WMF Bill Abbott (revoked)

Bill Abbott is a Canadian magician who sells some of his stuff via this website. That is not the problem. But the way he sells some of his stuff is downright wrong. The Five Card Opener has no description of the effect. Even in the video is no mention of what is happening.

So we got 80 Dollar, that is how much he charges for not knowing what we get.

If you look carefully at the video, you see a part (about the middle) in which he counts five card and flicks the last one. This makes me think of 6 card repeat. But done with 5 cards. If this really is 6 cards repeat... well then 80 dollars is way too much. For the 80 Dollars you get the routine, the cards jumbo and normal (they better be gaffed for that price) and the container to drop the cards in.
Let's face it. All one needs is the container. Well not really.

The next effect is Blockbuster, Abbott has a nice effect there. The routine is actually pretty sweet. 3 cards are forced and a blank deck is used. But 40 Dollars. This is way overpriced. Everybody with a little magic knowledge can do this effect.

Now Chico, what the heck is that. Again I am not told what is happening, I just know what I am getting. All stuff that you can get in a One Dollar store... and he charges 350 Dollars. So I assume you are buying a complete routine. Now, why do I want to perform the routine of someone else?

Don't get me wrong. I think Bill Abbott is a good magician. I actually bought his "The Thing" But just the gimmicked cloth and an ungimmicked one. Here. That is all you need. You do not need the plastic box for 25 Dollars. (you can get it way cheaper in a lot of stores) You don't need the music (which isn't good anyway, but taste is different) and the routine, well... all of the moves on the "poster" that you get, can be adopted from an existing zombie ball routine, save one. One move that can be done with "The Thing" is that you drape the cloth around the invisible ball coming from the back. It looks eerie.

The demo video for Smart Ass is misleading. At about 60% of the video cards are spread by the magician and the spectators chooses one. It say no Force. It might be true for the particular part of this routine, but it misleads. It makes one think that the "No Force" statement is true for the whole effect, which is nothing but a celebrated force. I really hope that this is not done on purpose.

In closing: Bill Abbott's stuff is way overpriced and he really doesn't give enough information about the effects. I do not know the reason for this. It might be a simple mistake, or some sinister aim; I do not know.

Be he surly won a place in my heart for being suspicious, making him WMF.

If he had simply told us what the effects were, I would have kept my mouth shut.

Edit: He fixed his misleading advertisement and tells us what one gets. So no longer is he a magic failure... Maybe in 2012 he might be a magic winner on this blog.