It's that wonderful time of the year folks. Let me have the pleasure of kicking this off. Pick your 3 WORST buys of the year... feel free to be as blunt as possible, and give reasons for your pickings. This is our forum and our right to talk openly about the disappointments the magic community has given us.... We'll collate the votes before New Year.

My worst TRICKS OF 2014:

1)HIDDEN HAND
-my god, this doesn't deserve the accolade for worst trick of all time, but worst trick EVER. I hated this cheap thing. Total trash, magic for Youtube only... did nothing... and, the fact it came without a knot in it was UNFORGIVEABLE. Total junk, and the hype was worse than that of HUG... Shame on those fools who were taken in by the hype of this ridiculous piece of string.

2) Surya's Device
-My god, what a complete rip off this was. A total abomination... it promised to solve any existing thread problems but produced SO MANY MANY MANY MORE. Just don't.... the price.... what was I thinking? SO EXPENSIVE.... man......

3) WATERWORKS
I am ashamed I was taken in by the hype of this thing. I honestly don't believe there is ANYONE using this thing in the real world... The cheap anti gravity version is still a winner - this addition was.... just awful in my opinion. The idea was nice, but it tried to be 'too clever' - and, too much water pours out. ALWAYS WATER. TOO MUCH MATER. Too much suspicion on the top, too obvious, handling was always dodgey. NAH. Waterworks... this product made me cry.



Oh... if I could name 4, my last one would be THE ANSWER. The worst TORN AND RESTORED effect EVER. Just a total mess. Can't count it, but wanted to name and shame World Magic shop here for putting out such an atrocity.

What are your worst buys?

This year has been one of the worst years for exposure

What were great tricks have now been exposed on YouTube

First there was invisible Deck exposed by Brian Brushwood

Then a few months later, Peter Nardil has sold out to Brushwood as well,

The informer Wallet is a good as useless as it's been exposed for all it see on YouTube

Exposure aside... we still want to hear the best and worst products so we can collate.

I use water works every friday night at my weekly gig (at a brewery). Gets great reactions...perhaps, you had one of the defective gimmick(s)?

I used it every single time in my gig since I had it.... and it works really well for me and I get great reaction with it... so if you don't belive there is Anyone using this thing in the real world... you're wrong my friend...

Best regards

Diga

That's the problem with a thread like this... One mans meat, is another's poison.

What's more important is knowing which tricks work for YOU and your act, rather than for the collective of magicians as a whole, all with a range of abilities, tastes and needs. If you only pick tricks based on their common popularity, you risk building a generic/average act, doing the same tricks as everyone else.

It works both ways. It's unwise to just pick tricks because lots of other magicians think they are great. Could you discover something special by going down the path less travelled....?

You could basically list ANY trick here and there will be those that love it and others that hate it. Often depends on the demographic and who's prepared to shout the loudest..

I thought that's what this section of the Café was all about?

OH MY GOD. WHY ARE PEOPLE POSTING HERE??? The whole idea of the THREAD is to GIVE YOUR WORST BUYS OF THE YEAR!!!! Can I spell it out any clearer?? YOUR WORST BUYS, IN YOUR OPINION, YOUR OPINION!!!!

Of course Dominic and others, it is all relative, and depends on the individuals... that's the ENTIRE POINT OF VOTING, to see what people as a collective think!! DURHH.

Why are you all coming on here just responding to MY PICKS??? They are MY PICKS, NOT YOURS!! IF it works for you then fine, but these comments are completely IRRELEVANT AND INVALID HERE!!

STOP SITTING ON THE FENCE for god's sake, and just stick to the instructions and submit your 3 worst purchases!! Is it that hard?????????

If the magic Café was subscription based and involved spending a cent, based on some of the fence sitters here, this would be NUMBER 1!

A similar thread already exists:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=109

Oh jeez... who posts in any other section of the Café??? There should be a link to it from here. Thanks TuneHV, hopefully people can vote there.

Don't know about worst trick, but this has to be the worst thread.

There is nothing like a worst trick, it is the performer who don't know how to perform. Don't believe me Ask any creator and he will tell you that your performance ability is pathetic.

Never had you down as a fence sitter Jamie.

What about your 3 most disappointing scoops?

All of Jamie's scoops are disappointing.

I'm not voting as I don't like to spread negativity as a general rule.

Yeh, whatever, that's one thing you are good at.

I tend to find a lot of "creators" are the worst at doing their own material.

ohh, Trust me, there are planty of bad tricks

"there are no bad magicians, only bad tricks"
I agree with this statement 100%

one can say performer who don't know how to perform
but in order to have a great show, you do need good tricks to support you from the very beginning
once you have a great tricks to start with, then we can talk about good / bad magician

Another vote for Hidden Hand; followed closely by Manoj Bottle.

There are some really bad magicians who butcher good tricks. Good trick vs bad trick is clearly subjective as this thread has already proved. Don't expect the magic to support you. Yoiu have to be a proper performer before ANY trick can come off as gold.