I don't usually rate and reviews but the only person (till now) that rated Splinter gave it 1 star. First of all it's only 4.95 dollars. Second, it's one of those tricks that sometimes I do, I don't perform it all the time, its NOT an amazing trick, but when I do it to someone, they either look strange at you.. like how is it possible? Some they laugh (as they know it's impossible and they know i love tricks), or they make a weird face like it's happening for real.
You do need to practice it till you understand how it works. But I like it because the only thing you need is a toothpick! The sound effect from the video is something I knew it was edited, so I didn't expect i'll get the sound too :) And remember it's like 5 dollars.
Marcus Eddie explains in really good detail! You will enjoy the video.
I gave it 5 Stars because:
1. There is no gimmick involved
2. It's something totally different!
3. All you need is just a toothpick or something similar
4. Good explanation
5. LOW price

Regards,
Steve

I love Marcus' work and here he did it again! Splinter, such an ingenious method, easy to perform and all you need is just a toothpick and maybe 10 mins of practice. It ends clean, and just like what the demo shows, you can show your hand completely empty. Very deceiving to the eye and looks creepy. I love it!

This is not a bad little effect where Marcus shows how he manipulates a toothpick to make it appear from his finger. It is also pretty inexpensive. However, this is the sort of effect that would probably be better if put into a DVD of a dozen routines for 20 bucks to make it more cost effective. Unless a single routine is just earth shattering, it might be better packaged with other routines. I did enjoy learning how he performs it, as there is a bit of skill to be able to show your hand from both sides, and I will certainly do it as a bit of a gag with friends, so, all in all, I do recommend it.

At first it was difficult, but after some practice, it feels natural to me. The effect is simple and makes people's skin crawl. If you want an impromptu, on the spot, creepy illusion that really freaks unsuspecting spectators out, this is a must buy for only 5 dollars!

I only bought this trick because of the splintering sound when the toothpick is pulled out of the finger. Without that sound, it would be an OK trick, but I figured the creepy splintering sound would really sell the trick and freak people out.

Well, it's a fake, the sound was added in post-production. There's no sound when you do the trick as taught.

So, the trick itself may not really deserve one star, but I still give an automatic one-star review to any trick where the promo video blatantly misrepresents the product, including:
- cutting away from the performer for several seconds to give them time to do a move that everyone would see in a live performance ("Clutch", "Secure A Card")
- music to cover up noises made by the trick ("Pass Pass Silk", "Moebius")

to which I now have to add: putting in sound effects in post-production that look like they are part of the performance.

I've given plenty of five-star reviews to Penguin tricks that actually work the way they say they do (Psypher, Dresscode, Alarmed, Spreadwave, Rattled, and many others).

Marcus seems like a smart guy and a good performer and he does the trick quite well even with no sound. Sorry, this one star is just for the trickery in the video.

If someone is reading this review at a later date and the promo video has been replaced with one that doesn't have the fake sound effect added, then count this as more of a three-star review. The move is still quite difficult to do without flashing. But I will say that if you can do it, the trick actually looks better than it does in the video, because he's NOT pulling the toothpick out of his mouth -- one thing that you can't quite see in the video is that you can show the tapered end of the toothpick being held the whole time in your teeth, so it looks like it really is being pulled out of your finger.