talkmagic.co.uk

I've copied this from the Misc. section as it deserves a proper place.

Available from: http://www.outlaw-effects.com/outlaw/ar ... g=en&pg=85

Price: $­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­65.00 plus $­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­7­­­­­­­­­­­.00 for Priorty shipping world wide.

Mentalism/ Freaky Geeky magic!

Difficulty (1-5): 2, you just need to practice a bit and follow "the rules"


This is indeed an impressive bit of kit! I opened mine and instantly uttered someting that sounded like "Clucking Bell that's 'clucking NASTY"!! LOL! ONE touch by the spectator and you will have their attention... and respect I should think!

The prop certainly is substantial and although it does have the "bed of nails" principle going for it in terms of "safety"... I NEVER intend upon getting it wrong...I don't fancy crying in public! I also don't suggest playing catch with it!

The routine you get is basic but hell...that's all you need...in fact...that's all you really want to eliminate uneeded dangers. "K.I.S.S." as they say.! You as the performer should be adding the personal drama. The back story is intriguing enough to hold the attention, rationalises the prop and gives some context to the routine...rare beasts these days.

The hexagonal wooden box with the clasped and hinged lid the prop is presented in is very appropriate, it has a simple and clean, hand painted Japanese symbol on the lid...white on black....spot on! Inside you will find your very , VERY tasty prop.

The "workings" of the effect are pretty darned fool-proof. You'd have to be seriously dense to miss "the signs" (as it were) but practice and confidence are the key words, one builds the other. The method is easy but you need to be clear in your head as to what you will and will not do...one's attention is easily focused on the wrong thing for the right reason and the right thing for the wrong reason...a subtle but ever so important differentiation in this case.

You will need an extra "something" to work the effect but a look at the banner ads below this review will sort you out with that...if you don't one or two already.

Brilliant work and well worth the price tag...WELL worth it!

I gave one too...

It's an excellent effect at a great price.

Piers.

I have had this a few weeks now and wanted to road test it before reviewing, thanks for getting this up Tom.

I totally agree with all that has been said above. This looks really nasty, and the grimaces that your spectators will pull as they think you are about to get it wrong add to the pure theatre of this effect.

Incidentally Tom, and others who have this, did you know what the symbol means on the box?
My brother's wife hails from Nippon so I asked her. It really is a nice touch, meaning...."good luck". I love it!

It adds a great twist to an old effect, and takes away the limitations of only using 3 cups and also suspicions of markings.

I have also performed this on the floor using bare feet which goes along nicely with the already well touted back story.

The back story is nicely thought out and can be reenacted to a point by yourself and helper with lots of chance for byplay. I find that altering the story slightly to the fact that the ninja read into the minds of the samurai, sensing where they wanted them to tread. Thereby giving them safe passage. This allows you to ask the spectator to "will me towards the spikes, you really want me to get hurt here."

In short, this thing is great and well worth the money!

Thank you for the review Tom!

I'm running a pre-order special on The Relic doubloon effect and it comes with a 20% additional discount on any Outlaw items.

That translates into Scorpion for $53.00! with the discount.

Check it out boys

Rick

Scorpion has got me one of the biggest reactions I have evr had from an effect...it is brilliant, especially since it is a (barring the extra "thing") a "all-in-one" performance piece, ready to go.

I am waiting for Relic to come along and judging from Outlaws usual standard this is going to be one cool prop and a jolly nice effect. I'll review it asap. I would suggest that you take advatage of this Oulaw offer if you have ever fancied any of their stuff.

No, I don't get a commission.

Tom Lauten wrote:Scorpion has got me one of the biggest reactions I have evr had from an effect...

yes, I have had some great reactions from Scorpion as well. One was a slap round the face from my lovely assistant after I promised I wouldn't be performing it.

I got it out to demonstrate what I would do if I trusted my ability to read body language - then did it anyway. I got a spontanious round of applause, and one slap.

I've gotten great reactions from this utitily too. Especially from the women in the audience as you crank up the tension by behaving unsure that you have it right.
I love this piece of kit due to to safety aspects of this means you can really concentrate on building up tension.

That's....ummm...great(?).

Obviously I'm not recommending that you smash too hard, but serendipodously (is that a word?) it worked.

That was bad timing...I was only referring to Bananafish's comment on the slap! LOL

One does have to be careful and decide what hand to use

..well at least with a slap you know you've invoked a reaction....lol

plus some people like that sort of treatment, I just never figured bananafish was the sort

I still love this thing.

I have performed it a few times on the floor, using bare feet and reenacting the samurai/ninja chase I stamp my foot down hard on one of the cups on each pass. I have experimented with various different methods of doing this.

I ask them to really want me to fail and hurt myself, trying to mentally guide me TOWARDS the scorpion as that is how the ninja could sense where the samurai would hide them.

This is killing me... I want it so much but just absolutely cannot afford it right now, or until September

I feel your pain farlsborough, I really do, this looks awesome

Are we going to be able to buy this in the UK?

I hope so it looks great, a smash and stab with a good story behind it.

I know I could order it direct, but since being stung by customs on another purchase its put be off buying from the states!!!