Men of Sherwood

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This is the competent converse of the Redshirt Army.

They are not the protagonists, but just their support. We probably won't get to know many of them well, though those we do meet we'll probably know better than a Mauve Shirt. As far as Character Focus goes, they could be Cannon Fodder.

But they are not Cannon Fodder. Unlike the Redshirt Army, Men of Sherwood will live. Unlike the Redshirt Army, Men of Sherwood are competent at fighting their enemies; they are truly helpful. Whether this help is acknowledged depends on the writer.

They CAN hit their opponent most of the time. They can go toe to toe with the enemy without being wiped out in seconds, and often without being wiped out at all.

Most of them still have no names given, and they still will dress alike. But they are not Cannon Fodder. Sometimes, they're even good enough to become a Badass Army.

Named for Errol Flynn's army in the classic film The Adventures of Robin Hood. Not to be confused with Brad Sherwood.

Examples of Men of Sherwood include:

Anime

• The GM in Mobile Suit Gundam is the mass-produced version of the Gundam. They're completely expendable, but they hand out as much punishment as they take. While the central protagonists are equipped with the Super Prototype, it's the GMs in the background who won the war.

Comic Books

• SHIELD in the Marvel Universe.
• The Green Lantern Corps.
• Checkmate in The DCU.

Film

• The SWAT Team from John Woo's Hard Boiled during the hospital shootout definitely qualify.
• The Cavalry in any Western.
• Any allied army in a James Bond movie. They always keep the mooks busy while Bond goes after the Big Bad, and they always end up in possession of the field. Examples include the frogman force in Thunderball, the space marines in Moonraker, Octopussy's harem commando, and the army at Fort Knox in Goldfinger.
• The British in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. When they finally show up, that is.
• If the NEST Team from the Transformers films are the resident Badass Army, the conventional armed forces in the background are the Men of Sherwood. They take heavy casualties but ultimately are vital to defeating the Decepticons.
• The Europol commandos in Ninja Assassin. They don't seem it the first time they had to fight the ninjas, but when they got their act together and came prepared, things went their way.
• The Gotham SWAT Team in The Dark Knight, once they see through the Disguised Hostage Gambit, take down the Joker's minions with ease.

Literature

• The Fremen. Even though Paul Muad'ib Atreides was a fierce fighter in his own right, he didn't win the throne through a series of duels. He won it by having a huge army of highly-skilled, fanatical, and utterly faceless troops.
  • Who won against another huge army of highly-skilled, fanatical and utterly faceless troops that were until then feared by everyone in the whole galaxy.
    • Granted, the Sardaukar by the time of the first Dune book were arguably at their weakest due to Shaddam IV's rule and general arrogance/decadence, though they were still formidable. They're far more competent in the prequel books and Farad'n's Sardaukar in the sequels are as well (though we never really see them in action).
      • Interestingly, the Dune Encyclopedia provides background material that states Fremen who travelled offworld were stricken by disease and failed to adapt to humid environments.
• The half-blood army of campers that Percy raises in the Percy Jackson books, who successfully hold the island of Manhattan against a legion of monsters.

Live Action TV

• UNIT in the new Doctor Who. (Not so much the old Doctor Who.)
  • Your Mileage May Vary. Old school UNIT was far from incompetent.
• The Stargate Army Dudes!
• The Rangers in Babylon 5.
• A non-heroic example: the Others in Lost. The protagonists almost always come out worse off, and whenever they score a victory it's usually because they have the element of surprise, or some other clear advantage.
• In 24, the CTU response teams have only two settings: they either prove ineffective at containing the badguys, letting them escape, or they trap the badguys, at which point the villains get their faces wrecked.
• The Knights of Camelot in Merlin fluctuate between this and a Redshirt Army depending on the battle.
• As the name of the trope suggests, any team of outlaws in any retelling of Robin Hood, including Robin of Sherwood, Robin Hood and The New Adventures of Robin Hood - though these groups do tend to involve A Load.

Video Games

• The player's forces in any Real Time Strategy game, depending on the player.
• The former Tekken Force members led by Lars Alexandersson in Tekken 6. Bonus points for Lars's second-in-command being a Mauve Shirt.
• The Blood Raven and Ultramarine Tactical Squads on the bridge nearing the final level in Warhammer 40000 Space Marine. They can actually clear up the bridge of Chaos Marines and Bloodletters without you really having to do anything and can go that far without casualties.

Web Comics

• The Azure City soldiers in Order of the Stick tend to die a lot, but they are also more than capable of killing large numbers of goblins. In fact, if Redcloak had not used the titanium elementals to breach the wall, and created Xykon doubles beforehand, the city might not have fallen.

Western Animation

• The men of the Southern Water Tribe from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • Also the White Lotus society.
• The metalbender cops in The Legend of Korra.
• The lionesses of Pride Rock in The Lion King who fight the hyenas while Simba is fighting Scar.