What is Italian brainrot?
Italian brainrot is a 2025 meme genre of AI-generated absurd creatures, mostly animals fused with objects, given Italian-sounding names and a chanted AI voiceover. It started on TikTok in January 2025.
The first was Tralalero Tralala, a three-legged shark in Nike sneakers, posted by TikTok user @eZburger401 in January 2025. On Jan 13 2025 another account posted a shark-with-shoes video that did 7M views. Tung Tung Tung Sahur followed in February. Then hundreds more.
The names are the joke. Half-Italian, half-nonsense, read out by an AI voice in a fake Italian accent. Kids learned them all.
Italian brainrot characters list
The main Italian brainrot characters are Tralalero Tralala, Tung Tung Tung Sahur, Bombardiro Crocodilo, Ballerina Cappuccina, Cappuccino Assassino, Bombombini Gusini, Trippi Troppi, Chimpanzini Bananini and Lirili Larila.
| Name | What it is | First seen |
|---|---|---|
| Tralalero Tralala | Three-legged shark wearing Nike sneakers | Jan 2025, @eZburger401 |
| Tung Tung Tung Sahur | Wooden log with a face, holding a bat | Feb 2025, @noxaasht |
| Bombardiro Crocodilo | Crocodile head on a WWII twin-prop bomber | 2025 |
| Ballerina Cappuccina | Ballerina with a cappuccino mug for a head, tutu and pointe shoes | 2025 |
| Cappuccino Assassino | Ninja with a coffee-cup head, Ballerina's counterpart | 2025 |
| Bombombini Gusini | Goose with fighter-jet wings | 2025 |
| Trippi Troppi | Cat with a shrimp body | 2025 |
| Chimpanzini Bananini | Chimpanzee inside a banana | 2025 |
| Lirili Larila | Elephant-cactus hybrid in sandals | 2025 |
How to make an AI character like Tralalero Tralala
No Higgsfield, no Runway. ChatGPT draws the character sheet, Seedance generates a reference clip in Tralalero Tralala's format, and one Seedance API call swaps your character into it. The sheet is what keeps the face the same from clip to clip, which is the whole trick behind Tralalero Tralala.
Have ChatGPT draw the character sheet
Paste this into ChatGPT: "An original creature: a goldfish with four legs wearing chunky running shoes. It always sprints. Make it a character reference sheet: front, three-quarter and walking side profile on one plain off-white background, same lighting and scale in every view." Keep the image. It is the only reference you will give the video model, on every clip.
A fuller sheet: four full-body views, then four heads. The wig, the shirt, the tie, the shorts and the briefcase stay put in every frame. Get a Seedance API key
Seedance 2.0 runs on BytePlus ModelArk. Turning it on takes $30 of credits or a resource pack. Create an API key there and keep it asARK_API_KEY. That key is the whole toolchain: no editor, no subscription to a video app.
API keys in the BytePlus ModelArk console. Create API Key is the blue button. Save it as ARK_API_KEY. Generate the reference clip
Prompt the motion and the setting, not the face: "A creature sprinting along a beach at sunrise, low tracking shot, vertical 9:16, 8 seconds." Generate a few and keep the one with the best motion. Make it on your own account: Seedance refuses reference videos with real human faces, and a clip it made for you in the last 30 days is the exception.
Seedance, set to a vertical 9:16 clip at 720p for 8 seconds. The prompt box is where the motion and the setting go. Swap your character in
Send one task to Seedance with the sheet as thereference_image, the clip as thereference_video, and this prompt: "Replace the creature in Video 1 with the character in Image 1. Keep the camera move, framing and timing from Video 1. Keep the character identical to Image 1." Poll the task until it succeeds and download the video within 24 hours. Check the hands and the outline before you keep it.
Omni reference is the Seedance mode that takes the character sheet and the reference clip in one generation. On the API those are reference_image and reference_video. Post the same character every week
One clip is a meme. The same character in a new setting every week is a mascot. The recognition compounds.
Jeff D'La Cross. Five posts, one look: the cross, the pink shirt, the green tie.
Step by step with real outputs: how to make a character reference sheet, keeping one AI character consistent and the Italian brainrot generator. The full request, with the exact JSON, the polling loop and three original reference sheets, is in how to make an AI mascot. Why the wave works in ads is in the weird AI character wave. What each clip tool costs per finished ad is in AI video tools for ads, and Seedance against Kling is in Kling vs Seedance.
Where Italian brainrot went next
Off TikTok and into everything kids buy: a Roblox game, Fortnite skins, a Panini sticker album, trading cards and a memecoin.
- Roblox: "Steal a Brainrot", a game built around the characters.
- Fortnite: Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Ballerina Cappuccina skins, April 2026.
- Stickers and cards: a Panini sticker album in 2025, and trading cards sold at Italian newsstands.
- Crypto: an "Italianrot" memecoin in March 2025, 18 months before $JEANPHIL.
Brands that used Italian brainrot
Ryanair, KFC, Duolingo and Samsung all posted brainrot content in spring 2025, within weeks of the trend peaking.
| Brand | What they posted | When |
|---|---|---|
| Duolingo Deutschland | Brainrot-style posts | Mar 11 2025 |
| KFC UK | Brainrot post | Mar 19 2025 |
| Ryanair | "Ballerina Planeica" and a Tralalero Tralala TikTok | Mar 20 2025 |
| KFC Italia | Brainrot posts | From Apr 1 2025 |
| KFC Spain | Brainrot kids-meal toys | Apr 14 2025 |
| Samsung Belgium | Brainrot posts | Spring 2025 |
The brands that did it best made the character theirs. Ryanair did not repost a shark: it made a ballerina plane. That is the same move behind every recurring brand mascot.
Is Italian brainrot still a thing?
Yes, but it has company. Since September 2026 the new wave of AI characters is people, led by Jean Phil.
The difference: brainrot characters are creatures with no owner, and anyone can post them. The 2026 wave is people. Jean Phil, Archibald Brown and Benjamin Stachio each belong to one account, with one look and one bit, and most of them sell a coin. The full list is on the weird AI characters page.
More weird AI characters
Frequently asked questions
What is the first Italian brainrot character?
Tralalero Tralala, a three-legged shark wearing Nike sneakers, first posted by TikTok user @eZburger401 in January 2025.
Are Italian brainrot characters AI?
Yes. The images and the narration are AI-generated. That is what made hundreds of them possible in a few months.
What is the Italian brainrot game on Roblox?
"Steal a Brainrot", a Roblox game built around the characters.
Are there Italian brainrot Fortnite skins?
Yes. Tung Tung Tung Sahur and Ballerina Cappuccina were added to Fortnite in April 2026.
Want a recurring character in your ads every week?
Director by Sprites is a full creative team for your ads. Every Monday you get finished, on-brand video ads, reviewed by a human, with your own character in them. You pick the winners. Sprites ships the campaigns.