Magic Tricks

Sometimes it hurts to give poor reviews. Lu Chen is clearly an accomplished magician, and could likely fool the pants off of you or anyone. Indeed, there is at least 1 fooler on this video. But I am not rating Lu Chen as a person or a magician. Indeed, he does nothing wrong here. I am, however, rating whether this is a good purchase for other magicians. And in my opinion, it is not. First, it is not a typical magic lecture. It is primarily an interview. And while Lu Chen's perspective is presumably more valid and well-thought out due to his vast experience, there is nothing in it to justify the almost $40 price tag. There are three tricks "taught." But they are not taught clearly. In the first trick (tossed out deck), Lu Chen references that an important aspect of the trick is Luke Jermay's, and refers the view to view Mr. Jermay's videos. The second trick (a prediction)relies heavily on a secret gimmick, and there is no instruction on where to purchase the gimmick, how to craft the gimmick, or where to purchase the supplies to create the gimmick. Lu Chen does, however, mention that the pad that is used is manufactured by a Japanese brand/manufacturer. I have read some other comments about this, stating that the description clearly states that Lu Chen only teaches 3 tricks. Admittedly, the description does state that. But the tricks are not taught well, clearly, or thoroughly. I understand that with magic purchases you sometimes are disappointed with what you purchase because be secret is not as complex, clever, or deceptive as you thought it would be. But here you get a low quality production. It is low quality because the tricks are not taught thoroughly, clearly, or well. The rest is a conversation with Lu Chen. So if you want to pay $40 to listen to Lu Chen speak - and you very well might, he is certainly interesting and has an informed opinion on his magic - then this is a video for you. Unfortunately, I was purchasing it for the magic instruction and, in this instance, the instruction was exceedingly poor. In my opinion, this video is overpriced and does not live up to the quality standards I expect from Penguin.