True Astonishments or Not?

[Dylan P.]

I am about to get about 350$. %0$ is going towards a master levitation system. And I was going to use the other 300$ on TA, but I have seen some reviews and it seems like some tricks are wierd and I am unsure if I should get them. Especially considering there are so many other colol tricks I could buy.

Thoughts?

 

[dstar]

Buy some classic books. Thank me in 40 years.

For instance you could buy the complete Tarbell Course and Vernon Chronicles 1-3 with some money still left over. 11-15 books or something....should be no contest

 

[Justin.Morris]

I would actually agree. I love the TA set, but find some great books and get those. Even Art of Astonishment series. And as always, it depends what type of effects you are looking for and who your audience is, yadda yadda.

justin

 

[cm763]

First of all, this should be in product questions.

Secondly, like the others have mentioned, I'd actually suggest some good ol' books. The AoA series is great, the Card College series is great, as well as the Tarbell Course (although, I'd only suggest that if you're seriously into doing your magic homework, heh).

With that said, I do greatly enjoy the TA set. While I'm not a fan of every effect, there are a LOT of good ones on there. While maybe not the best set for if you plan to do restaurant magic, as they don't all instantly reset, they are great for pretty much any other circumstance. I would highly recommend the set.

In the end, you should probably just go with whatever you think would suit your needs the best. Do you learn best from videos, or from books? Do the effects on the preview for the DVDs look like something you'd want to learn, or would you rather learn some stuff from books?

Either way, it's win-win situation.

 

[dstar]

Of course it's your world (you just asked for opinions). This is a list of books I open time and time again. About 95 percent of everything I do came from the following in some way shape or form. Perhaps it will help you out a little. With 350 bucks you could near take the mother load.

http://deadmagicianssociety.com/blog/?p=38

 

[Randy]

TA is nice but I find myself using less and less of the effects. A lot of them are nice and I have performed a few of them. But it's really not THAT great of a Box set. There are better DVD's out there. John G's stuff, Bill Malone and even Art of of Astonishment is a great book set.

 

[Mat La Vore]

I love TA. The material is top notch.

You get a lot of good effects for one price and all the material is practical. I think a lot of people are overwhelmed with how much material there is and are overlooking a lot of the effects; and looking for "what's next" to be released rather than looking at what they have.

With all the magic crap put out these days TA is a bright light. I adore my TA set and consider it a fantastic value for what I paid and the quality of magic I got.

 

[UnknownMagician93]

I would suggest getting a bunch of different stuff you KNOW you will use. The problem with TA is, except for the people who own it, you have no way of knowing what all is on the set.

Get alot of cool stuff. I reccomend the System, Trilogy, By Forces Unseen, Impossible Card Magic.

Just those will keep you busy ALOT.

 

[r.zhang]

This may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auj_aUM6GNw
There are also a bunch of reviews on the Magic Cafe.

 

[visualartist]

Shoot,id use that money to take a girls out.
But if you must buy more magic tricks...
I wouldnt get TA for the simple reason of people saying more than half of the material is card stuff.
Id buy sean fields magic or..actually thats it.There is nothing else in magic products that id want except a thumb tip.
Ill come back to add if I actually see some piece of magic worth purchasing.

 

[ZacEckstein]

Pixel is nice....

 

[VagueTheory]

If I were you, I would look at the effects' descriptions.

Then I would find a video of performances of the effects.

If you like the majority of them, go ahead and buy, but if you're unsure about them, then don't rush it.

Since people are suggesting books, I HIGHLY suggest Five Times Five: Japan. It is full of WONDERS.

;D