What Is Italian Brainrot? Behind the TikTok Trend and Characters

What happens when you take Gen Z humor, AI-generated images, and put them together in a blender? You get Italian brainrot animals, that’s what! Italian brainrot is a viral trend where internet users create AI-generated animal-ish creatures and share them online. We’ll tell you more about what it means, where it came from, and what the appeal is. We’ll also fill you in on the most popular Italian brainrot characters and explore the controversies surrounding the trend.

Italian Brainrot Meaning

Pop culture and media expert Lisa Leombruni says Italian brainrot is a popular meme trend among Gen Z and Alpha. It features AI-generated videos of bizarre, half-animal characters with Italian-sounding names, like Tralalero Tralala. The videos include nonsensical, AI-generated voiceovers describing the character.

Section 1 of 9:

What is Italian brainrot?

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Italian brainrot is a trend where users make surreal AI-generated animals. Well, to start, it doesn’t actually have much to do with Italy. Basically, people on TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, and other social media platforms are using AI to generate images of wacky animals combined with objects like cacti or planes. When they share their creations, they give them vaguely Italian-sounding, gibberish names, like “Tralalero Tralala,” which is a shark wearing sneakers.^{[1]
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- They also often give these characters backstories that include other characters, making a sort of connected universe of brainrot animals. For example, check out this YouTube video explaining the entire backstory of Tralalero Tralala in an Italian brainrot-esque style.
- Often, the characters are posted in video format, with AI voice-overs or songs about their bizarre backstories, like the fictional wars each character has fought in or who their rivals are, to accompany them.
- However, since the voiceovers are often in another language and assumed to be nonsense, they may contain offensive language and/or views of the creator.
- Most of the videos are still images of the characters with flame effects, slide show animations, and other basic effects.

Section 2 of 9:

Most Popular Italian Brainrot Characters

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Tralalero Tralala This was the very first Italian brainrot character. It’s a shark wearing Nike sneakers on its fins. It also has the most popular Italian brainrot song associated with it. Unofficially, it enjoys playing Fortnite and has 3 sons.
- Here’s Tralalero Tralala on TikTok.
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Bombardiro Crocodilo This is the second popular Italian brainrot character to emerge. It’s a bomber plane with the head of a crocodile, and is said to be the rival of Tralalero Tralala, and is said to be popular in Korea.
- Here’s Bombardiro Crocodilo on TikTok.
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Ballerina Cappuccina This character is a ballerina whose head is a cappuccino. She’s one of the most popular Italian brainrot characters, and is often paired with Cappuccino Assassino, a cup of coffee that’s also a ninja.
- Here’s Ballerina Cappuccina on TikTok.
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Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Sahur This character is a baseball bat character who holds another baseball bat. It’s associated with Suhoor, a meal during Ramadan, and it’s said that if you ignore the call to Suhoor 3 times, this creature visits your house. Its name is meant to resemble the sound of a drum. Spooky!^{[2]
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- Tung Tung Tung Suhoor most likely originated in Indonesia, or at least is popular in Indonesia, and the original video features an Indonesian-language voiceover.
- Here’s Tung Tung Tung Sahur on TikTok.
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Brr Brr Patapim This character is a massive proboscis monkey-tree hybrid with huge feet. According to the voiceover on its original video, it has a hat that contains a blue frog named Slim, and Brr Brr Patapim goes on a quest to get the frog out of its hat.^{[3]
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- Here’s Brr Brr Patapim on TikTok.
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Boneca Ambalabu This is another Indonesian character, resembling a frog in a city with the body of a car tire. Its voice over says it’s a terrifying anomaly that preys on people, though the voice over is mysteriously cut short.^{[4]
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- Here’s Boneca Ambalabu on TikTok.
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Lirilì Larilà Lirilì Larilà is a cactus wearing sandals with the head of an elephant. Its description says it has a clock that can freeze time when it battles other brainrot animals, and at some point, it confronts Tung Tung Tung Sahur.
- Here’s Lirilì Larilà on TikTok.
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Chimpanzini Bananini Chimpanzini Bananini is a chimp-and-banana fusion. Some say that if you peel back the banana, you’ll see a muscled, mighty chimp beneath.
- Here’s Chimpanzini Bananini on TikTok.

Section 3 of 9:

Other Italian Brainrot Characters

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The list of Italian brainrot characters is always growing. Like any good meme, anyone can make their own version of Italian brainrot characters. There are currently dozens and dozens of characters that have become widely popular, and hundreds more less-popular characters. Here’s a list of the major characters that have emerged so far:
- Bombombini Gusini: A goose with the wings of a bomber plane.
- Cappuccino Assassino: A ninja cup of coffee.
- Trippi Troppi: A shrimp with the head of a cat.
- Frigo Camelo: A camel wearing Timbs and with the body of a refrigerator.
- La Vaca Saturno Saturnita: A cow with massive feet and the body of the planet Saturn.
- U Din Din Din Din Dun Ma Din Din Din Dun: A totally jacked orange.
- Trulimero Trulichina: A fish with the head of a cat.
- Giraffa Celeste: A giraffe with a watermelon body and wearing an astronaut’s helmet and boots.
- Bobrito Bandito: A beaver gangster.
- Frulli Frulla: A flying penguin with goggles.
- Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Sahur: A large teapot with feet.
- Brri Brri Bicus Dicus Bombicus: A Roman centurion bird with a necklace of raspberries.
- Tric Trac Barabum: A zucchini with feet.
- Cocofanto Elefanto: A baby elephant with a coconut body.
- Burbaloni Luliloli: A capybara with a coconut body.
- Orangutini Ananasini: An orangutan with a pineapple body.
- Garamararamararaman dan Madudungdung tak tuntung perkuntung: A salt shaker and a honeypot with faces and feet.
- Il Cacto Hipopotamo: A hippo with a cactus body wearing sandals.
- Blueberrinni Octopussini: A blueberry octopus.
- Glorbo Fruttodrillo: A crocodile with a watermelon body.
- Rhino Toasterino: A rhino with a toaster body.
- Zibra Zubra Zibralini: A zebra with a watermelon body.
- Graipussi Medussi: A jellyfish with grape-like tentacles.

Section 4 of 9:

Where did Italian brainrot start?

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The Italian brainrot trend started on TikTok in January 2025. The first widely popular Italian brainrot post came from user @eZburger401 on TikTok (who has since been banned) when they posted the now-popular “Tralalero Tralala” soundbite. Days later, the user @amoamimandy.1a posted a video with the sound featuring an AI-generated shark, which exploded in popularity and inspired a wave of imitators.^{[5]
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- The trend was cemented when the second character, Bombardiro Crocodilo (a bomber plane with the head of a crocodile), established the format.
- From there, things developed pretty quickly, and it’s hard to say who coined the term “Italian brainrot,” but that’s more or less how this all started. The rest is internet history.

Section 5 of 9:

What’s the appeal of Italian brainrot?

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Italian brainrot pairs AI trends with absurdism and silly humor. AI is, for better or worse, all the rage these days. It’s a fun toy that can generate images, text, and sound just from a few commands. Combine that with the nonsensical humor of the internet, and you’ve got a recipe for success. The point of Italian brainrot is that it’s goofy, absurd, and is an opportunity for users to show off their own AI creations.
- Italian brainrot is also hard to co-opt for ads and marketing, which might make it especially appealing to advertisement-weary internet users.
- Some say Italian brainrot is “post-ironic,” meaning that everyone knows it’s kind of stupid, but they enjoy it anyway, and often because it’s kind of stupid.
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Users enjoy ranking brainrot animals with tier lists. A tier list is a popular activity online where people rank their favorite characters from best to worst. People often make Italian brainrot tier lists of their favorite brainrot animals as a way to appreciate and talk about them. Usually, these tier lists are organized by which animals are the most “powerful,” or which would win in a fight.

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How to Participate in Italian Brainrot

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Generate your own AI animal and post it to social media. To make an Italian brainrot meme, you’ll need to use an AI program like ChatGPT, or the native AI program on your device (like Cortana or Apple Intelligence). Ask the program to generate an image of the craziest animal-object mashup you can think of, like a rose-spider hybrid or a caterpillar with boots.
- Once you’ve got your image, post it to TikTok or your social media of choice. Use a popular sound, if possible, and tag it as #Italianbrainrot or #brainrotanimals.
- To add more depth, ask the AI to generate a backstory for your character, then ask it to translate the backstory to Italian. Include this backstory in your post.
- Or, exercise your imagination and write your own backstory!
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Test your knowledge with an Italian brainrot quiz. Once you’ve gotten familiar with the Italian brainrot animals, challenge your friends to see who remembers the most lore about them. Check out these fun quizzes:

Section 7 of 9:

Is Italian brainrot offensive?

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The meme trend uses Italian-sounding gibberish to make names for its animals, the unspoken idea being that the Italian language might sound funny to some users. Some have spoken up about this aspect and called it mean or offensive, and unkind to Italians as a whole.^{[6]
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Some Italian brainrot animals and sounds are vulgar or explicit. The voice-overs and background stories for certain characters aren’t always safe for kids or work. Sometimes, they include warped, somewhat concerning representations of current events, politics, or history. Some voice-overs are offensive to certain religions or groups of people, as well.
- Of course, these descriptions are often in different languages, meaning an English-speaking person probably won’t understand them unless they go out of their way to look up their translations.
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AI comes with its own set of controversies. The use of generative AI in any use case, not just Italian brainrot, has prompted many opponents and criticisms. For one, AI uses a huge amount of electricity and power in order to operate, meaning it has an overall negative environmental impact.^{[7]
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- In addition, many critics have pointed out that AI “learns” by studying stolen data, like artworks or written works, which infringes on copyright.
- Others say that AI can lead to a dependence on AI, replacing someone’s skill, creativity, or critical thinking the more they use it.

Section 8 of 9:

What is brainrot?

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Brainrot is a slang term that describes nonsense, silly language. Originally, “brainrot” was used to describe what happens when you spend too much time scrolling. Supposedly, your brain turns to mush and you start saying things like “skibidi gyatt rizzler.” The meaning has morphed over time, and now it sort of just describes any meme, joke, thought, or behavior that’s silly, nonsensical, or absurd.^{[8]
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- Brainrot isn’t actually a valid medical condition, but there are some studies that suggest that overuse of social media can impact things like attention span.^{[9]
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Section 9 of 9:

Final Thoughts

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The Italian brainrot trend uses AI to make absurdist animal characters. These mashups usually have vaguely Italian-sounding names and unique backstories that reference other animals. The trend started on TikTok in January 2025 with the creation of the Tralalero Tralala character, a shark wearing Nike sneakers.
- The meme format is appealing because of its bizarre imagery, use of AI trends, and “post-ironic” humor.
- “Brainrot” is a word that describes silly or nonsensical behavior caused by too much social media usage.
- While they’re goofy fun for many users, Italian brainrot may be seen as insensitive toward Italian people, and the contents of some of the memes may be considered edgy or offensive to certain cultures.

Join the Discussion...

What's the meaning of tralalero tralala?

wikiHow Editorial Team

"Tralalero tralala" is an Italian brainrot term and character that's taking the internet by storm. Even though the phrase sounds vaguely Italian, it's actually just nonsense words that sound like you're singing along to a song and doesn't have an actual English translation. Many people use it to sound playful and carefree.

"Tralalero tralala" became even more popular because of its AI-generated character that was posted on TikTok. The character is a shark with 3 legs that wears blue Nike shoes and loves to play Fortnite with his son.