Price$33.50
Media TypeDVD
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedFeb 26, 2014
Profiles: The Social Mentalism Routine
World Magic Shop
(Based on 4 reviews)
Catfish: The reason to never date anyone online...
Date night: Predict every aspect of your spectator's night out!
Digits: Reveal the phone number from any girl's profile card.
Including full DVD instruction with Sean Hayden and Mark Shortland, performances & a set of custom designed and printed profiles cards.
The Profile Card Artwork is included on the DVD, so this can be added to your photo album on you phone. This allows you to perform Daniel Garcia's iATM move with the card.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
Profiles: The Social Mentalism Routine is an updated version of the old Blind Date comedy trick but with a lot more going for it. Unfortunately, even though the concept is great, it is flawed with terribly poor execution in a few ways.Effect
Several photos of lovely women are shown to a male spectator. He is told he may possibly win a date with one of them and all he has to do is chose one by eliminating one at a time with an old shuffling technique. Holding the pictures face down he whittles the packet of photos down to one. When that photo is turned over it ultimately is an old hag. However, it doesn’t stop there. He gets a second chance and does “win” a trip with one of the younger beauties. Interestingly enough, the one he chose was already predicted by the performer. A third card is chosen and the performer reveals the phone number on the card. Three phases, several minutes of byplay and the crowd is entertained. In addition, there are more routines built into the set.Method
The method used are several already known by mentalists such a mathematical forces and marked cards. What is interesting is how the old Blind Date trick was expanded upon. Several routines can be performed and each one has the opportunity to be comedic and entertaining.Product Quality
First, a note about the routines and instructional video. The routines are cleverly assembled and the instructional video is very good. There is a multi-phase live performance in a social setting and the explanations follow. The major flaw is with the props. The cards feature a photo of the woman, and several stats below it. The photo is roughly half the card leaving very little space for the type. The actual card is 3⅛” x 2⅛”, approximately the size of a passport photo which makes the information which has to be read extremely small. You would need a magnifying glass to read it. The second most glaring error is the phone number (which will be divined by the performer) is international number (UK) which makes the routine useless here in the States. I could be wrong but I think the US is the largest magic market in the world. Why would you develop a trick which would only make sense to use in the UK? Finally, the markings on the back are either imperceptible or non-existent because I could not determine any indication where the markings are.Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is correct and as I mentioned prior, thus would be a nice trick if the shortcomings were corrected.(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Dangerous by Within Temptaion
World Magic Shop's Profiles Reviewed
One DVD, 6 "cards" and images, a few mentalism routines and $22 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
If you're familiar with the "classic" effect Girl's Night Out, then you know this effect and, likely, the method. There are multiple effects possible with this. The main effect is that you show a handful of cards that look like FaceBook profiles. Each card contains a different, attractive, girl that your spectator might take on a date. After a game of "she likes me; she likes me not" the spectator is left with one card . . . a less than attractive old lady named Florence.
Other effects such as predicting the city, favorite actor, occupation, phone number, etc. of a freely selected profile.
Method
The method is some simple memory work and a secret hidden within the cards themselves. As far as the mechanics, technique, etc., you'll be able to learn this within just a few minutes. Of course, you'll need to take the time to practice. Also, keep in mind that these cards are from the U.K. perspective, so the phone numbers on the profile cards are U.K. phone numbers. Also, Florence (one of the girls on the card) has an occupation that they referred to as a "Lolipop Lady." Turns out that's what we Yanks would call a crossing guard. The stop sign on a stick looks like a lolipop. Cute.
Ad Copy Integrity
The written copy is solid. It's pretty benign with no outrageous claims. The video trailer is also accurate. The only problem I have is the fact that they perform a move where you appear to pull the photo off of your phone. They did not teach that. They included the photos on the DVD and said that because they included the photos, if you wanted to perform that effect (i.e., dragging the image off of the phone) — iATM by Daniel Garcia — you could.
If you're not gonna teach it, don't tease it. Other than that, the ad copy is solid.
Product Quality
The cards all well made, but some of you may have a hard time reading them. The print is a bit small. The cards are smaller than a credit card. They seem to be made of a plastic-ish material and will likely last a long time. The provided images, however are a bit off. They aren't quite the right size for my iPhone 5, so you have to sort of resize them to make them fit in the window correctly. Also, I am not familiar with Garcia's effect where you slide the card out of the phone. I took a guess at how it's done based on the effect, and it seems to work. However, I don't think that's fair to Daniel Garcia to have his effect shown on another product in such a way that they all but expose the method.
Also, getting the photos onto an iPhone is not simple. I had to do some Google-ing to figure it out. So, I guess what I'm saying is that there were some details missing on this project. Also, it was clear that the teaching segment was very unscripted. Sean Hayden and Mark Shortland kept talking over each other and through each other and making things a bit hard/messy to follow. However, the basic concept and method is taught well and covered in enough depth that you'll have no problem learning it.
Final Thoughts
If you like the premise of doing mentalism with faux social media profiles and you don't mind the few annoyances mentioned, then you'll be happy with your product. Considering the price, and the fact that you're getting (other than the Garcia thing) what they say/show you are getting, this one comes in at a decent final rating.
Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.
(Top ▲)
Before I start I would like to say that I received this trick as part of a deal (it was free with the purchase of Soma's The social deck) so I haven't had to pay for it. However, as a few buddies have pointed out, I still (kind of) paid for it (as I probably wouldn't have purchased the social deck if it wasn't a part of a deal).
Ive had this trick now for a week, and i like it for what it is, however I feel I should point out one floor(?) in the whole setup… (certainly in the pack I received)
I (fortunately) noticed on day one that there is a 'issue' with one of the cards, namely the 'Danni" card and the phone number on it. The last digit SHOULD be a '5' but is printed as a "3" (I don't want to give out the method involved)
Now this may only be for the current batch of cards, I don't know how many prints there have been since the original batch of printing?
I immediately called World Magic Shop on the Saturday, telling them of the error, and was promised a call back when they had looked into my issue. Well, by the Wednesday I still hadn't heard anything, so called again, only to be told that they'd checked their stock and it seemed to be only an error in my cards. To quote the person on the call, "I've done this trick many times and I have never had a problem…" I insisted that I wasn't making it up and so sent them a photograph of my Danni card.
Today (Thursday) I received an email from the team telling me that they now realise that the error I have found is on ALL of the current stock, but that they have no plan to do a re-print and thus rectify the situation for the foreseeable future.
Yes there is a work around, so long as you remember that the card is incorrect, but really is this acceptable? Isn't that like suppling an invisible deck where you cannot be sure that the 'method' is being followed throughout the whole pack, thus leading to a chance of showing AC instead of AD (for instance)?
You may say I'm being difficult, but two things have happened here…
1) I was told it was my problem (and made to feel that I was wrong),
2) it doesn't fit the taught method.
Again I repeat, the methods are good, and it's a nice little packet trick, but I think anyone buying / already in possession of it, needs to know there is a fault with the item (ATM), that could (if you're not aware) lead to embarrassment during it's presentation.
Ive had this trick now for a week, and i like it for what it is, however I feel I should point out one floor(?) in the whole setup… (certainly in the pack I received)
I (fortunately) noticed on day one that there is a 'issue' with one of the cards, namely the 'Danni" card and the phone number on it. The last digit SHOULD be a '5' but is printed as a "3" (I don't want to give out the method involved)
Now this may only be for the current batch of cards, I don't know how many prints there have been since the original batch of printing?
I immediately called World Magic Shop on the Saturday, telling them of the error, and was promised a call back when they had looked into my issue. Well, by the Wednesday I still hadn't heard anything, so called again, only to be told that they'd checked their stock and it seemed to be only an error in my cards. To quote the person on the call, "I've done this trick many times and I have never had a problem…" I insisted that I wasn't making it up and so sent them a photograph of my Danni card.
Today (Thursday) I received an email from the team telling me that they now realise that the error I have found is on ALL of the current stock, but that they have no plan to do a re-print and thus rectify the situation for the foreseeable future.
Yes there is a work around, so long as you remember that the card is incorrect, but really is this acceptable? Isn't that like suppling an invisible deck where you cannot be sure that the 'method' is being followed throughout the whole pack, thus leading to a chance of showing AC instead of AD (for instance)?
You may say I'm being difficult, but two things have happened here…
1) I was told it was my problem (and made to feel that I was wrong),
2) it doesn't fit the taught method.
Again I repeat, the methods are good, and it's a nice little packet trick, but I think anyone buying / already in possession of it, needs to know there is a fault with the item (ATM), that could (if you're not aware) lead to embarrassment during it's presentation.
(Top ▲)
This is a very misguided mentalism product. You get six cards with different female profiles that look very much like a popular social media site. The basic effect is that you have someone select one of these six cards, and you tell them details about the cards.
In my experience, then doing mental card effects like these, the two methods that spectators usually throw out as guesses are marked cards and memory. I can’t technically reveal the how these cards are gaffed, but let’s just say if you encounter one of these spectators while performing this effect, you’re going to be in trouble.
The cards themselves have TINY printing on them. Even when performing for young people, in well lit areas, I can see a lot of people having trouble reading the cards.The cards also have some inconsistencies on them. For example, one of the girls is listed as living in San Francisco, but she has a UK phone number. The DVD teaches things fairly clearly, even though the performer is racing through the performance and fumbling with the props all the way through.
A Version of “A Night Out with the Girls” is the best effect on here. One version, the spectator ends up with an older woman as a gag, but the best thing on here is where the selected girl is the only one listed as SINGLE on her profile. I think this is cute, clean, and makes the spectator the hero at the end, since he’s ‘ended up with’ the only single girl. As good of an idea this is, your spectators will still have to read the tiny print, and I don’t think this is worth the asking price.
At the end of the day, a deck of cards is cheaper, still fits in your pocket, and offers up stronger effects and possibilities. Unless you’re booked by a certain social media company and want something that is customized for that gig, I can’t think of a fitting context for these props as is. Maybe if they were a little bigger and easier to read, but right now, I can only give this Two Stars for one clever idea.
In my experience, then doing mental card effects like these, the two methods that spectators usually throw out as guesses are marked cards and memory. I can’t technically reveal the how these cards are gaffed, but let’s just say if you encounter one of these spectators while performing this effect, you’re going to be in trouble.
The cards themselves have TINY printing on them. Even when performing for young people, in well lit areas, I can see a lot of people having trouble reading the cards.The cards also have some inconsistencies on them. For example, one of the girls is listed as living in San Francisco, but she has a UK phone number. The DVD teaches things fairly clearly, even though the performer is racing through the performance and fumbling with the props all the way through.
A Version of “A Night Out with the Girls” is the best effect on here. One version, the spectator ends up with an older woman as a gag, but the best thing on here is where the selected girl is the only one listed as SINGLE on her profile. I think this is cute, clean, and makes the spectator the hero at the end, since he’s ‘ended up with’ the only single girl. As good of an idea this is, your spectators will still have to read the tiny print, and I don’t think this is worth the asking price.
At the end of the day, a deck of cards is cheaper, still fits in your pocket, and offers up stronger effects and possibilities. Unless you’re booked by a certain social media company and want something that is customized for that gig, I can’t think of a fitting context for these props as is. Maybe if they were a little bigger and easier to read, but right now, I can only give this Two Stars for one clever idea.