Product description : Imagine being able to bend metal right in front of your spectators and handing back the object without any damage on it, any bend or anything. This is now doable with Strongman by Jimmy Strange, you let a nut and a bolt being examined and you take it back. Without any change, you start to bend the bolt right in front of their eyes. You unbend it and give it to the spectators, again, without any change. Is this worth the price asked ?
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $59.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : You get a small box, very nicely made, with a kind of little drawer in which you can find the gimmick. I had a defective gimmick at first but my shop exchanged it so I've got a fully fonctional one now. The gimmick is really well made and looks like what it's meant to be : a nut and a bolt. You also get a link for a downloadable video, you learn the basics of the gimmick (it is pretty much self explanatory when you get it anyway). Overall, satisfied with the gimmick, I don't think it would be 100% examinable, the gimmicked part is too weak in my opinion to be examinable.
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
As I said, I find the gimmick to be not that examinable, I think people can spot the discrepancy in the gimmick quite easily. You will have to manage your spectators in order for them to still examine the gimmick but not spot it.
You have to unbend the bolt before handing it back so I think the final climax is less strong than if you would have given them the bolt bent.
THE PROS :
It's an amazing gimmick, very cleverly disguised as a bolt, I wouldn't have thought of that. I really like the look of it, and I found the perfect patter in order for the spectator to examine it without finding the secret.
It's way easier to use than any bending gimmicks which rely on heat. Here, it's a mechanical principle which is applied so there is no problem about when or where to perform it.
This is very cool because you can only have the gimmick on you and you can still perform the effect. If you want to switch the gimmick at the end so you can give the nut and the bolt as a souvenir for the spectator.
It's very easy to do and instant reset.
Overall rating : I really like the trick, really like the gimmick but I'm not sure if I will use it, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, maybe a little bit of work so you get it down smoothly but overall, very easy, 2/5 stars.
Similar products : You have a lot of bender gimmicks on the market and also products which bend under some temperatures but nothing similar to Strongman !