Criss Angel started a campaign with is followers last night to "Expose" Dynamo as a Criss Angel Copycat: Details Here: http://bit.ly/DYNACA

I don't know Criss beyond a fairly ordinary television series. This makes him look small and petty.

All time low for Criss Angel. And people wonder why he gets no respect from the magic community. In the process of trying to expose Dynamo, he infringes on copyright laws.

Mr. Pot,meet Mr. Kettle.

The original stage show was a Rudy Coby rip off, then he ripped off David Blaine, now he complains someone is ripping him off?

Not that it is right, Intellectual theft is the domain of the uncreative hacks.

Karma is a fickle thing.

Now that belongs in irony corner !

All original items in the Criss Angel magic kits correct? Wait a minute... is there even one original item in any Criss Angel magic kit? Seems like my "Mr. Tricko" magic set from about 1963 was copied! What's up with that?

One word... Cyril.

Criss has lost my respect! Too much "calling out" going on needlessly today. At one time I could see Dynamo and Angel working together on something...alas, not now!

Doug

And now, the video of Criss challenging Dynamo has been pulled "Because of a copyright claim from a ;third party' " Hmmm

:rolleyes: YouTube does that a lot. Useless.

I know that YouTube pulls vids with Take down notices. I was inferring more by wondering who the Take Down was issued by. After all, it wasn't posted by Criss.

Who was that rude and crude individual at the end with the va@!#@mo comment?
It is one thing to be upset and want an explanation, that video was something else.
What happened to professionalism?

I'd like to say that Criss has lost my respect; but you can't lose what you never had.

What's he accusing him of? Wearing a dated wardrobe and hairstyle to cover up for his complete lack of personality? I'm not sure I'd want to rant about that being "my thing," if I were Criss.

True enough, CA wasn't threatened when he stole his look either
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/tommy-lee......-alikes/

Hello guys! has the video been removed from youtube? can t watch it...

Well its official. Hell has frozen over. I am actually defending Criss Angel now. I'm with him on this one. The video makes it pretty clear that signature bits are being copied. There should be more of this in our art. Copycats are way too common and we all turn the other way for the most part for whatever reason.

As someone who's material has been ripped off and seen others material ripped off I think more magicians should be willing to call out a copycat similar to the Talent Judge that called out the Piff the Magic Dragon Rip Off performer.

I hope this tread can stay on topic of copycats and not revert into a bash Criss thread. I am curious to see how other performers would choose to handle this if they were copied. I know of successful performer who had a local kid copy all his main press photos ( poses and lighting ) to a tee and even started to wear the same stage outfit. The kid almost got outed in a very public, funny but humiliating way but the performer chose to simply call him and tell him to STOP IT instead. The kid has grown up now and developed more of his own style now.

Well, I agree that copycats are all over the place. The overwhelming majority of amateurs, and even many working professionals, borrow heavily from the work of others, often times performing routines by rote. How many times have you seen a busker doing the Gazzo cups and balls ... and using the same jokes? It's ridiculous. I very quickly lose respect for a performer when I see them using others' material.

Dynamo, from what I've seen, borrows from multiple magicians, though he does some things that are more original and uses his own presentation style. Granted, I haven't seen a LOT of Dynamo, because, frankly, I dislike the current Blaine-inspired approach to TV magic, so I have little interest in a guy like Dynamo. Though it should be said that, if what I've seen of Dynamo is an indication, he borrows at least as much from Blaine as he does from Angel.

The point of many of the responses to Angel -- including my own -- is that Angel should not be throwing stones. He's a poser, and does a lot of borrowing himself. He's hardly the guy to be the Voice of the Copied.

And the thing is ... he shouldn't need to rant about it. If Dynamo is truly copying his material, Angel has a high enough profile (or had, anyway) that people who watch Dynamo will be able to call him on it.

And if Dynamo is merely a copycat, it's a problem with its own solution. You can only go so long as a copycat; you either have to start being original, or your career will quickly fizzle as it becomes painfully apparent that you're nothing but a rerun.

I understand. However, at one time, I did hold him in higher honor than I do now. When I got "Sinful", I thought it was brilliant! His levitation (ala Fearson) was brilliant, too! I worked on that for years to figure a better way and Ron Jaxon & Criss Angel both came up with solutions!

Today? Yeah, he falls flat. Someone copies HIS stuff? That is NOT very creative. I can think of a lot of better magicians to copy...not that I'd do that, of course. Think about it. His stuff is just copies of other's! And what do the originators of said effects think about it?

I dunno, as I get older, I get more and more cynical...

Doug

Sinful is from the creative mind of Wayne Houchin.