talkmagic.co.uk

Kolossal Killer
They say:
Imagine at any time having a spectator name any card and immediately removing a card from your wallet that shows you knew what card was going to be chosen before your spectator even named it!

There is a very nice version on the market, which uses a special wallet but with this original version you use your own ungaffed wallet!

£17 from alakazam

Difficulty
(1=easy to do)

Review
I say:
Well, this is a difficult one to review and some peopple may disagree with me... This effect involves no force at all when the spectator choses a card but the trick is in the set up. Without giving too much away, it allows the performer to "cover" all the possible choices.

Although the idea is good, I think some spectators may work out part of it pretty easily and personally do not see it as a stand alone trick for that reason.

As for the price, I wouldn't pay more than a tenner for it maximum. I definitely don't think it is worth more.

Again, it is one of those tricks which are so obvious that people would not automatically think about it.


Overall
Overall, this is probably not a trick i find would suit me and find the price far too high - for £17, I would advise you to get a good book pack with info rather than a 17 page booklet presenting a single trick.

For these reasons, I would give it a 6.5/10

Please take this review as a personal opinion... I know the mark is a bit harsh but, in my opinion, it is justified.

Nairolf wrote:Please take this review as a personal opinion... I know the mark is a bit harsh but, in my opinion, it is justified.

Nairolf, personal opinions are exactly what we want.
Thanks for the review.

Yeah that's what reviews are for, but I don't want to offend anyone who likes the trick more than I do

I like this effect a lot, but I think there's nothing wrong with your review.

To offer a counterpoint, I have used this a few times myself and got great reactions.

On one occasion, I did this and the woman who saw it was visibly stunned. Then she kissed me and we went out for a little while (but we lived too far apart for it to be workable, sadly).

I should point out we'd known each other as friends beforehand, but that's still a pretty good reaction.

I really liked this effect, the idea is definately worth the price because there are so many applications that you could use it with. I'd agree that it's not for everyone though, but if you come up with an origanal routine and engage some of kentons wonder words within the routine this is a very powerful effect.

Could someone please explain to me the Wonder Words effect?

ste175 wrote:Could someone please explain to me the Wonder Words effect?

Wonder Words is a kind of way of polishing a turd. Just check any of Kentons ads to see wonder words in action. The only problem is that even when polished a turd is a turd.

darkknight wrote:
even when polished a turd is a turd.

I love that...

To add my own two cents, I got this about a week ago and I love it. I hijacked an old wallet to use with the effect, which is perfect. I generally do it as a finale after a few tricks - name a card; tada! The other good thing is that the wallet can be shown to be empty in the main compartments...(hard to explain without giving it away) so for most people the solution is seen as impossible.

Kati

I love this effect, too! Assuming it's the same one I learnt a while back. Is it the "Ahh, I was one off... but look!" with the *twist* to prove you knew you would be?

~Sym~

Yes, but you might want to edit that post in the interests of exposure .,

Kati

I love the Heirloom variation of this effect. Got it quite recently from Alakazam and it's definitely led to the strongest reactions I've achieved so far. Jaws drop and people seem genuinely unsettled.

If you can spin a good yarn - it's beautiful!

I've found that if you can make use of patter well enough, you needn't have the entire set-up in your wallet. I prefer to force a suit on the spectator by reducing the suits by colour, followed by a denomination of that colour. The spectator's ace clumsiness also aids in the patter (i.e. if he or she chooses the suit you don't want, say: "Oh, so you want to spill those cards all over the floor, too, do you?"). I found it far too complicated to use every suit for the effect, but that may be due to the make of my wallet.

I've joined this discussion a bit late but I got hold of this a few days ago and was most impressed by the simplicity of this effect and the possible applications. It is currently working as part of my everyday wallet in order to represent the "perfect out" should one of my more adventurous "pick-a-card" tricks fall flat on it's face.

I've gotta add though:

Symtal wrote:

I love this effect, too! Assuming it's the same one I learnt a while back. Is it the "Ahh, I was one off... but look!" with the *twist* to prove you knew you would be?

and then...

Katrielalex wrote:

Yes, but you might want to edit that post in the interests of exposure .,

Kati

Unless Symtal's post was edited and it has not been shown on the screen then you can't really class this as exposure. After all, what he's said is exactly what you show the spectator.

darkknight wrote:

ste175 wrote:Could someone please explain to me the Wonder Words effect?

Wonder Words is a kind of way of polishing a turd. Just check any of Kentons ads to see wonder words in action. The only problem is that even when polished a turd is a turd.

I highly disagree. First of all, they are not Kenton's 'Wonder Words'. They are adapted from the research created from Richard Bandler and John Grinder when they used their hybrid science (NLP) to model Milton Erickson. The subtle changes made using this to alter your patter can be the difference between a couple of people in the crowd gasping with the rest amused, and a performance with the entire crowd in the palm of your hands.

I say this from experience. And not just my own. With elegance of words you can transform a simple ambitious card routine to something the spectator will never forget.

Look at Derren Brown. He often uses some of the most basic concepts in his tricks. Then wonders em up.