Today we're feasting our eyes on the best optical illusions
- of 2017. - Let's talk about that.
-
( chittering )
( strings plucked )
Good mythical morning.
TGIT, everybody.
And, oh, what a "T" it will be.
Oh.
We're gonna be diving face-first
into McDonald's brand-new dollar menu,
hitting you with a brand-new music video
from "Buddy System" season two,
- Mm. - and revealing
which mythical beast artist
has won my actual moustache from "Buddy System."
- Uh-oh. - But first,
we trick your brain.
That's right, every year,
the people at illusionoftheyear.com
take a second to stop whatever non-illusion-related activities
- they're engaged in... - ( chuckles )
and name the latest and greatest optical illusions
from around the world,
and we're going to experience the top ten together.
Mm-hmm. You've got the first one, right?
Yeah, Link. Are you in the mood for a complementary after-image?
Look right at the guy with the sunglasses
and stare right at his sunglasses for about ten seconds
without leaving his sunglasses.
Link:
Rhett:
And just watch what happens when it changes.
Link:
Rhett:
Okay, now,
does it feel like everything turned gray around him?
Yeah, the whole thing went black and white.
Now, look away, and look back.
Does it still look gray?
That's what you were looking at.
- Oh! No. - It's not gray at all.
- A-- I see colors, - You see, what happened there...
but not as vibrant as before.
Yeah, basically what happened is
the cones, the color cones
in your eyes were just overstimulated,
and then, when it changed back to, like, normal colors,
your brain tricked you into thinking it was gray.
- Wow. - And I know this seems like a really happy image,
but this is actually just from Jimmy Buffet's funeral.
And he's not even dead yet.
- Link:
Link:
Rhett:
Link:
-
Link:
Okay, I've got another runner-up
because, of course, they ranked these
- Yeah. - with the top ten,
and we're gonna show you number one.
We'll eventually get to it, but this one I'm fond of.
It's called "the shrink and swell illusion."
- Uh-oh. - Which I participate in
every time I get in and out of a cold pool.
- Oh. - ( laughs )
Thanks for that.
But in this version,
there's gonna be
images of Sigmund Freud
and Drew Barrymore's grandfather, he was an actor.
- And... - That's good to know.
it's gonna distort
inside of a triangle, but what I want
you to do is tell me what happens
to the outer edges of the triangle
as the images move up or down.
- Okay? - Okay, the outer edges of the triangle.
Yeah, take a look.
( music playing )
Uh...
they look like they're going like this.
Right. Of course, they're not,
they're staying in the same place,
but now, as it's going up and showing Mr. Barrymore,
- That's Drew's granddaddy? - it-- yeah, it looks like...
- Looks like a fun guy. - It looks like...
- Looks like Willy Wonka. - It looks like the borders
are either funneling in,
or-or-or... expanding out.
But what you're telling me is that line is staying
in exactly the same place the entire time.
- That is exactly what's happening. - 'Cause it's an illusion.
Mm-hmm. It is an illusion.
"The sloped edges are not moving,
but appear to be moving inwards or outwards."
I can't tell you why.
I could, but it wouldn't matter.
It's just-- it's cooler if you don't know.
Why did they choose Sigmund Freud
and Drew Barrymore's granddad? That's my question.
- I don't know, but... - Could've put Rhianna on there.
We'd all be happy.
That's true, I'm not gonna argue with that.
Give me another one.
Trick my mind!
Okay, Link, this is called "the material inversion effect."
I love-- I love it when material inverts.
Now, I want you to look at this image.
It just looks like a hunk of metal, right?
Like molten metal.
Link:
Rhett:
Now, check this out.
Does it look like glass to you now?
- Link:
Link:
with the face of a bullfrog in it.
Okay, ignore the face of a bullfrog,
but this is actually fascinating
because the only thing that happened...
Can you flip it back?
- The only thing that happened is - What?
this thing's flipped upside down.
Now this is phenomenal, okay?
This is gonna take a second to wrap your brain around,
- but basically... - My "broin," my Brian.
this is a piece of glass.
Now, when you take a piece of glass--
and it's a piece of glass that was taken--
and a picture of it was taken outside,
and there's a refractive thing that happens inside glass
where the sky that's on top
moves to the bottom of the inside of the glass
and the grass moves to the top.
And if it was flipped, if it was metal,
the sky would reflect from the top
and the grass would reflect from the bottom,
so, basically, without even thinking about it,
your mind understands
the refractive properties of glass
and can perceive that something is glass or metal
based on whether it's upside down
or right side up.
That's right, I am that smart.
So, it's just something that happens subconsciously.
So when an image is completely inverted inside of glass,
it's something that you've just learned
by just looking at glass.
Metal turns into glass in a bullfrog.
It might take you a sec, just play that back.
And we've got links to these as well.
They do an even better job of kind of explaining that.
I thought you did a pretty great job, Rhett.
Okay, thanks, Terminator.
I've got one called "the mask-induced filling out."
And you may be thinking, "Isn't that what happened
to Ben Affleck when he played Batman?"
Oh!
And that's true, but it's also an optical illusion.
For this one, keep your eyes focused
on the cross in the middle.
And, as the texture blinks in and out,
you should see the texture
fill the entire screen, okay?
You see that texture?
Rhett:
I see the texture fill the whole screen.
And when the circle comes in,
I only see white inside the circle.
But, if we were to pause that circle,
you would see that the texture is actually
only inside of the circle.
"As you focus on the cross, your brain is filling in
the missing information of your blind spots,
which, in this case, are the areas
of the periphery of the image."
Also, if you stare at it long enough,
I can steal your wallet.
- Psh. - That's mine.
No, my wallet's in the bathroom.
I left it there, I just remembered.
- It's not there anymore. - ( both laugh )
- All right, give me another one. - That's so fascinating.
- Okay. - Is it? It's kind of fascinating.
"The windmills of your mind" illusion.
Link, welcome to this.
- ( chuckles ) - Love windmills.
- Okay ,so... - No, we visited those windmills,
and sometimes I'll just sit down,
close my eyes and think about those windmills
- Well, you don't need to close your eyes. - outside of Amsterdam.
I'm gonna take you right back to Holland right now, Link.
Look at this, and let's begin the-- begin the video.
Now you can see that these all look like they're rotating
in the same direction, but now, all of a sudden, it looks like
some of them are rotating in the opposite direction.
Link:
-
- the opposite way. - but it's not, of course,
because we're living in a simulation.
Uh, it's ju--
basically, what's happening here...
Different parts are starting to move
- different ways. - Yeah, but it's always
moving clockwise, the entire time.
- No, it's-- it is... - The whole thing is moving--
- not. - It is. I know you don't want to believe it, Link,
- I don't. - but we are-- this is "The Matrix."
I've been to a windmill.
It's always moving counter-clockwise,
or clockwise, but, basically, what's happening is
they're, like, changing the colors of some of them
and then removing some in between,
and basically, your mind is trying to correct for itself
because these objects are grouped together
and it makes it look like it's going counter-clockwise,
but it's not.
It's not, and the robots will kill us all
- very soon. - Dang it.
I don't know what it is about this,
but now I hate windmills.
- Oh... I'm sorry. - You've totally ruined them for me.
Well, that wasn't my intention.
That was one of my favorite things about our trip,
was that big-- that big
thing that would grind the stuff,
and make the paint.
- Yeah, I remember that. - They made paint!
Using a windmill.
Um, this one is called
"the partial disappearance illusion."
Um, I could try to explain this one,
but the guy in the video who does the voiceover
does a better job, and plus,
- he has a pretty sweet accent, so... - Okay.
let's just let him explain it.
( music playing )
Mm-hmm. Chicken thing.
Chickens.
I like the music, too.
Check it out.
Where's the rooster?
Where's the upper half?
Where's the lower half?
See, now you got to prove it to me,
mister with an accent.
Rotate that Susan.
There you go, she's not too lazy.
Check it out.
It's like, frickin'...
I don't know, some sort of chicken origami.
Chicken-agami.
Are the roosters real?
It--
the roosters and the hens,
all of the chickens are two-dimensional
and the shapes are three-dimensional.
And when you show them in the angled mirrors,
it tricks your brain in a way that, um...
I could only explain if I had that guy's accent.
But I do know for a fact
that they filmed this in a Sears dressing room.
Rhett:
Well, a miniature one.
Get every angle. No, that guy's a giant.
- The Lego Sears dressing room. - He is a giant.
Okay, Link, I want to show you "Tila at the beach."
- Do it. - I know you're interested in that.
Check this out.
Little girl running
up to this giant, wooden sculpture
that spells her name,
or is it actually giant?
Maybe she's a giant.
She... she seems to be a giant
all of a sudden.
- Oh. - You see what's happening there?
Okay, so this is-- I've seen this
in a number of, like, art pieces where, you know,
it's all about where you place the camera to, um...
Boy, she runs slow.
Yeah, it's the worst "Baywatch" ad ever.
So, so, basically, that's just somebody
who figured out how to cure boredom at the beach.
Honestly, I don't know how this got so close
to being in the top ten.
It is in the top ten, but it's close to the winner.
'Cause if you can't figure out how that was done,
- you just need help. - Right. Camera placement.
But it is very cool video.
It's a very cool video.
Not much of an illusion.
I've seen some really cool art
where they take random objects
and it just looks like a pile of junk,
and then, if you get in a certain spot,
- or you shine a light... - I've seen that, too.
Link, I go on the internet.
You shine a light and then it makes
art on the wall with a shadow.
- It's called a shadow. - A shadow.
- Yes. - You know,
- wall shadows. - Shadow art.
All right, I got another one for you.
This one is called
"the dynamic Muller-Lyer illusion."
All right?
This is number three, guys.
We are to the top three now.
So take a look at this.
Of course,
these lines in between the red dots
are the exact same length.
But when you start moving those arrowheads,
it gives it a stretching and shrinking effect.
- Hmm. - Yeah.
That's exciting to watch.
I could watch this forever.
I'm not gonna show it to you forever,
but if you want to keep watching it, you just need to go to
Prince's tombstone, this is what's on it.
- ( chuckling ) - It's moving.
You know?
- It's a laser show? - He's really into symbols.
His--
his tombstone has a laser show?
- ( laughs ) - Okay.
That is pretty cool.
Now here is the actual runner-up.
- This is number two? - Next to first place.
- Yeah. - Number two?
Okay, this is "sky blue café wall illusion."
If that doesn't excite you, I don't know what will.
- Okay. Check this out, Link. - "Sky blue café...
Rhett:
I think you probably know the answer 'cause they look slanted,
which means they're probably parallel in this weird
- universe that we live in. - Hold on, hold on, you're talking about
the ones going across the screen like this?
- Yeah. - The big, light blue bands?
Light blue ones.
The baby blue ones from left to right.
Horizontal lines. Link...
Link:
that-- actually.
Rhett:
No, they're not.
Show them-- now remove the detail.
- And they're actually... - Make it fuzzy.
...they're actually curving a little bit.
Rhett:
you see that is exactly what you were looking at.
- You see that? - What the crud?
They are completely parallel.
But because of the alternating colors
of those little shapes on the sides of the lines,
it actually makes your mind think that they're not parallel.
This one made me think I was going crazy.
Definitely made me think I was going crazy.
Can you believe that?
It looks like there's no way
that that's parallel, and it's a perfect grid.
The whole thing's a perfect grid.
And you can go to the sky blue café
any time in your mind.
Speaking of "mind," mine is pretty blown right now.
Yeah, this one's very, very good.
I would like to have a blanket like that.
- You know? - That can probably be arranged.
If you squint your eyes and make a blanket blurry,
then it becomes very ordered.
It would make me feel like I have control over my life,
which is constantly slipping away.
Also, an illusion.
Okay, and now we come
to the number one illusion
of 2017.
Are you ready for
"shape for motion only"?
( laughs ) Wow.
They spent a lot of time on that one.
It is an optical illusion that shows shapes
from motion only.
I don't even understand what that means.
Well, if you were to pause any of these videos
that I'm about to show you,
you wouldn't see any image
within it at all.
It's just static.
But when the static starts moving in a certain way,
you can see objects.
I know it's number one, I don't want to build it up too much.
Just take it in for what it's worth.
-
- Yeah, but what do you see specifically? - I saw rabbits.
- I saw rabbits. - You saw rabbits?
And then when they paused it, there's nothing. See?
Spatial rabbits look like rabbits.
Temporal rabbits also look like rabbits.
But again, if you pause that thing,
you see nothing but static.
And people in the comments below this one,
because it is the winner, are, um...
- Upset. - being kind of hard on it.
- Yeah, I'm gonna be a little hard on it. - 'Cause it's not--
- I don't like rabbits. - It's not the greatest ever.
You know, I love static-y rabbits,
but, I don't know, the best of 2017?
I'm sorry to let you guys down, but this is what they chose
as the number one.
Maybe you're really into rabbits
and this is your thing, but, um...
That's not better than the sky blue café
- No, it's not. - and the blankets that we're gonna begin selling.
It just reminds me of trying to watch "Skinemax" as a child.
( laughs ) Oh, gosh.
But that is it, guys,
- that is all of them. - Those are the best illusions!
Now, stick around for a brand-new music video
from "Buddy System" where we put Link's tongue to the test
in ways you never imagined.
Link:
available at mythical.store
for all your autumn stroll needs.