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Comic Trio: Difference between revisions
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== Anime and Manga ==
* The Team Rocket trio in the ''[[Pokémon (
** It's also been well established that Brock can't follow a map to save his life and Ash (at least before Misty left) is more enthusiastic than smart. He actually even marched right off a cliff once, though, too his credit, he was in a dense fog.
* [[Shin Chan|Shin-chan]] thinks Ryuko, Ogin and Mary (the Crimson Scorpions of Saitama) are this. [[Hilarity Ensues]]!
* The Yorozuya from ''[[
* Also Ino-Shika-Cho in ''[[
** They even seem to fit the roles of the Comic Trio too: back then, Ino was definitely the hot-headed, driving force of the team, often shooting down the lazy but intelligent Shikamaru's ideas, while bossing Choji around
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== Films -- Animated ==
* ''[[
* The Hyenas from ''[[
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== [[Literature]] ==
* The ''[[
* The Golden Trio ended up being this in the early ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books, with Harry being the Leader, Ron being the Idiot and Hermione being the Complainer.
* In [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[Journey to The Center of The Earth]]'', Axel Lidenbrock sees himself as the sane guy, his uncle as the leader, and their guide Hans as the blind follower. It later turns out they're a more effective [[Power Trio]] than they look...
* [[The Trickster|Marunde]], [[Cloudcuckoolander|Abdel]], and [[Sleepyhead|Lazy]] in ''[[Someone Else's War
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In ''[[
** Most commonly, it seemed to be Graeme being the leader, Bill carrying through his schemes, and Tim disagreeing, but requiring the money for the job enough to go along. Then again, as Graeme was at times too [[Absent-Minded Professor|distracted]] to carry through all the way, Tim was at times [[My Country, Right or Wrong|dedicated enough to serving England]] to take over leadership, and [[Genius Ditz|Bill had his moments of inspiration too]], the roles did switch around a ''lot''. Occasionally it would even avoid seperating the roles - in one episode, Graeme is a power mad pirate radio station owner, and ''both'' Bill and Tim are the powerless snarkers.
* In the classic ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' trio Foggy comes up with the schemes, Compo is the one who knows it'll lead to disaster, but can't do anything to stop it, and Clegg is not so much clueless as content to offer wry observations from the sidelines, since he's never the one it's happening to.
* The Trio from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Warren is the schemer, Jonathan is powerless even though his conscience might otherwise lead him to speak up against Warren; and Andrew may not be stupider than the others, but he's by far the most out of touch with reality.
** Andrew's also the one most likely to do whatever Warren tells him to, no matter how stupid or evil, due to his idol crush on him (or just plain crush, depending on how you interpret Andrew's character).
* Later seasons of ''[[M*A*S*H
* ''[[Top Gear]]'' has a lot of shuffling with this, although Jeremy's usually the schemer, with Richard and James trading off on the stupid/going along with it and the helpless.
* In a few episodes of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' such as "Tall Tales" and "Dream a Little Dream of Me," Sam, Dean, and Bobby transition from a [[Power Trio]] to a [[Comic Trio]]. Sam comes up with an idea, Dean helps him carry it out, and then Bobby shows up when it goes wrong and tells them that they're idiots.
* The guys and the girls of ''[[Coupling]]'' tend to split off into separate comic trios. Specifically, Susan and Steve tend to be the sensible ones, whilst Patrick and Sally are the ditzy navigators, and Jeff and Jane are basically nuts.
* The Tanner sisters from ''[[Full House]]''. Michelle is definitely the naïvely used one, but while DJ takes charge, she's pretty much the [[Only Sane Man]]. Stephanie is quite intelligent, but is more of a [[Ditzy Genius]] who makes things crazier by going along with DJ (often to her annoyance). In the end, both often share the blame for what happens. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] once where they were called "the Three Stooges in pantyhose".
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* In ''[[The Office]]'', Michael, Dwight and Jim often act as this with Michael being the leader, Dwight being the blindly obedient one and Jim being the only one with sense, particularly evident when they team up in the 'Branch Wars' episode. Ironically, in another episode of that season Dwight acts as the smart man while Michael blindly obeys (and misinterprets) the directions of his GPS, driving directly into a clearly visible lake.
** Also the trio who start the Michael Scott Paper Company in Season Five. Michael is once again the leader. Ryan is usually the guy who follows him -- or at least doesn't question him much -- but arguably in the episode "Broke" he is analogous to a navigator as he formulates their unworkable company strategy. Pam is the closest thing this company has to an [[Only Sane Man]] although she is [[Not So Above It All]] by virtue of having joined in the first place. She even compares the company to a crashed car.
* ''[[
** The Tracy Jordan Entourage. Tracy is the unstable leader, [[Dot Com]] is the smart and powerless guy, Grizz is the enabler.
** The actors on the show. In this case, Tracy is the follower, while Jenna is the crazy leader and Danny is the smart one.
** In the writers room, we have Frank as the leader, Lutz as the follower, and Toofer as the smart guy.
** One could also make a case with Jack as the leader, Jonathan as the follower, and Liz as the smart one, but Jack also tends to be right.
* The Gang in ''[[
* The [[Stella|Stellas]] fit this trope to a T. Michael Black is the leader, Michael Showalter the smart one, and poor [[Butt Monkey|David]] is the third guy.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[
** A more literal example appeared during [http://www.teamfortress.com/macupdate/comic/ Mac Update.]
* The Chaotix of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]''. Vector is the schemer, Charmy is the follower, and Espio is usually powerless.
** In ''[[
** Team Rose in Sonic Heroes: Amy is the schemer, Big is the follower, and Cream is powerless.
* [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi]], under [[Depending
* Being one of the more light-hearted and comical iterations of the franchise, [[Final Fantasy X 2|Final Fantasy X-2]] has Yuna, who is meant to be the leader but typically ends up the follower to her cousin (or anyone else for that matter), while Paine is [[Only Sane Man|powerless]].
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== Web Comics ==
* Subverted in ''[[Achewood]]'' with the three cats who started out as a real Comic Trio, but after some character development: Ray is the navigator (a subversion since his plans, no matter how insane, ALWAYS work out), Beef follows Ray's lead (he's a manic depressive with passivity to a fault -- but still the only person capable of talking Ray out of anything), and Pat is the "smart one" (but so "smart" that he's unbearably obnoxious, and so unwilling to listen to other points of view that he ends up making the wrong calls in the end).
* ''[[
* [[Two Guys and Guy]] typically has Guy as the leader/navigator, Frank the idiot/driver (though he enables the situation through his apathy rather than his ignorance), and Wayne the complainer/backseat, though the roles can shift depending on the joke.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** This is a possible [[Double Subversion]], insofar as, ''as a superhero'', Frylock is easily the most powerful of the three, with a great deal of inherent destructive potential ''plus'' gadgeteering. He's just completely ineffectual when it comes to stopping Shake's antics.
** To be fair, Frylock, as said, is far from powerless, he just has a lot of self-restraint.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* ''[[
** ''[[Transformers]]'' has two more trios like this. In ''[[Transformers Armada]],'' Rad is the ringleader, Carlos right behind him, Alexis trying to keep them out of trouble. In ''[[Transformers Prime]],'' [[Too Dumb to Live]] Miko puts herself [[In Harm's Way]] ''explicitly'' because it's fun to her, Jack follows to save her butt (thrusting him into 'driver' role despite his ''not'' really thinking "let's go into the middle of a warzone because it's KEWL LOLZ!" is a great plan) while Raf takes the Alexis role.
* ''[[Futurama]]'': Mom's sons, Walt, Larry and Igner. It's subverted in that the leader, Walt, is actually the most intelligent of the three. However, he still comes up with some pretty awful plans, usually revolving around ridiculous disguises, while Igner is retarded and Larry even more spineless than most comic trios to compensate. The main reason they succeed at all is because Fry is the frequent target of their plans.
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''([[Gilligan Cut]] to scene where the trio screeches to a halt outside Planet Express in a van labeled 'Smother Brothers'. This time Walt's latest ridiculous scheme involves owl exterminators)'' }}
** The main three characters often display this dynamic with Bender and Fry switching off between the driver and navigator, with Leela as the straight man.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'': Eddy is the schemer, Ed is stupid, Edd is powerless.
* ''[[Catscratch]]'': Mr. Blik is the schemer, Waffle is stupid, Gordon is powerless.
* Variant: ''[[
** Alternately, the Krusty Krab trio can be considered this, with Mr. Krabs as the scheming leader, Spongebob as the idiot that goes along with everything, and Squidward as the straight man who's largely ignored by the other two.
* ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'': Alvin is the schemer, Theodore is more timid than dumb, and Simon is the smart one who's powerless.
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* Even with more than three main characters, this trope can pop up. In ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'', for example, these tend to crystalize around Mikey as the crazy one, with Gonard generally the stupid one, and Guano. Lily, or Mitsuki as the powerless one, as the plot demands. The roles can switch around, though... One episode actually has Ozu as the crazy one, Mikey as the stupid one, and Yes Man as the powerless one.
* [[Classic Disney Shorts|Mickey, Donald and Goofy]] arguably fit, but their roles don't play out the same. [[Donald Duck]] could be the loudmouthed jerk and [[Goofy]] could be the submissive idiot ([[Mickey Mouse]] is more or less the sensible but ineffectual straight man, anyway), but a lot of the time Donald is actually right; Goofy is the one to cause the trouble while Donald [[Chew Toy|ends up suffering for it]].
* [[
* ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' - Timmy tries to navigate them to the destination (he wishes for stuff), Cosmo is the driver (he grants the wishes without thinking about the results because he's [[The Ditz]]) and Wanda's the powerless smart person. She tries to stop Timmy from making the dumb wishes but he never listens.
* Hank, Dale, and Bill from ''[[King of the Hill]]'' fit this trope. Dale is a paranoid schemer, Bill is a dolt who goes along with it, and Hank is the voice of reason that they almost always ignore.
* ''[[The Smoggies]]'': Emma is a vain, greedy schemer, Polluto is a stupid strongman, and Captain Clarence is a spineless geek.
* Sonic, Sally, and Antoine in ''[[Sonic
** Sometimes in [[Sonic the Hedgehog (
* Clifford, Cleo, and T-Bone in ''[[Clifford the Big Red Dog]]'' are an example. Cleo's the impulsive one. Clifford's the dog who goes along. T-Bone's the voice of reason who usually gets ignored.
* [[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]] has Scratch, who originates most schemes independent of Robotnik, Grounder, who tries to carry them out, and Robotnik himself, who's left fuming at the mess they get into. When Robotnik dispatches all three of his robots to capture Sonic, Cocconuts, the smartest of the three, is usually powerless.
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