talkmagic.co.uk

philipsw wrote:The question is do we get any better at choosing things as we get older?

I think that I am (alightly!) more likely to buy things that suit my style now than I was when I was a kid, but I continue to get things that don't quite work.

That's one of the things about magic - one trick can look amazing when one person does it, and absolutely rubbish when someone else does.

Sometimes it's not our fault!
Dealers sometimes advertise things that sound wonderful and when you receive it the method is so impractical or convoluted that you just couldn't use it in front of any sane individuals.
That's the problem with buying magic, the usual rules regarding consumer rights don't apply and you don't know what you're getting until you have shelled out the hard cash for it.

Reviews from happy and unhappy customers can point you in the direction of good stuff and guide you away from the rip-off's but when certain dealers sites delete all their bad reviews you are still none the wiser as to whats worth it and what's a waste.

Like siege, I bought some expensive (£3000-£4000) illusion props when I first started. Although some of these have been barely, if at all, used, they aren't what I call my worst buys.

To me, worst buys are when they aren't convincing to yourself, so you can't convince convince an audience. This may be because of the quality of the product, or the mis-leading information, or just paying £50 for 4 cards with a bit of masking tape on one, with 4 lines of instructions, descibed as " Used by the worlds top magicians, a steal at this price, (so true!!!) you receive full instructions and precision made product. (precision made = moulded plastic item which will break in 2 minutes, don't bother asking for a refund because you've bought the secret, which any 2 year old can work out, and we aren't interested in magic or magicians, just anybody who has got money for us to con out of them.

I bought Pizza To Go, which is a childrens show prop. £70 for an empty pizza box, paper chefs hat, plastic spoon and a fold up fabric pizza. Tried all different ways of presenting, just so I could justify the expense. Although some reactions were quite good, I wasn't convinced, so sold it.

Of the terrible purchases I've made, two stand out quite boldly from the crowd:

Fenik's Mexican Revolution - Sweet Lord, is it awful. Nothing quite like the feeling of changing the color of 4 cards in the hands, completely unable to allow examination of any of them...

Ellusionist's Revolution - The hand and body positioning is so awkward, that I'd feel more comfortable asking the spectator to close his eyes for a second, rather than actually perform the real method.

I hate to say it, as I know it's popular, but for me, the second worst purchase (one I had the most hope for rather than cheapo things that you know are too good to be true) is NFW. I just didn't like the method.
Probably because I prefer decks using normal cards, though the odd 'fake' card I can use, but ones like this where the cards can't even be handled at all I don't like.
This is still second to the awful Hypnotrick. The reason why I was so disappointed was because I had high hopes for both.

Freddie,

I did NFW twice at a party last night, once in the garden and once in the kitchen. Audience shock on this trick makes it one of the strongest tricks I perform.

I've done it hundreds of times and no-one was ever asked to look at the cards. They just stand there with their mouths open as I put the cards away.

I'm sure sometimes when you get a new effect and open the package you develop immediate negative vibes that put you right off the trick from the outset. I know I've been there. Sometimes going back to it a few months later can help you get back into it.

I'm not keen on packet tricks really. I bought it when it first came out (about ten years ago or so) after seeing it demoed in Davenports, but after reading through and practicing it, I didn't feel comfortable with the method, I don't with gaff decks really and packets, in my mind, create suspicion.
I found it to be far too fiddly and the s****y bits didn't always s***k to****er. Not my cup of tea really and the price was a bit too high for what it was, about £20-25 I think when it was first released.
I have rarely used and lost the instructions but recently found the cards which had long lost their special usefullness.

Still, it's not as bad as Hypnotrick..

I would say Roxie Racoon (the cheaper Rocky Racoon).
Bought it at the 2006 Ipswich Convention (I blame the C.U.P.S myself), and have not used it in performance once.

It is my worst purchase as it is my least used purchase.

you can buy a dvd for roxie it may help you.

For me it was the Asrah Mummy illusion, which sounded great in the EZ magic catalog, but I was a kid

Awkward, cheap, clunky, and clearly designed for a "stage" the size of a rodent's desk.

But sometimes one's opinion changes. I used to hate the steel ball and tube, but then I discovered Docc Hilford's wonderful routining... magic is back!

At the moment, I'm thinking of adding Loops along with my worst purchases.
Really, how can the price be justified by the weakest thread ever produced? I have used normal IT before and not had many problems and the convenient loops are a great idea, but after spending £8 for just five of them, I'm left with ONE at the end of the day!

The Haunted Deck that is described in the not too great instructions will just about work, it seems once per loop. With normal IT I can levitate finger rings and the like, but this poxy stuff really has trouble with the lightest of objects. A floating fiver is about the limit it seems.

And you can buy ten foot of IT for under a fiver at most magic shops which can do this is and is much stronger and durable. I suppose it's the price you pay for having something with a trendy inventors name attached to it. You pay for the name not the quality. Designer magic - what an awful concept!

Don't believe the hype, ladies and gents, I may now cancel my order for the Animated Miracles book as I ordered ten of these useless little bands and by the time they arrive I doubt I'll have any left to try anything with.

How I wish I'd spent that little bit extra and bought a spider pen. (Though I suspect the thread may be of the same substandard quality)

th worst purchase i made was that lady of the night back in 1984...i saved up all my pocket money for months too...

mine has to be...cant even remember its name, it was a coin rising thing off the back of a card...rubbish..

Luckily I got this really cheaply off ebay, but the David Eldridge DVD fundamentalism is so bad I was actually insulted.
95% of the material is not original (Grey elephant in denmark for example). He turns esp routines into rubbish card tricks, and even has the cheek to include an 'ESP routine with cards' which is basically two riffle forces and a reveal. His hair cut even annoyed me. He actually cut his fringe too short too give him the maven look. Avoid!

The look of Michael Finney puts me off his DVD's. Too shouty and what the Americans would call "mullet headed trailer trash".

AndyRegs wrote:Luckily I got this really cheaply off ebay, but the David Eldridge DVD fundamentalism is so bad I was actually insulted.

Which just goes to show that it's horses for courses! I picked up some great material from this DVD. Admittedly, I probably could have go it elsewhere (as you say, there's not a huge amount of originality), but there are some strong effects in there. David even teaches the Hoy Book Test.

Which just goes to show that it's horses for courses! I picked up some great material from this DVD.

Can I ask which bits were great? With the exception of the Hoy book test, as you can get the original for a few pounds.