Troperville
Help us survive. All donations are anonymous on the wiki and unacknowledged, as we don't wish to create a hierarchy among Tropers.
Editing
Tools
Toys
|
|
|
 
|
alt title(s): Bunny Ears "How do I solve this? What's the first step? ...What would Batman do?"
"I'm surprised you can work this well when you're so drunk."
"What? Am I not allowed to enjoy myself?"
— Judge Maxwell Frasier, This is Wonderland
Some characters have pervasive or extremely noticeable personality quirks, but somehow avoid flanderization because they are very good at what they do. Coworkers, superiors, and friends are willing to overlook certain informalities because of this (e.g., a hypothetical highly successful lawyer who happens to wear fuzzy pink bunny ears during all his cases) so long as they get the job done and cause a minimal amount of intentional problems.
These characters are slightly different than the Genius Ditz since the unexpected quirks are usually highly visible and only tend to bother new characters who don't know them well. The BEL's quirks also don't tend to give them any relevant advantage in whatever they do.
Of course, in the real world, such people are usually kept under far too much scrutiny to complete the programs that would get them into such a position, but fortunately, in TV Land There Are No Therapists to do that. Of course, the scrutinizers themselves sometimes ignore quirks that have no relevance to the completion of a program or degree, even in Real Life.
Luckily, they're never Ax Crazy. They usually have Ultimate Job Security.
Examples
Anime
- The spaceship crews of Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Martian Successor Nadesico.
- Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the world's most competent combat tacticians, yet is well known for her messy, heavy-drinking ditzy lifestyle outside of her job.
- Sumeragi Lee Noriega from Gundam 00 is essentially a slightly better-adjusted version of Misato. With bigger hooters.
- This tropers know that Sumeragi Lee is a expy of Misato.
- Mihara Ichirou from Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer acts every inch the Mad Scientist (even wearing a lab coat everywhere he goes), torments his assistant, never gives out his plans to his co-workers, and pops up around a twelve-year-old girl and drags her around town to play a doll fighting game; however, he's also a genius in robotics and, in the anime, an innovative medical researcher.
- Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2 is a world-class martial artist. He is sly, scheming, brighter than he looks, and perhaps a bit of a sociopath. He has been cursed to turn into a panda under certain circumstances. And he goes out of his way to remain in panda form, because he prefers it.
- Likewise his son, the titular Ranma Saotome. Though cursed with the social intelligence of a toaster and a constant need to vindicate his own fragile ego, Ranma also seems to have almost unsurpassable observational skills that allow him to pick up, master, and alter martial arts techniques, or even whole styles, just by watching them performed.
- Ichihara Yuuko from xxxHoLic is a lazy, easily distracted, booze-loving flirt who loves nothing more than messing with Watanuki's head. Oh, and she's probably one of the most powerful witches in the entire CLAMP multiverse, and also a living library on the mechanics of fate and Japanese folklore.
- Paiway Underberg of Vandread... although it's hard to determine if she's any good at her job, since Duero supplants her as head doctor within the first three episodes.
- Every single member of the Galaxy Angel Brigade.
- Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger, in Gundam SEED. He takes his coffee making very, very seriously, to the point of boiling it in an elaborate chemistry-set-looking contraption, talking about percentages of ingredients he's changed, and randomly mentioning it before or during serious combat situations. However, he's also a brilliant and decorated military commander and an ace mobile suit pilot, so his soldiers don't seem to do more than just blink in temporary confusion when he offers them the chance to try his latest brew.
- Melissa Mao of Full Metal Panic is a top AS pilot and combat officer. She also, if her apartment when staking out Kaname's school is any indication, goes through enough beer in a week to kill a bear through alcohol poisoning.
- Mithril appears to employ a number of Bunny Ears Lawyers; in addition to Mao, there's Kurz Weber, a skilled AS pilot, top-grade sniper, and a complete Lovable Sex Maniac - and Teletha Testarossa, a sixteen-year-old dojikko with a bit of inferiority complex who's also the captain of the Tuatha de Danaan and the others' commanding officer.
- Well why not just say Sousuke Sagara? His inability to handle ordinary high-school situations is compensated (in the mind of Kaname and his Mithril co-workers) by his bravery, fighting skill and loyalty.
- Kyoko Tokiwa, Kaname's classmate in Full Metal Panic, also likes to randomly take pictures with her mini digital camera, usually with no warning or no sense of why (at one point, she takes a picture of her menu at a restaraunt). Of course, she's a high school student, so perhaps in Japan this is low-level weird for their schoolchildren.
- L of Death Note is very reclusive and seems to be something close to Raised By Wolves... but if so, they're incredibly deductive wolves, as he's possibly the most brilliant criminal investigator on the planet. In fact, he's all three of the top three detectives in the Death Note world — L isn't his only alias. His successors, Mello and Near would also be considered oddballs if they lived in this universe. Near does all of his best detective work when he's playing with toys, and Mello...loves chocolate.
- Maes Hughes of Fullmetal Alchemist is either this or his endless shoving pictures of his daughter is everyone's faces is just an act for people to put him down as harmless.
- In the manga most of Mustang's men are portrayed as excellent military men (Breda graduated at the top of his class) who just act goofy.
- The Galley-La Company of One Piece is full of these kind of characters.
- As is Cipher Pol 9. And the Marines. And the World Government in general.
- Haruhi Suzumiya is considered by most of her fellow students to be a Cloud Cuckoo Lander, but since she's also good at absolutely everything they're willing to overlook that during events like sports and culture festivals when they need her help to do well.
- Eiji Kikumaru from The Prince Of Tennis is child-like, happy, has a flashy playing style and is somewhat of a Cloud Cuckoo Lander as well... but he also has the sharpest vision in the whole team (only matched by Ryoma), is extremely flexible and capable of very high jumps, works as hard as the others to keep himself atop of his team, and is fiercely loyal to his doubles partner Oishi to the point that one of the OAV's and a whole match in the manga are fully dedicated to Eiji's struggle to show Oishi that he's not a burden to him *and* that he wants him back in the team
- The former captain Seigaku captain Yuudai Yamato acts and looks like a full-blooded Cloud Cuckoo Lander (and looks like a teenaged John Lennon), so much that even Ryuzaki-sensei sometimes can't understand him - but he has excellent insight into people's psyche and, if you're willing to listen to him, you can't get better advice from anyone.
- Yomiko Readman (and indeed, almost all Paper Masters) from the Read Or Die universe. Deadly with their weapon of choice, and bibliophiles to the extreme. The mangas take this to their logical conclusion, as Yomiko and Michelle sometimes get totally physically immersed in their work, allowing the paper from their books to contact their skin...with sexy results.
- Pretty much everybody in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but Kamina probably qualifies the most. Of course, his particular insanity happens to work in this Universe, and spreads to just about everybody else over time.
- Leeron may be an even better example; no one questions the ridiculously brilliant mechanical and technological abilities of a flamboyantly gay man in red heels and purple eyeshadow.
- Dr. Black Jack. The global medical community isn't quite sure how to feel about the greatest surgeon alive dressing like a vampire, chewing out half of his clients, and obstinately refusing to get a license because it limits the ridiculously high fees he charges. Nonetheless, most hospitals find themselves paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to sneak him in for an operation at least once.
- Wasn't he turned down once after applying for a license once?
- Kakashi Hatake from Naruto is chronically late, reads porn, and is a bit of a goofball, but threaten his students or anyone else under his care and he'll kick your backside all over
Japan Fire Country.
- Mr. Kishimoto seems to like these: Such as Gai and Lee who are Love Freaks and have Big Ol Eyebrows but they're very strong and noble. Tsunade, who likes to drink and gamble, hates paperwork and is a bit of a Vain Sorceress but also a competent leader as well as a kickass medic and fighter; Jiraya, who's a pervert and porn writer but one of the strongest ninja in the world and who dies heroically. Anko (Stripperiffic and smartass kunoichi who was among the furvivors of Orochimaru's experiments with Cursed Seals) and Shikamaru (genius strategist who is so lazy he'd rather hide his smarts than do paperwork) might also count.
- Princess Tutu has Professor Cat, the main characters' ballet instructor who is literally an anthropomorphic cat. He's shown to be a competent teacher and is greatly respected by other dancers, but he's obsessed with love and marriage, often threatening his young female students that if they don't keep up with their practice he will have them "MAAAAAARRY ME!" Often followed by him doing something cat-ish like falling to the floor to scratch his back, running into a paper bag, or scratching his claws against a wooden board.
- In Nerima Daikon Brothers there is a character named Ichigo who is the head host of a successful host club...who grows algae in a jar as a hobby and is in love with a panda.
- Belldandy of Ah My Goddess is extremely competent and powerful with goddess magic, but woefully ignorant of most everything else, to the chagrin of her Love Interest, Keiichi.
- Kogarashi in Kamen No Maid Guy - even though he's wearing a dress and frequently harassing Naeka and her friends, most of the time his plans work. Naeka and Fubuki do occasionally beat him up when he goes too far, but that can't stop him forever.
- Lloyd Asplund of Code Geass is a goofy, graceless social misfit who is bluntly honest and speaks of everyone (even the Emperor) in an almost mocking tone. He's also one of the most brilliant engineers in the world, being the creator of the Super Prototype Lancelot. Rakshata Chawla, a former classmate of Lloyd's who works for La Resistance, is equally brilliant and can usually be found lounging on a sofa (even on the bridge of their battleship!) with a pipe in her mouth and a teasing remark on her lips.
- Gwen Khan from Outlaw Star has a very eccentric personality, repeating himself, and having a speaking pattern that is basically him talking to himself. His also the most brilliant mind in the universe having created both the Outlaw Star and Melfina.
- Eyeshield 21 has a host of eccentric but skilled football players:
- Yoichi Hiruma has a penchant for firearms of all kinds, and never hesitates to discharge them in the general direction of his teammates. He also enjoys heaping verbal and physical abuse upon them, to the point of kicking people he likes. And let's not get started on his use of blackmail to help his team. However, he is a highly skilled quarterback and tactician.
- Natsuhiko Taki is a boastful, good-looking idiot who likes to brag "My success rate is 100%!" to the point that it's his Catch Phrase. All the same, he makes a damn good tight end.
- Wide receiver Monta's resemblance to a monkey is not helped by his bad temper, his obsession with bananas, and his tendency to take his shoes off and grab things with his toes.
- Shin of the White Knights is one of the best linebackers in Japan because he trains almost nonstop, and in unorthodox ways (doing vertical push-ups with his thumbs at one point). He also has almost no grasp at all of how to use electronics.
- Jo Tetsuma of the Seibu Wild Gunmen almost never speaks unless Kid tells him to, and follows orders to the very syllable, even to illogical extents. In addition, he is only shown in two situations to take actions under his own initiative. However, his single-minded obedience to commands makes him one of the best four wide receivers in all of Kanto.
- Washu. Just...Washu.
- Two Words: Delicious coffee.
Film
- Kuryu, the main character of recent Japanese movie Hero is almost literally a Bunny Ears Lawyer. He constantly wears almost-aggressively casual clothes while his contemporaries wear suits, he indiscriminately buys random items from the shopping channel, and spends the whole movie trying to learn Spanish simply because he inadvertently ordered a book in that language. His quirks are overlooked however, partly because he is a cunning and successful lawyer, but mostly because his co-workers are all subtly quirky too.
- Glen Whitman, in Transformers is a brilliant computer hacker, who may have ADHD and exhibits extremely erratic, perhaps sociopathic behavior. Apart from a lack of basic manners and some sort of unspecified paranoia, his great passions in life appear to be video games and getting into places he does not belong.
- The title character of the two Ace Ventura Pet Detective films is downright certifiable, but because he is able to effortlessly solve cases involving animals, he is able to keep his employment.
- Elle Woods in Legally Blonde is a law student who literally wears a bunny outfit to a party. Her awesome knowledge of fashion helps her defend her clients.
- Tony Stark starts off his movie as only slightly less quirky than the other examples - he spends virtually all of his time either partying or working, to the point where he can make speeches while drunk and rarely shows up on time. Somehow he heads Stark Industries, probably because of Obidiah Stane's help, the fact that the company was founded by his father, and his unbelievable skill at building things. And then, at the end of the movie, he reveals that he is a super hero.
- Dr Strangelove (in the eponymous film) is a brilliant former Nazi with a severe case of alien hand syndrome - his right hand gives the Seig Heil salute without his control, and takes extreme effort to force back into his lap, and occasionally attempts to strangle him.
Literature
- A very controversial example in the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps is a spy who, while very competent, believes in every anti-Semitic conspiracy theory under the sun. The character ends up assassinated, showing the problems which come from pursuing false conspiracies and overlooking real ones, but he is still treated with respect by his colleagues prior to that.
- Let's not forget the original Bunny Ears Lawyer: a certain violin-playing, drug-addicted, Book Dumb (but prone to dabbling), slovenly, self-aggrandizing detective named Sherlock Holmes.
- Nor should we forget Holmes' even more brilliant and eccentric older brother Mycroft, who lived down the street from his government office, frequented a social club where none of the members were allowed to take the least notice of each other, had an almost obsessive hatred of going anywhere besides his apartment, his work and his club, and functioned as a living database, archive, and computer for the British government.
- Living next door to his office, being a workaholic, and having virtually no social life outside work would be considered assets for a man who carried the complete files of British Intelligence and other such things in his head. Does Mycroft really qualify as a Bunny Ears Lawyer if his eccentricities are not merely tolerated by his superiors, but actively welcomed?
- Yes.
- Butters from The Dresden Files. The best mortician in the city...but he loves polka music more than is healthy and wears bunny slippers.
- How could you mind the polka when his one-man polka suit ended up powering an undead T. Rex minion?
- Harry himself can be considered a Bunny Ears Lawyer. The cops at Special Investigations put up with his proclamations that he's a wizard because he gets results. Although not quite fitting the trope, the Wardens hire him despite of his problems with authority and history of the Dark Arts because he's one of the few really powerful wizards left.
- Discworld: The librarian is an orangutan.
- A character in a story this troper wrote was a very talented areospace engineer who just happened to dye her hair green.
- This troper had an original story as a teenager where practically everyone in the cast were Bunny Ears Lawyers.
- Pretty much any Waterhouse (see below re: mathematicians) or Shaftoe from Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Baroque Cycle.
- In Cryptonomicon, Lawrence Waterhouse is a man who does something socially ept "once every two or three years" and enjoys three things in the world: cryptology, playing the pipe organ, and sex. (The third clears his mind, enabling the first.) Very few people understand much of what he says, and he's never very sure of what's going on around him, but since it's World War II, the whole cryptology thing works out well for him.
- And the Shaftoes have a tendency toward violence and a gift at ass-kicking. The extraordinary crazy that runs in the family is not something you want to bring up, because you really want them on your side. Unless you outrank them, in which case, feel free to keep telling Bobby Shaftoe to stop mentioning the giant lizard. (It won't do any good.)
Live Action TV
- In CSI at least half the cast is messed up in some way or another despite being generally competent at their job, but the title definitely goes to Hodges, who is so mentally unbalanced that not only would he never be allowed to work with law enforcement in any capacity in the real world, he probably wouldn't even be allowed outdoors without some kind of supervision.
- Denny Crane. Just... Denny Crane. (Boston Legal)
- Made explicit (in a less humorous way than your usual Lampshade Hanging) in Boston Legal's more serious parent series The Practice, in which someone who'd worked with Denny assured Alan that "the plaque comes off his brain" when he's in the courtroom, and he becomes... well, Denny Crane.
- Unfortunately, in Boston Legal, Flanderization has set in and except for one recent exception, the plaque on his brain has apparently replaced the competence for good.
- Mad cow.
- In fact, nearly the entire main cast of Boston Legal, as well as LA Law.
- Dr. House from House MD is a cynical, sardonic, unsympathetic drug addict, and wouldn't even talk to his patients if he didn't have to, but is an unparalleled genius as a doctor. It's revealed that he only became a doctor so everyone would have to listen to him, even if he was an intolerable drug addict, so in effect he always wanted to be a Bunny Ears Lawyer. In one episode his hot boss casually informs him that she earmarks a part of the budget specifically for legal fees relating to House's doctor-patient interactions.
- Speaking of sardonic and cynical, Dr. Meredeth "Rodney" McKay from Stargate Atlantis is a cynical, sardonic, competitive, egotistical coward. He's also a genius scientist, second only to Dr. Samantha Carter. He was originally introduced in Stargate SG-1, and was brought in later as the lead scientist for the Atlantis expedition. Originally thoroughly unlikable, his character has softened somewhat over the course of the last four and a half seasons.
- Chloe O'Brian on 24. ("I was inappropriately blunt, wasn't I? I do that a lot.")
- The grubby-looking, abrasive, paranoid ex-spy Adam in Northern Exposure was a world-class gourmet chef.
- John "The Biscuit" Cage in Ally McBeal.
- In that particular case, Cage is so good at his job that he once sent an opposing lawyer into a panic because his shoes were squeaky. No, really. It also helps that he's one of the two senior partners in his law firm.
- He also has an awesome habit of dancing to Barry White music in the firm's unisex bathroom.
- Adrian Monk's obsessive-compulsiveness sometimes throws off other characters, but it is essential to his investigative abilities (as shown on the Flowers For Algernon episode).
- Abby Sciuto, The Lab Rat of NCIS. Perky Goth, listens to rock music while she works, is constantly wired on caffeine, converses with her lab machines, regularly hugs her coworkers, and has a plush rhinoceros that makes farting noises when you squeeze it. Nonetheless, she's kept on because she's excellent at her job... and can make even the grumpy Gibbs smile.
- There's also Tony DiNozzo, who will flirt with more or less any attractive woman the team meet, tries anything to get free vacations, plays computer games on NCIS time and regularly ends up in Right Behind Me situations. He's also very good at his job.
- And Ziva David, who has to be constantly reminded not to kill people(!) and is a suicidal driver. And Ducky who converses with his corpses while performing autopsies. And Gibbs, whose has a major mission in life of pissing off anyone in authority that has to deal with him and often disobeying orders... come to think of it, Tim McGee, best selling author, computer nerd and online roleplayer, (aside from agent) is the most normal member of the team.
- Is The Doctor in the house?
- Eugene, WWE's resident "special" wrestler, started out as a Professional Wrestling savant who, despite his mental handicaps, was an excellent ring technician. Faces lined up to be his friend thanks to his simple, childlike demeanor and his kicking a lot of ass, and heels lined up to manipulate him to their own ends, thanks to... his simple, childlike demeanor and his kicking a lot of ass. Unfortunately, he eventually got Flanderized and became a jobber, and towards the end of his run served mostly as a way for heels to Kick The Dog (by beating up on the retard).
- There is one Ax Crazy Bunny Ears Lawyer I know of: Dexter. However, his Bunny Ears-ness is low-key, and mostly involves being Ax Crazy — which the other characters don't realize.
- Pretty much every character of News Radio fits this description... well except Matthew.
- Pick a Scrubs character. Any Scrubs character.
- Star Trek The Next Generation had Reginald Barclay, played by Dwight Schultz, who was shy and insecure, had a tendency to stutter, was fearful of being transported, had a holo-addiction problem, and was a hypochondriac. He also saved some lives and the ship at least once.
- Speaking of Dwight Schultz, his most iconic role, H.M. "Howlin' Mad" Murdock from The A Team fits this trope to a T. Completely and totally mentally unbalanced, prone to assuming make-believe identities and over-personify objects and is just flat-out loony. Who happens to be a crack military pilot.
- Although there's a lot of hints that Murdock is engaged in Obfuscating Stupidity when it comes to the authorities and annoying BA when with the team.
- Captains Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre on MASH are never in uniform, chase the nurses, drink to excess, gamble, and use medical equipment to prank others. On the TV series, the early years would be filled with episodes where Generals and Colonels would appear at the 4077 and be appalled at their behavior yet refused to charge them because they were the best doctors around.
- From Real Life: Battlefield surgeons were often able to get away with anything short of treason because if you brought them up on charges they would be taken out of the O.R., with no guarantee of a replacement.
- This troper can confirm this from own experience, having spent a year working as a clerk in a military medical unit. Not even the battalion commander could touch anyone in the med team, because we were providing essential services around the clock. Our unit boss, a grey-haired sgt-major, demanded top performance and sobriety but was willing to overlook sloppy dressing and minor shenanigans. He also intervened instantly when any martinet officer tried to "straighten us out".
- Although, it's not like their practical jokes were without uses, they definitely kept spirits up in such trying times.
- Don Konkey of Dirt is a functioning schizophrenic with a tendency to skip his meds, but it doesn't stop him from being a very talented photographer, and might at times be seen as an asset, as it results in a reckless disregard for his own safety which makes him willing to go to frankly insane lengths in order to get a difficult shot. Would've gone Ax Crazy at the end of the first season if he had listened to his hallucinations.
- Biochemist Bob Melkinov of Canadian hard-scifi show Regenesis is socially awkward due to his Aspergers syndrome, but his off-the-charts IQ and wiki-like brain more than make up for it. An arc where he was considering leaving to work for a perfume company revealed that he also has an extremely well-honed sense of smell.
- Det. Robert Goren from Law and Order Criminal Intent has apparently never heard of personal space, and appears somewhat lacking in social graces. Then again, he's pretty much a modern day Sherlock Holmes and an expert in how people think, so that kind of makes up for it.
- Although it's acknowledged by other characters that he's at best a little odd and at worst on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Other cops know that associating with him is bad for one's career, and recently he's lost the bunny ears status as even his string of successes have not given him a break from criticism.
- The titular character of Eli Stone has the potential to be a partially (or even fully) literal Bunny Ears Lawyer, if the writers would stop making him the Butt Monkey of his own show.
- CSI Miami features Alex, The Coroner who refers to all of her corpses as "baby". A minor quirk compared to most.
- John Amsterdam of New Amsterdam has lived for over 400 years, but no one on the police force he works with knows. Because, every so often, a case is solved because, say, Amsterdam knows a underground club because it was a speakeasy during Prohibition, everyone treats him like a Bunny Ears Lawyer who thinks he's 400 years old.
- Geoffrey Tennant from Slings And Arrows, who argues with his Spirit Advisor in public, stores chocolate in the skull of his predecessor, challenges one of his colleagues to a duel, habitually asks his secretary for black coffee with cream and sugar, and spends the better part of a season living in a storage closet. He's also a brilliant theatrical director.
- Neatly subverted on This is Wonderland, where all lawyers who act this way turn out to be incompetent. One mild example, Elliot Sacks, started out with long hair and a mildly scruffy appearance, but later went through an identity crisis that had him coming to work dressed in a different style every day. Apparently the only person who could get away with that sort of behaviour was Judge Maxwell Frasier, who wore running shoes into court, loudly complained of boredom and hunger, sang while other people were talking, and would occasionally scream. "It's just a little venting."
- Sam Tyler of Life On Mars frequently looks this way to his 1973 co-workers; the real bunny ears (in one episode, she does dress as Catwoman for an undercover job at a party), though, have to be awarded to Alex Drake of Ashes To Ashes, whose firm belief that she's actually trapped inside her own subconscious causes her to be, um, less than restrained in her behaviour- as, for example, openly referring to people as "imaginary constructs," to their faces.
- Dwight Schrute from The Office.
- Perhaps even moreso considering his position, Michael Scott — it's only his prodigious talent as a salesman that keeps him from being fired by Dunder Mifflin.
- Let's get it out of the way: it was stolen from his Super Sentai counterpart, yes, but Bridge Carson's thinking position (namely, standing on his head) is nice and quirky. A-Bridged is an episode all about Bridge using his quirkiness to solve the day's crime.
- Played with in Psych; Shawn Spencer's psychic abilities lead him to indulge in some fairly odd and eccentric behaviour, but almost everyone overlooks it because his visions are nearly always entirely accurate and always help solve the case... except, of course, Shawn isn't psychic at all; he's just highly observant, but he enjoys playing up the psychic thing, partly because it does let him get away with doing things that under other circumstances he'd be frowned on (or even arrested) for doing. Of course, he also greatly enjoys the attention as well.
- Walter Bishop of Fringe is released from the loony bin when events similar to the experiments that sent him there start showing up. He's still very intelligent and remembers everything about his work, but his time behind bars had some adverse effects: his first act upon being freed is to wet his pants, he obsesses over various foods he hasn't eaten since being locked up, and he constantly forgets the name or even the entire existence of another member of the team.
- Penelope Garcia of Criminal Minds talks two hundred miles an hour, plays MMORP Gs at the office, gets hysterical when people interfere with her workspace, regularly answers the phone with lines like "talk dirty to me," and is accustomed to wearing elaborate hairdos and cleavagey tops (both in colors not normally found in nature) to work at the FBI. She's the resident computer supergenius.
Video Games
- Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney is filled with eccentric lawyers. Phoenix and Edgeworth love to do the finger-pointing thing, Franziska von Karma has her trusty whip, her father Manfred's nigh-ludicrous obsession with perfection (to the point of highlighting it by making his ATM PIN '0001' because he sees himself as number one - and citing this as evidence during a trial) and the Geordi LaForge-masked Godot can't go a single case without drinking exactly 17 cups of coffee a day (and gets away with calling himself undefeated - because this is his first case). Despite these quirks, they're all said to be the best at what they do. Case 5 of the original game introduces a plethora of eccentric police officers to join the scruffy, dim-but-loveable Dick Gumshoe, from klutzy rookie Mike Meekins to literal Cowboy Cop Jake Marshall.
- This troper feels no character here quite out-eccentrics the Judge, who is famously reliable in passing fair judgements in spite of being more than a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander who will misunderstand basically anything, to the point of Franziska's Xanatos Gambit of showing him an illegally-taken photo as vital evidence to make her case (evidence which could just as easily have been turned to Wright's favor) fails - because he just doesn't get the point she's coming across with. At all. Until the next year, when Phoenix successfully uses it in a related case.
- The fourth game gives us Apollo Justice, who stays up until 5 in the morning doing voice training so that he can yell '''OBJECTION''' more impressively, carefully gels his hair every day in a way that makes it look like insect antennae, and gets the truth out of witnesses by using a bracelet that enables him to mentally zoom in on them and dramatically point out their nervous habits. Then there's Klavier Gavin, prosecutor and renowned rock musician, who peppers his speech with random German words and performs air guitar in the middle of trials. Spark Brushel is also worth a mention, being an investigative journalist who seems genuinely knowledgeable despite seemingly never listening to anything anyone tells him and eating far too many mints to the points where he himself smells of them.
- Excellen Browning from Super Robot Wars is a goofy, flirtatious woman who insists upon being called "Big Sister" rather than "Ensign", and has on more than one occasion donned a Playboy Bunny-style costume to raise her teammates' morale. She also happens to be an exceptional mecha pilot and an insanely good sniper, as well as part of one of the most respected and feared teams in the SRW universe.
- Heck, this trope applies to most of the cast. Among the most dangerous pilots in the group are an amazingly talented mercenary and battleship captain who's convinced that his Paper Thin Disguise has everyone in the world fooled, a German samurai with a penchant for In The Name Of The Moon speeches, an Ascended Fanboy at the controls of the most dangerous war machine on Earth, and a 14-year-old girl in a maid costume. Don't forget the XO who ORDERED said 14-year-old girl to wear a maid outfit. And is apparently a butler, and dresses like one. Also, don't forget the amount of ex-enemy officers.
- Psychonauts gives us Milla, Sasha, and Ford. Milla appears to be mentally stuck in the 1960s, Sasha is a borderline emotionless stoic with an irrational hatred for tacky lamps and Ford is... well, special. Despite this, they form a crack team of psychic spies unparalleled to none.
- Jodie Foster of Metal Wolf Chaos enjoys watching soldiers getting slaughtered by her boss's Humongous Mecha a little too much, and apparently spends her spare time wondering about how various buildings would look if they were destroyed, and somehow managed to become secretary to the President of the United States.
- Considering what President Michael Wilson gets up to, Jodie probably looks like an icon of sanity by comparision.
- The Mission Control of Metal Gear Solid 3 contains an overtalkative genius physician who chatters endlessly about her favourite B-movies, a James Bond fanboy Major with an obsession with his own Britishness and a thing for the paranormal, and a brilliant technician who makes useless objects because they 'look cool' and considers a human catapault a valid weapons development project (and harbours a complex about being the only normal person there). In Portable Ops, they start a UFO club. But they are frightenly competent at throwing the entire world into a long and bitter war.
- Hal Emmerich is a brilliant engineer who designed Metal Gear, and also happens to be a massive Otaku. Ocelot is a ridiculously superb marksman and the series' resident Magnificent Bastard who is also unhealthily obssessed with his revolvers and Big Boss. Even Snake himself, a formidable warrior by anyone's assessment, has his tendency for meaningless philosophical ramblings and a rather disturbing relationship with The Box(TM).
- Double H from Beyond Good And Evil. On one hand, he has a tendency to quote things at random from his military training manual in an UNECESSARILY LOUD VOICE, he runs things over with his head and never takes off his armor because it makes him "feel manly", and he gets really worked up over hovercraft racing. On the other hand, he's the IRIS Network's best operative, he's good at following directions, and he's pretty tough in battle. Pey'j too—He's a Texan-accented anthropomorphic pig with a habit of swearing like a prospector, and he has an... erm... unusual special attack. He's also a brilliant inventor and engineer. And, you know, the all-mysterious and all-powerful leader of a rebel organization.
- The brilliant engineer Dr. Cid from Final Fantasy XII fits this troupe well—the Draklor Laboratory and the Archadian Empire as a whole manage to ignore his conversations with a not-so imaginary friend due to his skill at manufacturing airships and weapons with nethicite. Balthier, however, was not quite so tolerant.
- Most of the bosses in No More Heroes fall into this category.
- Maybe even Travis himself, given that he defeats them all. (C'mon, is that really a spoiler?) He displays amazing combat skills despite being a Western Otaku, perverted lech and mid-battle ramblings about social issues. Then again, he's such an Idiot Hero that he may qualify for Genius Ditz.
- Nero from Devil May Cry anyone? He's a major Jerk Ass to just about everybody he knows, carries zero faith to his religion (to the extent of listening to his own theme song very loudly during church), and should be rights have been excommunicated long ago. He also happens to be incredibly good at his job.
Webcomics
- In El Goonish Shive, we have Grace, as shown in this strip
 .
- And arguably, also Amanda as shown in this one.
- Truly astounding example: Doctor McNinja. He's a doctor, and a ninja (and constantly masked, to boot). That alone should have been enough, as each profession is the bunny ears for the other. But as the opening quote shows, he's obsessed with Batman, not to mention just about everything else about him.
- Ekphobippe from Amazoness!. A fearsome Hot Amazon with a long list of victories, she's also a clear parody of Sailor Moon. Her pink heart-shaped armor and In The Name Of The Moon speech is described as "the dumbest and most awesome strategy I've ever seen".
- Danny Hua in Nukees is a sweet-tempered Cloud Cuckoo Lander who can't follow most basic metaphors, is compulsively honest and has a phobia of speaking with contractions. He is also a brilliant nuclear engineer and one of the finest weapon designers in the world, being personally responsible for the creation of the Giant Robot Ant. There currently is a small contingent of groupies who have decided he is the Wise One for his incomprehensible, unintentionally profound-seeming speech quirks. He is also, according to author Darren Bleuel, based on a real friend of his, and there is a page full of quotes to prove it!
- What about King Luca? He literally believes himself to be royalty, wears a crown and cloak, and routinely grants land, nobility, or knighthood to his followers. And he does have followers, because he's a wonderful physics tutor who singlehandedly helped many students pass their classes.
- An example with literal bunny ears: this Loserz strip.
- Elan from Order Of The Stick. The advantage? He's unbelievably Genre Savvy, such that he even sticks out in the No Fourth Wall world of the comic. The catch? He's a bard. Well, and a total moron. Then he literally Took A Level In Badass ...
- In Sluggy Freelance recruiting Bunny Ears Mad Scientists (but keeping them at a safe distance) is basically the whole point of the Hereti Corp freelancer program.
Western Animation
Truth In Television
- The late Bobby Fischer, chess master and notorious crackpot.
- Mathematicians seem to be very prone to this:
- Paul Erdős was famous not only for his intensely prolific mathematical career but also for his idiosyncratic vocabulary (children were "epsilons", women were "bosses", men were "slaves", the Soviet Union was "Joe" and the US was "Sam", etc.) and being helpless in day-to-day life to the point that fellow mathematician Ron Graham accompanied him a large amount, almost to the point of being his caretaker. For much of his life, he had no permanent home, and no possessions but a bag of clothes and some notebooks, but was so well respected that other mathematicians would let him stay over nearly anywhere he happened to travel. He also accused God of hiding his socks.
- Kurt Gödel was a paranoid recluse with a terror of being poisoned.
- John Forbes Nash, Jr., subject of the film A Beautiful Mind, who won the Nobel Prize before succumbing to schizophrenia. Although his depths of mental illness was an unproductive period for him, he could hardly be called "normal" before and after. Creator of the board game So Long Sucker.
- Alan Turing's odd habits are legendary: for example, he had a bicycle which he used for most travel, even after WWII ended, which had a damaged chain and spokes which would cause it to de-rail regularly; rather than replace it, he would count the number of turns before it would de-rail, and step off the bike to reset it.
- John Von Neumann was, like Turing, one of the fathers of the electronic computer; like Szilard and Teller, he played a key role in the Manhattan Project, and formulated the game theory from which US nuclear weapons policy was developed. He was also an inveterate womanizer and gambler, and was known to give class lectures in the suit he'd worn to parties the night before, having stayed awake the whole night. He also liked fast cars and to drive recklessly - a corner where he wrecked more than one car was named "Von Neumann Corner" by the people in the city. Feynman (below) would later attribute his 'creative irresponsibility' to something Von Neumann had said to him while they were both at Los Alamos.
- Norbert Wiener, one of the founders of the field of Cybernetics, was known for being absent-minded and getting lost frequently even in familiar places; while at the Institute for Advanced Studies, he would find his way to his office using the 'right-hand rule' for maze solution, trailing one finger along the walls as he continued reading, which led to him startling colleagues by walking into their offices, following the walls around and back out, without speaking or even looking up from his book the whole time, seemingly oblivious to where he was until he reached his own office.
- Theodore Kaczynski deserves special mention, as he was considered eccentric by other mathematicians even before he went Ax Crazy.
- Joshua Norton was famously a well-spoken, extremely intelligent, and kindly man who acted normally outside of his delusion that he was the Emperor of America. He is rare example of a real Bunny Ears Lawyer treated as understandingly as in fiction, as the people of San Francisco were willing to support Norton and treat him respectfully rather than incarcerating him in an asylum... It might be more accurate to say they simply made all of San Francisco into his asylum.
- Stonewall Jackson, of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, was a shrewd tactician and a dauntless battlefield commander. He was also a hypochondriac who sucked lemons and restlessly raised one arm, and had the habit of praying, eyes open, on horseback, content in the belief God could surely hear him there as well as anywhere.
- Richard Feynman, a physicist and member of the Manhattan Project, prankster, raconteur, drummer, amateur lockpick, and self-taught hieroglyphics translator. He was called in to investigate in the aftermath of the Challenger shuttle disaster, and reported on a variety of organizational failings and produced a dramatic demonstration of the notorious o-ring failure.
- Jack Parsons was a brilliant chemist and explosives expert, and was one of the founders of Jet Propulsion Lab. He was also an occultist who was the leader of the Agape Lodge, the major branch of the Ordo Templi Orientalis in the western US. Which brings us to two other men who figure prominently in his story...
- Aleister Crowley, "The Great Beast 666", who was a chess master and expert mountain climber, and in addition to being the most famous (or notorious) occultist of the 20th century, and...
- Lafeyette Ronald Hubbard, who... actually, I'd better stop at that, before TV Tropes gets sued.
- Let's just mention that some people who start a religion in order to make money were the (fictional) subject of one of his novels.
- Many prominent politicians seem to have to have some sort of quirk by default.
- Just going by US Presidents, we have many examples of people that ranged from somewhat quirky (Lincoln and his stovepipe hat, FDR in a wheelchair -if we consider a disability requiring a wheelchair a "quirk"- Silent Cal) to somewhat offsetting (Reagan's early stages of Alzheimer's, Taft being fat, W. Bush's speech patterns) to clearly deranged (Clinton and JFK's womanizing, Nixon's rampant paranoia that was his downfall when Watergate came) to downright disturbing (Jackson's bloodlust, John Quincy Adams driving his son to suicide). George Washington was known for breaking into tears at the slightest provocation. These quirks are often turned into punchlines during each President's tenure.
- And if we go by Canadian Prime Ministers, we have such a wonderful number, too. The first Prime Minister, and visionary, Sir John A Macdonald, was a very severe alcoholic, who disappeared for days at a time on drinking binges, once threw up during a debate and blamed his opponents rhetoric, and drunkenly assaulted an opposing MP in Parliment. Then there's William Lyon Mackenzie King, our PM for WWII, who was a brilliant man in office, and at home? He used spirit mediums to get advice from his dead mother and several of his dead pet dogs, all of them named Pat. (!) In more recent years, there's also no forgetting Jean Chretien, "the little guy from Shawinigan". The man choked a protester and even the Quebecois would have him back in office in a heartbeat if it meant getting rid of Stephen Harper. He was also renowned for not being to speak either official language.
- Another troper reminds us not to get started on Pierre Trudeau, who actually pirouetted behind the Queen's back in Buckingham Palace once (and it was apparently practiced in advance). That and several other quirks and little incidences certainly make him an interesting character to learn about.
- Including getting ejected from several sessions of Parliament for "breaking verbal protocols" (i.e. excessive gratuitous swearing), and flipping the bird during an active session of Parliament. This last even resulted in some new Canadian slang, which is still active in some areas - The Bird is now known as the "Trudeau Salute".
- U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson was known for some interesting traits. Besides "forcing" anyone who wished his favors to join him in "hunting" (which consisted of standing in a hunting blind and just shooting animals as they were driven toward it), he also had a habit of making his (male) subordinates discuss issues with him while he was on the toilet. His actions in the movie Forrest Gump where he asks Gump to show him his buttock scar are funny because that is exactly the kind of thing he would have done. On a less funny note, his obsession with Vietnam was about his refusal to show the Soviet Union any weakness, he was even willing to not run for office again rather than "give up" there. At one point, after Canadian PM Lester Pearson refused to join the war, he lifted Pearson into the air by his lapels and screamed "You pissed on my rug".
- Winston Churchill goes one better. Worked and slept unusual hours, for a start, but topped it by holding a meeting with Franklin D Roosevelt while taking a bath. He commented that "two great men have nothing to hide from each other".
- Ulysses S. Grant was a brilliant battle tactician and (supposed) drunkard who, after winning against Robert E. Lee and meeting him at Appomattox Courthouse to negotiate a surrender, showed up in his dirty uniform with muddy boots in contrast to Lee's perfectly arranged uniform, leading at least one spectator to comment that if you hadn't known better you'd thought the other guy had lost. (James Thurber's story "If Grant Had Been Drunk at Appomattox" has the hungover Union commander making this mistake himself and handing over his sword to the astonished Lee.) Lincoln also reportedly ordered his aides to find out what sort of whiskey Grant drank and send a case to every one of the Union generals.
- However, when it comes to US presidents, none can top Teddy Roosevelt for the crown of Bunny Ears. One could go on for pages about his eccentric behavior.
- Tim Burton. Most of his movies are considered charmingly quirky, though some like him better then others. He is one of the few directors to have made successful big-budget movies on the outright bizarre. Oddly enough, his more mainstream type films are less well received.
- Immanuel Kant, one of the Western world's most influential philosophers, was known as a man of exceedingly regular habits. He would take a walk every single day at 3:30 pm and it was said that you could set your watch by him. Supposedly the only time he ever missed a walk was when he was reading Rousseau's Emile. He also never ventured more than 40 miles from his home in Königsberg.
- Benjamin Franklin may have taken part in occult rituals and was heavily obsessed with sex.
- TESLA!!!
- Not only was Roald Dahl one of these (he played practical jokes on his upper crust friends so often it's a wonder any of them ever trusted him, and he had very specific demands when writing, including using a particular kind of pencil that was only ever sold in Britain), but he was also a magnet for these kind of people. Apparently, early in his life, Mr Dahl travelled on with an entire boatful of Bunny Ears Lawyers.
- Hunter S Thompson, who is by now more remembered for his diet of very dangerous drugs, vandalism, macing people and having his remains shot out of a cannon than for his journalism.
- Michael Jackson. Everybody knows he's obsessed with reclaiming his childhood through things like his Neverland Ranch, with its personal zoo and amusement park. Everybody knows he's utterly, utterly obsessed with young boys. And yet, everybody is still listening to his music and still copying his dance moves because his almost half-century-long career has proven time and again that he's just THAT good. It's no mistake that Thriller remains in the running for best selling album of all time.
- William Moulton Marston. Creator of the polygraph (lie detector). Creator of Wonder Woman. And perfectly willing to use both to demonstrate his eternal love of bondage. And that's not to mention his belief that the world would be better off entering into "loving submission" to a world matriarchy, also demonstrated in his Wonder Woman book. Or the "menage a trois" household he maintained with two women...
- Usain Bolt of Jamaica. Called the fastest man alive after his performance at the 2008 Olympics, he was perhaps better known for his behavior on the field. He set a world record by a significant amount in the 100-meter while showboating for the last twenty.
- Phil Hellmuth, aka "The Poker Brat". His nickname comes in part because he's prone to wild and hilarious temper tantrums when someone else bets a hand that conventional strategy says they should've folded and gets lucky...and partially because he was the youngest ever WSOP Main Event Champion and has won more bracelets than any other player in World Series of Poker history.
- Buckethead◊ is a very awesome guitarist but... well, just look at the picture.
|
