Hello ,im doing a childrens birthday party in early march,the boy will be 5 and his parents have asked for some super hero based tricks ,can any member point me in the right direction ,,,thanks

You might want to check out Wiz Kid Qua-Fiki's collection of Super Hero Magic in Qua-Fiki's Corner at The Magic Nook.

How about using the Squared Circle Illusion to turn an ordinary figure or photo into a action super hero.

Think about adapting effects to a super hero presentation.

A torn and restored paper of some sorts done with a super hero picture. He's indestructible.

You could by super hero playing cards.

There's so many possibilities

Zombie with a foulard that is made to look like Superman's cape?
Find a sheer material that looks like webbing, and you can do some rope tricks with Spiderman's webs.

-Green sponges for the "Hulk ball routine"!

-bend a coin like superman, change to Jumbo, leave as souvineer!

-Production boxes

-pull Wonder Woman's "silk apparel" from your bare hands (mini version).

-Candy productions -Production from B-day hat -Confetti -Snow Storm -Newspaper pour(gag) -Egg on head routine(gag)

-and finally my favorite, the "silent game"!

I donno, Piperdod, you don't mention anything about your style, budget, or experience. What are you leaning toward?

I use the 'Crystal Silk Cylinder' and use a transparent sleeve for the image on the outside of the cylinder, ie: Superman, Batman, Snow White, Transformers, etc. I then place 3 silks in the cylinder that I have designed specifically for the effect and then my final load would be a doll of either Superman, Batman, Snow White, Transformers that fits into the cylinder. Example: at Halloween I had the cylinder designed with colorful pumpkins and produced individually wrapped candies called 'Body Parts'. The kids loved it.

Ray

You may want to actually find out what superheroes the 5 year old likes. That's such a vague term. I was a huge DC fan growing up until late elementary school, and then switched to Marvel; by middle school I was all about Image and Vertigo. At any of those moments, I definitely would have felt like a magician was actually doing a personal performance for my birthday if they took the time to see what characters I liked and not just used an adult "super hero is a superhero" attitude. The child may have never read a comic and is only into a certain cartoon even. Research would pay off.

I found on Amazon.com you can purchase playing cards and UNO cards featuring Marvel and DC Comics characters. That'll give you the flexibility to narrate a comic book superhero adventure with your repertoire of card magic. Any four aces routine becomes the Avengers assembling their team (or catching the evil villains who have hidden themselves in the deck). A color change becomes Peter Parker donning his mask to transform into Spider-man. Levitation and card throws will have obvious associations to a playing card depicting Superman.

Perhaps the best way to make it magical would be to start with a deck of blank Bicycle cards and have an artist/printer put the birthday boy's favorite characters on the cards for your use in combination with a standard deck. The image would be more magical if the characters appeared from an "ordinary" deck of cards. If I had the time to make those, I would definitely try to incorporate a card showing the child's favorite character wishing him a happy birthday in the classic comic book speech bubble and all.

How about dresscode, go from a normal shirt, and change into a superhero shirt, without the phone booth.

This is great advice.

Thanks for all your great ideas

Andrew Mayne also has the book The Handbook of Super Powers, I picked it up a while ago for a similar show, I found the tricks to be unimpressive, but the ideas of how to present the tricks as though a super hero were doing them to quite helpful.
~Brad

Much can be changed simply by altering the “look and feel” of a standard effect. The suggestions above are great. As a Mentalist, the props are a bit different, but when children started showing up with their parents at my shows, I began steering some of my effects to interest them. The first change was to swap regular manila envelopes with SuperHero school folders purchased from Wal-Mart. Another uses retail store “hang tags” which are now decorated with SuperHero logos (Superman’s “S”, Flash’s lightening bolt, etc.)

Legal note: I can’t mention these in any advertising, and it’s wise not to call attention to them in performance. I have not purchased rights from DC Comics and am using these only as an “end user” from a retail source. But believe me, the kids notice!

Since Batman does a lot of disappearing acts why don't you focus around that?

It looks like the date of the appearance has come and gone. How did it go?

I know that there were some tricks put out the had Marvel Characters. There was one for the Hulk, One for Spiderman and another for the Fantastic Four. They are probably hard to find though. Maybe collectors items now.

Metal Bending (X Men)
or cool appearing claws (Wolverine)
Snowstorm effect (Storm from X-Men)
Self Tying Shoelace (Flash, etc)
Cups N Balls (Any cool theme ..Possibilities are endless....perhaps heroes printed on sponges with final load being action figures.
Magic coloring book of superheros. Make the kids the superheros by using their super powers color the book

I'd like to bump this thread and continue to discuss it as it's always being requested by client's.

It really is about presentation not tricks, look at what you have and adapt it, let me give you some examples:

Sponge Ball Routine: Talk about how one of your favorite super heroes is the flash since he can run so fast that sometimes he can appear to be in the same place or even two places at once. Continue to do your standard sponge ball routine with accompanying patter.

Superman Test: Great for a warm up routine get some tear no tear paper, a pair of bounce and no bounce balls and a few other gambits that’s great for some interactive by play and test a child’s Superpowers. Hide something green that represents Kryptonite and sneak it out above his head (secretly to him but in sight of the other children) every time he attempts a task, which explains why he fails each time.

Superman’s Laundry: Get a set of 20th Century Silks where the center traveling silk is red and do presentation of washing superman’s cape ending with it magically appearing on the washing line between the other two silks.

Ant Man Sponge ball routine: Get a Sanada Gimmick, a 2inh sponge ball and a Growing Outdone sponge ball. Talk about Ant Mans ability to change his size well you’re looking at your empty hand. Say that he can be so small you can’t even see him (showing your open empty hand as if something was there). He can also be normal size (produce the 2inch sponge ball courtesy of the Sanada gimmick) or even grow to twice his size, switch in the Outdone Sponge ball and make it grow. Another idea that translates well to this story is using professor's nightmare instead with a few modifications.

Also I have my personal X-men Chop Cup routine which is a presentation based on Dan Tongs routine which can be found at my Presentation (How-To Guide) which can be found on my second last post:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=41

Green Lantern Production Routine: Get a Green Ring and a few production effects and say that the Green Lantern has the power to manifest objects with his mind. Make this funny with a few items like sponge production fruit or veg then more amazing things like appearing canes, appearing broom etc.

Like I said at the beginning, it’s not about tricks, it’s about presentation.

Magically

Aus

Wow Aus....fantastic ideas. Let's keep them going. Super hero's and magic go hand in hand. Let's think of villains, weaknesses, strengths, etc and how to apply them to current tricks .. modifying presentation.

Gambit Card Routine: Explain that Gambit is a villain in x-man who has the power to mentally create, control, and manipulate pure kinetic energy to his desire. The main thing he likes using his powers on is playing cards. Pull out a single playing card and proceed to perform the Hummer Card followed up with a rising card routine. Can be replaced with Haunted deck for close up situations.

Hulk Cut and Restored rope: Ask the children if they know who the hulk is and that you can prove that you are just as strong as the hulk. Take a length of rope and cut it half as per your preferred cut and restored rope method but don't tie off the cut ends. Instead hold them untied in on hand as if holding two pieces of rope and challenge two children to come up on stage and try pulling each rope out of your hand by pulling on the ends. After a tug of war situation plays out on stage to everyone's amusement say you can use your Hulk like strength to join the two ropes together again. Bundle the rope ends into one hand and yell "Hulk Smash" and hit it with the other to reveal one piece of rope.

Green Arrow Card Stab: Get a large sheet of clear Plexiglas and a toy bow and arrow (the ones with the suction cap arrows)and a deck of marked cards. Have the deck shuffled then stick the cards on one side of the glass so the backs of the cards can be seen from the other side when the Plexiglas is turned around. Have a child come on stage and take the toy bow and arrow and say you wont to see how good a shot they are. Call out a card you wont them to hit, because the cards are marked you use the one ahead principle to make sure the cards they do hit are the ones you call out. Have a hidden card on you so at the end you can switch it in for one of the cards the child hits squaring off the one ahead principle ending clean.

Wolverine T&R Napkin: Show a napkin and tell them one of you favorite x-man is Wolverine because he has big sharp claws. Tell the kids to act like they have claws and mime clawing at the napkin which you tear as if the kids are doing the job. After the napkin is in pieces ball them up and say that Wolverine also has the ability to heal himself, with a wave of the hand the ball is unraveled and is revealed to be restored again.

Magically

Aus

Don't forget to tell a story. Tell the story and the magic just happens along the way to emphasize the story. That's how you make it memorable.