Whiplash – Josh Janousky
20.00
http://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=58255

The Hype:

Whiplash is a hyper-visual utility gimmick that will let you vanish, transpose, and transform cards. Learn Josh Janousky's signature routine with the Whiplash gimmick: Whipped Across, his take on the cards across plot. Cards visibly vanish and reappear one by one at the fingertips, the final occurring in a spectator's hands. 

Also, learn an updated variation of Oil and Water, a multi-phase sandwich routine, and a Monte game with a killer kicker ending. You will receive a custom gimmick printed by the United States Playing Card Company, ready to go immediately. In addition to the four routines, Josh shares how to repair and customize your gimmick - a new feature for gimmicks of this nature. It's an entire lesson on splitting cards, and is worth the price of the download alone. 

Whiplash is angle proof and can be discretely hidden in any deck. The possibilities with Whiplash are truly limitless. See for yourself.

My Take:

The first thing I have to say on this is that it priced way too cheap. It is reminiscent of Eric Jones’ Twizted (and Josh does give credit to Eric in the video) which sells for $39.95. Each of the gimmicks is hand made (I assume by Josh but maybe he has hired a team of gremlins to assemble these).

Instruction is provided in a downloadable video which runs for an hour and thirty five minutes. The video is well done both in performance and instruction with all work clearly shown.

Four routines are taught for the gimmick.

WOW – Whipped Oil and Water – I think this is my favorite routine that is taught. I have a soft spot for the Oil and Water plot. I still think Anthony Owen’s Ultimate Oil and Water remains the Ultimate but Josh manages to do something the others don’t. with a shake of the hand, the mixed colors visibly separate. This routine is definitely being added to my arsenal.

Whipped Sandwich – Two jacks are placed on the table. A card is selected and lost in the deck. The jacks are spread to show that the card has jumped between them. It then vanishes. The deck is spread to show that it has returned but is now the only card face down. Uses some standard moves but the Whiplash gimmick makes this routine much more visual. Both the riffle force and the Braue Reversal are taught (although the Braue is not referred to by that name).

Whipped Across – Basically this is Three Fly done with cards. The Whiplash gimmick serves the same purpose as the coin shell does with Three Fly. Once again a highly visual routine.

Whipped Monte – In my opinion not the strongest routine in the video but still nice. Josh uses the gimmick to explain how the monte game works. At the end, the money card actually changes to a bill which I thought was a nice touch.

After the routines, you get a long section that is worth the price of the entire package by itself. He has it titled “Repair and Customizing Your Gimmick” but it is so much more than that. He actually teaches you from scratch how to make your own Whiplash gimmick. This includes a thorough tutorial on how to split cards. If your gimmick breaks or wears out, he shows how the repair is done. And he makes it look easy. The actual construction will take a while and some work, but it is possible to build your own. If you have a favorite deck back, you can put together a gimmick with the back of your choosing.

Conclusion: - Excellent effort by a new face in magic. The gimmick is extremely well made and practical. You can actually carry it in your deck with you and just pull it out when needed. It allows you to do some extremely visual magic that almost appears to be a CGI camera trick. The instruction is excellent and while it teaches how build a gimmick, a new one would only run you twenty bucks. Considering the amount of work involved, you might be better served to just replace it. This one is highly recommended.
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