Synopsis

The video plays like a deliberately off-kilter high-school revenge movie. A pale, awkward outsider with conspicuously oversized teeth moves through a stylized school world populated by intimidating classmates and strange figures. Without showing the original bullying, it presents the protagonist's retaliation as a chain of surreal confrontations, using crude effects, sudden title cards, and exaggerated performances. Japanese characters flash onscreen during the action, giving the cheap-looking clip an anime-like edge. The result turns the song's sneering address to a "cool kid" into absurd, cartoonish revenge.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video appeared in October 2010, around the release of "Hey Cool Kid" as a single from the album "Turning On."

• The revenge-story setup deliberately skips the bullying that would normally establish the conflict. Director Allen Cordell said he expected viewers to fill in that backstory themselves, drawing on familiar high-school movies from the 1980s.

• Cordell explained that the Japanese text appearing during the action translates roughly as "Power!", "Holy shit!" and "Victory!" He added it because he felt parts of the video had an anime-like quality.

• Stu Ares plays the central character. Cordell specifically pointed out that Ares was not actually creepy or nerdy, despite the video and its still images presenting him that way.

• The protagonist's exaggerated teeth became one of the video's most recognizable images. In a 2010 interview, Dylan Baldi said he did not know who the man with the teeth was, although someone in New York later claimed to have appeared in the clip.

• "Hey Cool Kid" came from Cloud Nothings' early lo-fi period, when Dylan Baldi was recording music at home in his parents' basement. The track helped attract attention to the project before Cloud Nothings developed into a touring band.

• The song's deliberately muffled, fuzzy recording contrasts with the video's intentionally cheap-looking visual effects. Both choices reinforce the rough, homemade character of the band's earliest material.