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Widow Review

Two download-able videos, one gimmick, $30 bucks and one Widow Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Widow Review: Effect

A coin vanishes from underneath your foot. It reappears anywhere you would like.

Widow Review: Method

The method involves multiple things, some new and some old. First, you'll need a coin that has a special "attractive" quality about it. Let's just say, a coin that would get along well with Ravens or Bats. If your country doesn't naturally have these "attractive" coins, that's okay. You are taught how to make one quite easily for just a few cents. Secondly, you'll need to be able to do a coin switch. You're taught a simple way to do this along with an age old subtlety that helps sell the switch.

Last, you'll need to be wearing the Widow gimmick . . . on your foot. Yes. This is very much like a Raven for your foot. You'll need to be wearing long pants, shoes and socks. The gimmick is hooked up to your foot very much like you would imagine a foot Raven would be hooked up.

To cause the coin to vanish, you remove your shoe, step on the coin with your stocking'd foot and wiggle your toes . . . poof; the coin vanishes. This is a one time effect. You are not able to repeat it without excusing yourself, taking your shoe off, hooking up the gimmick and running it up your pant leg. The part that's confusing to me is that this very much has a "street" feel to it. Blaine/Angel "street" not true street Gazzo/Kozmo style. That being said, I would think repeatability is a valuable asset to an effect.

Also, if it's wet outside, etc. you won't want to be taking off your shoes and getting soggy socked. When you consider these elements, it starts to feel more like an indoor set show thing. However, taking off your shoe in a set show just seems a little . . . well . . . out of place? But, who am I to judge. If you have a venue where shoe removal is "couth" then this might be for you.

The gimmick itself does all the work. There's a one time preparation to the gimmick. Then after that, you just put it on before you need to perform the effect. Putting it on, as mentioned a moment ago, requires some shoe-less alone time with your hand down your pants for a few minutes, but if you've got the right venue and the time to set up, this could be your thing.

The method for getting the signed coin into the signed card is very good. For those familiar with my work, you may remember my effect Under My Skin from Gemstones. This is a dime inside of signed card effect. What Dominic Daly has done is made it so that the coin can be signed, and loaded real time. That's way smarter than my version. There's also a method for having the signed coin appear in your pocket. This one is a bit silly. Here's why.

First, the coin on the ground that vanishes is switched in coin, so you've already got a hold of the real coin and can do whatever you want with it while they think the coin is on the ground. If you want it to appear in your pocket, just put it in your pocket. Instead, however, they teach a method that requires you to completely cut out (i.e., remove) one of your pockets. I suppose the advantage of this is that you only need one coin. However, due to the nature of the Widow gimmick, it's not as straightforward as you might think to remove the coin from the gimmick by simply reaching into your pocket (i.e., hole in your pants). No details about the retrieval from the "pocket" were taught.

Widow Review: Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy is very accurate. Watch the trailer, but also, click on the link to Penguin Magic below and watch the trailer over there as well. Both trailers and the written ad copy are 100% accurate.

Widow Review: Product Quality

For the $30 bucks, you get the Widow gimmick in a little zip baggie and a two download-able videos. One of them teaches you how to use the gimmick and do the coin to shoe, coin to card, and coin to pocket routine. The other video teaches you how to easily modify a non-attractive coin for just a few cents.

For the most part, the routines are taught well and covered in depth. Dominic Daly is a little hard to watch. I think he was nervous or something. He seemed upset and/or bored about being there, but he did a good job (other than the pocket retrieval previously mentioned) teaching everything.

Widow Review: Final Thoughts

This one is a little tricky for me. I'm trying really hard to fight the urge to attack this product for using a "foot Raven." However, as I often say, my opinion is irrelevant. Just because I think the effect or method is silly doesn't mean it's not a good product. I can certainly appreciate the hands off (no pun intended) nature of the routine. The fairness you can sell by just throwing the coin to the ground and vanishing it with your foot.

Also, I can't let the lack of reset ease hurt the star rating either because plenty of real world workers don't have instant reset. All of that stuff is up to you. If you can see yourself doing an effect like this and you don't mind that you have to reset secretly out of sight from the audience for a few minutes, then you'll be happy with this. Also, I think many people will appreciate the coin to card method and might adapt it to existing coin work without using the Widow gimmick. When you consider everything you're getting for only $30 bucks, if you like the effect and don't mind the method, this is probably worth it for you. Either way, I've given you all the information you need to make a decision.

Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.

Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Penguin Magic for details.