[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v_sauce1_630x339-350x188_6037.png]]

->''"Our world is amazing."''\\
''"People are amazing."''\\
''"Fictional worlds are amazing."''

''Vsauce'' is a group of three channels hosted by Michael Stevens, Kevin Lieber, and Jake Roper.

The channels are:
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce Vsauce]]'', hosted by Michael, which talks about the wonders of science and explains the answers to scientific questions in an entertaining way
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce2 Vsauce2]]'', hosted by Kevin, which talks about awesome creations and "the best of the Internet"
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce3 Vsauce3]]'', hosted by Jake, which talks about fictional worlds and powers

In addition to scientific topics, they talk about various geeky and thought-provoking subjects. They collaborate with other YouTubers and celebrities like [[Series/{{Mythbusters}} Adam Savage.]]

Not to be confused with ''WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}'', which is a collective of gaming channels.

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!!The main ''Vsauce'' series are:
* ''D!NG'': Originally titled DONG, Short for [[FunWithAcronyms Do Online Now, Guys]], but changed to D!NG (Do It Now, Guys) to be more advertiser friendly. This series features [[RuleOfCool awesome websites and online games]], often recommended by [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent viewers]]. Originally ran on Vsauce 1, but was first moved to Vsauce 3, and later moved to a separate channel.
* ''img!'': The oldest series on [=Vsauce1=]. Founded on August 10, 2010, it was suspended on September 2, 2012...until [[TheBusCameBack it returned as a Short]] on August 30, ''2023'' more than a ''decade'' later.
* ''DOT.'': The main series on Vsauce 1[[note]]and from September 9, 2012 to August 30, 2023 the only series on the channel[[/note]]. Questions are answered with a plethora of extra facts thrown into the mix. They're scientifically themed on Vsauce, but more video game themed on Vsauce 3, where the series is called ''[[BoomHeadshot HeadShot]]''.
* ''FAK'': Short for ''[[FunWithAcronyms Facts and Knowledge]]'' on crazy inventions, mind blowing tech, and more. Only on Vsauce 2.
* ''Mind Blow'': The latest in science and tech and other similar fields. Only Vsauce 2.
* ''[=BiDiPi=]'': [[AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload Build it. Draw it. Play it.]] [[HumansAreSpecial The coolest creations from everyday humans]]. Only on Vsauce 2.
* ''54321'': Cool facts and riddle challenges that can and will test your brainpower. Only on Vsauce 2.
* ''GRUB'': All about ForeignQueasine and only on Vsauce 2.
* ''9bit'': A series consisting of nine random gaming facts per video. Only on Vsauce3 (but has yet to return since June 2013).
* ''App All Knight'': A series highlighting the best and coolest apps for smartphones and tablets, with each episode ending with the specially honored "App of the Week". Only on Vsauce 3.
* ''[[GratuitousGerman Game LÜT]]'': This series features [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin loot based off of video games]] such as plushes, board games, and props. Running on Vsauce 3. Also on Vsauce 2, but simply called ''LÜT''.
* ''Video Game [=WTFs=]'': A series making fun of video game glitches. Only on Vsauce 3, but hasn't been around since November 2012.
* ''Mind Field'' is a series released in 2017, focusing entirely on cognitive science, psychology, and why brains do what they do.
* ''Michael's Toys'', a series on the DONG channel showcasing educational toys, as well as what they were meant to represent.

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!! Vsauce contains the following tropes. ''Or does it?''
* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: One of the opening gags of ''App All Knight'', where Michael and Jake converse and end up creating a HurricaneOfPuns emphasizing the "app" sound in each word. [[spoiler:They are subsequently crushed by a rAPPtor.]]
* ArcSymbol: For all three channels, a brain.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Michael is fond of asking these in video titles to confuse viewers and entice them to watch the video to get the answer. Examples include:
** [[https://youtu.be/VztSdwYPFCE&list=UU6nSFpj9HTCZ5t-N3Rm3-HA Where is this video?]]
** [[https://youtu.be/C6eOcd06kdk How many things are there?]]
** [[https://youtu.be/G5s4-Kak49o Where do deleted files go?]]
** [[https://youtu.be/f8WsO__XcI0 When will we run out of names?]]
* AteHisGun: Near the end of "BLOW YOUR MIND!", Michael says he's "made of Vsauce", takes a Nerf gun, and shoots himself through the mouth, causing green "blood" to splatter onto the wall.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Michael will often get sidetracked and start talking about something only tangentially related to the subject in the video's title. Michael justifies it in [[https://youtu.be/u9hauSrihYQ a TED talk]]: his goal is to discuss and teach any subjects that he can with the questions in the title only being "hooks" to get the viewer's attention.
* BookEnds:
** In some videos, Michael talks to the same person at the start as he does at the end. For example, in one video, [[Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy Bill Nye]] asks him, "Why did the chicken cross the road?". At the end, Bill Nye returns.
--->'''Michael:''' And as always...\\
'''(Both):''' [[CatchPhrase Thanks for watching!]]
** In many videos, Michael will ask a question, move to new, tangentially-related topics every few minutes, and then return to the original question.
** Jake's "3 paradoxes" video forms a loop with the end seguing into the start. [[spoiler:While explaining the butterfly effect, Jake kills a fly, causing him to spontaneously grow a mustache. A knife also materializes in his pocket. He ends up throwing the knife behind him, killing another Jake in the distance. Jake uses this to segue into the grandfather paradox, the last of the three. He realizes that the entire video is a paradox and tries to do his SigningOffCatchPhrase, but disappears from existence before he can complete the sentence. The camera winds up on the ground, in the exact same state that it was at the start. The beginning of the video replays itself, and you already know where this is going...]] Heck, Jake even used this for his AprilFoolsDay 2015 video, titled "∞", which was merely the "3 paradoxes" episode looped repeatedly and perfectly for ''over two hours''.
** "What's the Brightest Thing in the Universe?" opens with a tangent about [[DragonsUpTheYinYang the taijitu, or the yin-yang symbol]]. At the end of the video, the topic of yin-yang is recalled, linking it to the fact that the brightest things in the universe come from the darkest, and that the brightest cities have the darkest skies.
* CatchPhrase:
** Michael, Kevin, and Jake say, "And as always, thanks for watching!" [[SigningOffCatchPhrase at the end of their videos]].
** Each channel also has its own opening catchphrase:
*** Michael's is "Hey, Vsauce, Michael here!"
*** Kevin's is "Vsauce, Kevin here!"
*** Jake's is "Vsauce, I'm Jake!"
** Another one for Michael: "[[SubvertedTrope ...or is it?]]"
* ChromaticArrangement: Vsauce's primary color is green, Vsauce 2's is blue, and Vsauce 3's is purple.
* ConstellationsAsLocations: Vsauce talks about this misperception [[https://youtu.be/mQ0hS7l9ckY?t=143 here]], where he describes how constellations appear as cohesive shapes only due to our perception of the sky as a flat plane, whereas in truth this is only an illusion and their component stars are often very far away from one another.
* CouchGag: Rarely is Jake able to normally introduce an ''App All Knight'' episode without him being killed.
* {{Crossover}}: Michael made a video with ''WebVideo/MinutePhysics'' titled "Guns in Space", which explains some facts about space, orbits, and guns. At the end, the video links to the [=MinutePhysics=] video [[https://youtu.be/jN-FfJKgis8 "What If the Earth Were Hollow?"]], which links ''back'' to the Vsauce video, which links back to the [=MinutePhysics=] video, which links back to the Vsauce video, which links back to...
* CueCardPause: Happens a lot on Vsauce 1. Michael especially likes making a statement or series of statements, usually about a common assumption. After a pause, he adds, "right?" to cast doubt on whatever he said beforehand. It's never been right.
-->''Of course, the Earth is not flat. The Earth is round. Otherwise, travelers would be falling off the edge all the time. Right? Wrong.''\\
\\
''Fixed points don't just frustrate your ability to fully mix things. They can also suck... you toward them. They can be attractive.''
* DragonsUpTheYinYang: The taijitu, also known as the yin-yang symbol, is briefly explained at the beginning of "What's the Brightest Thing in the Universe?", and is brought up again at the end of the video. The video ends with a depiction of a black hole consuming a star and creating a quasar, before a border circle appears to form a proper taijitu.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The earliest videos of Michael's channel were VERY different compared to the later ones. The videos were more gaming-centric, featured multiple hosts and a sillier tone (similar to [[https://www.youtube.com/user/barelypolitical Barely Political's]] videos), as opposed to the more science-centric and serious videos of later.
* FascinatingEyebrow: Michael often raises an eyebrow during his videos, and his avatar shows him doing this as well.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "Could You Live Forever?" has Jake having bouts of [[IncurableCoughOfDeath coughing]] throughout, and near the end it escalates to where there's [[BloodFromTheMouth blood]] on his handkerchief. [[spoiler:He gets so worn and weak by the end that he just collapses and dies after he says the SigningOffCatchPhrase.]]
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: "BLOW YOUR MIND!" (off of Michael's channel) is just a collection of factoids; it tackles nothing scientific.
* FreudianTrio:
** Michael Stevens: (Ego)
** Kevin Lieber: (Superego)
** Jake Roper: (Id)
* FunWithAcronyms: Several examples - see the series list above.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the ''Mind Field'' Halloween special, around 15 minutes from the start, when Michael is addressing the audience in the room full of candles, a doll of Michael on the shelf behind him can be seen turning its head.
* GainaxEnding: "BLOW YOUR MIND!"
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Discussed and tested in the first episode of Mind Field. Michael enters and lives inside an isolated room for three days straight, which as he says can lead to permanent brain damage. Some of the things he experiences include thinking time is moving faster than it really is, seeing the white light turn a different color, and not being able to tell the difference between a dream and reality.
* HumansAreSpecial: Essentially the theme of [=Vsauce2=].
* HurricaneOfPuns:
** From "What Color Is a Mirror?":
---> '''(Phone):''' Green, green! Green, green! [[note]] A pun on "Ring, ring!" [[/note]]\\
'''Michael:''' Gold on, let me just pink [my phone] up. Yellow?\\
'''Hazel:''' Michael, orange you going to come to the concert this evening?\\
'''Michael:''' I red about that! There are gonna be a lot of purple there.\\
'''Hazel:''' I didn't teal you about this earlier?\\
'''Michael:''' Well, look- I have to go brown town first, but I'll be white black.
** Michael ends "Fixed Points" with a series of "four" puns, the last one punning on his own catchphrase ("Thanks ''four'' watching").
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Jake throughout "Could You Live Forever?" [[spoiler:He ultimately dies at the end.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: Analyzed in [[https://youtu.be/kdrTQlClb08 these]] [[https://youtu.be/qWAF9PgDg2c two]] videos.
* InterfaceSpoiler: Of the FiveSecondForeshadowing variety. Sometimes whenever text appears on the screen, the viewer can predict if more text will soon appear to change the meaning by how it's placed. Examples:
** In [[https://youtu.be/jTL_sJycQAA "What If You Were Born in Space?"]]:
--->'''Michael:''' Hey. Vsauce. Michael here. How many people are in space right now...\\
''(On-screen: howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow)''\\
'''Michael:''' [[CueCardPause ...dot com]] tells us the answer.\\
''(On-screen: howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com)''
** The beginning of [[https://youtu.be/fCn8zs912OE "The Zipf Mystery"]] [[AvertedTrope averts]] this.
--->'''Michael:''' Hey. Vsauce. Michael here. About 6% of everything you say and read and write is the...\\
''(On-screen: is the)''\\
'''Michael:''' [[CueCardPause ...the]] is the most used word in the English language.\\
''(On-screen: is "the.")''
** [[https://youtu.be/fCn8zs912OE "The Zipf Mystery"]] has Michael signing off as usual... [[spoiler:while there is still over half the time left in the video player.]]
* ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace: Discussed in "[[https://youtu.be/sHCHEykUxP4 Spooky Coincidences?]]" where Michael calls it by the formal term pareidolia. Examples he list include hearing your name in the sound of running water, hearing English words in a song That's not English, and seeing faces that weren't intended to look like faces.
* LamePunReaction: Usually, Michael has no audience in-video to react to his puns, though in [[https://youtu.be/L4AJmvzImbM "Jurassic World Science"]], he thanks Jack Horner for laughing and admits he made an overused joke to Chris Pratt.
* MookChivalry: Discussed briefly in [[https://youtu.be/oThh3_Srxtc "Is All Fair in Love and War?"]]; the trope is thought of as a way to ensure fun and entertainment in fiction. Michael suggests that in real life, humans are no different from the mooks when it comes to achieving certain goals.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: In "Do Chairs Exist?", Michael unfolds a paper crane accompanied by dramatic music (screaming violin, drumbeats) plays and the camera zooming in on him.
* MuppetCameo: "What If Quicksilver Ran Past You?" is narrated by Gonzo and Rizzo.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Apparently, Michael started [[https://youtu.be/E4HGfagANiQ this video]] completely naked.
* NerdGlasses: Michael and Kevin.
* NightmareFace: [[https://youtu.be/PEikGKDVsCc "Why are things creepy?"]] gives us an unsettling distorted face at the very end of the video. You might not see it instantly because it slowly fades in, and even in the apex it's pretty dim.
* NoirEpisode: "What If Quicksilver Ran Past You?" switches between a regular Vsauce video and a narrative starring two detectives, Jake and WebVideo/MatthewSantoro, as they further investigate Quicksilver. There's also [[Franchise/TheMuppets muppets]].
* NoJustNoReaction: Jake has one when he starts to go into an "[[ShoutOut OVER 9000]]" joke when talking about a [[Franchise/DragonBall Dragon Ball]] t-shirt on a ''GAME LÜT'' episode.
* NonIndicativeName: Michael made [[https://youtu.be/xn7ZaT3AgoU a video]] explaining all about Non-Indicative Names, a.k.a. misnomers.
* NoTitle: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K93zcgFsynk One of Micheal's videos.]] Fittingly, the video explores the concept of "nothing".
* OccamsRazor: Explained in [[https://youtu.be/O2jkV4BsN6U "Did the Past Really Happen?"]] as the most well-known philosophical razor.
* OncePerEpisode:
** For all three channels, the NES cartridge being squished, revealing a coloured goo that corresponds to whichever channel the video is uploaded to. That ended in 2015, when the animations were replaced by a rounded Vsauce logo over some footage.
** Every episode of ''Mind Blow'' on [=Vsauce2=] ends with a couple of offbeat but interesting inventions or discoveries followed by a surreal animated gif.
** Michael will often follow an uncontroversial statement with "Or does it?" or "Or is it?"
* PatrickStewartSpeech: Michael is fond of making these toward the end of many of his videos.
* PoesLaw: Michael explains Poe's Law in a video asking if the Earth is actually flat.
* {{Pun}}: Michael is very fond of puns. For example, in [[https://youtu.be/qWAF9PgDg2c one of his his videos on cannibalism]], he builds up to a joke about "getting the cold shoulder". In "Dord.", he explains a story where understanding the puns made from corn onomatopoeias is important (citing ''The Pun Also Rises''), then ends by saying the oldest recorded pun was literally "corny".
* RandomEventsPlot: In longer videos, Michael goes from topic to topic with the loosest of segues, using a word from the last subject to head into the next one. He manages to return to the original topic by the end of the video. For example, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6VBV4QUMu0 The Odd Number Rule]], they go: Why are we here?; [[Film/AirBud Is a dog allowed to play basketball?]]; Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination leading to World War I; the odd number rule; basic calculus; Colorado is not actually rectangular due to surveying errors; Air Bud should not have been allowed to play basketball.
* RayOfHopeEnding: In "What If The Sun Disappeared", Michael says that while almost everything would die (including humans) Extremophiles (creatures that live near thermal vents at the bottom of the sea) would be fine, as they don't need the sun in the first place, and could eventually evolve into sapient life, particularly if the Earth got close enough to another star to get pulled into orbit, and said star thawed the planet out.
* {{Retool}}: [=Vsauce2=] has undergone this several times.
** 2018: ''Mind Blow'' ended, and the channel's focus shifted to abstract logic and game theory.
** 2021: Focus shifted to true crime stories.
** 2023:
*** Return of ''Mind Blow''.
*** Shift in video length from 10–20 minutes to 45+ minutes.
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted; Michael is very good about giving viewers a sense of scale when talking about space and anything with large numbers, really.
* SelfDeprecation: Giving an example of the (former) hapax legomenon "quizzaciously" (which means "in a mocking manner"), Michael parodies himself.
-->'''Michael:''' The parodist rattled off quizzaciously, "Hey, Vsauce! Michael here! But ''who'' is Michael? And how much does here ''weigh?''"
* SigningOffCatchphrase: Shared by all three channels: "And as always, thanks for watching." It's become so ubiquitous with Michael in particular that he even uses it for his TED Talks. The catchphrase is familiar enough to viewers that Michael can [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] the trope [[https://youtu.be/6F7quI-MbzY to]] [[https://youtu.be/Qig68IuPrbk good]] [[https://youtu.be/hup_8uDXJx8 effect]].
* SpaceElevator: Discussed in the last few minutes of "[[https://youtu.be/GJ4Qp2xeRds How High Can We Build?]]".
* SpecialGuest:
** Hannah Hart from WebVideo/MyDrunkKitchen appears briefly in [[https://youtu.be/E4HGfagANiQ this video]].
** WebVideo/MatthewSantoro and Franchise/TheMuppets appear in [[https://youtu.be/r6sGARbnnfM "What If Quicksilver Ran Past You?"]], described on one forum as "a nerdy noir ''[[Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol Muppet Christmas Carol]]''" due to Gonzo and Rizzo recapping the event of the Quicksilver video as they did in that film.
** Creator/ChrisPratt and paleontologist Jack Horner (separately) speak with Michael throughout [[https://youtu.be/L4AJmvzImbM "Dinosaur Science"]].
* SpectacularSpinning: [[https://youtu.be/XHGKIzCcVa0 This video]] where Michael discusses the physics of spinning.
%%* SurrealHorror [=/=] NothingIsScarier: All incorporated in [[https://youtu.be/PEikGKDVsCc "Why are things creepy?"]]
%% Please rewrite to add context. Also, separate each trope into their own entries; joining tropes with a slash is not allowed!
* TinFoilHat: In [[https://youtu.be/VNqNnUJVcVs "Is Earth Actually Flat?"]], Michael briefly dons one while talking about the "Big Globe" conspiracy. He removes the hat when he goes on to explain PoesLaw.
* TropeCodifier: In "Who Took the First Selfie?", hiromix's 1995 photographs are suggested as these for the selfie, as part of the general discussion about what a selfie really is and where the boundary lies.
* TropeMaker: In "Who Took the First Selfie?", early self photographs like Robert Cornelius' 1839 photograph are suggested as these for the selfie. The video is about what a selfie is, and where the boundary of the definition lies.
* UncannyValley: Discussed in [[https://youtu.be/PEikGKDVsCc "Why are things creepy?"]]. Michael explains the concept with the typical graph and shows a couple of examples, like robots with human faces, unsettling dolls or talking sheep-like humanoids.
* UranusIsShowing: In the short video "Solar System Scale Stickers", Michael advertises to-scale stickers of the planets by sticking them to his face, except for Uranus, which he sticks to his rear end.
* UrExample: Discussed in "Who Took the First Selfie?", along with TropeMaker and TropeCodifier. Specifically, handprints are given as the UrExample, early self-photographs as the TropeMaker and hiromix's 1995 photography as the TropeCodifier, as well as recounting the probable TropeNamer which came in 2002 on an Australian forum.
* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: The main theme of all the channels, but especially the first channel.
* YoungerThanTheyLook:
** Due to Michael's beard, intelligence, and receding hairline, you'd think he was around 40.
** Analyzed in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE Did People Used To Look Older?]]" [sic]. Decades ago people didn't take care of their body as much as today, which made them age faster... but there's also a strong psychological component that accounts for most of the effect.
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[[OncePerEpisode And as always, thanks for watching.]]
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