Thanks for the props everyone. Some awesome ideas by everyone! I think I may need a special forum on my site for sharing ideas on this one.

Logan is right, the standard script I provided is about 10 minutes of solid material. We include a lot more comicl by-play in our script than what the ad copy or the demo shows, for instance when you first bring out the shaprie you bring out a 'mini' sharpie, but ofcourse the Gremlins don't find that funny at all..., so you then bring out the full size one...its a cute joke that always got a good laugh. But anyway there is more sight gags in our script that are not on the video, and there is obviously lots of room for adding stuff or changing things to our standard script.

However even though you get several minutes of actual animation programing time(if you need it), you now have the ability to pause each routine and you can pause it during a delay set in the programing. So you can essentially take as long as you want to go through your lines or make this act as long as you want. And the other great thing about the pause feature is that if something happened and you got behind in your timing, or you have a spectator being difficult with you on stage, its easy to catch back up without the program continuing on without you, just pause it. This pause feature has so many advantages, and creates a safety net for the performer, its great.

Prof.Pabodie-yes you can do spirit writting with this effect on any blank card.

The question about the dependability of the electronics is a valid one. We have been working with this type of technology in our many other animation effects for several years now. Now while the Gremlins in a Box employ this technology much differently then those other illusions, I have never had to replace any of these electronics in the past due to defect or breaking down yet.

The microchip boards are built by Sean Bogunia of Ultimate Magic Productions and is nothing but TOP QUALITY. Sean has addded the new pause feature in this new board along with the ability to store more than one program. He and his boards simply rock. The prop will come with the standard 30 day warranty on all parts and labour, but Im not going have you spend $500 on something and if it were to break down say a year later and then go, "oh well too bad for you". Im not like that, I will always(and so will Sean)be happy to reapair the item for you if it was damaged under normal use. If it is well past the 30 days we may charge you for shipping it back or something(but that would be very minimal), but again I have never had a problem with this technology yet or had to replace any it for any of my customers. If it breaks down 10 years from now, we might charge you for the cost of the parts or something, but really if you treat it properly It will out last any performer's career. Now if you spill water in the box or leave it out in the sun all day to melt, I may be charging you for parts and labour. Don't worry we look after our customers for life.

Tophie, again another valid question about the light. The light shows up much better live than on camera, obviously. However we had a spot light on the box and stool in the video and the glow was still very visible even on a grainy internet video. In person it looks way better. And ofcourse the lower the light the more it glows, but, it can still be visible with light on the box too which is great, and was an obstacle that had to overcome during the R&D of this prop. This special effect is really neat because everytime your hands go near the box, they glow green, and same with the props like a playing card, as you hover it over the box the card glows green, its pretty cool.

While other colors can be used, I haven't tried it with other colors to be honest, I had my heart set on green as this was the color of my gremlins...

I don't think the color will make a difference, I think they will all show up the same. I think the green though makes it look more like something out of a an old comic book horror film like Creepshow or something. The metors that fell from space etc. always seemed to of had that green radioavtive glow etc, and it was something that I felt the audience would familarize themselves better with to set the mood.

But if you are not going to use the effect like I have set it up with in regards to Gremlins, and wanted to use for example (as was suggested about the fleas being your theme) with a white light being used as though that was their spot-light, then the green isn't going to work for you in that instance. If you are going with the my gremlin theme then I would personally stick with the green(the gremlins are also green on the box which makes sense why the box is glowing green, I think).

P.

I made it a flash video to make it easy.

http://www.timothydrake.ca/gremlins.html

Best,

Tim

Peter, are (or could) the inner sides of the box be lined with foil in order to make the green light brighter?

Just a thought,
Tod

Hi Tod there is something like that to help transfer the light out of the box already. Again its very bright as is even with a spot light on the box as we used in the video.

P.

Very cool!!! Peter always has the coolest ideas..

What does he eat for breakfast? Where can I get some?

Best,

Tim

$500 = ridiculous!

I know for fact what Peters cost is to make this. $500 is not ridiculous in fact its quite reasonable. If its too much to spend on your act then that's a matter of opinion. For others it'll be great investment. It will travel very small and the performer will get some good time out of it.

Best,

Tim

True...

Peter what were you thinking?? This should have been $29.99, available via instant download, completely self-working, and ready to perform in under 30 minutes time!

*sarcasm off*

Theres always the soon to come rip off magic martians in a box with dvd staring Ben Salinas

^^LOL^^

I totally agree. I would much rather use a typical snake basket routine.

Michael

If one thing was for everybody, it would be even higher priced and hard to get. I think if this item fits you and your show 500 is not that much at all. heck my deans box was almost 300 dollars and it doesn't even do anything other then be a pretty box =D

I kinda hope no one else buys it.......

Sorry Peter.....send mine first!

Peter,

Are there any restrictions as to the surface on which you place the box?

Well this peice(like all magic tricks) won't be for everyone. And as for the price, I really tried to make this as affordable as possible. Because I know the less expensive it can be the more I will sell. Thanks to those that left comments, that know what goes into something like this. With the price involved you must understand that the parts are very expensive (as Tim knows first hand), and the prop is very labour intensive. Also consider that I must discount this for dealers, not to mention the usual costs of advertising, intitial R&D time and materails, cost of running the shop, taxes, all that stuff. Beleive it or not, I don't profit as much as one would think on an item retailed at this price especially when purchased through a dealer. And what I do profit is actually for my time for the actual labour part of it. So while I am making money for assembly, my actual company isn't actually profiting anything.

Anyway not that anyone cares, the price is what it is. Some will may find it overpriced, some will find it underpriced and some will find it priced just right. I think the price for what the effect gives you in both quality, time in a show, and overall effect, is a solid investment for any performer. Do a couple of Birthday party shows, and its paid for, and can take up say 10 minutes of capitivating and entertaining time in your show over and over again for years to come, and will fit inside your glove box in your car, or carry on luggage on a plane, I think that's good bang for your buck.

magicinsight- I agree this is similar to a snake basket effect, but a lot less expensive than most snake baskets out there. I have seen good quality snake baskets range from $1000-$2000. And more importantly, the Gremlin routine can be changed, in both routine, story, props, and animations. Allowing you change this and do repeat performances. You can have 2 programs set up with these electronics and say you are at a trade show with and need to do more than one show a day, well you can get two unique performances out of this prop in one day without having to re-program etc, just switch the props.

Or say a client hires you for a christmas party one year, likes your show and wants you back the following year, but now you have to change your show and buy new tricks illusions etc, but with the gremlins you could have them make a second appearance, but you have taught them all new tricks to perform...the gremlins could become your signature effect, "I wonder what the gremlins will do this year"...type of things, and getting the kids all excited.

But I am no way saying that this is better than a snake basket routine, just different. I own Chance Wolf's snake basket and love it to death. But I think the routines can be set up so differently that one could easily get away with doing both illusions in the same show, and the audience would identify them completely seperate from each other. But that's just my humble opinion.

Tophie-We started working on yours today as well as everyone else's that ordered one in the last 24-48 hours. I plan on working overtime this week, and only taking limited time off for the holidays to make sure that the days we are closed don't slow anything down.

Logan, to answer your question, no not really, any table, chair, stool, floor, or what ever should be fine that I can think of(btw I really like Scott's idea of sitting at the front of a stage with feet dangling etc telling the story with the box next to you on the stage floor). Carpet doesn't even really seem to slow it down. Wouldn't work on water ofcourse, but other than that, I think your good to go.

P.

Is there danger of it falling off the surface ( ithought it was about to in the video lol) or does it always seem to consistantly move the same amount of space

Ah another great question. The way the illusion is desinged, it cannot fall off any surface. Its designed so that when it gets close to an edge it stops moving, although the rest of the animations would still function as normal. With features like this and things like the pause feature, its built so that its practically impossible to screw up. Like it says in the ad if you can do a force, and push a button, then you can master the mechanical skill of this prop.

I must also add that you program all the movenments, directions, speed, duration of each animation etc. I specifically demoed the appearance of the card in 2 totally different ways, the first one was slow and sideways, and the second was lighting fast and upright and in a different location than the first, trying to show that this really is programed how you want it to perform.

P.

Peter how do you program the thing anyway? is there some sort of software?

that's awesome about it not falling btw

Joshua, yes it is cool that it cannot fall off any surface.

As for your programing question: It uses no software, computers or any other devices of any kind. All of the programing is done right on the unit itself. There is a small microchip board built inside that you do the programing on. With the little flashing lights directing you and with 2 little switches and a animation control, that are on the board, you are able to program the movements of each animation and with all that was mentioned above in my last post. It is so easy to learn and to actaully program, and takes only a few minutes of your time. And it is also so easy to change programs later on down the road. It is very very very simple. I teach you on a CD ROM how to program the unit exactly for my routine, to get you started right away, and I also teach you some tips on how to get started on your own routines. Sean Bogunia is also on the CD Rom giving the basic programing instructions that take only a few minutes to explain and are a no brainer to follow.

P.