Cloudcuckoolander

English edit

Etymology edit

From cloudcuckooland +‎ -er. Coined by TV Tropes in 2007.

Noun edit

Cloudcuckoolander (plural Cloudcuckoolanders)

An inhabitant of cloudcuckooland, an idealist, optimist, or similarly unrealistic person, particularly (fandom slang) a fictional character with an eccentric and absent-minded personality.
- 2016 December 29, MasalaOcelot, “To everyone who's sad about The Rev...”, in Reddit‎^[1], avengedsevenfold, archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  ...Actually, the Rev will come back in a while as the Knife Master. He's gone into the woods to train, he's secretly developing his ultimate technique of playing drums with knives and riding stallion ducks.
  He also occasionally screams "WHY" at random BMWs around the street to ensure his sanity as the band's resident Cloudcuckoolander.
- 2017 October 11, Hikkikomorishoujo, “English-translated visual novels with characters like Rin, Hanako and Lilly from Katawa Shoujo?”, in Reddit‎^[2], vnsuggest, archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  I've always been intrigued by Rin and Hanako from Katawa Shoujo, mostly because Rin is strange and a Cloudcuckoolander, and Hanako because she is a Shrinking Violet, very shy and afraid of others. Lilly is special because she's a bit of a Yamato Nadeshiko - polite, feminine, gentle, kind and a motherly figure, and I'd also like to pursue a heroine with the same characteristics.
- 2018 January 28, RoseOfTheNight4444, “Anyone know how to properly write a Cloudcuckoolander character?”, in Reddit‎^[3], writing, archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  I’m talking about quirky and weird characters; the kind that make it oddly endearing. Characters like Sticks the Badger from Sonic Boom, Psymon Stark from SSX Tricky, Buck from Ice Age, Julien from Madagascar, Kel from Kenan & Kel, Brick from the Middle, Ed from Ed Edd n Eddy, Ron from Kim Possible, Pinky from Pinky and Brain, and Ace Ventura, just to give a few examples I am familiar with.
  I love Cloudcuckoolanders but I am always bewildered at how easily they seem to be written. I always thought they weren’t easy characters to write unless the writer is one themselves. Some tips in this area would be most helpful, as this is probably one of my favorite type of characters and I want to do it justice. I guess the main issue is what is considered odd to people? I have Asperger’s so, I guess in a way, I already am a cuckoolander myself which sort of helps a little but at the same time, not so much.
- 2018 October 12, Oxyaena, “The conundrum of hominin phylogeny”, in talk.origins‎^[4] (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-17:
  > I was completely unable to understand the Black Knight scene, because
  > I had been fortunate enough not to ever encounter anyone remotely
  > like "Black Knight" Oxyaena before I saw that film at the age of ca. 23.
  
  You mean yourself? I`m not a "Black Knight", I`m more like the
  Cloudcuckoolander's (meaning "you") Minder.
- 2021 May 19, BloodyStrawberry, “Any fanfics like FREAKIN GENSOKYO?”, in Reddit‎^[5], FanFiction, archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  I mean, fanfics featuring a suicidally stupid Cloudcuckoolander main character that goes around and terrorizes local populace for shit and giggles. Preferably also featuring Cerebus Syndrome trope, without OP powers and not focused on romance (or at least being a slowburn).
- 2021 July 9, Bugmag_2, Twitter‎^[6], archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  is pam a cloudcuckoolander
- 2022 February 8, ZoanoT, Twitter‎^[7], archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  Now for the third member of the group, the Cloudcuckoolander Sugaya and her Bemular.
  #ultraman #ultraseries #megamonsterbattle #GrandMonsterWars
- 2022 March 9, AacornSoup, “Fairy queen esque mental damage”, in Reddit‎^[8], WormFanfic, archived from the original on 2022-08-17:
  East of Eden- Entity!Taylor has a POV that is highly skewed from a human worldview. So skewed, in fact, that her Echidna clone is indistinguishable from her.
  Delirium- Taylor is a Malkavian.
  Right-Minded- Taylor is a Cloudcuckoolander due to a brain injury.