History BunnyEarsLawyer / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': Agent Francis York Morgan ("Call me York. That's what everyone calls me") is an FBI investigator who we first see driving a car while working on his laptop and arguing on the phone with his superiors over inter-dependence issues in WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry. He is also routinely late for appointments[[note]]which is to say, ''you'' are routinely late due to the game giving you extremely generous windows of time to show up for things, and never penalizing you for just plain taking multiple days off to pursue various side quests; York's weirdness does a good job of wallpapering over the AntiFrustrationFeatures that would otherwise be a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation[[/note]], rambles on endlessly about old movies and their directors when he's not cheerfully discussing [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant grisly murders and serial rapists over dinner]], and goes over his every action and decision with his imaginary friend, Zach. His methods of "investigating" consist less of actual forensic work and more of chain-smoking until he gains visions of the past, and seeing visions of the future in the milk he pours in his coffee every morning. Despite all this, he's an extremely competent detective who [[InsufferableGenius isn't at all shy over that fact]].

** As first shown in "Meet the Pyro", the Pyro is a BEL among [=BELs=]. [[spoiler:They're not at all in touch with the real world, which they imagine to be a SugarBowl, even when causing death and destruction. When they're burning things, they're spreading bubbles, flowers, and magic. [[AnAxeToGrind When they split an enemy's head open with an axe]], they're feeding them a lollipop; when using their flare gun, they're blowing bubbles. They also see their enemies as chubby cherubs, wings and all, which prompts their "kindness". You also get a promotional "Pyro's goggles" that let you see the world as they do. Everybody is laughing ''even as they get shot'', blood is replaced with random items such as gears or balloons, and fire with sparkly rainbows and happiness. To top it all off, you don't get "dominated" and get "revenge", they "become best friends" and "break up"]]. However, as any player will tell you, if you are close to them, expect to be dead soon. Very, very soon.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': In a meta-example, [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] in the [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll Genocide]]]] route. [[spoiler: By some standards, the route's limitations are pretty strict; In order to progress with the route, you have to exhaust the population of each area's random encounters before killing the boss and have to kill every unique encounter. However, the First Human won't fail you for a variety of otherwise seemingly-obvious failstates; For example, sparing lesser enemies individually doesn't matter, so long as they aren't uniques (like Snowdrake) and the kill quota for the area still is fulfilled. In addition, they won't judge you for never using anything other than your starting equipment or so much as comment on you utilizing inane techniques to get encounters faster, like holding the up and down arrow keys at the same time to cause the protagonist to enter what seems like a siezure. '''You''' are this to them; They're willing to excuse your confusing behavior due to your efficiency at [[MoralEventHorizon slaughtering every Monster you can get your dusty hands on]].]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Godbert Manderville is a highly eccentric old man who dresses in a tuxedo with short-shorts ([[{{Stripperific}} if even that]]). He is also ''the'' best goldsmith in all of Eorzea, using his considerable skills to amass a fortune that earned him a seat in Ul'dah's Syndicate and allowed him to open a highly successful entertainment establishment. Likewise, players can make their characters a bunny ears adventurer by wearing ridiculous outfits and picking all the silly/nonsensical dialogue replies to make their character look weird as hell, yet still highly respected for being ''very'' good at fighting the empire and slaying primals like it was a normal Tuesday. [[spoiler: Supplementary material added in the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion reveals that the player character's past self also had a huge sense of justice and desire to help those in need while also having strange quirks, such as saving an island from being destroyed by a volcano instead of watching it as instructed just because they found the island's grapes delicious and didn't want to lose them.]]

* Empress Sanaki of the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' games is a [[IncrediblyLamePun Bunny Ears Royal]]. In ''Path of Radiance'', most of her early interactions with the protagonists involve her jerking them around and forcing them to learn for ''themselves'' what's going on instead of just telling them what's up [[ItAmusedMe simply because she was bored.]] Three years later in the sequel, we see her commandeering ''the King of Kilvas'' to carry her onto the battlefield because she couldn't bear not knowing what was going on, then later learns that [[spoiler:he's bound by a blood pact to the Begnion Senate -- and that ''she'' can essentially free him from their control since her orders carry more weight than theirs do]]. And of course, when one of her most trusted aides turns out to be, [[EvilChancellor well, not exactly]] ''[[EvilChancellor evil]]'' but still responsible for all of the bad stuff that happened, she decides that his punishment is to be drowned in rancid butter.

** Thane seems overly contemplative for an assassin, but we learn that he [[spoiler: has been recently diagnosed with a terminal disease]], Miranda is pretty normal for a member of a shady organization aside from the [[DesignerBabies Designer Baby]] Blues, Samara is a [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Scary Dogmatic]] [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue Skinned Space Babe]], Grunt is a [[DesignerBabies Designer Baby]] ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and Garrus is a level-minded realist (quite possibly the most level-headed of all characters despite some issues in his past, and one of the only ones who literally never loses his cool). This leaves Jack and Mordin. The latter however takes this trope to its full extent.

* In the world of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' several characters dress in costumes simply impractical or just silly for their job, but are allowed to keep them simply by virtue of being so god damn good at what they do. After all, if [=McCree=]'s one of the fastest guns in the West, does it matter if he dresses like a cowboy? Or if Reinhardt wants to dress in PowerArmor with a rocket hammer, pretending to be a crusader and generally Leroy Jenkinsing all over the place, who's going to stop the 8 foot tall, 6 foot wide, musclebound German? And does it ''really'' matter if Widowmaker wears shiny purple spandex if she can hit a target at impossible range and see through walls?

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', not being viewed as this is something of an uphill battle. Even at his most normal, the PlayerCharacter is a DefectiveDetective who start out the story with waking up half-naked from a three-day drinking binge, having forgotten his identity and everything about the world he is living in, and there is the fact he has constant internal arguments with the personifications of his skills; even if he manages to keep this secret, people around him still notice that he is occasionally spacing out. The player can, however, also choose to grab this reputation with both hands and run with it. The detective can also opt in to bizarre beliefs outside of any of the skills, such as declaring himself the Cop of the Apocalypse, openly acknowledging he is an incredibly corrupt "bad addict cop", or denying all signs to the contrary and proclaiming himself a handsome, glamorous superstar cop. Kim will push past most of it and can even come to accept it when the detective's weird moments allow leaps in the investigation, though even he can be pushed too far. [[spoiler:Even before the events of the game, this is what Harry was -- learning about his past reveal he ''was'' a very competent cop, with eighteen years of service, over 200 cases solved, and a very low bodycount -- only three kills confirmed -- which is highlighted as especially impressive considering he serves in one of the most violent and crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city. That said, he was still a complete drunkard who worked by bouts of productivity, and displaying emotionally and mentally unstable behavior regularly bordering on outright insanity.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Godbert Manderville is a highly eccentric old man who dresses in a tuxedo with [[WhoWearsShortShorts short-shorts]] ([[{{Stripperific}} if even that]]). He is also ''the'' best goldsmith in all of Eorzea, using his considerable skills to amass a fortune that earned him a seat in Ul'dah's Syndicate and allowed him to open a highly successful entertainment establishment. Likewise, players can make their characters a bunny ears adventurer by wearing ridiculous outfits and picking all the silly/nonsensical dialogue replies to make their character look weird as hell, yet still highly respected for being ''very'' good at fighting the empire and slaying primals like it was a normal Tuesday. [[spoiler: Supplementary material added in the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion reveals that the player character's past self also had a huge sense of justice and desire to help those in need while also having strange quirks, such as saving an island from being destroyed by a volcano instead of watching it as instructed just because they found the island's grapes delicious and didn't want to lose them.]]

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': Mister Torgue Flexington, founder of the Torgue Corporation, is a savant when it comes to developing explosive weapons. He is also [[PsychopathicManchild insane, immature]] and a GeniusDitz ''par excellence'', who sold his company for twelve dollars and a high five, only has room in his mind for two thoughts (one of which is ''always'' explosions), and is an unabashed SirSwearsALot which led to the stockholders of his company surgically installing a vocal censor in his voice box that results in a steady stream of {{Cluster Bleep Bomb}}s.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': Torgue, founder of the Torgue Corporation, is a savant when it comes to developing explosive weapons. He is also a PsychopathicManchild GeniusDitz ''par excellence'' who sold his company for twelve dollars and a high five, only has room in his mind for two thoughts (one of which is always explosions), and is an unabashed SirSwearsALot which led to the stockholders of his company surgically installing a vocal censor in his voice box that results in a steady stream of [[ClusterBleepBomb Cluster Bleep Bombs]].

--> '''Dynaheir''': Minsc is, well, [[ShapedLikeItself Minsc]], but he hath a strong sword arm.

* It is strongly implied that a light-side ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' or ''Knights of the Old Republic 2'' PC tolerates HK-47's AxCrazy discourse because he is the only thing that can translate the Tusken tongue and a rather capable warrior

** Hal Emmerich is both a brilliant engineer capable of designing a functional bipedal tank and enough of an {{Otaku}} to program the weapon's movements based on ''StreetFighter''. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' he's so essential to making Metal Gear REX actually function that the QuirkyMinibossSquad have to keep him alive and programming even after disposing of the rest of the development team, and despite his oddness it takes an electrified floor, an entire hallway flooded with poisonous gas, and gun-mounted cameras to keep him in his lab. [[spoiler:He comes and goes as he pleases, anyways]].

* All the Goddess [=CPUs=] in the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series. Neptune is TheSlacker par excellence, Noire is highly efficient but socially clumsy and neurotic, Blanc enjoy writing trashy fiction and has a staggering temper, and Vert is an online gaming addict and a YaoiFangirl. Their sisters? Nepgear is more work-oriented but easily flustered and gets distracted by machines, Uni is a military otaku with an inferiority complex next to her sister, and Rom and Ram are children. It's joked the nations could do a better job taking care of themselves... and in ''Videogame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'', [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor we see that happen]]. [[spoiler:The world falls apart, due to Gold Third's inept leadership. C-Sha tried to gently guide Lowee from the shadows, but instead let a corrupt man seize power an institutionalize a dystopian license system to quash dissent and stop social mobility. K-Sha outright ran away from ruling Lastation and allowed a corrupt mercenary group to seize power and take the nation on the warpath. S-Sha is holding Leanbox together only because she needs its resources to meet her personal goals and her short-sighted policies are causing looming problems. Only Planeptune continues more or less the same, because Histoire still has authority and B-Sha is a SurprisinglySimilarSubstitute to Neptune, although the former is afraid with monsters.]] As eclectic as they are, the Console Patron Units hold power by more virtue than simply being PhysicalGods.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': In a meta-example, [[PlayingWithaTrope Played With]] in the [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll Genocide]]]] route. [[spoiler: By some standards, the route's limitations are pretty strict; In order to progress with the route, you have to exhaust the population of each area's random encounters before killing the boss and have to kill every unique encounter. However, the First Human won't fail you for a variety of otherwise seemingly-obvious failstates; For example, sparing lesser enemies individually doesn't matter, so long as they aren't uniques (like Snowdrake) and the kill quota for the area still is fulfilled. In addition, they won't judge you for never using anything other than your starting equipment or so much as comment on you utilizing inane techniques to get encounters faster, like holding the up and down arrow keys at the same time to cause the protagonist to enter what seems like a siezure. '''You''' are this to them; They're willing to excuse your confusing behavior due to your efficiency at [[MoralEventHorizon slaughtering every Monster you can get your dusty hands on]].]]

* A surprising number of characters in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fall into this. If you're a highly-skilled Trainer and treat Pokemon with kindness, people are going to look up to you and respect you for it. This means that some rather extreme eccentrics reach respected positions as Gym Leaders, Pokemon Professors, Trial Captains, Elite Four and even ''Champions''.

** Out of your companions, Sera is notably childish and immature. Her idea of a relaxing time involves throwing cookies at the inquisition soldiers, and when you first meet her she stole some guard's pants. However, she is still a very skilled archer who has some connections to the servants of nobles (see the RealLife section of AlmightyJanitor for why that's important) and is a part of a group which many nobles know and hate, yet she has remained uncaught in spite of her brashness.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has Frederic, Professor of Draconology. As noted in [[https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Professor_Frederic_of_Serault his Codex entry]], he has trouble remembering his current state of dress, what day it is or where he left his quill and ink, but he knows everything there is to know about dragons.

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', not being viewed as this is something of an uphill battle. Even at your most normal, the PlayerCharacter is a DefectiveDetective who start out the story with waking up from a three-day drinking binge, having forgotten his identity and everything about the world he is living in, and there is the fact he has constant internal arguments with the personifications of your skills, and even if you manage to keep this secret, people around him still notice that he is occasionally spacing out. You can, however, also choose to grab this reputation with both hands and run with it. The Inland Empire skill is particularly likely to turn you into this. You receive various opaque hints, but can never be sure to what extent they're true insights or merely your own hyperactive imagination. This results in you behaving in a rather eccentric way, such as talking to objects. [[spoiler: Inland Empire also tries to bend you away from learning about yourself, which means figuring out your identity and learning from your past is more difficult if you listen to it.]] To a lesser extent, any skill can also cause you to act erratically or obsessively, whether lying simply to be dramatic or obsessing over art or cryptids. You can also opt in to bizarre beliefs outside of any of the skills, such as declaring yourself the Cop of the Apocalypse, openly acknowledging you are an incredibly corrupt "bad addict cop", or denying all signs to the contrary and proclaiming yourself a handsome, glamorous superstar cop. Kim will push past most of it, though even he can be pushed too far. [[spoiler:Even before the events of the game, this is what you were -- learning about your past reveal you ''were'' a very competent cop, with eighteen years of service, over 200 cases solved, and a very low bodycount -- only three kills confirmed -- which is highlighted as especially impressive considering you serving in one of the most violent and crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city. That said, you were still a complete drunkard who worked by bouts of productivity, and displaying emotionally and mentally unstable behavior regularly bordering on outright insanity.]]

** There's also a subversion or inversion of CrazyAwesome going on here as well, as the game is set on an IndianBurialGround stated to mentally destabilize ''everybody'' in its vicinity. The sufficiently curious will discover that all of the kids ([[spoiler:including the protagonist]]) have serious problems (many aren't far from homicidal or suicidal behavior), and that the adults may even have accumulated more (over their longer lives). Their competence, power, and control are the reason ''why'' they're Bunny Ears Lawyers: the available alternatives are far worse. As demonstrated by the game's plot.

* All the Goddess [=CPUs=] in the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series. Neptune is TheSlacker par excellence, Noire is highly efficient but socially clumsy and neurotic, Blanc enjoy writing trashy fiction and has a staggering temper, and Vert is an online gaming addict and a YaoiFangirl. Their sisters? Nepgear is more work-oriented but easily flustered and gets distracted by machines, Uni is a military otaku with an inferiority complex next to her sister, and Rom and Ram are children. It's joked the nations could do a better job taking care of themselves... and in ''Videogame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'', [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor we see that happen]]. [[spoiler:The world falls apart, due to Gold Third's inept leadership. C-Sha tried to gently guide Lowee from the shadows, but instead let a corrupt man seize power an institutionalize a dystopian license system to quash dissent and stop social mobility. K-Sha outright ran away from ruling Lastation and allowed a corrupt mercenary group to seize power and take the nation on the warpath. S-Sha is holding Leanbox together only because she needs its resources to meet her personal goals and her short-sighted policies are causing looming problems. Only Planeptune continues more or less the same, because Histoire still has authority and B-Sha is NotSoDifferent from Neptune, although the former is afraid with monsters.]] As eclectic as they are, the Console Patron Units hold power by more virtue than simply being PhysicalGods.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'':
** The Mayor of Steelport is often stated to be the only person capable of keeping a city of rampant gang violence, homicidal maniacs running wild and hosting game shows, and general insanity functioning with any kind of stability or sanity. He is also [[spoiler: Burt Reynolds, and still loves going out and solving violent disputes personally]].
** Kinzie Kensington is a paranoid conspiracy theorist whose sexual proclivities frighten even the Boss. She is also a brilliant hacker who can give Matt Miller, leader of a gang of cybercriminals known as the Deckers, a run for his money.
** Miller himself is no slouch when it comes to hacking. He's also a goth and a massive Nyte Blayde fanboy.
** The Boss falls into this a lot, but never more so than in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV''. Whether it's singing along to the radio on the way to a fight, pretending to shoot things with a sniper rifle while on lookout duty, installing stripper poles in [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent the renamed White Crib]], proclaiming yourself "the patron saint of America" (even if the accent you use is French or Cockney), blowing up statues of the bad guy just out of spite, doing a striptease routine at the most ridiculous possible moment or bestowing all rights to the Nyte Blayde franchise to a teammate after fighting through their dubious-quality fanfiction, you get up to some fairly ridiculous stuff, but at the same time you prevent nuclear disaster by climbing up a missile ''in flight'', parlay that into becoming the President of the United States, and then bring an interstellar empire to its knees through an unequalled gift for killing stuff.
* Since ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' has the same developer as the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games, it's expected that it also has a few bunny ears. Inspector Cabanela stands out as a special investigator with a spotless record and intense ambition to climb his way to the top. He also dances everywhere he goes, including up and down the stairs.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'':
** Checky, the Resistance Job Instructor for the Mechanic path, is a guy in a mascot costume as his civilian self. As one of the leaders of the Resistance, however, he continues to wear the costume head. All the time. Even while sleeping, or piloting a MiniMecha tank against a global organization trying to resurrect the [[BigBad Black Mage]]. He also wears a second costume, under his 'civilian' costume.
** Hersha, the Cygnus Knights' correspondent in Ellinia, is described as a very good informant, who is also paranoid about everything. You can undertake a quest from him where he demands that you attack local monkeys and confiscate their bananas, because he's convinced they're bombs. He does, however, prove to be a reliable, thorough researcher in the Cygnus Knights' questline.
* The leading lady of ''VideoGame/SakuraWars: [[VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove So Long, My Love]]'', Gemini Sunrise, is a southern belle who is absolutely enamored with Japanese culture and has a tendency to get lost in her own head. She's also a highly-skilled swordswoman and one of the most talented members of the New York Combat Revue.
* All the robots in Haven count, One-Eye especially. The whole reason they have more personality than the MechaMooks is due to slight malfunctioning, making them a bit nutty. Still, they're essential in helping your character infiltrate the Black Heaven, and later can produce some of the best armor and weapons in the game.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is essentially an entire cast of this trope in every game. The only OG character who ''doesn't'' have shades of this is [[TheGenericGuy Russel Bagman]], who's easily the most "Normal" member of the team. Ironically, this makes him ''stand out'' to many fans. The entire rest of the team is varying flavors of bonkers, but also so good at saving the world from all manner of threats that even accidentally killing the President of Earth only gets them slapped with an excuse for a BagOfSpilling between games.[[note]]There are extenuating circumstances, but still, that's some impressive job security.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' gives us Milla, Sasha, and Ford. Milla appears to be [[DiscoDan mentally stuck in the 1960s]], Sasha is a [[TheSpock borderline emotionless stoic]] with an [[BerserkButton irrational hatred for tacky lamps]] and Ford is... well, ''[[SplitPersonality special]]''. Despite this, they form a crack team of psychic spies unparalleled to none.
** Really, all the kids at the camp are this trope in training. They're all (presumably) going to grow up to be Psychonauts, and [[DysfunctionJunction there's not a normal one among the entire bunch]].
** There's also a subversion or inversion of CrazyAwesome going on here as well, as the game is set on an IndianBurialGround stated to mentally destabilize ''everybody'' in its vicinity. The sufficiently curious will discover that all of the kids ([[spoiler:including the protagonist]]) have serious problems (many aren't far from homicidal or suicidal behavior), and that the adults may even have accumulated more (over their longer lives). Their competence, power, and control are the reason ''why'' they're Bunny Ears Lawyers: the available alternatives are far worse. As demonstrated by the game's plot.
* Jody Crawford of ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos'' enjoys watching soldiers getting slaughtered by her boss's HumongousMecha 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 [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent the President of the United States]]. Although considering what President Michael Wilson gets up to, Jodie probably looks like an icon of sanity by comparison.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** The MissionControl for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' contains an overtalkative genius physician who chatters endlessly about [[UnabashedBMovieFan her favourite B-movies]], a ''Film/JamesBond'' 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 '[[RuleOfCool look cool]]' and considers a human catapult a valid weapons development project (and harbours a complex about [[OnlySaneMan being the only normal person there]]). In ''Portable Ops'', they start a UFO club. [[spoiler:But they are frighteningly competent at throwing the entire world into a long and bitter war.]]
** Hal Emmerich is both a brilliant engineer capable of designing a functional bipedal tank and enough of an {{Otaku}} to program the weapon's movements based on ''StreetFighter''. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' he's so essential to making Metal Gear REX actually function that the QuirkyMinibossSquad have to keep him alive and programming even after disposing of the rest of the development team, and despite his oddness it takes an electrified floor, an entire hallway flooded with poisonous gas, and gun-mounted cameras to keep him in his lab. [[spoiler:He comes and goes as he pleases anyways]].
** Ocelot is a ridiculously superb marksman and the series' resident MagnificentBastard who is also unhealthily obsessed with his revolvers and [[HoYay Big Boss]].
** Even Snake himself, a formidable warrior by anyone's assessment, has his tendency for [[ContemplateOurNavels meaningless philosophical ramblings]] and a rather disturbing relationship with [[CompanionCube 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 supplemental material guides revealed that his favourite food is blueberries.
** Really any of the boss characters count. One would assume a person's penchant for [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid dressing in bondage and a gas mask]], [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty engaging enemies on rollerblades]], or [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater being covered in bees]] would make it rather difficult to hold your position in a [[EliteArmy Special Forces]] unit unless you were just ''that'' damned good at your job.
* Empress Sanaki of the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' games is a [[IncrediblyLamePun Bunny Ears Royal]]. In ''Path of Radiance'', most of her early interactions with the protagonists involve her jerking them around and forcing them to learn for ''themselves'' what's going on instead of just telling them what's up [[ItAmusedMe simply because she was bored.]] Three years later in the sequel, we see her commandeering ''the King of Kilvas'' to carry her onto the battlefield because she couldn't bear not knowing what was going on, then later learns that [[spoiler:he's bound by a blood pact to the Begnion Senate--and that ''she'' can essentially free him from their control since her orders carry more weight than theirs do]]. And of course, when one of her most trusted aides turns out to be, [[EvilChancellor well, not exactly]] ''[[EvilChancellor evil]]'' but still responsible for all of the bad stuff that happened, she decides that his punishment is to be drowned in rancid butter.

* Double H from ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil.'' On one hand, he has a tendency to quote things at random from his military training manual in an [[LargeHam UNECESSARILY LOUD VOICE]], he [[UseYourHead runs things over with his head]] and [[TwentyFourHourArmor 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 [[LaResistance IRIS Network's]] best operative, he's good at following directions, and he's [[MightyGlacier pretty strong in battle]]. Pey'j too--He's a Texan-accented [[FunnyAnimal anthropomorphic pig]] with a habit of [[CurseOfTheAncients swearing like a prospector]], and he has an [[{{Fartillery}} unusual special attack.]] He's also a brilliant inventor and engineer. [[spoiler: And, you know, the all-mysterious and all-powerful leader of a rebel organization.]]
* ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents''. Despite their odd looks, they managed to stop an alien invasion, prevent the ZombieApocalypse, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking rescue a lost puppy]], and fight off a virus.
* A good deal of the commanders in the ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'' series. A spectacular example is Javier, who wears plate armour all the time and acts like Literature/DonQuixote, and is a BoisterousBruiser to awesome effect.

* The doctors in ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc''. They're recommended as exceptionally good doctors, and are shown to be at least reasonably competant, but their behaviour is decidedly odd, and their [[ThePowerOfRock methods]] even more so.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** All the teachers of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' that the protagonist has as his personal teachers seem to be this. There's Ms. Isako Toriumi, the homeroom teacher with an almost [[Manga/DeathNote "L"-like]] addiction to sweets (especially cake) [[spoiler: and to playing [=MMORPG=]s as a l33t-speaking alter ego, in which guise she grants the Hermit social link and even forms a crush on the player]]. There's Mr. Edogawa, the school nurse with his over-the-top obsession with mysticism that causes him to insist on making the player drink useless potions for treating ailments and who derails any class he subs for by giving lectures on magic. There's Mr. Edo, the history teacher who always wears his Sengoku-era samurai helmet and geeks out about samurai all the time -- like constantly complaining about having to teach history prior to the Sengoku-era, because there's no samurai to talk about. And then there's Ms. Miyahara, the math teacher who spends most of the class just gushing about the aesthetic beauty of numbers. They're all shown as very knowledgeable, and they're all various shades of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', though, there's only two such kooky teachers, and they are far less bizarre. An older gentleman who likes to teach with a little hand puppet of himself, and a female history teacher, Ms. Sofue, who always wears an Egyptian pharaoh's headdress and carries a ceremonial crook. She's actually the sister of Mr. Edo from Gekkoukan High School above, though unlike him she has a love of history in general instead of being fixated on one era, and so she carries out her lessons with general enthusiasm.
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' brings us Tae Takemi, who runs a back alley clinic in Tokyo, dresses like a goth, and has a very morbid sense of humor. In spite of these idiosyncrasies, she is actually one of the most brilliant doctors in the country, and as you forge a bond with her, she'll provide you access to her own homemade medicine, all of which are very beneficial during your ventures into the Metaverse.
* It is strongly implied that a light-side ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' or ''Knights of the Old Republic 2'' PC tolerates HK-47's AxCrazy discourse because he is the only thing that can translate the Tusken tongue and a rather capable warrior
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'':
** Minsc. He's quite nuts, but when he talks about kicking butt, he knows what he's talking about.
--> '''Dynaheir''': Minsc is, well, [[ShapedLikeItself Minsc]], but he hath a strong sword arm.
** Also, none of the mages are exactly well-adjusted, with the possible exception of aforementioned Dynaheir. And even she [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe speaks funny]].
** Kivan is also pretty quirky: he's reclusive and has attitude issues. But Kivan is also God and the game cannot be won to any kind of satisfaction without him. He's by far the best archer in the first game and his THACO defies all reason.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' gives us [[ThatOneBoss Sho Minamimoto]]. A MadMathematician, who ''always'' speaks in mathematical terms, makes [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible junk heaps he calls 'art']], and is very egotistical. However, he's one of the youngest Reaper Officers to become a Game Master, and excels in all areas of leadership - [[HatesEveryoneEqually except cooperation]]. He's also one of the [[ThatOneBoss toughest buggers]] to beat in the game. The Secret Reports reveal that [[spoiler:he was working with a Fallen Angel, who picked him ''precisely'' because of this -- since ''everything'' Sho does is unusual, no unusual behavior prompted by the Fallen Angel would be worth investigating further.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', this describes your entire [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits crew]] with the exception of [[OnlySaneMan Jacob]].
** Thane seems overly contemplative for an assassin, but we learn that he [[spoiler: has been recently diagnosed with a terminal disease]], Miranda is pretty normal for a member of a shady organization aside from the [[DesignerBabies Designer Baby]] Blues, Samara is a [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Scary Dogmatic]] [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue Skinned Space Babe]], Grunt is a [[DesignerBabies Designer Baby]] ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and Garrus is a level-minded realist (quite possibly the most level-headed of all characters despite some issues in his past, and one of the only ones who literally never loses his cool). This leaves Jack and Mordin. The latter however takes this trope to its full extent.
** Jack is an uber-powerful biotic who subjects anyone she meets either to a biotic blast or a ClusterFBomb. She mellows out as the story plays out and, by ''Mass Effect 3'', is slightly more level-headed and even makes a great effort to avoid swearing (unless you happen to be Joker, also an example of this trope). Mordin is a brilliant scientist with a MotorMouth and love for "Gilbert and Sullivan". By the third game, he's close to 40 (making him an old man by salarian standards) and thinks of retiring to a house on a beach. When Shepard points out that he'd get bored collecting seashells all day, Mordin points out that he'll run tests on the seashells. He then [[spoiler:goes out with a bang while singing]].
** Jeff "Joker" Moreau, as his nickname implies, is constantly cracking jokes and is rarely serious about anything. He also has brittle bone disease, making him physically unfit for military duty, technically speaking. He is also ''the'' best frigate pilot in the Systems Alliance, and no one who has seen him in action is going to dispute that claim.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' gives us Javik, who is a rude, selfish, arrogant tool who is profoundly bigoted against synthetics and describes everyone around him as "primitives". He's also the last [[{{Precursors}} Prothean]], has keen awareness of Reaper strategy, and is a potent biotic on top of that. The ''Citadel'' DLC also adds Brooks, who is largely clueless about action away from her desk, names a security program after her cat, gets really giddy after a medi-gel overdose, and is still the only person with the right blend of tech skills and low-tech equipment to be able to infiltrate Elijah Khan's casino...[[spoiler:until it turns out that she's been putting on an act all along, and is in fact a very competent villain who's been playing you the whole time.]]
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** There's the sometimes [[FriendlySniper friendly]], sometimes [[ColdSniper cold]] sniper [[UrineTrouble that keeps his urine in jars]], the HuskyRusskie [[CompanionCube that talks to his guns]], the [[EyePatchOfPower one-eyed]], [[DrunkenMaster alcoholic Demoman who swigs whisky while tossing bombs]], the Scout whose [[SmallNameBigEgo big]] [[BoisterousWeakling ego]] makes one wonder how he gets ''anything'' done on a team, the insane [[EagleLand overly patriotic]] Soldier who likes to play drill sergeant to his collection of severed heads and discuss the war with cardboard cutouts (Though he never actually joined the army, instead going on a killing spree in Germany after the war had ended), a textbook MadScientist, and TheUnintelligible Pyro [[TheFaceless that never removes his/her full-body flame-retardant suit]]. However, [[ProfessionalKiller they're very good at what they do]] and must be well worth their salaries. The Engineer and the Spy are the only ones who seem entirely focused on their job.
** As first shown in "Meet the Pyro", the Pyro is a BEL among [=BELs=]. [[spoiler:They're not at all in touch with the real world, which they imagine to be a SugarBowl, even when causing death and destruction. When they're burning things, they're spreading bubbles, flowers, and magic. [[AnAxeToGrind When they split an enemy's head open with an axe]], they're feeding them a lollipop; when using their flare gun, they're blowing bubbles. They also see their enemies as chubby cherubs, wings and all, which prompts their "kindness". You also get a promotional "Pyro's goggles" that let you see the world as they do. Everybody is laughing ''even as they get shot'', blood is replaced with random items such as gears or balloons, and fire with sparkly rainbows and happiness. To top it all off, you don't get "dominated" and get "revenge", they "become best friends" and "break up"]]. However, as any player will tell you, if you are close to them, expect to be dead soon. Very, very soon.
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': Agent Francis York Morgan ("Call me York. That's what everyone calls me") is an FBI investigator who we first see driving a car while working on his laptop and arguing on the phone with his superiors over inter-dependence issues in WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry. He is also routinely late for appointments[[note]]which is to say, ''you'' are routinely late due to the game giving you extremely generous windows of time to show up for things, and never penalizing you for just plain taking multiple days off to pursue various side quests; York's weirdness does a good job of wallpapering over the AntiFrustrationFeatures that would otherwise be a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation[[/note]], rambles on endlessly about old movies and their directors when he's not cheerfully discussing [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant grisly murders and serial rapists over dinner]], and goes over his every action and decision with his imaginary friend, Zach. His methods of "investigating" consist less of actual forensic work and more of chain-smoking until he gains visions of the past, and seeing visions of the future in the milk he pours in his coffee every morning. Despite all this, he's an extremely competent detective who [[InsufferableGenius isn't at all shy over that fact]].
* ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'' has a few, but Lord Roth and Thomas Veil stand out the most. Lord Roth is a [[ManChild rather childish]] man who enjoys his ChickMagnet status a little too much (and puts his aide, Nele, into a lot of troubles because of his quirks), yet he is one of Regeinland's top commanders. Meanwhile, Thomas is [[spoiler:an agent of Federation Security Network directed by Brad Lennox]] and a good crew member for your navigational post, who happens to be a fan of young {{Idol Singer}}s, almost to the point of being a creep.
* [[NobleDemon Demon Prince]] Laharl from ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea|HourOfDarkness}}'' is the heir to the throne of [[{{Halloweentown}} Netherworld]], and he got some strange ideas as to what a King should do: If money is needed, it’s time to loot some noble’s mansion. Assassin love angels are potential recruits. Laughing evilly on a regular basis is a requirement. Ideal Overlord tasks are making it rain pepper so that the humans will sneeze their nostrils out or deprive children of their sleep by giving them addictive video games. Heroes should not just be defeated; enslavement is the way to go. But he is very passionate and dutiful about the job, not to mention extremely powerful, so he gets it and does a good job all things considered. His vassel Etna has not dethroned him...yet.
** Laharl's entire command structure. Etna is a {{Jerkass}} and is openly contemptuous of his authority, Flonne is [[LoveFreak obsessed with LOVE]] and TV, Sicily [[DefeatMeansFriendship literally tried to overthrow him]], but all of them are reliable-ish, skilled, and - although he'd eat hot coals rather than admit it - his friends, so he hauls them around with him anyway.

* Nero from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4''. Much of his {{Jerkass}} attitude would've gotten him excommunicated from the Order a long time ago, such as a blue coat instead of their white uniform (although he does have their insgnia stitched on it), listening to his own ''theme song'' during prayer, and colorful mouth. However, he's very good at his job in the "dirtier" side of things, and is kosher with the idea of God (in fact, he out right states it near the end of the game) - he's just not all that fond of the church he works for.
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' has the leader of the ultra-capitalist [[TheIlluminati Illuminati]], The Pyramidion. He speaks in a calm, evenly-paced tone, and clearly knows everything worth knowing. He just has this peculiar habit of peppering his dialogue with odd Public Announcements and context-relevant memes...
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
** Makoto may act like a big kid, but she's an Intelligence operative and quite a talented one at that.
** Kagura from ''Chrono Phantasma''. He's every bit as badass as you'd expect the head of the top Duodecim family to be, despite the fact his personality seems to be continually stuck between a {{Fratbro}} and [[LovableSexManiac a potential sex offender]].
* Emperor Peony IX of Malkuth in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure by far the most competent and effective monarch in the story]], not to mention about the only person who can get the better of [[DeadpanSnarker Jade]] in a conversation. He also keeps his five pet pigs loose in his bedroom, and likes forcing the main characters into different outfits so much that he's responsible for no less than ''nineteen'' [[AndYourRewardIsClothes costume titles]].[[note]]Six swimsuits, six final battle outfits, seven Franchise/PowerRangers {{expy}} cosplays, and Jade's Battle Master costume, minus one because the swimsuit he picked for Tear was apparently so embarrassing she refused to wear it.[[/note]]
* [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Raven]] from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. A "fishy old man" who acts lazy, flirts with the ladies, and apparently ''likes'' sleeping on the beds in jail, finding them comfortable. Not only is he a right hand man of Don Whitehouse, a super competent warrior and commander, but [[spoiler: he's also Captain Schwann, a highly respected and powerful knight captain in the Imperial Knights.]]
* Most of the henchmen you recruit in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' tend to ''start'' at "kooky" and go very strange places from there, and usually [[AxeCrazy axe-related places]] at that, but they also bring skills that utterly humiliate the [[SurroundedByIdiots minions]] you start out surrounded by.
* Mimi Meers in ''VideoGame/PocketStables'' technically wear bunny ears. She also starts off with very well balanced and decent stats.
* Snarky!Hawke in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' can never pass up the opportunity for a joke, [[DudeNotFunny even in some particularly inappropriate situations]]. Much of the time, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} half of the stuff that comes out of his/her mouth is completely insane and said to no one in particular.]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity Yet, s/he frequently uses this as a disarming tactic to put his/her enemies into a false sense of security]] and, of the three different possible personalities, often comes across as the most intelligent of them because of it.
** Merrill is another example; she's a [[TheDitz ditz girl]] who gets ridiculously lost whenever she goes out into the city on her own and tends to get sidetracked by daydreaming about things like having a baby griffon as a pet (ignoring the fact that griffons are believed to have gone extinct centuries ago). She's also a terrifyingly powerful BlackMagicianGirl.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has Frederic, Professor of Draconology. As noted in [[https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Professor_Frederic_of_Serault his Codex entry]], he has trouble remembering his current state of dress, what day it is or where he left his quill and ink, but he knows everything there is to know about dragons.
* Dekar in the ''VideoGame/{{Lufia}}'' series hails himself as the world's strongest warrior, and proves an excellent soldier as well as a faithful protector and advisor to Bound Kingdom's prince. He's also [[ChivalrousPervert a shameless flirt]] and [[IdiotHero immensely stupid]], to the point where he's unable to remember how to leave a room ''he had just entered''. He'd be TooDumbToLive if he wasn't every bit as good a fighter as he says he is.
* Barnaby "Screwloose" of ''VideoGame/{{Armello}}'' doesn't entirely seem to understand what's going on around him, or that he's in the middle of a fight for the throne... but he's still a talented warrior and adventurer, able to compete for the crown on weight of that alone. (His [[CivilizedAnimal literal bunny ears]] are a bonus.)
* All the Goddess [=CPUs=] in the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series. Neptune is TheSlacker par excellence, Noire is highly efficient but socially clumsy and neurotic, Blanc enjoy writing trashy fiction and has a staggering temper, and Vert is an online gaming addict and a YaoiFangirl. Their sisters? Nepgear is more work-oriented but easily flustered and gets distracted by machines, Uni is a military otaku with an inferiority complex next to her sister, and Rom and Ram are children. It's joked the nations could do a better job taking care of themselves... and in ''Videogame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'', [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor we see that happen]]. [[spoiler:The world falls apart, due to Gold Third's inept leadership. C-Sha tried to gently guide Lowee from the shadows, but instead let a corrupt man seize power an institutionalize a dystopian license system to quash dissent and stop social mobility. K-Sha outright ran away from ruling Lastation and allowed a corrupt mercenary group to seize power and take the nation on the warpath. S-Sha is holding Leanbox together only because she needs its resources to meet her personal goals and her short-sighted policies are causing looming problems. Only Planeptune continues more or less the same, because Histoire still has authority and B-Sha is NotSoDifferent from Neptune, although the former is afraid with monsters.]] As eclectic as they are, the Console Patron Units hold power by more virtue than simply being PhysicalGods.

* In the world of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' several characters dress in costumes simply impractical or just silly for their job, but are allowed to keep them simply by virtue of being so god damn good at what they do. After all, if [=McCree=]'s one of the fastest guns in the West, does it matter if he dresses like a cowboy? Or if Reinhardt wants to dress in PowerArmor with a rocket hammer, pretending to be a crusader and generally Leroy Jenkinsing all over the place, who's going to stop the 8 foot tall, 6 foot wide, musclebound German? And does it ''really'' matter if Widowmaker wears shiny purple spandex if she can hit a target at impossible range and see through walls?
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** The series has the [[DivineParentage Demiprinces]], a form of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]] born from the union of a [[HalfHumanHybrid Daedra and a mortal]]. Their dual nature gives them an ''odd'' [[CloudCuckoolander perception of the world and time itself]]. In addition to their eccentricities, Demiprinces have an extremely difficult time [[IdiotSavant maintaining knowledge which lies outside their spheres of influence]]. However, they are the ''undisputed masters'' of whatever lies within their spheres.
** In the backstory, Reman Cyrodiil, [[FounderOfTheKingdom founder]] of the Second Tamriellic Empire, was one. Despite his [[TheCaligula various psychoses and propensities toward violence and decadence]], Reman was a very effective leader. [[AChildShallLeadThem Coronated as a child]], he proved to be something of a ChildProdigy which, along with his status as TheChosenOne (having been born with the long lost [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Amulet of Kings]] in hand), he quickly reunited the split halves of Cyrodiil (Colovia and Nibenay) and then the other kingdoms of Men (High Rock and Skyrim). Later, he defeated the [[{{Wutai}} Akaviri]] invaders and absorbed the survivors, who swore fealty to him as a Dragonborn, into his fledgling proto-empire. Though [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade Imperial dogma]] has mostly covered up or whitewashed his negative traits, he is still (justifiably) remembered as one of the greatest rulers in Cyrodiilic history.
* A surprising number of characters in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fall into this. If you're a highly-skilled Trainer and treat Pokemon with kindness, people are going to look up to you and respect you for it. This means that some rather extreme eccentrics reach respected positions as Gym Leaders, Pokemon Professors, Trial Captains, Elite Four and even ''Champions''.

* The Five Oddballs of ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', who are each a CloudCuckooLander in their own unique way, but who are also all acknowledged as some of the strongest and most successful idols in the school. A few other students would also qualify, such as Souma, who frequently forgets he isn't actually an old-school {{Samurai}}, but who is such a talented idol he was able to perform a solo live in one story, which only the extremely capable and experienced Madara had ever pulled off at that point. However, the War is something of a deconstruction: both their unpredictability and their talent made them dangerous to anyone who wanted power, but both also made it easy for them to turn the general public against them, making them seem like selfish people who lived in their own world and stepped all over ordinary hard-working people.
** Also see Leo, an eccentric with rather unstable emotions who is tolerated because he is an ''extremely'' talented composer. He, however, ''hates'' this, as he does ''not'' do well with pressure and feels like his life isn't his own because of all this.
* The Guardians in ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' are basically a whole faction of Bunny Ears Lawyers. Y’know all the weird stuff RPG players tend to do, like spamming dance emotes, [[LootDrama obsessing over loot]], [[RainbowPimpGear playing dress up]], and silly things like that? Here that’s not GameplayAndStorySegregation, it’s ''canonically what Guardians act like''. There are numerous lore entries in which people wonder why the defenders of humanity do things like dance in water fountains or crash into walls while trying to do stunts on their hover bikes. Many of the NPC Guardians are just as crazy; Cayde-6 spends most of his time playing pranks and finding excuses to not do his job, Ikora Rey’s social life is a mess, Zavala is TheComicallySerious to a ridiculous degree, Eris Morn is a crazy NightmareFetishist who may or may not be turning into a Hive monster, and Shaxx is [[BloodKnight a total lunatic]] who’s [[NoIndoorVoice constantly shouting]] and has [[SkewedPriorities no priority higher then hosting sports matches in enemy territory]]. And that’s just some of the important ones. They’re all still extremely powerful heroes and the City’s greatest hope for survival.
* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'': Goro Majima is to all appearances an AxCrazy nutter with the impulse control of a sugar-high toddler and a tendency to obsess over strange and largely irrelevant things. However, this is pretty much all appearance. Beneath the surface lies an extremely dangerous man, capable of dismantling lesser men by the dozen and made all the more dangerous by his impulse-driven and mercurial nature. Beneath ''that'' lies a savvy and perceptive businessman who stayed in the top echelons of the Tojo clan for three decades, and ran several highly profitable legitimate businesses on the side.
* The majority of ship girls in ''VideoGame/KanColle'' have major quirks that ranges from random brusts of craziness to being almost constantly ditzy, yet they are all exceptionally good at doing their jobs as long as the admiral is capable. The most notable examples being the crazily energetic Kongo sisters and Shimakaze the CloudCuckoolander.
* Many of your servants in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' have some questionable personality traits. Such as being [[HairTriggerTemper constantly hot-tempered]], [[{{Jerkass}} ill-mannered]], [[LovableSexManiac pervy]], [[{{Yandere}} crazily]] [[StalkerWithACrush obsessive]], or just [[AxCrazy downright insane]]. But when it comes to the time for them to work, they are certainly the best at what they do.
* Many of your crew members in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' qualifies as well. As you get along with them in fate episodes and over the course of events and side plots, you begin to see more and more of the eccentric tendencies of your crew. From primal beasts to archangels, you can often find a quirky and unexpected side of the characters. With that said, when properly teamed and equipped, your crew might just be the most powerful force to be reckoned with in the sky.
* Xanadu from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XIV'' is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} an absolute loon]] who speaks in [[IceCreamKoan vaguely deep-sounding but ultimately meaningless nonsense]], and his fighting style is one of the most deranged in the series. However, his fellow inmates have been won over by his bizarre charisma, considering him the king of the underworld as well as such a superior intellectual that his words are simply too advanced for normal people to understand. He's also apparently well-known enough in the criminal underworld for [[ProfessionalKiller Oswald]] to recognize him. And despite the utter madness that is his fighting style, [[UnskilledButStrong he's inhumanly strong enough to make it work.]]

* You can make one of these in ''VideoGame/TheSims'' by giving a character the Childlike and/or Insane Trait and either combining it with the Genius Trait or just advancing their career, knowledge and skills through hard work. You can then have a character come home from their job as CEO of a multinational company and play with children's toys or yell at thin air.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium not'' viewed as this is something of an uphill battle. Even at your most normal, the PlayerCharacter is a DefectiveDetective who start out the story with waking up from a three-day drinking binge, having forgotten his identity and everything about the world he is living in, and there is the fact he has constant internal arguments with the personifications of your skills, and even if you manage to keep this secret, people around him still notice that he is occasionally spacing out. You can, however, also choose to grab this reputation with both hands and run with it. The Inland Empire skill is particularly likely to turn you into this. You receive various opaque hints, but can never be sure to what extent they're true insights or merely your own hyperactive imagination. This results in you behaving in a rather eccentric way, such as talking to objects. [[spoiler: Inland Empire also tries to bend you away from learning about yourself, which means figuring out your identity and learning from your past is more difficult if you listen to it.]] To a lesser extent, any skill can also cause you to act erratically or obsessively, whether lying simply to be dramatic or obsessing over art or cryptids. You can also opt in to bizarre beliefs outside of any of the skills, such as declaring yourself the Cop of the Apocalypse, openly acknowledging you are an incredibly corrupt "bad addict cop", or denying all signs to the contrary and proclaiming yourself a handsome, glamorous superstar cop. Kim will push past most of it, though even he can be pushed too far. [[spoiler:Even before the events of the game, this is what you were -- learning about your past reveal you ''were'' a very competent cop, with eighteen years of service, over 200 cases solved, and a very low bodycount -- only three kills confirmed -- which is highlighted as especially impressive considering you serving in one of the most violent and crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city. That said, you were still a complete drunkard who worked by bouts of productivity, and displaying emotionally and mentally unstable behavior regularly bordering on outright insanity.]]
* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' there is [[QuirkyMinibossSquad The Leader's Force]], a group of morons who consist of Ben who is so stupid it's a marvel of science, Ed who habitually stutters (even in letters, somehow) and can't be any older than about 12, and Topo who wears giant mouse ears and acts like a spoiled brat who challenges people to dance-offs. They're also the only soldiers of [[TheEmpire Thirstquencher Empire]] who are capable fighters and can pose a serious threat to Musashi at full power, appearing as persistently difficult bosses in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Ed and Topo also show considerable intelligence, with Ed making plans to fall back on if their boss pulls a YouHaveFailedMe on them and Topo coming up with a particularly clever plan to take out Musashi: [[spoiler:Disguise herself as Princess Fillet and be rescued so Musashi will think his job is done and return home, effectively removing him from the equation completely without firing a single shot, which almost works]].

** The STARS team were definitely...unconventional in general, with their NonUniformUniform and general casual behaviour towards each other. Chris is noted to frequently disobey orders but "it always leads to better results so he hasn't faced any serious penalties yet". While in later games he's much more serious and responsible (while still having ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight tendencies), it's implied that while he was at STARS he had a tendency to mess around, it's outright stated that "Chris, Joseph and Forest usually get into some kind of trouble when they hang out together", and he brings his electric guitar to work. He's also the best marksman at the RPD. Jill is generally much more professional, but is very secretive about her background: she's an expert at picking locks but refuses to tell the team how she learned this (her father was a criminal). Rebecca is 18 years old and seems naive and harmless but is a genius who already has a degree. Barry is a loud, hammy BoisterousBruiser (made worse--or better?--by his narmy and badly translated dialogue in the original game) but a weapons expert. As for Wesker...well, see below.

* Both ''VideoGame/FeelTheMagic'' games are about a "Super Performance Group" known as the Rub Rabbits[[note]]The sequel is even named after them[[/note]], a group of men in literal bunny ears who run around conducting bizarre and often dangerous performances, often with the goal of helping someone impress a girl. Whether its members hold other jobs or get paid for this "service" is unclear.
* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', an AlternateHistoryNaziVictory mod for ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'', Russian warlord Nikolay Krylov (Rurik II), claims to be the second coming of Rurik, the semi-legendary founder of Russia, and models his domain in Kemerovo after UsefulNotes/KievanRus. Despite his numerous quirks, he is still a competent military commander with a long history of service to the Soviet Union and the Central Siberian Republic and also a fair ruler who knows how to pick the right sort of people for a job.
* Lemres from ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' is most well-known for having an addiction to sweets and often giving out candies to other characters. That certainly seems bonkers, but Lemres also happens to be a famous, competent, and powerful warlock who is popular enough to have appeared in magazines.

** All the teachers of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' that the protagonist has as his personal teachers seem to be this. There's Ms. Isako Toriumi, the homeroom teacher with an almost [[Manga/DeathNote "L"-like]] addiction to sweets (especially cake) [[spoiler: and to playing [=MMORPG=]s as a l33t-speaking alter ego, in which guise she grants the Hermit social link and even forms a crush on the player]]. There's Mr. Edogawa, the school nurse with his over-the-top obsession with mysticism that causes him to insist on making the player drink useless potions for treating ailments and who derails any class he subs for by giving lectures on magic. There's Mr. Edo, the history teacher who always wears his Sengoku-era samurai helmet and geeks out about samurai all the time -- like constantly complaining about having to teach history prior to the Sengoku-era, because there's no samurai to talk about. And then there's Ms. Miyahara, the math teacher who spends most of the class just gushing about the aesthetic beauty of numbers. They're all shown as very knowledgeable, and they're all various shades of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.

* [[VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition Agent Francis York Morgan]] ("Call me York. That's what everyone calls me") is an FBI investigator who we first see driving a car while working on his laptop and arguing on the phone with his superiors over inter-dependence issues in WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry. He is also routinely late for appointments[[note]]which is to say, ''you'' are routinely late due to the game giving you extremely generous windows of time to show up for things, and never penalizing you for just plain taking multiple days off to pursue various side quests; York's weirdness does a good job of wallpapering over the AntiFrustrationFeatures that would otherwise be a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation[[/note]], rambles on endlessly about old movies and their directors when he's not cheerfully discussing [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant grisly murders and serial rapists over dinner]], and goes over his every action and decision with his imaginary friend, Zach. His methods of "investigating" consist less of actual forensic work and more of chain-smoking until he gains visions of the past, and seeing visions of the future in the milk he pours in his coffee every morning. Despite all this, he's an extremely competent detective who [[InsufferableGenius isn't at all shy over that fact]].

* Nero from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4''. Much of his {{Jerkass}} attitude would've gotten him excommunicated from the Order a long time ago, such as a blue coat instead of their white uniform (although he does have their insgnia stitched on it), listening to his own ''theme song'' during prayer, and colorful mouth. However, he's very good at his job in the "dirtier" side of things, and is kosher with the idea of God (in fact, he out right states it near the end of the game) - he's just not all that fond of the church he works for.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza}}'': Goro Majima is to all appearances an AxCrazy nutter with the impulse control of a sugar-high toddler and a tendency to obsess over strange and largely irrelevant things. However, this is pretty much all appearance. Beneath the surface lies an extremely dangerous man, capable of dismantling lesser men by the dozen and made all the more dangerous by his impulse-driven and mercurial nature. Beneath ''that'' lies a savvy and perceptive businessman who stayed in the top echelons of the Tojo clan for three decades, and ran several highly profitable legitimate businesses on the side.
* The majority of ship girls in ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'' have major quirks that ranges from random brusts of craziness to being almost constantly ditzy, yet they are all exceptionally good at doing their jobs as long as the admiral is capable. The most notable examples being the crazily energetic Kongo sisters and Shimakaze the CloudCuckoolander.

** It might not be immediately noticeable because he's the BigBad of most of the series, but try and imagine what it would be like actually working with Wesker. By his own admission in one of his reports an InsufferableGenius (especially when younger: he apparently learned to tone that down enough when necessary to manipulate people and get the STARS team to trust him), he had a PhD by the age of 17. While at STARS, he had a reputation for being able to solve cases no-one else could, but also for being very secretive about his past, and supplementary materials state he was known to ''smile'' when in dangerous situations. In the first game you can find him shooting bees, and he also [[NightmareFetishist describes the Tyrant as "beautiful"]] and thinks fighting an Ivan "should be intriguing". Let's not forget the SunglassesAtNight. [[https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Albert_Wesker?file=Arklay_Staff_picture_REmake.jpg Photos from his time at Arklay also show a certain disregard for the dress code]] (the man on the far left is even side-eyeing him).

** There's the sometimes [[FriendlySniper friendly]], sometimes [[ColdSniper cold]] sniper [[UrineTrouble that keeps his urine in jars]], the HuskyRusskie [[CompanionCube that talks to his guns]], the [[EyePatchOfPower one-eyed]], [[DrunkenMaster alcoholic Demoman who swigs whisky while tossing bombs]], the Scout whose [[SmallNameBigEgo big]] [[BoisterousWeakling ego]] make one wonder how he gets ''anything'' done on a team, the insane [[EagleLand overly patriotic]] Soldier who likes to play drill sergeant to his collection of severed heads and discuss the war with cardboard cutouts (Though he never actually joined the army, instead going on a killing spree in Germany after the war had ended) and TheUnintelligible Pyro [[TheFaceless that never removes his/her full-body flame-retardant suit]]. However, [[ProfessionalKiller they're very good at what they do]] and must be well worth their salaries.
** As first shown in "Meet the Pyro", the Pyro is a BEL among [=BELs=]. [[spoiler:They're not at all in touch with the real world, which they imagine to be a SugarBowl, even when causing death and destruction. When they're burning things, they're spreading bubbles, flowers, and magic. [[AnAxeToGrind When they splits an enemy's head open with an axe]], they're feeding them a lollipop; when using their flare gun, they're blowing bubbles. They also see their enemies as chubby cherubs, wings and all, which prompts their "kindness". You also get a promotional "Pyro's goggles" that let you see the world as they do. Everybody is laughing ''even as they get shot'', blood is replaced with random items such as gears or balloons, and fire with sparkly rainbows and happiness. To top it all off, you don't get "dominated" and get "revenge", they "become best friends" and "break up"]]. However, as any player will tell you, if you are close to them, expect to be dead soon. Very, very soon.
* [[VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition Agent Francis York Morgan]] ("Call me York. That's what everyone calls me") is an FBI investigator who we first see driving a car while working on his laptop and arguing on the phone with his superiors over inter-dependence issues in WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry. He is also routinely late for appointments, rambles on endlessly about old movies and their directors when he's not cheerfully discussing [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant grisly murders and serial rapists over dinner]], and goes over his every action and decision with his imaginary friend, Zach. His methods of "investigating" consist less of actual forensic work and more of chain-smoking until he gains visions of the past, and seeing visions of the future in the milk he pours in his coffee every morning. Despite all this, he's an extremely competent detective who [[InsufferableGenius isn't at all shy over that fact]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Godbert Manderville is a highly eccentric old man who dresses in a tuxedo with [[WhoWearsShortShorts short-shorts]] ([[{{Stripperific}} if even that]]). He is also ''the'' best goldsmith in all of Eorzea, using his considerable skills to amass a fortune that earned him a seat in Ul'dah's Syndicate and allowed him to open a highly successful entertainment establishment.