Ideally, if you touch his raycast, he simply stops in that "laugh" pose before summoning a clone and then goes to run mode.
He can spawn at least 5 clones before becoming sticking to just running.
As for the spinning top: It's because the "staticbody" just changes the direction to left and right like a treadmill, but if you place your character right, you can see them move left/right while the part at the top is either in front of or behind you.
Because it's an illusion and if you don't time it right, you can see the tip suddenly going back or forth, because it's an extra sprite being visible and invisible at times.
Basically, the illusion works if you time it well but it's also not really a deal breaker and it's part of an optional path (Plus, the other way to get that key can also work for the balloons).