TKO & 21st Century Toppit (Review)

TKO & 21st Century Toppit are two of the best topits available for magicians. If you are interested in a utility vanisher you can’t do much better than one of these two products. For a quick overview, magicians who want to vanish small items(about the size of anything you could finger palm) and do not wear Jackets, the TKO is the obvious choice. For magicians interested in vanishing larger objects (anything that can hide behind a full hand palm) and do wear a jacket when they perform, the 21st Century Toppit is the best choice.

As for overall DVD and Teaching quality the 21st Century Toppit edges out because of some outstanding routines taught by David Penn.

The 21st Century Toppit

DVD Production Quality: C There was no fancy musical score nor was it shot on high res. The sound seemed to get louder or quieter at times but not enough to make the teaching inaudible. The camera work was direct and to the point. Not a fancy DVD but good enough to teach the material (and that’s all we really need anyway.)

 

Teaching: David Penn is a fine teacher. He is humorous if sometimes cheesy. He reminded me a bit of Gregory Wilson’s teaching and performance style yet he is not quite in the same league as Greg(well who is!). There are a few card and coin moves that are used in the effects taught that he glosses over but most of those interested in Toppit work will already know these. His main focus is on teaching the installation, toppiting stances, proper routine construction and misdirection, three basic sleights, and the five routines he covers.

 

I won’t go into detail on each of the routines but I will add that the fact that these are included in the 21st century toppit really makes it a standout. Often when you get a toppit you are given enough information to do the main moves required to operate the device but you buy supplemental books and dvds that cover more in depth routines. The 21st Century Toppit gives you 5 full routines that have obviously been worked. Two routines in particular are worth a special mention.

 

“Black 8” is a routine in which a card is selected, in an attempt to find the card a pool ball is magically produced that matches the color and number of the selected card, then the pool ball is magically transformed into the actual selected card. This is a routine that can be done with either of the black 8s or the red 3s depending on your style and what pool ball you may have. I have used this routine as a go to closer for closeup sets for over 2 years. In my opinion this is the best overall pool ball production and the best pool ball vanish I have come across. If you are into pool ball magic you may want to consider getting this DVD and toppit just for this routine. If you already have another toppit you may want to consider getting David Penn’s China Lecture DVD as this routine is also taught there.

 

“Circle to the 4th Dimension” is a giant coin routine that also may be worth your examination. Essentially a coin is passed through a ring(he uses and old part that he tore out of a broken down washing machine but a ring that you get out of a 3” or 4” linking ring set should do just as well) and with every pass it vanishes, reappears, and finally transforms into a Giant Coin. This routine actually won him a competition at the Magic Circle. It is a great routine and while I haven’t worked it as much in the real world as I have “Black 8” I can say that every time I have performed CTT4D it has killed.

 

The other effects on the DVD were good but I saw them more as little filler routines. They are good for teaching you some of the different pitches used with toppits and I am sure than many of you will adopt some of these routine, yet, they were not in the same ballpark as the two I singled out.

 

Quality of Toppit: It is hard to rate a toppit. There are various different designs and each offers certain benefits. Michal Ammar’s design is generally regarded as the best overall but it suffers from the fact that it needs to be sewed into a jacket directly. This requires that you can sew, a kind family member can sew, or you pay a taylor to do the job for you. The primary advantage to the 21st century toppit is that you only need to sew a piece of Velcro in the jacket(provided in the kit) and you are good to go. In a pinch, you can use adhesive Velcro and you can install the toppit in any jacket within a few short minutes. This could be a real bonus if you are ever caught needing a new jacket, or borrowing a jacket, on a moments notice. The next bonus to the 21st CT is that he has designed it so that you have a nice “target” to aim for. The two obvious drawbacks to this design that Ammar’s design does better are that it is more likely that an “over Pitch” will fly out the back of the 21st CT and Ammar’s design includes plans so that an item can appear from a pocket later on.

Applications: This is primarily a toppit designed for jackets. It will vanish any hand sized, and below, object you can think of. I personally had converted my 21st CT to button up shirts long before the TKO ever hit the market and had plenty of success with it. So for those wondering how versatile it is just note that anything you can do with a TKO can be done with the 21st CT. That said, the TKO will still be a better choice for shirts as it is designed from the ground up for that type of work.

Overall Rating: Considering the pros and cons I would say that, while it probably isn’t the best overall Toppit design on the market, because of its ability to quickly swap from one jacket to the next, and it’s generous toppiting target, this is the best toppit design on the market for beginners. When you combine that with the in depth DVD that not only teaches installation and various toppiting pitches but also offers two outstanding and three good routines that you can go out and perform immediately, thyen I would say that dollar for dollar(pound for pound if you are in the UK) the 21st Century Toppit is the best Toppit deal for magicians new to toppit work.

TKO (The Kaylor Option)

DVD Production Quality: The DVD is well shot and edited. I wouldn’t say it reaches Paper Crane/Theory 11 standards yet it is in the upper range of quality you expect from DVDs these days.

Teaching: Not much talking in this DVD which is probably good for international buyers. Instead this DVD appeals to the visual learners. You will be taught how to rig any shirt with the TKO and then you are taught a few very basic vanishes and routines. The one vanish that really stands out in the DVD is a coin in cap vanish where it looks as if the coin is just tossed into a pen cap. This is a fantastic move and the highlight application of the DVD IMO. If I am a little lackluster about the other vanishes taught on the DVD bear in mind that I had been working independently with shirt topit techniques for two years before I broke down and got the TKO. So for that reason, after I got through the installation part of the DVD I not much else was new to me.

Quality of Topit: This is so hard to evaluate for me. On one level, it is small. You will likely be vanishing only items that could easily hide in a finger palm(not a full palm such as with the 21st CT.) A single card or small packet of cards can also be vanished, yet a full deck is pushing it. There is a feature on the TKO that is designed so that you can vanish a small object and then produce it from your pants pocket. It is great in theory but in practice it means that heavier coins(such as Morgan Dollars) are likely to fall right out of the toppit. It would have been nice if a small zipper or other fastener had been used to seal this off. Then you could use the feature when you want to but seal it off for heavier coins and objects. If you choose to seal this off yourself, as I did, then a 3” giant coin will just barely fit in the TKO.

 

So those are some of the downsides of the design but what are the upsides? The way Jeff Kaylor designed the entry to the toppit is just brilliant. As I said, I had been using a modified 21st CT for years in my shirts but as soon as I got the TKO I immediately shifted over to using this. I always had trouble opening the shirt when I needed it and closing it when I didn’t. Jeff has completely solved this problem and this is the reason TKO has become such a smash hit.

Applications: If you want to use a topit in your shirt then you need a TKO. It is that simple. There were a few other designs that hit the market and fizzeled over the years but this is the one that opened the world of topits to the modern, perhaps more casually dressed, performers. You still need a button up shirt, which for guys who want to perform in T-shirts is a bummer, but in truth, a button up shirt can adapt to a very wide range of fashion styles. You can go from a slacker hipster crowd to an upscale garden party with the right button up shirt. Sure you probably won’t use this at an evening club or a walk around gig at a toney restaurant, but guys who work those environments have had topits to choose from for years. This is for the rest of us. Guys who live in hot climates where even the bankers avoid sport coats, young guys or guys who work more casual college scenes, amateurs who perform mostly impromptu magic and rarely wear jackets, and even pros who want to have a toppit handy for those “off duty” performances. Pretty much anyone could find a use for the TKO.

 

Overall Rating: Well if you don’t factor price into this equation then this would get 5 stars just because of the impact it has had in the magic world. Bringing the power and utility of a topit to pretty much any magician is enough on its’ own to cement the TKO’s place in magic history. This has simply been a game changer in magic and there is no denying that. That said, I do try to consider price and ,while there is nothing better on the market, it is not a perfect design by any stretch of the imagination. First let’s hit up the price. My comparison on this is directly related to my experience with 21st CT. There is no more material and construction costs in the TKO than there is in the 21st CT. Also, the 21st CT DVD teaches some outstanding routines. In fact, from what I can tell, Penn teaches much of the material that is in his lecture DVD on the 21 CT DVD. So in a way, you are getting a lecture DVD thrown in with a toppit and the instructional DVD for the toppit. By comparison, the TKO teaches the installation, the basic moves, and just enough of some routines to get you started. Second, in regards to the improvements, there are several ways to modify the TKO that would allow it to vanish larger objects and eliminate the possibility of larger and heavier coins from falling out of the TKO. The fact that these little improvements were not included forces me to drop the rating a tad.

 

What is really great about the TKO is that it has about as clever a system for opening and closing the shirt when needed as I could imagine. I played around with this problem a bit when I had been modifying my 21st CT for shirts but none of the methods I came up with were half as clever or reliable as Kaylor’s design. I think this particular design, coupled with the fact that it is the first truly reliable shirt toppit is probably the justification for the price. But when you compare that with the 21st CT(similar quality gimmicks and better quality routines) that sells for about $20.00 cheaper, I would understand if someone felt a bit stung by the price tag. What can I say. I still love both of these toppits. I just feel that the extra price tag of the TKO is kind of like the extra price tag people paid when the I-phones first hit the market.

The news I heard was that Jeff Kaylor has redesigned the TKO. If he has addressed all its minor flaws and keeps it at the same price, then perhaps the price per value will reflect more of its overall utility and less the “Hype” that goes along with being the first of its kind.

Overall Recommendations for 21ts CT and TKO:

Well even though I did compare and contrast them in many ways you can’t compare and contrast them. Put quite simply, if you want to use a toppit in a jacket, get a 21st CT. If you want a toppit in a shirt, get a TKO. For general recommendations I would recommend the 21st CT over the TKO if you have never been exposed to toppiting before. Jacket toppiting is easier and David Penn gives you a better foundation in toppitting in general. If you already know toppit work I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the 21st CT. I see it as a better resource for people new to this utility device. If you are looking for some advanced work you should probably look into the work from Ammar. If you already have a foundation in toppiting and want to start tackling how to use one in a shirt, then skip the 21st CT and go straight to the TKO. Sure I figured out how to rig a 21st CT for a shirt but it took me a lot of hard work and headaches to get it to work properly. Skip the headache and head straight for the TKO. And finally, if you have never toppited before but you are absolutely positive you don’t want to start with a jacket, then go ahead and get a TKO. It is not my recommended way to go about it but Jeff does teach this so that a rank beginner will be able to learn how to use a TKO even if they have never toppited before.

Tip for all budding toppiters:

DON’T be afraid to whip out a needle and thread and modify any store bought toppit you get. When you buy a toppit you get the basic design and most the work has already been done. If you have a feature you want to add to your toppit you can usually add it on with less than a ½ hours worth of hand stitching. In the case of the 21st CT I obviously converted it to a shirt and in the case of the TKO I expanded the inside room so that I could safely vanish larger objects. Once you learn the basics customize your toppit to suit your needs. More than almost any other gimmick a toppit is something that can easily be altered to better match the performer using it. So don’t be afraid to expiriment!