Impromptu? Yay or Nay...

[ace_magic]

I've seen some posts where people say, "Impromptu sucks" and "impromptu is worthless... gimmiks all the way!!!".
What do you guys think? get active and say what you think. I like gimmicks, however impromptu rocks, considering the fact that you can show the deck after the trick, clean as a whistle... I mean come on if you think impromtu sucks and r gimmicked up, isn't that pretty noobish? doesnt that show that you cant perform the master tricks? not that I'm downing gimmicks, cuz they can make the impossible possible, however if that is all you do... ehhhh, noobish! :cool:

[nine of kings]

IMPROMPTU!!! When I perform, people hand me a coin or whatever, and say "do a trick." If I don't have a gimmick on me, what am I to do? Ifit uses a gimmick, though, I like simple, easily made gimmicks like a double backer or facer.

[ace_magic]

totally man, i gotta agree, highly gimmicked items are expensive and require your own things
i also agree about the simple gimmick thing, as a card magician i love coming up with signature small gimmicks.

[cheaptrick]

I have never seen a post like that, and if I did, I would flame the piss out of them.

Gimmicks have there place in magic, they can be useful, but at the same time can also be a hindrence.

[pimbo]

Both but some tricks are good when they are inpromptu bjut some tricks are better with gimmicks.Jay Sankey - The super smart gimmicks do all the work for you.
That is just stupid it is the same if I invent a new trick and tell people: "When you have the gimmick then let the gimmick deck force a card to the spec, you don't have to even be there the gimmick is the magician for you.Then let the gimmick sign the card for the spec then you tell the spec to shuffle the deck and lose their card in the deck.Now you press a button on your phone and the gimmick deck will move the card under the specs friends toilet seat.So you can be at home and buy more stuff from me, the deck will be on stage or street doing magic fore you, you don't even have to operate the gimmick.So just let the gimmick buy everything for you.

[ace_magic]

a big lol, man. wat u say is very true thanks for contributing... keep it up

[Magic Orthodoxy]

I've seen some posts where people say, " gimmiks all the way!!!".

where are those people?

[traumatised-magic]

i personally hate gimmicks. i use very few of them and only if they are very very good,

i like to carry a few around in my wallet so i'm alwasy prepared but impromptu magic is by far the best way to perform anythin, gimmicks are usualyl one hit wonders in magic. once people have seen it once it looses its apeal and they end up in a drawyer somewhere never to b seen for months

[ntroberts]

I haven't heard people say that either. What I *have* heard are people quoting Giobbi that (I paraphrase) 'It's not a question of choosing between gimmicked or not, but a question of which makes for a better effect'.

I always mix up my effects. I use the impromptu effects build credibility on my part. They're very fair and I love how I can do them after a clean reset (spectator handles or shuffles the cards), then lead to a ringing in a gimmicked effect, then end clean... etc etc...

i personally hate gimmicks. i use very few of them and only if they are very very good,

i like to carry a few around in my wallet so i'm alwasy prepared but impromptu magic is by far the best way to perform anythin, gimmicks are usualyl one hit wonders in magic. once people have seen it once it looses its apeal and they end up in a drawyer somewhere never to b seen for months

Except utility gimmicks... like double backers, blank facers, etc etc. One gimmick I always carry around too is a metal coin and a loop. (um.. they count, right?)

[azn_invazn]

i personally do not like gimmicks because the trick must be done again and again in the same fashion without any style to it.
i only use gimmicks when i need a really hard hit on somebody

[ace_magic]

exactly right about the gimmicks ending up in the drawer lolxD

[jimbo mcgee]

if there is an ez gimicked trick, but i cud learn the same effect non gimmicked, id take the time and effort to learn the non gimmicked version.

[traumatised-magic]

if there is an ez gimicked trick, but i cud learn the same effect non gimmicked, id take the time and effort to learn the non gimmicked version.

and that is the way it should be done. why bother havein gimmicks if u can acomplish he same effect usein sleight of hand

[ntroberts]

and that is the way it should be done. why bother havein gimmicks if u can acomplish he same effect usein sleight of hand

Because it's not always as clean and/or as the gimmicked version usually offers... well, as clean as the cleanup can get :D

I have an ID and no matter what others say about how I should be able to do it with sleights instead, it can never be as clean and/or direct as the ID can.

[traumatised-magic]

i take it ID u mean invisible deck??

if so then i totally agree with u. i know madison has used a regular deck presenting an invisible deck routine, but for what it does the ID will always b better than usein sleight of hand lol...obviously there are some exceptions to the rule lol

but i mean just regular gimmicks not full gimmicked decks or whatever.

for example teh ultimate ace assembly compared to grandpas aces. both the exact same effect. only ultimate ace assembly uses a gimmick (double sided tape) granpas aces uses sleights to hide the dupe aces

i know it not a very good example but its the only one i could think of this late at night lol

[Magic Orthodoxy]

and that is the way it should be done. why bother havein gimmicks if u can acomplish he same effect usein sleight of hand

simple.... good, fast, cheap.

You can learn sleights, but that takes time and practice. Your tricks are good and cheap - but the time you spend practicing keeps you from performing as soon as you buy the book

If You buy gimmicks, it's good and fast, but it's not cheap because you have to buy em.

[StonerNick420]

this is a stupid question.

A magician isn't a magician if he has to rely on "tricks". That only makes him/her a "trickster"

A "magician" relies on SKILL. And it's okay to make preforming easier by adding a pull or some other "gimmick" every now and then.

Magic isn't about tricks. It's about skill. And using it to bring joy to others. Witch can in return bring joy to your self.

[ntroberts]

this is a stupid question.

A magician isn't a magician if he has to rely on "tricks". That only makes him/her a "trickster"

A "magician" relies on SKILL. And it's okay to make preforming easier by adding a pull or some other "gimmick" every now and then.

Magic isn't about tricks. It's about skill. And using it to bring joy to others. Witch can in return bring joy to your self.

Handling gimmicks requires skill too. Otherwise, any two-bit "magician" with a gimmick can perform miracles. But as it stands, that's not necessarily the case. Take for example the Thumb Tip.

Also, magic isn't about the magician. It's about the spectator. It doesn't matter what method is used, whether via sleights or gimmicks. The job of the magician is to choose the best method for the effect ad entertain people with it. It can be the most masterfully executed sleight, but if a gimmick gets it done better, then the gimmick it is.

I'm just playing the devil's advocate, by the way. As much as I value pure sleight of hand over gimmicks, I can't shake that haunting voice in the back of my head, and Giobbi isn't even dead yet.

[ace_magic]

I like the fact that someone is playing devils advocate considering nobody else probably will, ntroberts, however if i know how to do a "master fully exacuted sleight" I swear that that is what I'll use.
grandpas ace for example.
I know how to do the color change that david uses, and it takes some practice to get it down pat, and i love it
then ellusionist comes out with a plan so that any noob can do the trick called, ultimate ace assembly,
now the double sided card is a good idea, but come on, seriously guys?
I like davids color change alot more than that.

[ace_magic]

BTW I saw some kid reveal that on youtube
wish i had seen that before i had tried to learn it myself lol
i hate that kid and i hope he dies for revealing it to all thos 8 year olds!

[Opeth]

Gimmicks are mostly for magicians that got a quite big audience or you're at a stage..

If you're just performing for a crowd on the streets or at school or for your family, impromptu tricks are just what you want..

And ofr the smaller gimmicks like double backers/facers, blank deck, coin bite etc.. fits everywhere..

[Tim Magician]

I think gimmicked tricks are alright. They sometimes give you a better effect. Yes, a lot of gimmicked tricks can be done with sleight of hand, sometimes difficult or not. Like you can even do an invisible deck trick with a normal deck of cards.

But I also like impromptu tricks, in my personal opinion I like to think that a great magician is someone who can like do magic out of no where, randomly with like anything. Like you could hand them a stapler in the middle of the night when they just came out of the shower or something and they could do something cool with it, like make it levitate or disappear or something.

Like impromptu is good, because it can be done pretty much everywhere.
And is good if you are randomly asked to do magic, but on the other hand, you shouldn't go to like a magic performance on a stage in front of 2000 and on live T.V in front of the whole world and then decide not to bring your gimmicks just because you think that they are n00by or somthing.

[cheaptrick]

not all gimmicks do all the work, perfect example is coin magic, a shell, if any one says coinone or anything like that is easy, you need to be shot. It takes a great deal of skill to pass it by very cleanly.

[nine of kings]

My opinion still stands. BTW, Ace magic, david who?

[ace_magic]

I like the productivity of this thread keep it up.

Nine of kings i was talking about the one and only

DAVID COPPERFEILD

lol

[nine of kings]

It could've been David Blaine.

[ace_magic]

yea i kno
just gettin in stiches
about his accomplishments

[yojo]

i think that gimmicks are a huge part of magic, obviously you wouldent want to preform only gimmicked tricks so the same goes the other way around.
only doing slieghts may wow some people but most will catch up and think that it's pretty cool, but still only skill and that anyone could learn that. gimmicks make the trick IMPOSSIBLE, creating an impression sevral time greater.
even though im ok at card slieghts i love stripper decks. i preform regular impromptu tricks with it and people always want to see it again, then i slow down and do the gimmicked version.
plus you can use it in so many different ways, i completly disagree with traum about "one hit wonders". add to that the fact that its nearly impossible to find the trick even in the inspectors hands, i just love it.
same goes with a thumb tip, i start with impromptu and finish with the gimmick.
amazing reaction, much better than and single slieght could achieve.
even cutting a hole in your card box is a gimmick but it allows you to do such amazing things.
doing any torn and restored requires gimmicks, not to mention all the uses of flash paper. of course an excellent magician can make the whole audience look at one spot at a single time, but it makes the trick so much better when bring in misdirections like flash paper.
there are many more examples of usefull and productive gimmicks that can be used time after time and generate better reactions thaan anything else.

[StonerNick420]

i think that gimmicks are a huge part of magic, obviously you wouldent want to preform only gimmicked tricks so the same goes the other way around.
only doing slieghts may wow some people but most will catch up and think that it's pretty cool, but still only skill and that anyone could learn that. gimmicks make the trick IMPOSSIBLE, creating an impression sevral time greater.
even though im ok at card slieghts i love stripper decks. i preform regular impromptu tricks with it and people always want to see it again, then i slow down and do the gimmicked version.
plus you can use it in so many different ways, i completly disagree with traum about "one hit wonders". add to that the fact that its nearly impossible to find the trick even in the inspectors hands, i just love it.
same goes with a thumb tip, i start with impromptu and finish with the gimmick.
amazing reaction, much better than and single slieght could achieve.
even cutting a hole in your card box is a gimmick but it allows you to do such amazing things.
doing any torn and restored requires gimmicks, not to mention all the uses of flash paper. of course an excellent magician can make the whole audience look at one spot at a single time, but it makes the trick so much better when bring in misdirections like flash paper.
there are many more examples of usefull and productive gimmicks that can be used time after time and generate better reactions thaan anything else.

very nice i added to you reputation.