FlipbokuBendito Machine Flipbook - a Magic Flipbook with 6 Animations and Optical Illusion

If it was 1995 or earlier, I would think this flipbook would be pretty amazing, and well worth $20.Technology has advanced so far by 2021 that the thrill of a really cool flipbook is quite diminished. Obviously, it only takes a couple of seconds to "watch" one of the animations, so with just about any flipbook you're not going to "use" it a whole lot.However, the "trick" of this flipbook is very, very cool, and would definitely get at least a semi-enthusiastic "wow" from the unsuspecting viewer. Depending on where you place your thumb on the edge, you get to see 3 entirely different animations. Same thing if you flip the book over.... 3 more animations. Very nice trick. In fact, you could use it AS a trick when you show it to someone. "And now I will say the magic words and the animation will be completely transformed!!!"...As for the animations themselves... I selected this item for the intriguing artwork, but didn't know anything about "Bentito Machine", but now I'm glad I do. It's a series of 6 dialog-free animated short films dating back to, I think, 2006, and are well worth checking out on their own. Here's an apt description I found online:"6 short tales about charming vertebrate creatures and their holy machines. A series of simple-minded organisms... in a state of perpetual dependence, where artifacts mark the passage of a glorious future."I once had a Monty Python LP, where I listened to Side A several times, before putting on Side A again and hearing a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT record. Temporarily lost touch with reality there, before I figured out that they had cut two grooves right next to each other, so in order to hear one part you have to move the needle just a millimeter....This flipbook gave me that feeling on first use, and it probably will to someone else. Here it is how the edges of the pages are cut that determines which animation shows up.As a Vine reviewer I was provided a review copy, but I'm not sure I'd pay $20 for something like this, for myself... I think, though, it'd make a cool and unique gift for someone into animation, or an arts-/artistically-inclined person.