V-Formation Team Shot



In almost every show featuring a Five-Man Band or a team of heroes, at some point in the opening or promotional materials the main characters will be displayed in a certain formation. The leader stands in the middle of the shot, with the rest of the team standing to each side of him, each slightly behind each other, forming a "V" shape. This shot has the advantage of posing all the characters so you can see them and get some sense of the group dynamic, plus it looks really cool.

They put it on DVD boxes, magazine covers, book covers and album covers too.

The moving version of this is Power Walk. Compare Team Shot. Subtrope of Opening Credits Cast Party, where the cast poses for the cameras during the credits and the Establishing Team Shot.

Anime & Manga

 * Seen in the opening sequence of the first Gate Keepers series.
 * Used in one of the opening sequences of Naruto.
 * Also seen in the opening sequence of Kare Kano.
 * The first opening sequence of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS ends with one of these.
 * ...aaand the inevitable crossover art.
 * The second version of Code Geass' second opening ends with a gigantic V-Formation Team Shot; Zero in the center, the named Black Knights members behind him in a vague V-shape, and a mass of faceless uniformed Black Knights lined up in the background.
 * Strike Witches does this in the opening credits, with Yoshika at the front.
 * The second opening of Tokyo Underground features this setup.
 * One Piece has now done this a number of times in it's openings as the crew grows, usually focusing on each one (with maniacal grin) before panning out as the ending shot.
 * "Maniacal"?
 * Ties? Check. Suits? Check. Rings? Check. Box Weapons? Check. Major Badass look? Check. Katekyo Hitman Reborn is all set to go!!! And everyone is looking at their very best.

Comic Books

 * Many team books have this on the covers. From the Avengers to the Justice League.

Film -- Animated

 * A generic clipart of the Disney Princesses looks like this. From left to right are Rapunzel, Jasmine, Snow White, Mulan, Aurora, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Tiana, Belle, and Ariel.
 * The official poster for Cars 2.

Film -- Live Action

 * Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs Dai-Shocker has a 27-man Justice League shot featuring almost every Kamen Rider protagonist to date.
 * The end of the first act of Final Chapter has the Heisei Riders (all in their Super Modes), plus Diend and Kivala, in this pose,
 * Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown also has this, with 5 of the eponymous Rider's basic forms (assumed by the Taros and Sieg), Zeronos Zero Form and finally Ryotaro in Liner Form, as they prepare to fight the revived Imagin army.
 * Let's Go Kamen Rider: since there were 28 Riders present, they couldn't do a traditional V-formation (since the formation requires an odd number), so they pulled off two layers: the movie's five central Riders Den-O, New Den-O, OOO, and V1 and V2, with the 23 cameo Riders behind them.
 * Behind the closing credits in Angels Revenge.
 * The theatrical poster for the movie Valkyrie (though Col. Stauffenberg appears to be attempting a solo Power Walk).
 * The final moments of The Specials.
 * The poster for Star Trek: First Contact features this with the Borg. Lead characters get Floating Head Syndrome.

Live Action TV

 * Leverage does this, while striding out of the smoke and in slow motion. And it is awesome.
 * It's also common for the various teams of Power Rangers to be seen like this, too.
 * The poster for The Movie used a version focusing on their helmets.
 * And so as Super Sentai.
 * The cast of Glee gets one in "Theatricality" when they come to aid Kurt as he's being accosted by two jocks. They do this in full KISS and Lady Gaga outfits.
 * Torchwood has them.
 * A rather hilarious accidental one occurs for a brief moment on the miniseries John Adams of all places, as Mr. Adams and some of the other delegates enter the room to begin Framing the Constitution.

Pro Wrestling

 * A lot of movie posters and promotional photographs. As one example, in the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-views, the teams of wrestlers will be shown in this formation with the "captain" front and center.

Toys

 * Almost every piece of Bionicle promotional art showing all six members of a given set wave did this within the first six years, occasionally with some variation such as one character flying above the pose. Come 2008, when set waves became more diverse in who was in them, this became considerably less frequent; after all, having heroes and villains posing together as a team wouldn't make all that much sense.

Video Games

 * The opening CG of Dissidia Final Fantasy has the ten villains walking out of a wall of lava in a villainous Justice League Shot. A Legion of Doom Shot, maybe?
 * With a bonus Mythology Gag in Sephiroth assuming the same pose as when he burned down Nibelheim in his original game.
 * In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (and Platinum), when you beat the Elite Four, you go into the backroom and record your team into the hall of fame. After going through a montage showing each of your team members, it shows a Justice League Shot, with your trainer sprite in the center, and three Pokémon flanking you on either side. Their order depends on what order you had them in your party.
 * Heart Gold and Soul Silver (remake for Pokémon Gold and Silver) also feature this with the photographers around the game map, who'll take a picture of you and your team of six Pokémon in such a shot.
 * Subverted hilariously in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, after Snake meets Akiba and disarms him. Meryl introduces her team as Rat Patrol 01, with her in point and Jonathan and Ed behind her, then Johnny rushes in and completely screws it up with the silliest pose.
 * Capcom, Pandering to the Base (It's a Milestone Celebration), decided to do one for all the main heroes in the Mega Man (all 7 of them) series, (with Grey and Ashe (from ZX Advent), but not Lan (from Mega Man Battle Network), Behold.
 * And then again, in a piece of official artwork for Mega Man Star Force 3 showing the five kids (Geo, Sonia, Luna, Bud and Zack) standing on a half destroyed bridge alongside Solo and A.C. Eos.
 * The Final Fantasy Tactics A2 promotional poster/wallpaper has this, with Luso in the center.
 * Done in Super Smash Bros. Brawl by Mario, Yoshi, Pit, Link and Kirby, as demonstrated here.
 * In Super Mario RPG, the Axem Rangers group around the Breaker Beam like this, with Axem Red at the front (of course).

Web Comics

 * Parodied in this Sluggy Freelance strip.
 * Used in this Wapsi Square strip.

Western Animation

 * The trope was originally named after Justice League, whose main characters are seen silhouetted in this manner in the opening.
 * They also throw in a Power Walk.
 * The Justice League Unlimited series takes the shot and the silhouettes to an extreme level—from the Magnificent Seven to the Magnificent Thirty-Seven.
 * Seen in the opening sequence of Teen Titans.
 * The opening sequence for Metalocalypse, and the cover of the Fictional Band Dethklok's album.
 * Team Go from Kim Possible does this. Even before ass kicking.

Real Life

 * Geese flying in formation.
 * A promotional poster for the 1992 Cricket World Cup showed the participating nations' captains (minus South Africa, who were a late addition) like this.