Inside Magic

Badlands Bob

There are few things we won’t discuss on the pages of Inside Magic.  We do avoid politics but talk about religion.  We try not to criticize but do offer suggestions for improvement.  We do promote new magic but are ever-mindful of the property rights of inventors. 

We received a note from George Robinson, Jr., owner / inventor / manufacturer behind Viking Magic of McAllen, Texas.  Mr. Robinson cares about quality as much as he cares about the ethics of magic.  Along with Walter “Zaney” Blaney, he has fought the good fight to stop those who would profit from another magician’s idea. 

Mr. Robinson wanted to bring to our attention that he believed his “Badlands Bob” effect had been appropriated and renamed as “Obedient Die.”  I owned a Badlands Bob and thought the world of the effect.  It is well-made, has a great story, and works well in intimate close-up and the prop itself looks aged and authentic.  

I looked for the Obedient Die and found it listed on the magic producer, Magic Makers, website.  I found a dealer who was selling the effect in the retail market.  I contacted the retail dealer and asked if it was a rip-off of the Badlands Bob, and if it was, that he stop selling it.  He wrote to me that it was not a “rip-off” and that he had proof that he had rights to sell the effect. 

Mr. Robinson told me that he too had rights to sell the effect.  He had purchased the rights from the original manufacturer ? a gentleman with failing eye sight ? a while back.  The website, on the other hand, listed the new “Obedient Die” as an “Age Old Magical Puzzle” and therefore, the logic would follow, outside of the proprietary rights of one inventor and in the public domain. 

The Obedient Die sells for $12.95 and is manufactured by Magic Makers of Carson City, Nevada.  Mr. Robinson’s Badlands Bob costs $45.00 and is made through his Collector’s Workshop in McAllen, Texas. 

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The Obedient Die