talkmagic.co.uk

Name: Reality Twister
Price: £12-£15 (£13.95 from www.emagictricks.co.uk)
Availability: Almost anywhere
Skill level: 2/5
Practise time: 30min max!

My opinion: 5/5

Effect:
A spectator examines your new experimental "Reality Twister." It bears a remarkable resemblance to a normal hunk of clear plastic, about the size of a credit card. The spectator also looks over a pen ...which bears a remarkable resemblance to a normal hunk of pen.

Your giddy-with-anticipation spectator holds the pen on her open palm as you hold the clear Reality Twister lens just above the pen so she can see the pen directly through the lens.

You give the lens a twist ...and the center of the pen becomes transparent ...and then completely invisible! She can even see right through her spread fingers where the pen was a moment ago. Another twist of the Twister and the missing center of pen suddenly becomes visible!

You then slowly twist the Reality Twister and in full view the center of the pen visibly distorts ...then melts itself into an extreme twist!!! Your astonished spectator immediately examines the deformed balloon doggie pen.

There's no explanation ...except that the Reality Twister is not a thing you'd want near any of your favorite body parts.

No Switches or Extra Pieces
Uses only one pen (which you or the spectator can write with before and after the effect)
No Reset
What Do You Get?
Reality Twister comes complete with everything you need: the incredible gimmick, pen, detailed and fully-illustrated instructions and leather protective lens case.


Basically this trick is a gimmick which when given to the audience seems completely ordinary.
I like the fact that you can write with the pen and that the effect is so individual. The finish is unexpected and this is part of the reason you get away with such an easy gimmick.

I would recommend only doing this to a few people at a time becuase the audience may see something they shouldn't. Any good close-up magician should get one and you can usually pull a joke about being carefull what you twist somewhere in the trick.
All in all 5/5,

Ben...

For those who are looking for a review, you've not actually mentioned what the trick is all about.

A well-structured review is helpful - and really, your offering falls into the realms of opinion rather than review.

Any chance you can modify it to let readers of the forum know what it's all about - i.e. what the actual spectator would see??? It's easy to understand for those of us who own the effect - but not so easy for anyone who's unfamiliar with it.

Nice review - modified to perfection!

Although I personally dislike this effect I can see that it has a place in some people's act - especially with the advent of the booklet (mentioned in the link above by Dale).

It IS clever - but it's not really what I'd call a trick - and it definately is NOT what I'd have expected from the genius mind of Paul Harris.

Oh well - I sometimes expect too much.

I actualy had to stop drinking in one pub, because i was getting pestered to show them " that trick with the pen".
Which is why i came up with the ideas published in the book.

I think this is a GREAT trick--and IMO it is, in fact, a trick. It begins as an optical illusion, but then the illusion becaomes reality. Harris made his name with exactly this premise with tricks like "Twilight, etc.

I've done it for people who've seen a lot of magic, and they all flipped over it. Here in The States, we have little pocket magnifiers for reading maps, etc that are virtually identical to the gaff, so it goes unquestioned and unsuspected. At the end, while they're looking at the pen, I swap the gaff out for one of these regular magnifiers, should anyone ask to see it. I'll probably stop doing that, as folks rarely DO ask to see it.

So I agree with Ben. 5/5

Well, I can only say that I will NOT change my mind about this effect.

It's cheap, dirty, and even though the excellent NEW booklet of improved effects and uses pulls it out of the back of the bottom drawer for some, I'm afraid mine stays with the 'bad buys' list.

Not that it's a bad illusion, but it's just NOT magic. Not in the context of the rest of what I do, anyway. This effect just leaves me cold.

Even after I tried improving the effect using standard Bic Biro pens (which, incidentally, can be bought for little money, are recognisable and can be handed out as TWISTED souvenirs) I still found it was not very strong.

Perhaps it was my handling that left my spectators saying 'Oh, oh, right. So the pen twisted.'. Never a very inspiring effect. In fact, most of them were suspicious from the word 'go'.

A fellow card magi whom I showed it too actually failed to realise that the 'illusion' had finished when I produced the 'comically' twisted pen.

If it works for you, then fine. But, if you're relying on this as a strong part of your routine - forget it. It would be a sad day indeed for me if this 'optical illusion' was one of the strongest parts of my set.

I never meant to imply that I thought you should change your mind. Differing opinions are certainly valid, and if you don't believe in an effect, you definitely shouldn't do it. I still stand by my opinion, however, that for ME with my presentation and handling, people are amused and engaged by the optical illusion and then absolutely FRIED at the twisted pen.

There are other effects out there that others do well and that work for them which I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, so I certainly respect your dissenting opinion.

Thanks for the understanding, Scott. It's nice to see we're not going to get into a 'who's right/who's wrong'.

That was not my point. My point is, that I dislike this with a passion - but I know that there are many people out there who use it all the time.

Yes, it's clever. Yes, it's cool. Yes, it's visual.

But I don't like it, period. It is so weak in comparison to everything else I do, that it just goes flat!

BUT - as you say, it's only fair to see objective viewpoints. And I respect anyone greatly who accepts them. I am always ready to offer praise where it's due - but I am also a stout believer in being honest.

As I said in my previous 'rant', the excellent (new?) book which outlines more routines for the RT is absolutely excellent. It will surely be of benefit for ANYONE who owns the RT.

Sadly, mine is sitting in the drawer along with various other 'bad buys'.
But I haven't heard the fat lady singing yet... so perhaps one day I will re-visit it with a more positive and open mind.

Wow siege, I never thought I'd meet anyone who didn't like the Reality Twister!

I have both the effect and the booklet... and I admit to prefering much the material from the booklet to the original pen... I don't have the book to hand but the thing with the match that penetrates visually up through their hand was a favourite of mine.

The original Pen worked for me thou... it has that sucker feel - you know when you perform it, and you vanish the centre, people are like, "so what?" and if they don't say it, they think it. Then they lower they're guard, so the twist knocks off their head... in my experience, anyway.

Having said that, I have met people who simply weren't impressed with it...

oh well, it takes all sorts!

As I said, I've not heard the fat lady sing on this one JUST yet - the 'rantings' from my soapbox are based merely upon my initial experiences. As I said, I tried to better it, but there you go.

It's nothing more than lack of perseverance due to not seeing a means to an end, I think. I gave up far too soon because the effect just didn't work for me the way many things do (unlike your Henry Sugar effect, which, although I'm at work and isolated from a deck of cards, I can tell RIGHT away will fit in nicely in my performances).

When I'm bored one day, I'll pull the RT out and give it another shot. I've bought the booklet, and although I've only read it and not tried any of the stuff in practice, it has made me look at the RT in a different light.

Apologies to open such an old thread but I use some patter with this which has had a good response on those I have tried it with.
I start a conversation about how the military are developing invisibility cloaks which, when worn, can make a person vanish. Often met with disbelieving curiosity at this point, then I tell them I have a friend who is working on making it and managed to steal a piece of the material which will be used but it's not been perfected and has side effects for the wearers.
Then I produce the pen (one of my own twisted ones rather than the one that came with it) and show them how it renders things invisible (I usally ask them to waggle their fingers gently) and then end with the twisted pen.

I usually build up to the presentation of the lens as by that point people think you're just making it up or it's some nonsense you've read in a newspaper. For me, this has created quite a reaction when the centre of the pen vanishes as well as the suprise finale.

i don't like this effect myself and never use it anymore. reactions are pretty poor on this. so much other good stuff out there for the money you pay.

It's not the best effect in the world, but with the right presentation it can get a nice reaction. More of a diversion than a main trick.