Paradox Watch

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Paradox Watch

Postby tommydardar » Nov 10th, '03, 23:12



The Effect

as described by the product - 'Imagine if you could prove the strength of your magical and mental abilities by making time stop! Your spectator sees her watch stop ticking and feels your pulse stop. Then at your command, the spell is broken and your pulse remains along with the second hand on her watch. You and the spectator are left breathless!'

Cost

$59.95 from penguinmagic.com

Difficulty

No sleights are used, but a difficult trick to perfrom with the equipment provided... 3

(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Review

'...Ever wanted a super power? If so what woud it be? Me? I'd always thought it would be great to stop time... think of the benefits... more time in exams, job interviews, answering those life changing questions, and being able to make those special moments last just that fraction longer...'

... you would of course almost certainly have a better way of introducing this spectacle.

Like many of the more expensive tricks available within the market which describe near impossible sounding effects, upon receiving this I felt a little let down. For your money you get a genuine looking watch (which cannot be used as a day to day watch like the Masters Time Machine), and two photocopied sheets of lumious orange paper. Nice. All the apparatus required for this trick is not immediately available, and you might find that a quick trip to Toys R Us or even the Early Learning Center is in order should you wish to even attempt performance...

The act itself essentially boils itself down into two parts - the ability to make your pulse stop and the ability to make a spectators watch stop. The trip to the early learning center covers the first part of this - it is amazing just how dangerous some of the toys they sell can be in the hands of a magus!

The second part requires the use of the Paradox Watch itself which utilises a simple principal unknown to those outside of thaumaturgical circles. Owners of the PK5 Kit will probably have a vague idea as to exactly what that principal is.

Advantages - if performed with panache this trick is probably one of the best tricks within a magicians armoury. It is certainly not for the faint hearted. Should you be able to pull it off, then to your spectators you will have performed an undeniable miracle which will be the talking point of the evening and enahnce your reputation. Indeed, I recently saw the first half of the trick used in conjunction with an exploding lightbulb device while on holiday in Ireland... upon stopping the pulse the magician was able to transfer his cardiacal powers into blowing up a lightbulb. A little weird? Yes - Entertaining?! Well, the Irish liked it! The Paradox would be ideal for a Street Magician who wished to perform a time stopping PK effect without the need to conceal a PK device within ones sleeves: the effect is performable wearing a short sleeved shirt.

Disadvantages - my main predicament with the Paradox watch is the Watch itself. While it looks from a distance just like a normal watch, it has to be brought into very close proximity to the spectators watch (I am talking within touching distance), This can lead to the spectator notcing that your watch has stopped as well (which is admittedly probably not as impressive as stopping her watch,) but more importantly this can arrouse the spectators suspicions. Indeed, what I now like to do is utilise the power of the PK5 device to do the task of the Watch instead. This in my opinion makes the effect a lot more plausible. While the trick does not in itself involve advanced card manipulation or hours of practice as in learning coin manipulation, it does require both confidence and pluck in order to be pulled off without arousing any suspicions.

Overall

For the price and what you receive; it probably merits a 4 and a half. Under the guidance of magicdiscoman I would like to add that I would probably not buy the effect again although only due to the rather high price. For the same money there are tricks of equal impact out there which are more reliable and subtle in their methods...

ps. I hope my first addition to this board has been within the rules and my review has not overstepped any boundaries. I have been following it humbly for several months and have found it incredibly useful - I just hope I can put back a little of what I have been taking out!

pps. I am sure the Mog's SSUD would also suffice equally for the task. :D

Last edited by tommydardar on Nov 11th, '03, 00:58, edited 1 time in total.
tommydardar
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Postby magicdiscoman » Nov 11th, '03, 00:18

so in conclusion buy a ssud from mog instead and e-mail a friend :wink:
about biometric tricks to achieve the same effect plus having several other tricks that you could do instead.

great review well reasearched and considered points, its ok to say wether you would buy this one again as you will see in some other posts peoples views have steared us away from and onto good props, also props have been improved or radicaly revamped too.

iv'e done the equal, un-equal pulse trick myself when i did a party for nurses great fun.

magicdiscoman
 

Postby Mandrake » Nov 11th, '03, 00:20

Hi and thanks for coming out of the closet - so to speak! A great first posting and I'm sure it will be welcomed by all.

I know we sometimes appear to be a bit harsh on some postings but there are usually very good reasons - other than getting out of bed the wrong side that morning, that is! :shock:

Keep the postings coming and, when you feel like it, let us know a bit more about yourself, have a go at picking an Avatar and adding the extra age and 'status' info to your profile - it's not compulsory but it's friendly!

(By the way - we knew you were in the background on occasions, you left footprints in the flowerbed outside! :wink: )

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Postby Happy Toad » Nov 11th, '03, 02:25

Thanks and welcome, a very good review.

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Postby EckoZero » May 5th, '10, 20:13

Forgive me if I'm wrong but couldn't you achieve this with a PK ring and a beginners magic book...?

You wont find much better anywhere and it's nothing - a rigmarole with a few bits of paper and lots of spiel. That is Mentalism

Tony Corinda
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