Do you know how the Lady To Lion Card Trick by Magic Patagonia in YouTube is done?
How Roberto performs his made in India toy magic trick differently from the other Lady To Lion/Tiger card trick.
The method of the transformation trick is the same as the other Lady To Lion/Tiger card trick.
But because Roberto’s card design gimmick is different, so he presents Lady To Lion Illusion card trick in another way.
In fact to do the trick, he can just reverse the card and then turn it back to the viewers.
But Roberto stages it differently, thus it is more mysterious and magical.
Lady to Tiger Card Trick
As you know besides the Lady To Lion, there is another same design called “Lady To Tiger”.
The method and the effect of the “Lady To Lion” and “Lady To Tiger” tricks are the same.
It is just a matter using the picture of a tiger.
In addition, you can also present the trick the other way around, from “Lion To Lady” and “Tiger To Lady”.
You can perform this transformation trick over and over, and no resetting necessary.
It is a self-working magic trick.
This cardboard trick come in two sizes: one is about 2.75″ x 3.5″ and the other is approximately 7.25″ x 10.5″.
NOTE: This is a close up trick, and not the famous Lady To Lion or Tiger stage illusion, as exposed by the Masked Magician.
Lady To Lion Card Trick Secret Revealed
Welcome to another post from the Info Ruckus Magic Trick Secrets Revealed series.
Where I answer the popular question: how are magic tricks done?
How magic tricks work, or what is the secret behind magic tricks?
The magicians refer to it as the method; the secret technique uses to create the illusion of a magical effect.
I would explain both versions of the Lady To Lion Card Trick secret with pictures and video snippets.
The common procedure where they turn the card around, and the way Roberto does it in his Magic Patagonia demo video.
As usual, I would include the psychology behind this transformation magic effect.
Effect :
The performer shows a picture of a magician standing behind a cage with a lady locked inside the cage.
He turns the picture card around to show the back side of the side, then he turns it back to the viewers.
Mysteriously, the picture of the lady has changed into a lion.
Watch the common demo of Lady To Lion Card Trick below:
This is how Magic Patagonia stages his Lady To Lion Illusion with a different card design:
Lady To Lion Card Trick Explained
First, let’s explore the common way to present this pocket magic trick and its secret.
- Definition of a pocket magic trick: It is also known as a hand trick. It is those small trick props which you can carry around inside your pocket. Usually they are easy-to-do tricks without sleight of hand skill is required. Just pull it out from your pocket and do a little trick for a simple amusement. Magic items like the paddle magic stick, Tel-A-Vision, or Spikes Through Coin trick.
After showing the picture of the lady inside the cage, the performer turns the back side of the picture card to show to the viewers.
Next he turns it upside down at 0:03, before he rotates the card back to show to the viewers.
Now the picture of the lady has transformed into a lion inside the cage.
The secret move is to turn the card upside down away from your eyes.
Picture Of The Cage Is A Flap
The gimmick of this Lady to Lion or Lady To Tiger trick card is, just the picture of the cage.
The picture of the cage with the lady or lion/tiger is actually a lift-up flap.
In other words, it is an attached cut-out piece (black dotted lines), that can be lifted up and down.
The top edge of the cage is attached to the card (indicated), while the rest of it can be lifted up and flips over the picture of the magician.
For a clearer understanding, this is the side view of the card with the lift-up flap.
One side of the flap is the picture of the cage with the lady, and on the reverse side is the inverted picture of the lion or tiger inside the cage.
This cut-out flap picture is captured from the Girl To Tiger Card trick video by Peter Monticup of magictricks.com.
Here are two more pictures where you can clearly see the cage is a flap piece.
When performers flip the card upside down, the flap falls down.
Thus revealing the other picture, and simultaneously blocking the inverted picture of the magician.
That is to say, there are two printed pictures of the magician on the card, as seen below.
At any one time, one of the magician pictures is covered by the flap (picture of the cage).
During the trick, the performer has to press onto the the picture of the cage, which is actually a movable flap.
Now you know the gimmick of the Lady to Lion or lady To Tiger card trick is just a lift-up flap piece.
The secret is you have turn the picture upside down.
Remember the toy magic tricks Magic Chinese Wallet and the Buddha Paper Money Mystery also used the discreetly turning the prop around method.
Magic Patagonia Lady To Lion Illusion Explained
As I have mentioned above, Roberto of Magic Patagonia does not turn over and invert the picture card.
Because his picture card gimmick design is different.
But the method of the trick is still the same, with a lift-up flap.
This is how his picture card of Lady To Lion trick looks like.
The white dotted lines indicates the cut-out flap piece, and it is attached to the card at the top edge of the cage.
Below is the side-view of the card with the opened up flap:
Again there are two pictures of the magician on the card:
The secret move is to drop down the flap piece, to replace the picture of the girl in the cage to the picture of the lion in the cage.
One easy way is turn the back-view of the card to the viewers, discreetly drop the flap and then rotate the card back to viewers.
But Roberto of Magic Patagonia has an interesting way of performing it.
From the very start of the video clip, he has lifted up the flap and keeps holding onto it with his left fingers.
The picture of the cage with the lion is actually behind the picture of the magician.
It is only at 0:19, he let go of his fingers, when he places the shell-pink cardboard screen with a round window in front of the picture card.
When he releases his fingers from the card, the gimmick flap falls only half-way down.
But not all the way to reveal the picture of the lion as yet.
Lady To Lion Illusion L-Shaped Ledge
It is because the dropped-down flap is held up by a narrow L-shaped folded bottom edge of the cardboard screen.
This is the L-shaped ledge folded-up edge of the cardboard screen, as shown below.
It is this narrow piece that prevents the flap from dropping down all the way.
This is the side view when the cardboard screen folded edge (ledge) holding up the flap piece.
The viewers get to see this slim ledge, only from 0:48 when he turns the shell-pink cardboard screen around to end the act.
When he opens up the round window, this folded up edge is still supporting the hovering flap.
By looking through the round window, you can tell the flap has already dropped down from the top.
As you can se below, the picture of the second drape curtain, and also the curtain folds near the magician’s hat are different from the picture at the start of the video.
Finally at 0:43 he drops the shell-pink cardboard screen abruptly, thus sending the hanging flap to drop down all the way together.
This is the dropped down flap piece displaying the lion in the cage, highlighted in white dotted lines.
If you observe closely, you can see many obvious differences between the two pictures – the lady in the cage and the lion in the cage.
This is what I think how Roberto of Magic Patagonia performs the Lady To Lion Illusion as shown in the YouTube video clip.
Psychology Lady To Lion Card Trick
This toy magic trick Lady To Lion trick relies on the what magicians called misdirection.
Misdirection is actually more about leading our eyes to focus only on a particular area, and not distracting us to look away.
In fact the performers remind us to focus on the picture of the lady inside the cage, as he reverses the card.
In the midst of pattering, or weaving the magical hand gestures, they discreetly invert the card, before showing the picture card back to us.
But we miss or overlook the moment their hand changes direction (turning it upside down).
There is an abrupt change in direction, and we do not notice.
Change Blindness In Magic Tricks
This phenomenon is known change blindness.
Basically change blindness is the failure to notice an obvious change.