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Details

E-Rase

Julien Arlandis

(Based on 2 reviews)
More than just a single trick, E-RASE is a utility device for professionals who want the best.
You'll use E-RASE for close-up, parlor, or stage.

Effect:
In front of your spectators you draw with a marker different ESP symbols on your E-RASE tablet.
You then ask one of them to choose one or more of the symbols.
Once the choice is made, you erase the symbols that were not selected.
Hiding nothing and with no manipulation and in full light, you invite your spectator to erase the remaining symbols -- the very ones he chose.
He will find that this is impossible! The symbols cannot be erased!
How is this possible?
Invite him to rub his fingers on other side of the transparent tablet, thereby erasing the remaining symbols. It's MAGIC!!!!
One question -- How have the chosen symbols passed through the transparent tablet????
An impossible mystery, given that the tablet is entirely examinable.
The effect that you've just read is only one of the many easily performed with this tablet.

  • You will bring this A4-formatted tablet everywhere.
  • During the whole routine there are no forces.
  • The routines are infinitely personalizable with cards, drawings, symbols, letters, numbers, etc.
  • The principle used, as far as we know, has never been used in a magic trick.
  • No manipulation, no chemicals, no special ink.
  • Although it's difficult to believe, you write openly in front of your spectators and only their choice or choices go through the tablet.
  • Delivered complete: specially made tablet, DVD, marker, eraser, and gimmick.

Reviews

Dr. J. M. Ayala De Cedoz

Official Reviewer

Jan 14, 2015

This product is another one of those that really frustrates me as a reviewer - there are a lot of good points to it but some of the bad ones take away from it a little.

First of all when I got the box, there was nothing in it except the tablet and two gimmicks. I had to wait for the DVD to be shipped separately with the extra missing items and then, I only received the DVD instructions, an extra gimmick and the thing you put on the gimmick for this to work.

It is supposed to come with an erasing cloth and a marker - neither of which I got so I cannot consider them for the review.

For what I did get, the tablet itself is sturdy and will do the job, but there are some spots on mine that looked like dried superglue spots near the edges where the black border was attached. It took a lot of elbow grease and some acetone to get it off.

Maybe it was just my unit that was missing some of the items (and in fact the most important of them - the DVD), but except for that part, the ad copy is accurate. If you receive exactly what I did, there is no way to work out the method for this thing without the DVD.

The DVD itself had some great ideas on it and various ideas were given, but the quality of the DVD was terrible. The lighting was not bad but the English portion of the DVD was dubbed very poorly. While listening to the English speaker you still could hear the French being spoken by Julien in the background. The sound quality was all over the place and for the most part it was just enough to do the job. From section to section the volume level was way down low and then way up high. The video looks like it was shot in a living room with two posters of the E-Rase product on the wall. The French side of the disc was no better, except you did not have the horrible dubbing to put up with. The sound on the French side of the disc was unfiltered and horrible.

The menu is easy to use and is broken down into chapters. If it makes any difference, the menu on the English side was not in English, but there were no descriptive words for each chapter other than the titles "Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc."

The DVD starts with Julien showing you what you receive in the box, he then teaches you the basic method, how to set up the gimmick and then moves into the various ideas. At the end he is joined by Mickael Chatelain and he shows you how to care for the tablet and clean it when it gets dirty. As an extra "bonus" they show you a bunch of screen shots of the types of drawings you can use with the tablet - seven of them to be exact and one did not even make sense.

There is a bonus section on the menu that should not have been labelled as such - it gives you the choice of watching the official E-Rase trailer in French or English. If you have bought the product, presumably then you have already seen one of the two trailers.

Another gripe I have with this is that on the tablet itself, there is a sticker on both sides of the border with the name of the product on it. I have no idea why you would do something like that because in this day and age, that is just giving away the method. It basically says, "Here is the name of this thing - go look it up and have fun with it when you get it." Though with a $65/USD price tag, I am not sure some would but that is another thing altogether.

That being said, the marker that is supposed to come with this is a dry erase, which is very easy to find in most stores these days that carry stationery or office supplies and they are cheap. Just about any non-abrasive cloth can be used to erase it as well, but as you will see in the instructions, the method requires it to be a cloth of some sort.

In my opinion there are some things you can (and should) do with your tablet and gimmick to make this better, including reducing the possible noise at one point. Start by steaming off the stickers on the thing and replacing it with something like a bulldog clip. Even leaving it blank with nothing at all is better than the E-Rase stickers. I have a bunch of eyeglass cleaning kits with the cleaning cloths in them that were never used because I have so many of them. I used those for the eraser and to help make the gimmick better.

I cannot even say whether $65/USD is a good price point because I did not get everything in my original box to begin with, and even when the missing items were shipped separately, I still did not get everything. If I paid that much money for a product and received what I did, I would be livid. If it had come complete, I would probably be upset and delighted all at once because the product has a ton of uses and there are limitless things you can do with it - it is a true utility - but the quality of the DVD and the supplied parts (again judging on the parts that I did eventually receive separately) were not great.

For what it is I was ready to give it 2-2.5 stars but if you watch the DVD and turn the sound off, you will still be able to learn how to do the main effect sufficiently. For that matter, once you learn the basic method you will be able to learn most (but not all) of the other ideas given with the sound turned off. This is not a strong enough effect to use by itself, nor as an opener or closer. I think this is better as part of a set or as something you use at the end of a middle set in a show.

Ignoring the terrible quality of the DVD and the fact that I did not get everything that was supposed to come with the product, I think this has a lot of uses and there is a lot you can do with it and I think some people will take this idea and run with it. For that, I give it 1 star.

*As of this writing on the 17th of January, 2015 I have taken the time to put this into performance since this review. Based on my experience with this prop in live performance situations, while the effects were generally well received, the now-glaring impracticalities (which were pointed out in the review, became obvious. This drastically reduces my initial star rating from 3 stars to 1.

**There is an inherent noise issue with the gimmick that was quite obvious even in louder venues. I had to modify the gimmick to work effectively, which was nothing like what was shown on the DVD.

For the record, since I did not get a marker with this initially, I substituted a brand of dry erase markers called Expo, which work very well on this plastic.

Again, once you supply yourself with all the necessary implements to perform the effects possible with this prop, it can be made to work, but whether it is practical for you is not for me to say. I found a particular set where this makes a good one - off bit of business, but it was just too restrictive to remain in the set.
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Steve Giles

Aug 27, 2013

Great trick,
It does what it says.
The only move you have to do is very subtle and easy to do.
It great for all settings whether close up or stage/

I would have given it 5 stars but I feel that the item could have been made better and the name of the trick should not be on it as it makes it look like a prop.

Highly recommend.
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