In Volume 1, I explained (rather lengthily) how important cereal and cereal prizes were to me as a kid. In Volume 2, I introduce you to my personal cereal prize Holy Grail.
Now, there's one thing you have to understand before I continue, I am a huge fan of the 1988 film Willow. I remember watching it as a kid but my love for the film grew as I grew older in large part due to the sequel novels that were published later (I read and reread those books, they're my literary happy place). I remember looking at the Willow toys in Wal-Mart but never owned any probably because Tonka made the odd decision of making unarticulated toy soldier-type figures (like the one in the first photo of this post) rather than real action figures. The only Willow items I had as a kid were cereal premiums from Cap'n Crunch. There were at least three different prizes all with a magic theme. The one I loved the most was this one...
The Cap'n Crunch Willow Magic Coin Trick! (Yes, I do feel the use of capital letters is completely justified. This thing is worthy of proper noun status to me.)
I was absolutely infatuated with this thing as a kid. I knew it wasn't magic and didn't actually make anything disappear. It was just so inexplicably cool. I can't explain why I loved it, I just did. But like almost all my childhood toys, it was lost to time. As my love for Willow grew I found myself wishing I still had it. I needed another one but I couldn't find one anywhere. I couldn't even find one on eBay despite looking for years (the "magic slate" prize was almost always available but never the coin trick or magic cards).
Finally, I found a website specializing in cereal prizes and they had one! I spent way more than one probably should on an old, small piece of plastic originally given away as a freebie but the Cap'n Crunch Willow Magic Coin Trick is mine once again!
At the risk of angering the professional magic community I guess I should explain how it works... It originally came with a paper/cardboard coin with an image of Willow on it (I don't remember if it was something that had to be cut out of the cereal box itself or a separate piece included inside the box). Anyway, since I'm missing the original coin, a nickel works just as well.
You slide out the inner tray and place the coin inside.
Then you slide the inner tray back in. When you slide the inner tray out again THE COIN IS GONE!
To magically recover the coin you need to completely remove the inner tray, turn it 180 degrees and reinsert it. Abracadabra! THE COIN IS BACK! This thing is still magic to me and a powerful link to being a kid.
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