talkmagic.co.uk

I was wasting my time browsing various effects on Alakazam - a strangely addictive hobby - looking for something a little "dangerous" to add to my potential act, when I happened across a trick called "Spike". Three bits of wood, one very sharp nail, three polystyrene cups over the top, spec mixes 'em round, you turn back and slam your hand down onto one of them, then another, miraculously missing the nail and keeping your hand intact. Presented well it could be rather tense and wonderful. The price...

£115.00

Now, I have no doubt the gimmick costs that much. And it probably allows a terribly clean performance of said effect. But - £115! Personally I can think of one way of doing it that would cost - well, however much three little bits of wood, a nail and three polystyrene cups cost. You don't even watch which cup goes on the nail or anything. I'm going to try and develop it into something usable. Point is, I can think of half a dozen ways the more-or-less same trick could be accomplished for a fraction of the cost.

Anyone else experienced this?

John (soon to only have one functioning hand)

I personally wouldn't even buy this trick. I've seen videos of it go horribly wrong and someone gets a point sticking out the back of their hand.

monker59 wrote:I personally wouldn't even buy this trick. I've seen videos of it go horribly wrong and someone gets a point sticking out the back of their hand.

I believe this one is totally 100% safe if what ive been told is true

That said, for half the price, you can get this beastie:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic18015.php&highlight=

A stunning looking set of props, and a logical back-story to your lunatic demonstration of mental prowess!

I second that, the aforementioned scorpion is a very good buy!

Hmm, I thought about the nail and cups routine and I quickly came up with a method that I was sure I could get to work (all of the time too!!), so where they get £115 is beyond me .


Then I followed this link .....

robstanley1 wrote:That said, for half the price, you can get this beastie:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic18015.php&highlight=

A stunning looking set of props, and a logical back-story to your lunatic demonstration of mental prowess!

..... and it virtually tells you how it works lol - which, coincidentally, uses the same method that I'd thought of (honest ).

it's the quality of the props that you are paying for, and they are meant to be b-e-a-utiful

Plus I suppose you're almost paying that much as 'insurance': for that price, you're almost assured quality and safety (and if it goes wrong, you can sue ). Whereas that may not be the case with something you make yourself.

No, fair point!

Lyncho I think you will find all tricks of this nature carry
a very big and clear
NOT FOR SALE TO ANYONE UNDER 18
BLAH BLAH MAGIC TAKES NO RESPONSIBILTY FOR INJURIES
DUE TO THE MIS-USE OF THIS EFFECT

i.e if you do this trick wrong and hurt yourself you have mis-used the
trick as you haven't followed the instructions.
You dont have a leg to stand on ( but how you would do these effects with your leg is a mystery )

also they usually says something about if you are not 100% sure
not to do it

Home made or professionally bought these effect do carry a risk

I'd go for the scorpion. I wish I had the money for it, it looks like a beautiful piece of kit And is a fraction of the price of the other one, plus- yes - the presentational aspect.

When buying such effects like smash and stab and spike and all the others. what your paying for is not just the quality. but your paying for the routines the performance tips and most of all the secret.. so if an avaerage price for such items is £100 then i think its a fair price in all

Have fun

I must be quite a strange person, but when I'm at friend's houses, I like to go online and find clips of these tricks going wrong, just to see my friends wince!

I suspect that the clips are of people who thought that they could do better at a fraction of the price, but hadn't really thought properly about all of the, ahem, "failure modes".

No, I mean I'm not stupid nor have any wish to be left one-handed. I first intended the post to be about some of the extortionate prices I believe are charged for effects (including book tests and the like) that could be achieved cheaper with a bit of thought. Don't get me wrong, some expensive tricks are great, of course they are. But I think you should always consider whether you can conjure up something similar using your own method before remortgaging the house.

In hindsight, artery-threatening tricks are perhaps not the best example. (Although my method is idiot-proof. He says.)

Thanks,
John

I know it's been said on here before but if you see an effect and then go away and work out your own method, aren't you simply cheating the creator out of their money? If you buy the effect, you usually get so much more, you'll get performance tips, quite likely the method will be better than the one you've come up with. It's often worth it to buy the effect.

I know some effects are way over priced and that's a real shame, but you can usually find the same effect in some old, dusty, forgotten about book for a fraction of the price.