I received a review copy of "Dropped."

Madison sent me an unlisted link to the download of the effect. I watched it and was immediately familiar with the effect's general mechanics; it was similar to something I've played with in the past for switching out business cards and billets in my mentalism work.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the release. If you enjoyed what you saw in the trailer's uncut, live performance, the product is extremely faithful to the advertisement. This is a solid, practical effect designed for the real world. I think it is strong enough for a formal show and its minimal, natural reset in front of audiences lends itself to walk-around venues as well. Madison and Rich obviously gave a lot of thought to not only the gimmick, but also to the choreography and routining of the effect, its methods/variations, and clean-up. This falls well within the means of any intermediate magician.

The video download starts with a handful of live performances in casual, everyday settings. We see Madison performing the effect in public parks, campus Caféterias, and malls for whoever's willing to watch. He's an engaging performer and his audiences genuinely seem to enjoy his presence and enthusiasm. The variety of settings really showcases the versatility and real-world practical application for the effect.

We then come to Madison's workshop where we simply see a close-up of his hands going over the construction of the gimmick. He's extremely detail-oriented in his instruction but manages to hold the viewer's interest, which can be challenging when it comes to arts-and-crafts segments of magic videos. The gimmick will admittedly require a bit of patience to make, but it may be constructed in less than a half hour if everything is on hand. Those with poor fine motor skills or bad vision may find it challenging as there is some minor sewing/threading involved in the gimmick's construction.

Once Madison builds the gimmick in front of the camera, he proceeds to go over various handlings for its use. At their core, all these handlings are essentially the same move. Whether you're tipping the card out, sliding the card out, or pulling the card out of the case-- I think most performers will understand of how to use the gimmick once it's constructed. This portion of the video felt somewhat redundant, but Madison nonetheless covers all bases for the sake of being thorough. I thought the way the gimmick works was extremely clever in that everything is hidden in plain sight during performance and camouflaged with well-thought choreography.

Madison then discusses a basic routine for the gimmick, but I think most will realize how this utility item lends itself to a wide variety of effects. Madison presents the effect as a paradox using a "Get Out of Jail Free" card as seen in the trailer, but I think many will enjoy using this for a wide variety of other plots. Darwin Ortiz' Dream Card comes to mind. So does Jay Sankey's Back in Time. Mentalists who choose to use this as a billet-switching device can use it for the final revelation in Looch's A Nod to Pocketwatch or Ben Williams' Anything.

The download concludes with Madison going over two ways to clean-up the effect. Another solid attribute of this effect is how it can be put anywhere into a performer's repertoire. It can be an opening effect; it can be done anywhere within a set; it can be a closer. Madison shows how to clean up and reset and either continue performing or pack up and move to a different table. Best of all, it's all rather intuitive, practical, and easy to do.

So are there significant cons to the release?

Well, the box isn't examinable. This isn't necessarily a drawback for those who know how to engage an audience and manage people's expectations throughout a performance, but it does bring up another point. If the box isn't examinable, what is the benefit of gimmicking it in the first place? I found that a handful of the switches offered in the download can actually be done without a gimmicked box at all. And this would even enable me to perform this standing at cocktail parties without the use of a table. Some of the switches admittedly do look cleaner and more visually open due to the gimmick, but some people may want to weigh the necessity of gimmicking a box and introducing some restrictions to performance for the sake of a visually open switch that takes less than a second to execute. For instance, if you compare the switches seen in Madison's and Rich's heavily gimmicked "Dropped" with the switches seen in Jonathan Kamm's ungimmicked Toibox System, I wonder how differently an audience would perceive the end result.

As mentioned above, a performing surface is required for this to work. This shouldn't be an issue for most people, but those who are looking for a strictly in-the-hands approach probably won't find this particularly suitable for their needs.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall, I think this is a pretty solid release. While the construction of the gimmick may be cumbersome, I think the final product is a really fun utility device that most people will enjoy playing with and using in their work. For those who find the visual openness of a switch absolutely necessary, I think this offers a pretty unique solution. I also just dig the creativity behind the gimmick, itself. I think there's a lesson to be learned about focusing not only on a gimmick that will facilitate an effect, but also looking at other factors like economy of motion and choreography and using them to your advantage as well. "Dropped" does that surprisingly well when you take the time to deconstruct the effect. I love how it's essentially self contained and organic to the card-worker. You don't need any expensive plastic boxes or extra mint tins; the props are consistent with the performer's everyday needs so theres no additional thought to pocket management. I liked "Dropped" a lot and would recommend it.

RS.

I will keep this short.

If you like what you see in the trailer, you will like this. ;)

The method works fine. It's not that hard to make(you should have everything you need at home to make this)

It's an instant reset as well. It's a practical working method.