Britain's brightest independent magic magazine
Issue 30 - Jan. 10
Review
21st Century Toppit
David Penn
Available from: www.worldmagicshop.com
Price: £34.99
The Toppit Vanisher has been around for many years and top
performers such as Patrick Page have used it to devastating effect in all manner
of routines. Now David Penn has released a new package which provides you with a
ready made Toppit plus a
DVD
which is crammed full with handling tips and routines.
First let's look at the Toppit itself. David has clearly
given this a lot of thought and as a result has made one or two small yet very
significant alterations to the shape and design of the Toppit so that it becomes
easier to use. The material used is apparently Italian shirt material and is the
outcome of some experimentation, the result of which is that the Toppit hangs
just right inside your jacket. The Toppit is attached via Velcro (supplied) to
the jacket itself and by two pins (not supplied) to the top of your trouser
waistband and creates a secret pocket which you would have to be fairly inept
not to be able to use successfully every time.
The
DVD
that comes with the Toppit is excellent. David carefully and thoroughly takes
you through how to fix the Toppit in exactly the right place, then he explains
three different techniques for 'throwing' objects into it. David is a good
teacher - enough detail for you to fully understand what is required but without
committing the cardinal sin that some others fail to avoid of over-explaining
something which is already pretty clear.
Next the
DVD
provides live performance footage of David presenting 3 of the 6 routines he is
going to explain. So we see two performances each of Black Eight (the appearance
and then vanish of an 8-Ball), Coin In Bottle (self-explanatory) and Kid At
Christmas (a quick and visual coin vanish). The typically understated reaction
of the English lay people who witness the effects will be familiar to
UK
performers but a total puzzle to our
US
cousins! However, David is a good performer and fools the lay people bigtime
with the effects.
Having seen these performances the
DVD
moves on to explanations of all 6 routines. As well as the 3 just seen, David
also explains fully the Salt Inspector (the vanish of a salt pot), Circle To The
Fourth Dimension (coin routine from David's Magic Circle Close Up Winning act)
and Glass Restoration (a handling for Gregory Wilson's broken and restored wine
glass base). Obviously each effect at some stage uses the Toppit, and it has to
be said this allows the performer to create some very clean handling. For
instance, using a Toppit as part of the Coin Into Bottle routine means you end
completely clean which hammers home the impact of the trick even more than
normal.
If you want to unlock the great potential of the Toppit
Vanisher, this package is really worth getting. The quality of everything
supplied, from physical props to
DVD
advice and explanations, is first class. Because of the Velcro fastening it is
easy and quick to put in and take out the gimmick as required, and you could
even set up several jackets so that you can transfer the Toppit to whichever one
you happen to be wearing. World Magic Shop can even supply either left hand or
right hand versions of the Toppit so that you can use it on the side that feels
best for you - or maybe get both to double your possibilities! ML
What's Hot: nicely made prop and excellent
DVD
instructions
What's Not: won't appeal to all those people who think every trick should be
self working
Star Rating: *****
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