Title: Morgan's Liquid Metal II
Artist: Morgan Strebler
Producers: Ellusionist
Link: http://www.ellusionist.com/liquid-metal-......ler.html
Retail Price: $24.95 USD
Learning Difficulty: Moderate
Run Time: 49:56
Notes: Additional material will be required for performance & practice, but does not come with DVD. (forks)
Features:
• Introduction
• Performance Phase 1 of Routine
• Tutorial of Phase 1 of Routine
1. Corkscrew Bend
2. Fork Bend & Break Reveal
• Performance of Phase 2 of Routine
• Tutorial of Phase 2 of Routine
1. Tine Bend
2. One Handed Thumb Bend/ Shadow Bend
3. Corkscrew in the Hand
• Performance of Phase 3 of Routine
• Tutorial of Phase 3 of Routine
1. 3 Tine Bend
2. Final/ Handel Bend
• Performance of Total Fork Destruction
• Tutorial of Total Fork Destruction
1. Corkscrew Tine Bend
2. Second Shadow Bend
• Performance of Destruction Tine Break
• Tutorial of Destruction Tine Break
• Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Morgan Strebler's Liquid Metal 2 DVD takes your metal bending routine to the next level! Morgan pushes the boundary of metal bending by not only bending the fork in front of the spectators, he totally destroys it! Use a spectator's hand to manipulate the forks shadow causing visible, instant reactions to the fork's physical properties, or cause the very tines to bend, corkscrew, and twist. Liquid Metal 2 is a powerful FISM parlor act redesigned to function and work on the street.

What does Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, The Godfather II, and Liquid Metal 2 all haven in common? They were all sequels that didn’t suck! It’s hard to find new material on metal bending in today’s market. Especially when considering that between Banachek, and Morgan’s Liquid Metal (one?) most of the essential material anyone would need to know about metal bending has been taught and taught well. So when it comes to producing a direct follow up to something you’ve already done you’re choices are either find something new to expand upon, or totally re-invent the wheel. Morgan has managed to do a little of both, and with great success.

Liquid Metal 2 is an infusion of Morgan’s parlor FISM act on fork bending re-engineered to allow you to perform it in street conditions for maximum impact. If you haven’t purchased Liquid Metal (one) yet, don’t worry. Morgan teaches you every part of his three phase fork bending act that is taught in Liquid Metal (one) before moving onto a new phase which totally destroys the bent fork you leave your spectator with, which is the heart of what Liquid Metal 2 is all about: Taking an already solid performance piece, and raising the bar to that next level.

If you haven’t purchased Morgan’s Liquid Metal (one) yet, I don’t want you to get the impression that you won’t need it. Sure this DVD does teach what is available in Liquid Metal (one), however Morgan doesn’t give it nearly the same level of attention he does in the first DVD. This really is a recap primer for establishing the foundation for what Liquid Metal 2 is all about.

The DVD format is pretty strait forward. You’ll watch some live footage of Morgan working different groups of people in the real world format before you go back to the studio where he breaks down what he did, and why. This is separated into the three individual phases of his routine before going into the newer material. It’s like being in school again, you get to do some hands on real world work before diving into the theory portion of the how’s and the why’s. I think the see it done, then learn to do it format makes for a great teaching style because by the time you get to the learning portion you’ve already seen the trick done so you know where you need to end up at.

What I love about Morgan’s work with this DVD is the attention to psychological details he gives you. This DVD doesn’t just teach you how to bend metal, it arms you with psychological subtleties that really help sell what you are doing to the spectator. Details like shaking a spectators hand gently so they don’t just assume you’re a strong guy, or gently wiggling the tines to cause them to break as opposed to forcefully bending them back and forth. These are the kinds of things that you really need to think about to present powerful magic, and it’s seldom things that occur to the student who is just learning. These are only nuggets of wisdom that come from hours of real world experience, and it’s obvious that Morgan has that in spades. If the student is wise, they will pay close attention and take notes when Morgan starts talking about why he is motivated to do certain things. There is more here on this DVD than what is just on the surface.

Liquid Metal 2 is all about the total destruction of a bent fork. Normal metal bending routines end once you’ve bent the fork into all kinds of impossible angles, but normal isn’t enough for Morgan. Morgan challenges you to consider what you would really do to a fork if you had psychokinetic powers. The answer is you would demolish the sucker! So picking up right where the normal fork bending routines leave off Morgan teaches you how to put a cork screw bend into the tine (THE TINE!) of a fork, and then how to slowly, with the gentlest of touches, cause each tine to one by one break off and fall to the ground leaving the spectator with no outs, no explanations, and a souvenir unlike no other.

Liquid Metal 2 is very practical for the close up or street performer. It was designed that way! Morgan has re-engineered his parlor act to work in street or close up conditions. He gives you the details on the types of forks to use (conveniently Ellusionist is now caring forks for your ease of purchase), and how to set up your set so you can move flawlessly between the Liquid Metal (one) routine, and the one taught in Liquid Metal 2. For something that packs small, and plays big this is one act that once mastered could become a reputation maker for you.


My overall impression of this product is a very positive one. When Morgan told me months ago that he had a super-secret project he was working on I was excited to see what he’d come up with. I didn’t think he’d follow up his debut DVD with another tutorial that stands on par with the original. Morgan has once again put an entry into the field of metal bending that will become an essential to anyone wanting to learn the secrets to that art.

When I give my product scores below I am measuring them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 Being absolute the worst score possible, and 10 being the absolute best, making a score of five average. The four points that I grade upon is Product Quality, Teaching Quality, Sound & Video Quality and Overall Quality.

Product Quality: 8
I think the price of the product is quite fair to the amount of information you receive.

Teaching Quality: 8
Morgan’s teaching style is complete. Everything you would need to know from what to use, what to do, and why you’re doing it that way is there.

Video & Sound Quality: 8
This DVD holds up to Ellusionist production quality standards. I found no issues with either the video, or the sound quality.

Over All Quality: 8
A solid follow up to an already solid piece of work. This belongs in your library.

I've wanted to learn fork/spoon bending for a long time.

Does the stuff on this DVD work with normal cutlery?

If by normal you mean non gimmicked stuff, then yes. Morgan does explain the advantages of different fork brands, and what brands he prefers/recommends.

Be careful here... A lot of 'normal cutlery' is to strong to be used for this type of effect.
Certain types are OK and others are not. As one of the previous posts stated that some magic
dealers are stocking specific forks to perfom this effect. This is for a very good reason:
They are designed to be used in such situations. If you are new to fork / spoon bending my
advice is to purchase the ironwork that is most suitable. Otherwise you may quickly decide
that this is not for you.

Where do you guys buy your forks?
Is the liquid forks at WorldMagicStore good?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
Yes the forks sold by WMS are good for this routine.

I've purchased Psychokinetic Silver by Banachek and I perform it a lot. I am looking to change my routine a bit. Is this still the best product if I want to learn new bends and routines? (I see this review was posted in 2011)

Liquid Metal 2 is basically the first Liquid Metal with a few extra moves... It was kind of pointless, I wouldn't recommend it.