Drama Within Magic

There are 3 certainties in the world. Death, taxes and drama within magic. 

So much so, that I wrote this post on March 1st, 2023. Knowing that one day it’ll be relevant to post it. 

And here we are…

Yesterday, I read an excerpt of this on a livestream and mentioned how it was unpublished - and what our stance was.  

Why does Ellusionist get so much negative attention? 

Well let’s just address one thing first. We don’t think we are perfect. We’ve made mistakes. We aren’t infallible. 

But there is another side to this too…

MagicOrthodoxy from YouTube (who we love & you need to subscribe to) once told us that if he uses our name in his title, or he’s reviewing our products, he gets more views. 

I’m sure the same can be said for a lot of people. 

Love it or hate it, if Ellusionist makes a move, or releases a product, everyone knows about it. That’s the true power of this company. It’s our reach. 

People know who we've hired, who we've fired and everything in between. 

The bigger the audience though, the more critique you open yourself to. 

Negative attention is like bycatch in fishing.

You’re trying to get tuna, but the odd dolphin will get caught. Nobody wants that - but it’s the consequence of having a big net. 

The same can be said for magic. Negativity just swims right in. 

Those people then leverage our name for engagement. For growth. For clicks. 

And it will keep happening. There will be countless rumours and posts about Ellusionist, for as long as we are relevant.

How we are good, how we are shit, how we are scumbags, or how we are heroes. It’s all noise. It’s all a distraction from the work we want to be doing.

The problem is, taste is now tribal. If you love it, you’re in.

But if you don’t like it, you’re not ‘out’… You should be, that’s the opposite of being in. But the tribal response is to be more than simply ‘out’ it’s to be ‘against’. To be at war with the idea of being ‘in’. It’s far more destructive. 

So take what you see, or what you hear with a pinch of salt. In the story of David & Goliath, David became famous by taking down the giant - and magicians become famous for calling out big magic companies. 

It would be impressive if it wasn’t so self-serving & transparent. 

Don’t believe me? Underneath every attack or critique is a link to someone else’s product. 

“Accept that all of your heroes are full of shit. Your heroes aren’t gods. They’re just regular people who probably got good at one thing by neglecting literally everything else.” — Jason Pargin 

And that goes for us too. 

You don’t follow us because we think we are perfect. You follow us because we know we never will be. 

And that truth is human. 

Back to the magic 👋