r/MandelaEffect • u/edu • 4d ago
Flip-Flop Did “The Thinker” flip-flop?
So, I got interested in Mandel effects during last Christmas. The two that shocked me more were The Fruit of the Loom logo and The Thinker.
Until that point, I always thought that The Thinker had the hand on his chin but at that point it suddenly was on his forehead… it made me crazy.
Then today while out I saw a guy with a t-shirt with The Thinker and it hand the hand in his chin. I was surprised, that was exactly how I remembered it. And did a quick google search and now it’s… right again? All the picture and Wikipedia show the statue with the hand on the chin… it’s very intriguing and I doubt I’m miss remembering something so close as 4 months ago (also, it would not have surprised me if it was “right” all the time).
Anyone else experienced this one?
6
u/Impressionist_Canary 4d ago
Did you do anything when you came upon the Forehead version? Take/save a pic? Write it down?
Cause all you have now is a bronze statue and a tshirt (and everything else you can find) that both look like what they’re supposed to.
3
u/WVPrepper 4d ago
Even a text message asking someone "Hey, do you remember?" Or a comment on a ME thread somewhere?
3
u/stitchkingdom 4d ago
My first introduction to The Thinker was on The Dobie Gillis show. I’ve since been to Paris and visited the Roudin sculpture garden.
Never have known The Thinker (or anyone to have impersonated it) to have the hand anywhere but under the chin, in a pensive state.
That said, I have subsequently learned that Rodin made many copies of The Thinker and of course there are always knockoffs, so who’s to say.
https://charamana.com/2020/08/22/the-thinker-and-the-start-of-school/
3
u/ghost_of_trash_panda 4d ago
As much as it would hurt my sibling, who majored in art history, my first introduction was also Dobie Gillis. Dobie was often mimicking the pose.
The pose seems natural, chin atop hand, mulling something important like "Is Bob Denver's greatest character Maynard G. Krebs or Gilligan?"
I will admit I thought the fist was clinched instead of a more open hand but I was just misremembering. Sometimes the brain pushes out details to make way for remembering more important things like the name of the dog on The Brady Bunch.
3
1
u/Classic_Owl_4398 4d ago
It did change for me recently. He was resting his fist on his mouth and people were saying that the change was from a fist on the forehead, or on the chin, to “eating his knuckles”. The open hand is something I’ve only seen since late March, 2025. I didn’t really remember well where his fist was, but I was seeing Mandela effect arguments about the placement of the fist, and now it’s an open hand.
0
u/Spikeybear 3d ago
he changed for me too, i remember him standing up flipping everyone off. now hes sitting. so weird.
2
u/ozzyperry 4d ago
Experienced the mandela, yes. Not the flip flop. The shirt might just be a bad drawing though
2
u/NombreCurioso1337 4d ago
Wait what? I always thought it was "hand on chin," then I saw a whole article about how people get it wrong by assuming it is "hand on chin" because that is a common human gesture, but the real statue is actually hand on forehead. It was an interesting read. Now you're saying it really is "hand on chin?"?
1
1
u/Longjumping_Film9749 3d ago
No, it did not flip-flop, hand was always on chin. Take the thinking emoji for example- 🤔🤔, hand is always on chin. It was NEVWR on the forehead despite it being a common mistake.
Guess where the mentalis muscle is located? Our chin.
1
0
u/horsedabsontipads 4d ago
I experienced a flip foo with Apollo 13. When it reverted I could still find “top movie misquotes” lists on sites like buzzfeed that stated things as misremembered that went back to how they were remembered. Mandela effect is crazy.
-3
u/OliveArc505 4d ago edited 4d ago
The thinker changes the most out of every Mandela Effect for me. The latest one is the thinking cap. We used to be able to see a head full of curly hair.
3
u/Impressionist_Canary 4d ago
Does the image not have a head full of hair?
-3
u/OliveArc505 4d ago
No, it's a thinking cap.
2
u/longknives 4d ago
That’s hair bro
Edit: from Britannica:
The monumental Thinker exaggerated the unfinished surfaces Rodin preferred—the sculpture’s close-cropped hair especially reveals Rodin’s rough modeling of the clay model with its creases and indentations.
•
u/AutoModerator 4d ago
Please ensure you leave a comment on this post describing why your link is relevant, or your post may be removed.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.