Here’s the back and front of the tuck case. First impressions are good.

In case you haven’t worked it out yet – Hornets look a lot like Bees. And I’m not just talking about insects here! I’ve always like the understated class of the borderless Bee design, and that immediately inclines me towards these Hornets.

But as we know, Sam Hayles and the BBM folk are obsessed with skulls. So if you take a closer look at the ‘pleasing geometrical back design’ you see that it actually consists of skulls (and crossbones). Lots of them. All over…

The skull and crossbones and the hornets themselves also feature on the Ace of Spades and the Jokers (which bring in the inevitable skeleton too! and a 3S reveal). But all rather tastefully done.

If I’m honest, what I like most about the deck is that you don’t really notice the skulls at all. Now I know that a lot of the BBM faithful won’t understand that – but skulls don’t do it for me that much – which was why until now my favourite Karnival deck was the Karnival Ryujin.
But I think the Hornets may have taken that crown. And I love the slightly mesmerising effect of spreading or fanning the borderless deck (see pictures below).

Before we leave the appearance of the cards, the faces (apart from the AS and the Jokers) are classic Bicycle faces and easy to read. You are also provided with a rather odd extra card (not pictured here, sorry) – which has a Hornet back, and most of the front of a Karnival Dose but with a ‘torn away’ effect in the corner revealing the pip of a 6H. Don’t really know what that is useful for apart from advertising…
I should also just mention there is the almost obligatory barcode reveal on the tuckcase.

We need to say a word about card quality and handling. A new deck is incredibly smooth and slippy – handles like a dream. It is apparently printed on Bee stock – and I still don’t know if I’m imagining it but it feels slightly thinner. But there are few sleights that will be hindered by this – and many will actually be helped.

Feast your eyes on what I consider to be the attractive geometric effects of a stacked, spread and fanned deck before you read our conclusion…

All in all we’re a big fan of the Hornets. In Karnival terms it feels to be an understated design which is very pleasing on the eye and handles beautifully. Available right now direct from BBM for £4.99 + p&p.

And watch this space for our Christmas competition and the chance to win yourself a deck!

This isn’t going to be a long review because there isn’t much to say. It does exactly what it says on the tin – two signed cards very cleanly end up in your back pocket. There is no palming required or sleight of hand. In fact it is super easy to do. Genius.

The DVD contains a helpful section on misdirection – though the routine itself has very natural built in misdirection. There is also a section on customising the gimmick(s). Can’t say much more without tipping the method.

The DVD also contains a number of variations:

Blank Card Version – a one card variation where the selected card first loses its face and then re-appears in your pocket.

Joker Transpo Version – two jokers are placed in your back pocket, then two cards are chosen, signed and lost. The signed cards reappear in your back pocket while the jokers are back in the deck.

Three Card Version – well what would you expect it to look like?! Like the last variation this would work better with a table than in the hands.

Stooge-alicious – extending the concept with the aid of a helping hand…

This is one of my favourite releases in a good while. Very easy to do and strong reactions. Highly recommended.

You can get it direct from BBM for £18.99 – and if you order before the release date (August 22nd) they will throw in a free copy of Liam Montier’s Wicked World Vol 2 DVD (worth £22.99) for free.

In the meantime, BBM are offering an amazing pre-order deal. If you order before the release date (June 20th) they will throw in 2 free DVDs. The list of options includes the 52 vs Joker project (which we reviewed here), Welcome to the Firm, Wicked World of Liam Montier Vol 1, 4×4, CTW, The Cullfather, Casanova Concept, Elegy Shift, 10 Below Zero, Connected, McBride Classics. It is probably technically only available to the BBM mailing list, but I’m sure if you email sales@bigblindmedia.com to say what you would like they won’t say no. But the freebies are availalable on a first-come first-served basis, so get pre-ordering…

The Skip Switch is a very clever and clean-looking way of switching a card which is sandwiched between 2 jokers, without it apparently leaving your sight. Cool!

Ollie comes across as a nice guy – not one of those flashy in your face chaps – and I like that. The move is very clearly taught in 5-phases. I have an average level of competence with cards, and it was within my grasp. You probably won’t be doing it immediately (at least not looking as good as Ollie!) but it is not a 24-years of daily study type move either.

How does it look?
Although I am very nervous about disagreeing with living legends like Peter Duffie, I feel I want to qualify something he says. Peter says “Unnatural actions are conspicuous by their absence.” I think this is true of the actual switch move itself but to me the ‘get ready’ feels slightly unnatural. For my money, however, the visual effect is so powerful that this is a worthwhile trade-off, but I have to tell it how I see it.

The routines
BBM never leave you with just a move itself, so the disk includes 11 routines. I’m not going to go into detail on them all but will make a couple of comments.

Firstly, all credit to Ollie’s creativity. There are a whole range of different effects here – with quite different feels to most of them – so this powerfully demonstrates the move’s versatility.

For me, some of the routines are a bit convoluted. Keeping track of what is where and why might be a bit much for a spectator in a typical walk-around type situation (though maybe not in a formal close-up show context). This is particularly true where there are 2 chosen cards to remember and things are swapping places all the time. I personally love the simplicity of ‘Edit the equation’ – but maybe I’m just a bit of a maths geek!

In my opinion, even if you don’t use the routines exactly as they are, there is more than enough food for thought to get you incorporating the move into your own routines.

Anything else to say?
The DVD is well shot – no extraneous noise or distraction. On the subject of noise, I was continually amused by the ‘audience interaction’. Every time Ollie asked for the non-existent spectator to say ‘stop’, the screen would blank and the word ‘STOP’ would appear in the middle of it. Well it made me laugh.

That does highlight for me one thing I would have liked to see – a bit of footage of Ollie performing some of this stuff in the real world to real people.

All in all a neat utility move and plenty of ideas to get you thinking. Good work BBM!

Available
Direct from BBM (£18.49 including p&p in the UK)
MagicShop.co.uk (£18.99 – p&p depends on what else you buy)
DudeThatsCool (£16.99 – p&p depends on what else you buy)

Bullet Party is the name of Volume 1 (and the first effect)
This is a ‘gambling’ themed effect – the original Elmsley 4 card trick was the starting point for this. It ends up somewhere between Twisting the Aces and Rainbow Cascade with a puntastic climax in the form of a cod explanation and all 4 cards change! If you can do an Elmsley count you can perform this trick. Great routine. Loads of nice subtleties (the display of 3 jokers early on is sweet). Classic Bannon!

Final Verdict
Spectator cuts to the Aces. The result of 20 years playing with this particular effect. Once you’ve got into the setup, the trick almost works itself. But you will need a medium proficiency with cards to get into the setup.

Box Jumper
This is a version of a Simon Aronson trick. Chosen card lost in the deck swaps places with a card in the card box. No real setup. A simple Marlo control does the hard work for you Good clean lines if I can use that phrase to apply to the routining of a trick. A great little effect.

Riverboat Poker
An unusual 2-phase gambling routine. In the first part you apparently teach the spectator how to stack a deck for a poker deal. This sets you up for a (to my mind) slightly involved poker deal. It is largely ‘self-working’ though does require a set up. In the right context I’m sure this would be a winner, but I’m not sure I’d ever be in that context…

Poker Pairadox Redux
Based on the classic Nick Trost routine. We saw this when it appeared in the Mega ‘Wave booklet, but it has been improved to allow an instant reset for walkaround. In spite of the name it would work for non-Poker players, and it is self-working. Lovely.

Fractal Re-Call (Revised)
Call of the Wild re-revisited (it was revisited in Mega ‘Wave and this is a further refinement) and now with regular cards. This is not impromptu since there is a stack required. The whole thing starts with a fairly bold switch though Bannon assures us it isn’t actually too hard! An entertaining story accompanies this routine which packs a lot of magic into it. Requires reasonable card-handling skills but worth this bit of effort.

Crocodile False Cut
In the hands false cut based on a Gary Oullet move. No explanation, just a video of Liam Montier repeating it several times. It looks neat, but would have preferred a bit more description here to help [NB this is apparently explained in the Bullet Party book in more detail].
UPDATE – apparently there was an error on the review disc and this is explained in full on the final version. Will confirm when I have seen it…

Mega ‘Wave is the name of Volume 2 (and its first effect)
This is an awesome-looking trick with some great thinking. Related to Stephen Tucker’s Omega effect and a bit like extreme Twisted Sisters. I love the psychology going on here and the real sneaky moves. And it’s all examinable at the end! But you already knew all that if you read my review of the Mega ‘Wave booklet…

Return to Fat City
A sandwich routine with a surprising second phase where every card except the chosen one ends up in the sandwich. Perhaps best of all there is no ATFUS involved! This is one of the cleanest looking sandwich effects I have seen (and I have seen quite a few!) and the structure allows an extra ‘revelation’ in the first phase. I love the way it builds logically to the second phase. This second stage is slightly bold, but it is a great routine.

Wicked
A selected card transposes between two pairs of queens during a nice Wizard of Oz themed effect. The plot helps make sure no one forgets where the cards are. For me this is a real worker. It’s ‘fractal’ and doesn’t require much finger-flinging, and a story always makes a card trick more interesting. It really is wicked!
I need to add a personal footnote here. I was slightly embarrassed to spot that this routine was in the Mega ‘Wave book, and I didn’t take to it so much in print. So I will grudgingly admit that there are sometimes advantages to DVDs!

Bulletcatcher
This is a neat 4-Ace production. It was first seen in a slightly different form in Smoke and Mirrors. It looks neat and is easy to do.

Drop Target Aces
4 aces are buried in the pack but somehow end up in your hand. This will take a bit of practise to get it looking really good, but if you can do an ambitious card routine this should be no problem for you.

Four Shadow Aces
A quick and clean 4-ace assembly. Uses a delightfully simple Marlo switch combined with a really sneaky Paul Wilson subtlety. A nice warm up to a more unusual variation on the theme.

Big Fat Bluff Aces
This starts off looking like another 4-ace assembly, but after the ‘follower’ aces disappear, the ‘leader’ pile is shown to contain 4 kings. Then all the aces return to their original piles again. Follows nicely from the previous routine. A slightly illogical display sequence is required, but this routine is really growing on me.

General Observations
Rather in keeping with Bannon’s slightly cerebral style, each effect is given a brief introduction before being presented. There are a mixture of live and studio performances, but all are well recorded and production values are high.

In the explanations, Bannon is variously assisted by his old pal David Solomon (who mainly sits there without moving), Andi Gladwin, Colin Miller, Jamie Badman and James Went. And it comes with 13 Bicycle Cards so you can get going straight away.

As ever, Bannon is very good at attributing sources and inspirations, and many of these effects have a long pedigree. Whilst this is one of the reasons I love Bannon’s work – because I am fascinated by the process involved in the evolution and routining of an effect – there is a little bit of me that would like to have seen a few more completely new effects. As it is, we have a number of variations of things seen in earlier works (e.g. Dear Mr Fantasy, Smoke and Mirrors, Mega ‘Wave).

On the subject of books he has also published a booklet containing many (though not all) of the routines on this DVD set – though I don’t think that is available in the UK yet.

Conclusion
Well I was always going to like it wasn’t I? I think that everyone would find one or two effects that will suit them, and some people will find lots more. And (at the risk of sounding like a stuck record) there is much to be learned from the way Bannon routines his magic – principles you can apply to all your own magic.
What are you waiting for? Join the party…

Available direct from BBM – £24.99 + p&p.

I love the fact that each face has been individually drawn – with unique blood splotches. Everything looks dirty and old (or ‘aged’ and ‘distressed’ in marketing speak!). I particularly like the big bold aces – again splattered with blood.

The court cards have their eyes blacked out – very cool. And again everything is aged and blood splattered.

Each card also has its value printed on the edge of the card so it is visible in a ribbon spread. I had mixed views on this. The font style used here seems a bit out of keeping with the ‘age’ of the rest of the design. But its quirky – and certainly novel.

Extras include a blank-faced card (the blood’s real subtle here!) and an ‘advertising card’ which includes a 5D reveal in words and pictures on a modified version of the back design. There’s a two of spades barcode reveal on the tuck box and a discrete 10S reveal in the middle of the ‘brain’ on one of the Jokers.

And there are no nasty sticky seals on the packs – and since I’ve never found a neat way of opening sealed packs without a knife that makes me happy!

But for me there are two things which hold me back. The back designs (and probably the jokers) are just a little too gory for my taste. Stylised skeletons are one thing – but this is a bit too close to the bone (pun not really intended) for me. That’s a very personal thing – so may not hold you back – but I tell it how I see it on this site.

Also, although the cards handle well, they feel slightly thinner than normal Bicycle stock for me. I still can’t decide if this is psychological or really is the case – on one card you’d barely notice it, but I did some comparisons with a normal rider back deck, and they did feel to be ever so slightly thinner. What impact this would have over longer use I don’t know, but for me they just felt a bit too thin.

There’s definitely a market for these. It’s a shame they officially hit the UK on Nov 15th because it means the Halloween opportunity has been missed. But these are certainly a work of art, probably collectable, and in the right sort of routine or setting they’ll be killers!

Availability
Direct from BBM – £4.99/deck + £1 p&p – reducing for larger orders.

UPDATE – release date 15th November…

Gary and Chris have a very natural manner in their performances and explanations and the DVD is well shot and easy to navigate as we have come to expect from BBM. It seems to be less wacky than some BBM discs, with the exception of the salami moment…

What about the tricks? Here’s the contents with a few thoughts.

Nearly CAAN
A very fair looking selected card at any number and dead easy to do thanks to the use of duplicates. They also teach a little 4 ace production at the start which reappears in a couple of routines using four of a kind. I like this routine a lot, but the deck is a bit of a one-trick pony…

Kicked Right Back
A nice little sandwich effect with a surprise kick. Two cards are selected and lost in the pack. The two black queens ‘catch’ 2 cards between them – but when the cards are removed they turn out to be the two black queens, whilst the queens in the performer’s hands have turned into the selections. This is a real worker and doesn’t require too much finger-flinging for a really strong effect.

Joker Surprise
The spectator’s selection is the only card which isn’t a joker. No real surprises here for the performer, but a funny effect for a layman. Again a one-trick pony, but a nice easy effect which would play well for lay-people.

C2B with Zilcho palm
2 black aces are placed in card box. Spectator’s card ends up sandwiched between the 2 aces in the card box, and the aces have changed to red ones on the way! This, for me, is one of the strongest tricks on the disc. A lot of magic happens – it looks very fair, and requires only basic card handling – and no palming.

Packed Wallet
2 chosen and signed cards are lost in the pack. The first one is found in performer’s pocket. Second is meant to appear in his wallet, but in fact the remainder of the pack turns up in the wallet, and the selection is in the performer’s hand all along. Another strong effect with a striking twist, and also a handy way to switch in a new deck! Requires some card controls and a rather bold move, but the latter is really easier than it looks.

Pocket Aces
A nice 4 aces to spectator’s pocket. Requires palming (and again some card controls) but a helpful discussion of this to reduce your fear! I rarely use palming but think I could manage this…

The Big Transpo
Spectator’s card apparently swaps places with a card in your pocket. Also a way of introducing a duplicate card to the deck. For me this is not a particularly entertaining effect, but it is fairly easy to do.

Jump Back Sandwich
Repeated signed card to joker sandwich. The use of a duplicate allows some really clean displays but this doesn’t appeal to me as much as some of the effects.

Sucker Deal
The old ‘next card I turn over will be yours’ sucker trick – but made much more powerful and visual with a dupe… However, I wonder if the dupes are seen in too close a succession in this routine which may make the workings a bit obvious.

Box Sitter
Chosen card appears under box in impossible conditions. Very clean. I like this a lot and can see this being a worker.

Pocket Interchange – and variations
The four aces and queens change places (from pockets to table) instantaneously. Very easy handling. As well as being a nice routine, it is a useful way to ditch a dupe. After the original handling several variations are provided.

First a non-pocket handling where the packets swap places on the table. Then a no gaff (i.e. no duplicates) handling is provided – which is a slightly odd inclusion on a dupes DVD (!) – but does mean you can do the routine impromptu. This requires a bit of extra handling and a slight discrepancy, but it still works! Then there is a third handling using sticky card – which is possibly even cleaner – but is obviously more gaff-intensive. Overall, I think I like the original best.

Lee Smith’s Predicto Pocket
Another ‘impossible’ signed card trick – where the previously shown ‘prediction card’ becomes the actual signed card the spectator chose. A few subtleties with the Hindu force which are nice. Possibly my favourite trick on DVD. Does require some palming (explained).

Hypno-Tastic
An easy to perform routine incorporating some gentle hypnotism (suggestion) to lead to a really nice reveal at the end. Also an extra non-dupe version for when you’re caught on the hop… This could be a real worker for my money.

The disc ends with a brief discussion on the use of duplicates and some tips for extra convincers.

Final Thoughts
Although most of the moves required are taught, it is probably fair to say the DVD assumes basic card control – however, I emphasise the ‘basic’ here – there is nothing out of the reach of most performers (with the possible exception of the palming).

I think most people would take at least a couple of effects from this DVD to use, and it should also stimulate further ideas with this under-utilised technique. For me – if a simple ploy like a duplicate card can reduce the amount of sleight of hand and increase the wow-factor of an effect, it is worth doing.

And if you buy it direct from BBM at the moment (£19.99) they will throw in a free copy of ‘Get Connected’ (worth £15)

This is a very different look for the Karnival Deck – more oriental in style and with metallic gold ink. We’ll do a proper review when we get our hands on some. Watch this space… (to make that easier, why not follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook page?)