Product description : Josh seems to be a very prolific creator, with 2 releases along with Murphys Magic Supplies. One of them is Whiplash, a very versatile gimmick which will allow you to do some amazing magic, transposition, vanish, sandwich etc.. I know a lot of people think this is exactly like “Twizted” by Eric Jones, the idea behind the gimmick is the same but Josh has modified it so you can achieve other things (but the modifications have some limitations too). Is it any good, is it worth the price ? Let’s find out !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $20 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : You get a very nice box, I was very impressed by the box when it came from the mail. They did an amazing job, inside, you have the gimmick and a little piece of paper, with the link for the downloadable video. The video is very good, Josh does a great job explaining how his gimmick works as well as a few routines, which I found to be very clever and commercial ! The gimmick in itself is well made and should last a long time, however, it is built in a Maiden back design so it won’t match your regular Bicycle cards. Not that people will notice it but still (Josh explains you how to build a new gimmick on rider back at the end of the video). For the price, it is an amazing piece of kit, you can’t be disappointed with it.
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 :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Josh wanted his gimmick to be very versatile and with an even tension. However, this has issues. First, the versatility of it means you can display the cards as freely as with Twizted. Same for the tension, the gimmick is much more visible on Whiplash than on Twizted.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]As I said, the back is a Maiden one, so it won’t match your rider one.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]At first, I thought this was a rip off of Twizted. But when I saw the explanations, I can see the differences and the things you can achieve with Whiplash that you couldn’t do with Twizted.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Most of the routines are very visual, I like the oil and water thing because it only uses 4 cards and there is interaction with your audience.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The gimmick is really well made and the packaging is really freaking nice.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]By the way it is made, this gimmick can really make you create new routines. I’m sure that, while playing with it, you will find new ways of handling it and new tricks to do with it !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It’s very cool from Josh to explain how to build a new gimmick, so you can use any back design you want with it. The Art & Craft isn’t that hard, you have to split some cards but Josh does a great job explaining it on the video.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The reset is almost instant on every routine he taught.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It is very cheap comparing to most tricks out there, and there is a lot of value for your money.
Overall rating : The gimmick is clever, but not completely new and Josh’s modifications are very coll but they bring some problems for me, still a very cool card gimmick which allows you to perform visual magic, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, nothing with a high complexity, with a little time, you should be able to do every routine taught in the download, I would say 2/5 stars.
Similar products : Of course, Mark Mason is the first to be credited when it comes to this kind of gimmick. Personally, I use Twizted a lot.