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alt title(s): Bunny Ears; Quirky But Competent 
Alan Shore knows how to win.
"Well, obviously, Lionel Tribbey is a brilliant lawyer whom we cannot live without, or there would be very little reason not to put him in prison."
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, and they're certainly not intrinsic to his success a la Crazy Awesome.
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. For a ultra manly-man who pulls off some girly hobby and nobody minds, take a refresher in the fact that Real Men Wear Pink.
Examples:
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Anime
- The spaceship crews of Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Martian Successor Nadesico.
- Let's not forget their master: Yang Wen-Li a social misfit with a big alcohol problem, who sits on his flagship's instrument panel during important fights (when he is not simply sleeping) and claims to everyone that he hates working: No one, no one ever wonders how he became admiral in his 20's: his skills make it obvious to any character (ally or enemy) that he deserves to be at the top of the chain of command.
- Sumeragi Lee Noriega from Gundam 00 is essentially a slightly better-adjusted version of Misato.
- Don't forget Graham Aker, who is pretty much what happens when a weeaboo gets into military... except this weeaboo is just about as Badass as he can get, to the point that he gets special permission to act as he wants.
- 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.
- Mithril appears to employ a number of Bunny Ears Lawyers. 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. Sousuke, meanwhile, is a consummate professional when he's in a military setting... and a hopeless Raised By Wolves Fish Out Of Water in any non-military situation.
- 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. Not to mention he has a MAJOR sweettooth to the point of building a mountain of sugar cubes coming out of his teacup, licking the frosting off his doughnuts (before discarding the doughnut itself), etc.
- He's actually the THREE most brilliant criminal investigators on the planet. He uses at least two aliases.
- Mello and Near from the same world are also odd: Near does all of his best detective work when he's playing with toys, and Mello...loves chocolate. A lot.
- Maes Hughes of Fullmetal Alchemist.
- He's either this or he's just Obfuscating Stupidity.
- 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.
- And the Strawhat crew. And nearly every single group in the manga.
- 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. Bonus points for actually wearing bunny ears.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 no grasp at all of how to use electronics, to the point that if it's electronic and he touches it, it's broken.
- Otawara, also of the White Knights, is extremely slow-witted and crude; Running gags involve him farting and his pants falling down. Oh, and, while he isn't the most powerful lineman around, he's close, and he's incredibly fast for someone his size.
- 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.
- Kengo Mizumachi of the Kyoshin Poseidons is a spastic, energetic, irrepressibly cheerful guy who is constantly making a fool of himself but tcouldn't care less. Also, the only reason he started playing football is because no other sport provided an adequate level of challenge for him.
- Muten Roshi of Dragon Ball. A 300-year old perverted man... who happened to be the creator of the Kamehameha, tutor of Goku and Krillin and be in early parts of the series the greatest martial artist on Earth.
- Mr. Takuma of Elf Princess Rane is a brilliant Jack-of-All-Trades who insists on speaking backwards. All the time. If you look closely at the subtitles, he says at one point, "If I talk backwards, people will think I'm smart!"
- Minako Aino, a.k.a. Sailor Venus, is the most battle experienced member of the Sailor Team. Which is hard to notice amidst all the ditzy moonstruck behavior she constantly exhibits. This is downplayed in the live action version, where she is more of a Littlest Cancer Patient.
- Captain Kyouraku from Bleach, who makes a point of acting like a direspectful, lazy drunkard most of the time. At the very least, it seems unlikely that anybody else could get away with "Yama-jii".
- Rangiku Matsumoto also counts. She's one of Kyouraku's drinking buddies, and acts like a valley girl whenever she's not in a serious situation. Also, she loves Orihime's cooking, which makes her full-on batshit crazy.
- Urahara Kisuke stands out as an eccentric store owner who often uses a fan to express his emotions. However, He is the creator of the Mod Souls, the Science and Research Development Ceenter within Soul Society, and the Hougoku, which even he himself couldn't get rid of until it fell into the hands of Big Bad Aizen Sousuke. Indeed, when he was first seen 100 years before the story he was a goofball... who just so happened to be captain of 12th Division. He anticipated Aizen's movements even from 100 years back, when he eventually betrayed his captain and several other Shinigami, created the Hougoku to save their lives, hid said object withing Rukia's body without her knowledge, and even managed to replace an entire town in anticipation of Aizen's next attack and allow high-ranking Shingami to pass through first. But since the beginning of Bleach, the story seemed to be about two Chessmasters of the BEL and/or Obfuscating Stupidity variety dueling each other, one on the side of good, the other on evil. Although Urahara (as shown in the Rukia example) has shown himself to be quite callous in his maneouvers.
- Nizuma Eiji, mangaka prodigy of Bakuman, can't work without making lots of loud sound effects and preferably turning up the stereo to battlefield volume. His way of blowing just about everybody off makes Topher look like a master of tact in the workplace. Altogether, the T.O. team seems to have branched out by making the Bunny Ears thoroughly obnoxious.
- You know how we said they're never Ax Crazy? We lied. Meet Baccano!'s Claire Stanfield, an assassin that is very good at tracking people down, extracting information, and killing things. The catch is that he has a huge list of quirks (constant name-changing, a tendency to attach himself to anything in a skirt, a habit of going way overboard, a complete disregard for contract confidentiality, a firmly sustained belief that he is God — the list goes on) that can make him more than a little annoying for his employers to deal with. Still, he is really, really good at what he does.
Comic Books
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.
- Which could honestly be said of 90% of computer hackers. Hacking is, after all, all about getting into places you don't 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.
- 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.
- Although this is not present in the first movie, Dr. Marcus Brody in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is turned into something like this, for instance having once got lost in his own museum. (Probably fits better under Absent Minded Professor, though.)
Literature
Live Action TV
- Detective Charlie Crews of NBC's Life who turned to zen Buddhist philosophy after his wrongful imprisonment.
- Kuryu Kohei, the protagonist of the 2001-2002 Fuji Television series Hero is almost literally a Bunny Ears Lawyer. He constantly wears aggressively casual clothes (the entire office mistakes him for a TV repairman on his first day on the job) while his colleagues wear suits, and he indiscriminately buys random items from the shopping channel. His quirks are overlooked however, partly because he is a cunning and successful prosecutor, but mostly because his co-workers are all subtly quirky too.
- 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.
- Before Hodges came about, Grissom held the title, avoiding his paperwork by the plague (even to the detriment of his underlings), yet he was kept in position because he is Made Of Awesome.
- Denny Crane. Just... Denny Crane. (Boston Legal)
- Please Elaborate...
- 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.
- Flanderization: the new name for
Alzheimer's disease Mad Cow.
- In fact, nearly the entire main cast of Boston Legal, as well as LA Law.
- You mention that has-been Denny Crane but you say nothing about Jerry Espenson? He hops, purrs, squeaks, and is married to a RealDoll. And yet he's an incredibly competent lawyer in the last two seasons.
- Alan Shore, as pictured at the top, has his moments too.
- Speaking of sardonic and cynical, Dr. Meredith "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.
- In fact, an observation made by outsiders (even on Earth) is that Rodney must be really good, or somebody would've shot him by now.
- 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).
- The main cast of NCIS makes the casts of the various CSIs look normal. The most obvious case is Abby, the Perky Goth Lab Rat who talks to her lab machines and utterly ignores every dress code ever known to man, woman, or government bureaucracy, but the rest of the team is similarly offbeat: Tony covers his considerable talents as an investigator and a leader by acting like an immature Jerk Jock Handsome Lech, Ziva is actually a spy and assassin on loan from Mossad, Ducky talks to the corpses he autopsies (not that uncommon in Real Life) and turns every conversation into rambling stories about his Glory Days, and Gibbs seems to make it a personal mission in life to piss off anyone in authority over him... come to think of it, McGee, best selling author, computer nerd and online gamer, is the most normal member of the team.
- Senior FBI agent and Gibbs's close friend Tobias Fornell sums it up neatly in the third season episode "Frame-Up."
Agent Sacks: "This guy is implicated in a homicide and he's making jokes!"
Agent Fornell: "You've never worked with NCIS before, have you, Agent Sacks?"
- Is The Doctor in the house?
- Especially in his days acting as UNIT's scientific advisor... and wearing an anachronistic velvet jacket and a cape.
- Or a scarf long enough to touch both sides of the English Channel.
- Or a... whatever this is supposed to be.
 ◊
- A clown suit. Hopefully. That must be the explanation. Please say that's the explanation.
- Is the House even a doctor?. Like Sherlock Holmes upon who he was modeled, Dr. House definitely qualifies as a BEL. He uses comatose patients for cupholders, watches sports with clinic patients, avoids seeing his own patients as long as possible, refuses to wear a tie, plays with his gameboy/cane/ball while his patients code; and that not to mention his running commentary on Cuddy's mammaries. And is a Jerk Ass every chance he gets, apparently for his own entertainment. This apparently improves his thinking processes. Lampshaded by Cuddy and Wilson in the episode Let Them Eat Cake:
Cuddy: Other doctors actually use their offices for crazy stuff like seeing patients. Not throwing a ball against the wall and calling it work.
Wilson: It's his process. That ball saves lives.
- Admittedly, his coworkers tend to overlook his quirks partially because House is such a brilliant doctor, but also in large part because eccentricity is the least of his problems.
- Also Lampshaded in the episode Sex Kills (2x14), when guest star Greg Grunberg says, "I assume House is a great doctor. Because when you're that big a jerk, you're either great or unemployed," after settling their differences, albeit a bit aggressively. Granted, House had it coming for pulling a Manipulative Act on him.
- Eugene, WWE's resident "special" wrestler, started out as a Professional Wrestling Idiot 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).
- Pretty much every character of News Radio fits this description... well except Matthew.
- Pick a Scrubs character. Any Scrubs character. And yet, they're all excellent doctors.
- Then there's Ted. He's actually a lawyer, but he sucks at his job.
- Ted is a subversion of the trope. He's a terrible lawyer, but an incredibly talented singer and musician in his spare time.
- 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 Insanity when it comes to the authorities and annoying BA when with the team.
- Captains Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre on M*A*S*H 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. (It goes for other medical staff, too; I once served a year as a conscript private/medical clerk and got away with behaviour that would have gotten other soldiers confined to barracks, because who would take care of all that sensitive paperwork in my absence?)
- ...and even more so in the original movie—-which also doesn't shrink from showing that not only are they eccentric, they can be real jerks.
- 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's wearing a bunny outfit 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 Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger counterpart, yes, but the thinking position of Power Rangers SPD's Bridge Carson (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 MMORPGs 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.
- It is actually said in a commentary that the FBI accepts her behavior (which actually breaks several regulations of the agency) because they absolutely wanted to have her: she is actually so good at what she does that she can bend the rules of a federal agency.
- Technically, the FBI hired her because she's one of the most dangerous hackers in the world. In "Penelope", we learn that she joined the FBI rather than go to prison.
- Dr. Jacob Hood, the Omnidisciplinary Scientist on Eleventh Hour. He doesn't have any one bunny ears quirk, but he does act quite oddly, melting someone's watch on a hot plate and then dipping it ice cream, entering a school building (not covertly) through the ventilation system instead of the doors, and so on. He always has some valid exploratory or demonstrative reason for doing these things, but it never occurs to him to explain before hand. Also, his eccentricities were sufficient for the FBI to assign him a handler at all times, and it has been implied that several of his previous handlers quit in exasperation.
- Most of the cast of Pizza and Swift And Shift Couriers would be Bunny Ears Lawyers... except that they're all amazingly terrible at their jobs.
- Sons of Anarchy has an episode centered around the protection of a corrupt accountant who Knows Where The Money Is Hidden, after he completes his jail term where he developed a compulsive tic: unconscious masturbation.
- Patrick Jane of The Mentalist. He enjoys playing mind games with coworkers and suspects alike, whether or not this will actually get results towards solving the crime, and a lot of his more outrageous stunts are inadmissible as evidence. But the CBI keeps him around because he does always manage to catch the culprit.
- All of the members of Torchwood Three. Jack's a pansexual from the future and can't die, Toshiko's a shy technical expert who just happens to cover up murders for a living and has a horrible case of the Cartwright Curse, Ianto makes the coffee, uses a stun-gun and has a Cyberwoman hiding in the basement, Owen's an abrasive medic who is just as handy at giving bullet wounds as healing them and Gwen's an ex-policewoman who is, on occasion, just a bit too idealistic. That said, most of the time, they do a decent job of saving the planet (although it was often their fault in the first place).
- Benton Fraser on Due South has conversations with his deaf wolf-dog and his father's ghost, runs around Chicago in his red serge dress uniform, and analyses evidence by licking it, among other quirks. He is, however, a very effective crimefighter.
- Larry Fleinhardt from Numb3rs is a highly eccentric scientist who, among other quirks, only eats white food, and once gave up all his possessions and spent several months in a monastery. However, since the latter came about after he got to go into space, he's clearly qualified enough to act however the hell he wants.
- LAPD Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson of The Closer had her boyfriend move back out to avoid the fallout with her mom, is constantly breaking off dates to work on a case, is quite possibly the most insecure character on network television, will cheerfully lie to suspects, is generally caustic to anyone she doesn't like, and never takes no for an answer. She is also a brilliant detective who manages to close virtually every case to come her way... hence the show title. She admitted her problems to her longsuffering, patient boyfriend/fiance/hubby just after their wedding:
Fritz: "So, do you feel any different yet?"
Brenda: "Yeah, I do. I feel like I know my limitations better and I still think you don't have any."
Fritz: "Come on. Why do you talk like that?"
Brenda: "Because, Fritzy, I love you with my whole heart, but sometimes I think my heart is only this [she pinches her fingers together] big."
Fritz: "Your heart is big enough to carry me and the job... and then some. Now, I am well aware of who I just married, so get changed quick because I want to dance with you." [they kiss]
- Pretty much all the squints on Bones are utterly brilliant but quirky. Brennan and Zack are the smartest people on the show, but extremely people dumb; Hodgins is a conspiracy theorist, and Angela is kind of a nympho. Sweets is a pretty good psychologist even though he looks like he's sixteen, and even Booth likes to jazz up his serious FBI-ness with wacky belt buckles and crazy socks.
- Don't forget the interns, from random-fact-spouting Mr. Nigel-Murray to emo-tastic Colin Fisher. They even throw in an intern whose quirk is that he is constantly horrified by the quirks of the other squints.
- River Tam from Firefly is insane and a little knife-happy at times. Half of the reason she has a bunk on the good ship Serenity is Mal's tendency toward Honor Before Reason, but the other half is because of those exceptionally useful Psychic Powers she has.
- Really, most of the Serenity's crew. Jayne is loud-mouthed, unrefined, and a very likely candidate for a Face Heel Turn, but he also has a penchant for firearms that makes him vital when dealing with even more loud-mouthed and unrefined folks. Kaylee is bubbly, socially awkward, and prone to offhand discussions about masturbation, and also the best mechanic in the entire setting. Wash is prone to playing with toys and is generally incompetent wherever violence is called for, but he's an amazingly talented pilot. Meanwhile, Simon Tam is a Non Bunny Ears Lawyer, as a completely normal person with a respectable Alliance upbringing and little to no experience dealing with outlaws, but he gets along with the crew because he has medical expertise that's hard to come by unless you're on good terms with the Alliance (in fact, it's implied he's better than nearly all Alliance doctors).
- Agent Dale Cooper, in Twin Peaks, combines wide-eyed innocence and purity of heart with an array of highly unusual investigation techniques and an openness to the supernatural that makes Fox Mulder look like a hardened skeptic. Of course, from the other agents we see in the series, the entire FBI seems to be made up of people like this.
- FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy from Dexter is a chipper and quirky man, who does things like stopping what he's doing at one o'clock exactly every day to have lunch, spending hours looking over evidence while going through various types of music to try and find the type which will put him into the right state of mind to figure out clues, and telling his task force that he'll probably make several food-related metapors because he "likes food". He is also a legendary investigator who has a reputation for catching serial killers in cases which were considered unsolvable, who comes just short of determining the identity of the Bay Harbour Butcher.
- Temperence "Bones" Brennan, a socially inept author, and even more so Asperger-riffic Lab Rat Zack Addy. Party girl Angela, to a lesser degree. Dr. Sweets, whose Bunny Ears are his youth and his even-younger-than-he-actually-is looks.
- In Tomica Hero Rescue Force Eiji Ishiguro is the most stoic, silent, by the book character in the whole series. When he "Builds up" into R5 He becomes a Hot Blooded Large Ham who ... you know what just Watch the clip it'll explain it a lot better than I ever could.
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.
- The theme for talking to people without their own theme in Justice for All-on is acctualy called "eccentric".
- 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 CO 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). It's also implied he loves trashy action movies and women's figure skating, he's a fan of dog-sledding, and one of the Japanese-only supplimental material guides revealed that his favourite food is blueberries.
- 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.
- Elite Beat Agents. Just look at that hair... and those dance moves! Yet somehow, they managed to stop an alien invasion, prevent the Zombie Apocalypse, rescued a lost puppy, and fight off a virus.
- A good deal of the commanders in the Advance Wars series. A spectacular example is Javier, who wears plate armour all the time and acts like Don Quixote, and is a Boisterous Bruiser to awesome effect.
- The Dungeon Master noble in Dwarf Fortress is a talented animal trainer and metalsmith who permits your fortress to train a variety of creatures you usually can't. He or she tends to also wander around the fortress, naked except for a cloak, shoes, and gloves.
Tabletop Games
- Warhammer 40000's Adeptus Mechanicus are a sect of Mad Engineers who have the theology of a Cargo Cult, even for things they fully understand.
- Some types of Ork also qualify. Burna Boyz are pyromaniacs carrying backpacks filled with promethium and willing to set their buddies on fire, but are useful in battle and for metal work. Weirdboyz have a habit of making heads explode, but their powers can be directed at their foes if they focus. Mad Dok Grotsnik performs surgery unorthodox even by Ork standards and often times his bionics will "mysteriously" explode if the owner annoys Grotsnik, but he saved the life of his tribe boss and is highly dangerous in battle.
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.
- 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, so he's starting to balance out a tad.
- Celia may also count, more literally than the other examples. Most of the time she's a Granola Girl whose fighting skills are negligible, and whose righteous ardor for small woodland critters, as well as the sanctity of life in general borders on infuriating, but get her in front of a lawsuit, or two conflicting parties in need of a settlement, and she is hard and cold business right away.
- And Lord Shojo, who pretends to be senile in order to ward off assassination attempts, but was able to fool not only the paladins he controls, but also the entire Order of the Stick, despite not having any levels in a PC class.
- 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.
- Doug from Fletcher Apts. In high school, he was head of the Science Honor Society and #2 player in the chess club. In college, he's the vice president of the psychology club. Also, he's known for barfing easily and freaking out over female breasts.
Western Animation
- Police commissioner Kyösti Pöysti from Pasila, who's constanty sucking a pacifier for a reason he refuses to tell anyone, save for a single blind date offscreen, who then proceeds to comment on how thoroughly logical his reasoning for doing it is. He also plays videogames on work hours and sometimes commits arrests for no other reason than his hangover. He is, however, skillful in talking to suspects and scoping out their psychological weak spots to make them crack.
- Most of the GI Joe cast.
- Essentially Darkwing Duck's role. He tends to be a dramatic egomaniac until he buckles down and focuses, suddenly performing perfectly.
- The Mighty Heroes are usually a bunch of bunglers, but after they escape the villain's deathtrap at the cliffhanger, they always remember to fight as a team and are invincible.
- King Bumi. Over a century old, lord of Omashu, the most powerful Earthbender alive (although Toph will probably be equal or better inside of a decade), and utterly deranged. He may be faking some of his eccentricity, but nowhere near all.
- Wildcat, Baloo's mechanic from Tale Spin is a regular Ralph Wiggum when it comes to everything but mechanics. Otherwise, he's a Gadgeteer Genius. He has repaired the Sea Duck on multiple occasions, even after being completely totaled. Baloo even shows Becky how quickly Wildcat can repair something by smashing his phone with a hammer.
- Glenn Quagmire is a Kavorka Man who chases Anything That Moves (to the point that it's hinted several times that he's a full blown registered sex offender)...but he's also extremely skilled and competent when it comes to his job as a commercial airline pilot. Who knew?
- Silverhawks, a sci-fi cartoon by the makers of Thundercats, has Colonel Bluegrass. Despite his rank, he looks, talks, dresses and acts like a stereotypical cowboy from the Wild West, but he's also an ace pilot described as being able to master anything that flies. If that wasn't strange enough, he's also a skilled guitar player, and is so fanatic about it that his futuristic guitar is not only a weapon, but actually integrates with the piloting mechanism for the Miraj, the team's spaceship.
- Yoda in Star Wars The Clone Wars. In the first episode, he greets an entire army's worth of tanks and droids simply by sitting in their path in a meditation position. About fifteen seconds later, he proceeds to hand their nuts and bolts to them in a truly spectacular fashion.
- Mr. Ratburn. He's a good-natured teacher who just happens to get a little overenthusiastic about assigning homework and tests. In his spare time, he makes marionettes and puts on puppet shows (including that time in college when he tried to do an entire One Man Show production of Hamlet with puppets, but Failure Is The Only Option). And in one episode, we seeing him happily stalking people for cake.
- In Transformers, this is a type commonly found in the Decepticon ranks. From ace gunfighter/closet coward Slugslinger to preening victory obsessed egotist Drag Strip, many of the more stable Decepticons find themselves grudgingly accepting the obvious personality disorders around them because the people with them are among the most effective warriors
Truth In Television
- People diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome often tend to be real-life examples of Bunny Ears Lawyers. See also Disability Superpower. Sadly, it's not a sure thing— most people with Asperger's are just Cursed With Suck.
- 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" (Stalin?) and the US was "Sam" (Uncle?), 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.
- The amphetamines probably helped his eccentricities along; on the other hand, when he gave them up for thirty days on a bet, he claimed that the '...progress of mathematics had been set back by one month.'
- Kurt Gödel was a paranoid recluse with a terror of being poisoned. Beacuse of this fear, he eventually refused to eat and starved to death.
- 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. He was also named Norbert Weiner.
- Theodore Kaczynski deserves special mention, as he was considered eccentric by other mathematicians even before he went Ax Crazy.
- 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 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. This was in order to ward off demonic possession, which he feared, with the prayer.
- Before the war he taught at Virginia Military Institute, where he earned the name "Tom-fool Jackson" for his useless physics lectures.
- 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. Not to mention that his Nobel-prize-winning research into quantum electrodynamics started out when he saw a paper plate being thrown across a canteen and wondered what caused it to wobble in mid-flight. And he once failed a military-draft psychiatric test by overthinking the questions.
- 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 (George Washington was known for breaking into tears at the slightest provocation) to Lyndon B. Johnson who had a habit of making his (male) subordinates discuss issues with him while he was on the toilet, and once famously whipped out his dick at a press conference. His actions in the movie Forrest Gump where he asks Gump to show him his buttock scar are very funny because that is exactly the kind of thing he would have done.
- Canadian Prime Ministers, we have such a wonderful number, too. William Lyon Mackenzie King, our PM for WWII, was a brilliant man in office, but 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, renowned for not being to speak either official language.
- 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.
- Despite being cool as a cucumber during battles, riding up closer than generals were supposed to, with holes through his uniform from bullets (plus numerous horses shot dead as he rode on them) Grant could not stand the sight of blood. That's right-after each battle he retired to his tent and wept. Every stake he ate had to be devoid of blood or he would become physically ill. (Wyatt Earp also went his entire career without once being shot, unlike Doc Holliday who had been nearly killed multiple times including at the OK Corrall, but still dying of tubercolosis in bed, how he didn't want to go-his last words were "this is funny," looking at his feet in bed, since he always hoped to "die with his boots on.")
- Two or three factual reasons actually lie behind this. Lee surrendering was the death of the Confederacy, so Lee showed up in his finery the way soldiers are buried in dress uniforms. After 5 years of long hard fought war, could you really blame Grant for wanting to hurry up and see it finally over?
- Grant may also have been making a statement that his status as victor was higher than Lee's. The higher your status, the worse you can dress, and the better your subordinates must dress in your presence. So, U.S. General Douglas Mac Arthur wore an an open-collar shirt to meet with Japanese Emperor Hirohito after the surrender of Japan in World War II. Mac Arthur wore a similar shirt, and a dirty hat, when he met President Harry Truman on Wake Island to discuss the Korean War, and Truman may not have liked that, because it may have suggsted that Mac Arthur thought his own status was higher than Truman's. Truman wrote: "We arrived at dawn. Gen. Mac Arthur was at the Airport with his shirt unbuttoned wearing a greasy ham and eggs cap that evidently had been in use for twenty years." (President Harry S. Truman Handwritten note, November 25, 1950. Papers of Harry S. Truman: President's Secretary's Files)
- 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 and turkeys, and yet, is one of the most celebrated American historical figures.
- 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.
- 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, possibly sexually. However, he remains popular among some people.
- Later fucked-up-ness aside, his musical talent and showmanship during the years when he was still black is impressive. I mean, the man made THRILLER.
- When his comeback residency at the O2 arena in London this year was announced, tickets went extremely quickly.
- And now that he's dead, he's gotten even more leeway.
- 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. (Though the first record was broken in 2008).
- In the same vein, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow is one of the best pro players around, but, well... you can probably guess how he got his nickname. He's cooled down a lot in recent years, though.
- And for an example of a pro player with more flamboyant tendencies, there's Humberto Brenes, who calls himself "The Shark" and has the toy shark card protectors to prove it, which he tends to use more as a means of doing a prop comedy act than actually protecting his cards, and has a tendency to turn his volume up to 11 any time he goes all-in. He also finished in the top one-hundred of the World Series of Poker main event two years in a row in 2006 and 2007, when the fields of entrants exceeded six thousand players. Even for a big-name pro that takes serious skill.
- Buckethead◊ is well known for conducting interviews by using a hand puppet resembling a face turned inside out, is almost 7 feet tall, apparently has a crippling fear of women, and watches a lot of horror movies. He also happens to be one of the most impossibly skilled virtuoso guitar players in the world.
- Field Marshal Bernard "Monty" Montgomery was a man with an ego a mile wide, a severe lack of tact, a level of racism that was high even by World War Two Allied standards, did not get on well at all with his senior officers and was unwilling to admit when he'd been wrong. However, the British think he was an excellent general (historians from other nations regard him as anything from an egotistical poser who extended the war by months to a mildly competent commander who was more concerned with keeping the British army intact, rather than using it to win battles,) while his men, who he got on well with, loved him. He ended up Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.
- His career almost ended before it began- he nearly got kicked out of Sandhurst for setting fire to a comrade's shirt during a hazing ritual.
- Monty acquired a personal Crowning Moment Of Awesome in the First World War, where he was severely wounded at Meteren and given up as hopeless to the point a grave was dug for him. He recovered and picked up a Distinguished Service Order medal for gallant leadership. The more impressive thing- the DSO is typically handed out to officers of Captain rank or above. Monty was a Lieutenant. If a Lieutenant gets a medal like that, it is generally seen as a sign that they just missed out on a Victoria Cross.
- Performance Artist and perky pervert Bob Flanagan collaborated with alt-musicians like Sonic Youth and Nine Inch Nails, designed numerous museum installations and, for a time, held the world record for living with Cystic Fibrosis until his death in 1995, at 43. He was also a CF Summer Camp Counselor for more than half of his life and a stand-up comedian. His secret? Bob was a self-proclaimed "Supermasochist" and believed in fighting "sickness with sickness." He routinely tortured himself with everything from C-47s to barbeque forks. He also (censored for squick) hammered his penis to a wooden board at least twice and got it on video tape.
- Sir Isaac Newton is rightly regarded as one of the founders of the concept of a rational, mechanistic universe. However, he was also an apocalyptic Christian, astrologer, numerologist and mystic. One example of this interfering with his scientific work is the inclusion of the colour indigo in the spectrum - he wanted there to be seven colours in the spectrum instead of six, as it fitted with a numerological theory that he had. Also, he lived in permanent chaos, constantly leaping from one idea to the other. His servants would often find him in the morning half in and half out of bed, halted in place by an unstoppable train of thought. When he first produced a mathematical model for the orbits of the planets, he not only neglected to publish, but mislaid his notes and workings on it. It was only when a horrified Sir Edmund Halley (of comet fame) persuaded him to redo his workings with all speed (and send him a copy so that he could win a friendly wager with Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke) that the enforced focus resulted in his famous Principia Mathematica, which set down what became known as Newtonian Mechanics.
- Dr. Bronner of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. For sixty years, Dr. Bronner's company has been selling soaps, shampoos, and conditioners with quotes from the Bible, Rudyard Kipling, and pieces of Dr. Bronner's own theology and environmental philosophy on the packaging. However, it is good soap, and it's organic and fair-trade to boot.
- Supposedly to some extent special forces came off as this in earlier years, as it took quite some time for them to be accepted in certain military hierarchies. An illuminating look at this was the book Blackhawk Down, where as late as 1993 a certain special operations unit was looked at from a Ranger captain's point of view thusly:
The disdain was mutual. [Captain] Steele accepted that these operators were good at their jobs, but he wasn't in awe of them. He found their civilian manner and contemptuous attitude toward Ranger discipline hard to take. Sure, it was a good idea to encourage individual initiative and creative thinking in combat, but some of these guys had strayed so far from traditional army norms it seemed unhealthy. They could be comically arrogant. When they'd gotten a list of potential target sites, for instance, the D-boys had divvied them up among different teams. Each was assigned to draw up an assault plan. Since his men were involved, Steele had sat in on the meeting when the various schemes were presented. The captain's experience with such a planning session was like this: You sat there and took notes and asked questions only to make sure you got things down correctly and then saluted on your way out. The D-boys' meeting was a free-for-all. One group would present its plan and somebody would pipe up, "Why, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard," which would provoke a sturdy "Fuck you," which quickly degenerated into guys screaming at each other. It looked to Steele like they were about to assume Kung Fu stances and have it out.
- Renaissance-era painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was by all accounts, an absolutely loathsome person. An alcoholic with a explosively violent temper, Caravaggio spent much of his life in and out of jail. He was notorious for picking fights even in an era and place when such behavior was commonplace, and eventually had to flee Rome after he murdered a man. Despite this, Caravaggio was arguably the most famous and influential artist in Italy while alive.
- This guy has some of the best videos on global climate change you'll find. He tackles and refutes skeptics' claims and gets down to the nitty-gritty details of how greenhouse gases affect climate, far better than Al Gore ever thought of doing. The proverbial bunny ears come in with the assortment of strange and goofy hats he wears while doing it.
- Real l33t h4x0r5 (who never refer to themselves that way) routinely exhibit this; the canonical example wears an Hawaiian shirt and has more hair hanging below his shoulders than on his head.
- Nikola Tesla, suffered from what today would be diagnosed as extreme OCD, had a crippling phobia of hair, and routinely espoused whacky theories, dropped out of school had several nervous breakdowns— and established the basis of all modern electrical systems, including radio (although Marconi still routinely gets the credit).
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