Cloudcuckoolander/Web Comics

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Sustained Misunderstanding no extra charge.
  • Dada Comics are what happens when you take this and turn it into a genre.
  • Abe from Alien Loves Predator.
  • Sapphire Gem, the zombie girl from Monsterful , an extremely random protagonist. In these two pages a nice example is given, there are a ton others though. She's also an Idiot Hero, and these two traits combined always lead to instant madness.
  • Largo from Megatokyo at first finds it hard to tell the difference between the real world and the videogame world. Then it turns out the Megatokyo world is indeed a conglomeration of anime and videogame tropes. Which just shows you can be Genre Savvy and a Cloudcuckoolander at the same time; in fact, it can be an advantage if the situation you're in is itself insane. Largo is just Crazy Awesome; which helps him in the insanity of the setting.
  • Roger and Lily Pepitone in CRFH
  • Every single character (save for Jame and maybe Liln) in Terror Island. Sid and Stephen (the main characters) are especially bad, what with the groceries and all that.

Stephen: It's strange how we have an invisible postal worker who delivers the mail by altering history so it was always here.
Sid: We don't. We have a normal mailman who comes by before you're awake.
Stephen: Same thing.

Chef Brian: Yes, Clancy! My existential shell is filled with the dreams of wild chipmunks! Thank you for asking!

Chef Brian has been seen in the sillies, reciting a haiku: "Lemon pie puppet. In love with his socks with teeth. I am made of beef." Riiiiiight.

Cube: Pirates give me gas.

"And and and and this other time? I was at the zoo and the man at the zoo was all 'You can't feed animals here' And I was all 'But why not?' And he was all 'Cause there's no one to feed 'em to.' HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA It's funny, new friend! It's so funny! ...it only takes seven pounds of pressure to crack open a man's head... from the inside. Kisses now!"

  • Schlock Mercenary got Lieutenant Pibald, at least when he forgets to take his medication, acquiring delusions of having hyperbolically exaggerated status or talents which he doesn't. This wouldn't be much of a problem. The problem is that his hobby is blowing stuff up and his actual skill with nanoassemblers allows him to disguise robotic mini-factories as ant farms. Making explosives that replicate from raw materals, and if let loose, spread and form colonies.
  • Eddie from Emergency Exit is nothing "but" this. He is obsessed with traffic cones, thinks chickens are out to take over the world, collects distractions, and just generally acts like a insane seven-years-old on an eternal sugar rush. He also wields a Hyperspace Mallet, and uses a "coolness enhancer" that enhances whatever it's attached too. Anything. He also has a fully stocked Mad scientist laboratory, although the whether the stuff he makes is powered by science, magic, or some combination of the two is anyone's guess.
  • Andy from Skewed Reality. "I love these green sporks! I have ten of them in my pants."
  • Vagrant Grey from Atavism
  • Captain Fang from Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic talks completely insane and is either stupid or so easily distracted that no one can tell for sure, but he's the ultimate king of absurd non-sequitur. It's also impossible to tell whether he's absurdly lucky or actually competent at what he does. Then there's Captain Corona who is drunk enough to reach almost the same level of loonie.
    • Slipping into non-sequitur may be a common trait for Kobolds - the Wise Man is more coherent, so he can give very good advice... "And a hat full of ice cream!"
  • Most characters in Sore Thumbs slip in and out of this; Harmony is firmly cemented in it.
  • In UG Madness, Wizards of the Coast R&D director Mark Rosewater is portrayed as this. He's also an imp. The author claims this to be a true and accurate portrayal. Many who have read Mr. Rosewater's articles might agree.
  • Torg from Sluggy Freelance does this quite a bit, such as when he declares "I will find us a new place to live!" He doesn't actually make any effort to find a new apartment; he thinks making the big dramatic statement should be enough. Or when he promises to paint Zoe's apartment, and takes that as liscense to do a nude portrait of her on the wall of her living room. And doing a painting of Rodin's "The Kiss on her bathroom ceiling. Using pictures of her parents as models.
  • Quilt from Dominic Deegan has no brain (he's a necromantic golem, a la Frankenstein's Monster), and thus can be a little... out there. When told to keep his eye on someone, his response was to take his eye out of the socket and point it at the subject. But this is probably where he exhibits the trope the most.
  • Lord Sykos from The Wotch is, as his name suggests, completely insane. Example: "Sorry, but no one goes anywhere 'til I'm done with my little investigation. 'Cept for you. You need to get me a taco. I don't know what they are, but I want one." His Perky Female Minion Aimee is pretty strange, too.
    • Jo in Cheer!. Too ditzy to be fooled by the Agents' Somebody Else's Problem Fields, completely Genre Savvy without even knowing it, and she thinks she's a Magical Girl. And talks to squirrels, which talk more like CATS. Also too ditzy to have been affected by Miranda's mind-altering magic, and thus retains all of her memories of being Colin.
  • Bass in Bob and George, very much unlike his video game version. He's not evil at all, and spends most of the comic wondering what's going on while staring blankly, and unlike Mega Man, never has moments of clarity.
  • The eponymous character of minus would normally qualify, dubbing herself Warrior Queen of the Ant People and wanting to grow up to be an elephant, if she weren't an omnipotent Reality Warper (with a dash of Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant) who ensures all her fantasies become reality.
  • Snooch from Two Lumps, although alcohol is often a factor.
  • Hugh, the CEO of Angst Technology fits this trope quite well, mistaking a monkey for a small child, singin hilarious mangled lyrics of songs during karaoke, and playing make-believe space cadet and western characters with the office supplies of canned air.

"We are men of vision. Like when Magellan crossed the Sahara, or when the Persians first made cheese in a can. We are living in an advanced age where man can look to the stars and walk on Uranus. I foresee a future for this company when our products are as popular as Frogger, or even... dare I say... Burger Time. It is our destiny, gentlemen, to forge ahead like Marcel Marceau and to take charge like that fellow Charles... who was apparently in charge. Look to the future men, for we may never see it again!"

  • iddy pop (not to be confused with a certain Stooges singer) from My Life in Blue lives and breathes this trope.
  • In the Triquetra Cats spinoff Polonian Tales, the character of Nalaynee was specifically modeled after Osaka.
  • In Least I Could Do, we have the main character, Rayne. He does stuff like this.
  • Inquisitor Eastwood from Sonic 40K Exterminatus Now takes refuge in Cloudcuckooland sometimes when giant spiders show up. To protect his fragile brain from the shock, he has been known to begin calculating the number of teapots a walrus could eat while juggling George Clooney and David Hasselhoff.
  • Scary Go Round: Shelley Winters and Ryan Beckwith are like this all of the time, although their brands of oddness tend to vary. Shelley's detachment from reality seems to manifest in her bizarre thought processes, Ryan has his interesting grasp of history and both of them love a good non sequitur every now and then. As of the current moment, Ryan teaches school; slightly less odd, but then he is now a supporting character, and his students qualify.
  • Fletcher Apts: Kia is the cute ditzy girl who seems to be in her own world all the time, and any jokes told to her or aimed at her just fly right over her head.
  • Sylvester from A Game of Fools:

"Pfft, it's not aliens you should be worried about. It's the carrot people."

"I'm going to upload my brain onto the Internet and live in perpetual electronic bliss."

"Have you tried Counting Sheep? When I couldn't sleep, I walked all the way to the nearest farm to count the sheep. By the time I got there I was so tired, I nodded off right away!"

  • xkcd portrays Summer Glau like this. Sample dialogue: "I can extrude hair, but I can't retract it."
  • Brad from Fur Will Fly fits the bill of a classic Cloudcuckoolander almost perfectly, complete with boubts of Fridge Brilliance. The sequel, Coming Up Violet, expands on the mahem with his doughter Beatrice, who is a chip off the block in almost every respect.
  • As one of the quotes implies, Leo from VG Cats has been known to go from "it's so hot out" to "there's a face growing out of my butt, if you touch it you can see the future" within seconds. This is when he isn't being a full-on idiot, though.
  • Buwaro from Slightly Damned due to a childhood that's best described as having nothing but brown rocks within many miles radius. His condition is currently improving.
  • The Cyantian Chronicles: Subverted and generally bent into a pretzel by Quinn Akaelae. She can actually teleport into another dimension and often speaks with two residents of said dimension, who can only be seen by her.
  • Rob from Rob and Elliot is this in the extreme. He talks to fruit, harasses Elliot for looking at his bum (as in hobo, not his rear) and trains dogs by threatening to kick them in the balls. He is always coming up with zany new schemes.
  • Everybody in Redmeat.
  • Penny Arcade
    • Tycho Brahe
    • Gabe
    • Sometimes, the Penny Arcade world, with one or two people who have been handed the Sanity Ball. Other times the world is sane and it's just Tycho and Gabe who are crazy...and sometimes it's just Gabe...and sometimes it's just Tycho...and sometimes it's Div...
  • MS Paint Adventures has a weird meta-example with the entire fan forum community. The majority of commands in the various series are suggested by the fans, which leads to lots of zany antics within the comics' continuties.
    • Homestuck gives us a few in-universe examples with Jade (hit the "==>" arrow) and the Wayward Vagabond.
      • All of the dream-selves seem to be this. Dave even forbids Jade from doing anything to his house while she's asleep (It Makes Sense in Context) because she tends to be so illogical when she's dreaming.
      • Any incarnation of Courtyard Droll/Clubs Deuce fits the description as well, in contrast to the rest of the Midnight Crew's harsher antics.
  • Lee from SSDD is a clone (most of which can't even talk) who can best be described as "flaky", and his tendency to stab himself with forks once his ability to feel pain is restored.
    • In fact he was chosen for a "special assignment" because he was too mentally unstable to be a regular soldier, the rest of his squad have their own problems ranging from plain stupidity to suicidal depression.
  • Yuki from Ménage à 3, though lampshaded by the fact that growing up around her father's comic art really did mess her up pretty badly.
  • James from What Do You Do takes this Up to Eleven; he once stops his party just to build a stone walrus, which he then levitates and uses as a mount. Really, the whole comic takes place in Cloudcuckooland.
  • Coyote from Gunnerkrigg Court shows signs of this and Large Ham. Annie also has elements of this, often seeming to occupy a separate world to her classmates, and the pair definitely rub off on one another. Though she got along wonderfully with kids from the House Foley - the one made up of former fairies and forest animals.
  • David from Bittersweet Candy Bowl is all the way up there, as his first conversation with his admirer, Kizuna, shows:

Lucy: Ready for the games, David?
David: Am I ever!
(Floating hearts, Bishie Sparkle)
Kizuna: Ah... um...
Kizuna: H- Hi!
(More Bishie Sparkle)
David: Ovaries.

  • Sensei Greg of El Goonish Shive started his martial arts school like the old masters did - after enlightenment. Which he got from watching anime for 168 hours straight. He created "Anime-Style Martial Arts" school. It seems to effect his behavior. His first appearance had him attempting to go Super Saiyan, and later after learning one of his male students could turn into a girl, attempted to make it happen by dumping a bucket of cold water on his head.
    • Speaking of his student Elliot, he got a spell allowing him to take a Flying Brick form... and three "disguise" alter ego with their own personalities. One of these is "Heidi". When she appears, we are treated to observations that "Superheroes are bouncy" and "Chipmunks have great judgement". These make only slightly more sense in context. She was nicknamed Heidi simply because of being extremely unlike his other personalities... and slightly scaring the one who nicknamed her. As Elliot first noted upon becoming her, ahem,

Holy crap I feel like I chugged down an expresso not literally of course that would hurt unless it was cold which wouldn't taste as good wow I look different than I thought I would but I guess it sort of makes sense I look what's the word I think it's spunky but I'm not sure that makes me think of a spunky Brewster although I don't know what a spunky Brewster is or was it a punky Brewster I've only heard of it before was that a tv show or something wow I'm full of energy

  • Chex from Checkerboard Nightmare.
  • The Protagonist of Persona 3 FTW is portrayed as this. Even more impressively, he manages to be this while also being The Voiceless.
  • Hope from Alone in a Crowd tends to say and do some pretty strange things, much to the confusion of the people around her.
  • Tiffany from Precocious is known to do strange things such as randomly digging a hole or drawing continuing far past the canvas.
  • Arkady from Freak Angels, due to an overdose, is quite flighty, but certainly seems to be perfectly in control of most every situation and the only one willing to push her powers beyond their assumed limitations.
  • Girl Genius has certain Jägermonsters acting are this, interestingly enough. Or not, considering they lived for centuries enthusiastically serving their Mad Scientist creators after volunteering for a transformation that's more likely to kill one, but may turn into near-immortal Super Soldier.
  • Kevin in Rhapsodies
  • Kevin from Overlord Academy definitely qualifies as this.
  • Occela from Rumors of War is a high-functioning Cloudcuckoolander. Though at times it seems like she only suffers a little because she doesn't know what you mean.
  • Bliss from The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred. And to top it off, only one person can hear her speaking as she rambles on about colour theory, how a combustion engine works or something else with no relevance to the topic at hand.
  • Miscellaneous Error quickly makes it apparent that main character Jack is rather detached from reality.
  • Archipelago gives us Blitz. He's a bit of a tragic case, as he's a man-child whose mind was badly broken in the same incident in which his eye was gouged out, but with that aside, he's a happy-go-lucky overly optimistic sidekick who is the poster child for Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny and goldmine for humor.
  • Mirth from Voodoo Walrus is a prime example of this. And for good reason too. Arguably, the same could be said for Grymm as well, but not on a full time basis.
  • Zee Captain from Romantically Apocalyptic.
  • Several examples from Survivor Fan Characters, including Craig, a fourty-year-old maniac who thinks he's a strategic mastermind Kala, a Wolf Girl who speaks to inanimate objects such as her "Happystick", and Gatemaster, an oaf who controls the entire season without even realising it.
  • Reece in At Arm's Length. Her train of thought frequently gets derailed at the station. She's known to focus on non sequiturs during an action scene.
  • Everyone in Edmund Finney's Quest hails from Cuckooland, except Edmund himself, who is the Only Sane Man on the planet. For example, Edmund meets this nutjob while traveling with a pair of hunters with "Nice To Meet You" guns, who are trying to find a Yeti using only a coffee stain and an extraordinary misinterpretation of some guy's comment about a sandwich.
  • Bunny of Blade Bunny is a hyperfocused killing machine in combat, otherwise she is oblivious to social nuances.
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