easy, useful, quick, and practical way to do a Drawing Duplication without having the spectator draw anything. To the rest of your audience, you literally seem to pluck the drawing right out of your volunteer's mind. However, to her/him something a bit different is going on.
This DD is made perfectly for walk around with small groups of people, and it works beautifully in those situations. I've seen the secret used on stage before large audiences with mind-blowing results, but I would bet that those multiple audience members figured out how it was done on the way home. That's what is so beautiful about this more close-up version. The way Matt has structured it, your audiences can talk all they want, and still not figure out how you did it. The effect is made so they CAN talk about it, and it becomes even that much more baffling.
It looks like real mind reading, simple as that. I only gave it 4 stars because it can't exactly be done for one person. You've got better methods out there for one-on-ones. But for 2 or more people, this is killer.

Total Control

The method is very interesting and has potential. One does need some outs for getting the wrong answer and/or selecting the spectator to be very cooperative. I believe it could have been explained a bit better but seeing the performances after the explanation does help. To make a really valid appraisal I need to perform it a few time! LL

Total Control -Mello

This is so simple and direct, I love it. I will definitely use this. Good instruction and strong mentalism.

Takek a Risk and Manage Your Audience

The concerns noted in other reviews are worthy comments. It seems logical one would immediately share back with those present, "But I saw...". One subtle way to deal with that is that the performer can minimize the likelihood of that happening by using people who don't know each other. Its important to remember the 'primary participant' doesn't really know what happens and it is the immediate audience present who excitedly explain what did happen to the primary participant. Once that's done, the performer can offer up a hearty "Thanks very much folks" and return everybody to their separate seats. Then the worst that comes from that is, "I swear I saw'...", but nobody else did! Beyond that, when the performer does their part with the index card, you can make it much 'bigger' which for those who understand this, can change the perception for everybody because they see a 'large' production of the 'hallucination' and its very bold. "Nothing hidden there!" Using audience members who will not be discussing it with each other, allows for from one 1)"I swear I saw..." or from the other(s) 2)"There was NOTHING on the index card." In either case, its pretty good for the right time and right place.

Clever

Without giving anything away i just wanted to say that you should use the move he teaches you instead of the "easy" alternative.

Also, you migth consider making a more eerie looking gimmick...

It`s kind of a "silly" method but it looks pretty fair, and it should work because it is not a "think of anything" effect but an "I`m going to make you see something" piece.

Weak

After seeing the video, You realize that this trick is very weak, as one of the sepctators will know what has happened. And, because of this, if the spectator wants, he can do something wrong that car ruin the effect.

If you read the pdfs that come with the trick, you will end up with a variation that was posted on the private forum that seems to be better than what is seen on the video.

Despite that, I didn´t liked it ...

Amazing mentalism. Magician fooler.

I performed this to a magic club today, and it stunned people. My magician friend, who has practised magic for a decade, said she was stumped. Very good instruction, and various ways you can perform this. You can also do this with the 'move' that shows both sides of the index card completely empty. But you don't have to. You can really show both sides of the card empty, and this still works. Great routine.

Total Control

Silly- you practically show the volunteer the selection beforehand. I don't get it!

Great idea

I do like the idea a lot. I will absolutely use it.

It does have false advertising though, so 1 star goes there - it is dual reality.

Not impressed

Sorry, not impressed, bear in mind that you're performing this to whoever is watching, not to the subject themselves.
I don't think this would be good trying to do it one on one.
I won't be using this one.

Total Control

I make it a rule not to buy tricks unless the demo shows the whole performance. (So, I won't order "Clear Choice" despite the good reviews.) The video of "Total Control" seemed to show the whole performance, but the presentation was sort of weird--close your eyes and I'll show this to your friend. I'm not sure why I bought it to begin with. I don't understand the favorable reviews. The entire trick seems to depend on convincing the subject that s/he is hallucinating. How many people are going to buy that?

Ehh

So, this is a fairly new methodology to me, but when performed, the spectator was not impressed. At all. The same thing happened to me as in the trailer; where the spec seemed unsure of what they had seen appear on the paper. Always, I will probably not perform this again, with the only occasion being in a situation where I am unprepared for a few tricks. Oh, and its not impromptu.
Honestly? Save your money. I do, however, look forward to seeing what other applications fellow magicians use this idea towards.

He did it again !

A simple but effective routine if you have a good and solid presentation.
It's a shame, that it is available for everyone!!!!

Total control

Very disappointed the few people I tried it on caught the mind control trick immediately it was just too obvious, made me question the value of purchasing further instant downloads

Not 100%

This was hyper way too much....nothing is 100% accurate all the time...the premise is interesting and it has a lot of potential but to say it is 100% accurate is simply not true and there are no outs

Total Piece of Cr*p

I'm sorry. I guess I should have known better with the price being as low as it was that this was going to be a piece of magic immediately bound for the back of my magic drawer.

The ad made it look like you were cold reading the mind of a volunteer to the wonderment of those around her and of those who knew her the best. The reality is underwhelming.
Sorry- I so wanted to love this!

All great tricks are simple!

A lot of people are upset about the audience talking about how the trick is done after it being performed BUT as long as you follow the instructions this can be a good thing becuase it will actually give more credibility in the eyes of the audience that you really did make someone hallucinate. Having said that, one has to remember that we are buying an ILLUSION, not a real magic spell or ancient secret technique to really read minds or plant thoughts into them, and this is a great trick when trying to convey the ability of mentalism for an audience of more than one.

4 stars Is me being generous.

This trick is great, and practical. If it weren't for his detailed variations that come with this download I would've rated this trick 3 stars or lower. The trick can only be preformed for 2 or more people, and is very sneaky.
The problem with this trick, is someone might say what they saw early, and the trick is ruined. You need to show your "picture" closer to the person you're doing the trick on, which may arouse suspicion. Also, it's not really magic for the person who you do it on, because (obviously) that's what they see. I knew how this trick worked right when I saw the full performance, and was disappointed to see the results. 4 stars, and not 3, because I can see myself doing a cool variation of this trick in the lines of acaan, and I think this can have a lot of potential. Just consider the pros and cons when buying this trick. I reccomend it more for parlor type, rather than close up.

Limited Appeal

I will not give the trick away, so all I can tell you is that for it to work, requires at least TWO people. Only one gets fooled. Not what I was looking for, it should be re-worked.

Horrible

What a waste of money! You will not use this. Your spectators must be morons to not figure this out. Trust me. I tried multiple times.

Total control

Not happy with trick.
Method.... I should have know
Not realistic for me.
If your great mentalist maybe u like it.
The promo is Great!
The trick disappointing
Being Honest