Taking the flexinol hand kit setup from my 'Thing' project to the extreme :

I ran it at 24 Volt instead of 8 volt.

This causes a lot more current to run through these resistive wires.

Result : The wires don't survive the first tune, they heat up and show excellent light effects :

A video comparing the 'high current' operation to 'normal' operation :

The muscle wires snapped in each finger :

This hand is dead now :

By the way, that hand kit really deserved it, it was 'underperforming' in its role as 'Thing'.