Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Mr. Roboto by Styx

Mickael Chatelain: Bill Flash Reverse Review

One DVD, two gimmicks, a two hour long arts and crafts project and $40 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect

You get two basic effects that can be combined into various routines. One effect is that of a dollar bill changing into a playing card. The other is a playing card changing into a dollar bill. Check the video trailer for the effects. But don't let it sway you too much. There are some issues.

Method

The method relies on two different gimmicks. One is called the Bill-Flash gimmick and the other is the Reverse gimmick. One changes the card to a bill. The other changes the bill to a card.

You're provided with some of the stuff that you need to make the gimmicks. You'll need to supply your own glue stick and dollar bills. If you decide to make these two gimmicks, you will sacrifice 3 $1 dollar bills (or whatever denomination you use). Two of the bills are permanently sacrificed, and one could be reused later if you decide to destroy the gimmick.

Making the gimmicks was a huge pain in the butt, and when finished, the gimmick was nowhere as clean looking as the one in the video. Playing cards and money are too thick, and this causes some issues when the gimmick is fully assembled. The one that changes from a bill to a card had too much secret stuff exposed. No matter how much adjusting and tweaking I did, I could not get it to look good and function well enough that I would trust it in performance. This gimmick has some heavy angle problems and awkward handling.

The one that changes to a dollar was a little more workable, but it was still a huge pain in the butt to make. All in all, these gimmicks are not good. In fact, the card to bill gimmick is already starting to come apart a little bit. The part that is coming apart is the part that came pre-assembled, not the part that I had to add on.

Ad Copy Integrity

There are some issues with the ad copy as well.

Written Copy

In the description of the effect called Bill Flash Card Reverse this claim is made: "Take the cards out of the case, show both sides - it's an absolutely ordinary deck." You cannot show the deck around, and it is NOT ordinary. Sure the deck is ordinary, but it has a big fat bulky gimmick in it, a gimmick that has to be hidden by holding the deck in a sort of deep dealer's grip. If you tried to show the deck on both sides, you'd have some issues.

A few paragraphs later, this claim is made: "The[n] hiding nothing and in full light, right before the spectators' eyes, you shake the folded card and then, faster than the blink of an eye, the card is transformed into a banknote, also folded in fourths!" It's mostly true, except for the part about "hiding nothing." That's not true; you're hiding the gimmick.

Next claim: "Unfold and freely show the banknote - it's completely genuine, and not just any banknote, it's a 10 Euro note!" The bank note may be so-called genuine, but it's connected to a gimmick that is not removable, thus making the bank not, not quite legitimate.

Toward the end of the ad copy is the claim that "The above text is 100% accurate." Obviously that's not true. Next up is the claim that this can be done with any currency. Yes; that's true, however, you have to pick a currency and always do it with that currency. In other words, you can't do it with a $5 bill at this table, and a $10 bill at that table. Your gimmick is permanently one specific bill of your choosing.

Video Trailer

The ad trailer is actually accurate in the sense that all the effects can be done as shown assuming you can get your gimmick built properly without any angle problems and extra exposed bulk. I could not make that happen. I think if you used thin playing cards, this might be possible.

Product Quality

The film footage was terrible. The lighting was horrible. Much of the time, the playing cards were completely white-washed. I couldn't tell if I was looking at the front or back of the card. Mickael Chatelain's face was washed out quite frequently. The footage did not take up the full screen and was a bit grainy.

The teaching of how to handle the gimmicks was actually pretty good (other than the lighting quality). However, the explanation for creating the gimmicks was terribly done. It was done with quick — way too quick — images and text on the screen.

In order to make it, you have to pause it at each image. However, by the time the image was on the screen I would reach for the pause button, but the next image was already starting to superimpose itself over the one I was trying to look at. Finally with some pause button ninjutsu, I was able to pause it at the right time and look at the images and make the gimmicks.

However, there are way too many finer points that needed to be discussed that were not covered due to the poor teaching method. Further, the entire DVD was all out of order. The first thing shown is a trailer. Then you're shown a graphic about how to fold a dollar bill. There is no context to this folding. Next you're shown the graphic images for how to make the gimmick that has nothing to do with a folded dollar bill. At this point, I'm still not sure what the folded bill is for.

Next is a performance/walk-through/explanation of the gimmick that you have not yet been shown how to make. Then is a performance/explanation of how to use the gimmick that you made a moment ago. After that you are then shown the graphic images for making the other gimmick that you've already been taught how to use, even though you hadn't made it yet.

Watching this thing was exhausting. One final problem is that on the DVD itself, there is a video performance where the bill is placed under his wallet. Then he tells the spectator to pick up the wallet to reveal that it has changed to a playing card. He then tells her to pick up the card and unfold it. You CANNOT do that. She would be picking up a very heavily gaffed card that will not withstand spectator handling. If there is a way to do this, it was not taught it on the DVD.

Final Thoughts

The gimmicks themselves do function, and I really thing that with some thinner playing cards, you might have something workable, but I've already wasted enough time on this. Plus the DVD is based on using normal cards. Add that to the fact that the DVD was terrible quality, the gimmicks are messy and expose too much, and there are very misleading statement in the ad copy, and it's hard to give this a good rating.

Final Verdict:
2 Stars with a Stone Status of rubble.