History Characters / FriendsMainCharacters

* CharacterDevelopment: At the beginning, Chandler had serious issues with commitment, which made him incapable of holding a relationship. He eventually overcame them thanks to his relationship with Monica and was also ready to start a family with her.

* LimitedSocialCircle: Probably the most obvious example; the six friends barely seem to know anybody other than each other, their families, and their GirlOfTheWeek (or BoyOfTheWeek). And ironically, there are always a lot of people (in the background) at their parties. A bit strange since the friends don't seem to hang out with anyone but each other.

* ChivalrousPervert: Joey is this when it comes to his female friends. He hits on them on numerous occasions and tries several ploys to either see them naked or see them kiss each other, but he's kind, fiercely loyal and incredibly respectful towards them. When everyone believes Phoebe's been in a porno movie, Joey is the only member of the gang who refuses to watch it. He also freaks out quite a bit when Rachel calls his bluff and actually offers to sleep with him. Upon hearing Phoebe was pregnant, he goes out to beat up the supposed father... then comes back and proposes to Phoebe so she won't be alone. Later, when he finds out that Rachel is the one who is actually pregnant, he promptly proposes to her too. In one episode, when a drunken Rachel responds favorably to his "How you doin'?" line, he tells Ross not to let her drink any more, while in another, when he mentioned that he found a drunk girl passed out on the couch in his and Chandler's apartment (following a party), in response to everyone's horrified questions of "What did you do to her?", he rather angrily declares, "I put a blanket over her in case she was cold and a bucket next to her in case she needed to throw up!", making it abundantly clear that he never even ''thought'' about taking advantage of her.

General tropes about the five main characters of the series.

[[folder: General]]

[[folder: Rachel]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/JenniferAniston
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/PatriciaAcevedo (Latin-American Spanish), Creator/ShinobuAdachi (Japan), Élida L'Astorina and Cássia Bisceglia (Brazilian Portuguese)

[[folder: Monica]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/CourteneyCox
->'''Voiced by:''' Yolanda Vidal (Latin-American Spanish), Sheila Dorfman, Tatiane Keplmair and Fernanda Bullara (Brazilian Portuguese)

[[folder: Phoebe]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/LisaKudrow
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MicheleLituac (European French), Gisela Casillas and Rommy Mendoza (Latin-American Spanish), Sylvia Salusti and Letícia Quinto (Brazilian Portuguese)

[[folder: Joey]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/MattLeblanc
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/BenjaminRivera, Jorge Roig Jr. and Creator/LuisAlfonsoMendoza (Latin-American Spanish), Francisco Quintiliano and Vágner Fagundes (Brazilian Portuguese)

[[folder: Chandler]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/MatthewPerry
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SergioGutierrezCoto (Latin-American Spanish), Creator/AlexandreMoreno and André Sauer (Brazilian Portuguese)

[[folder: Ross]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/DavidSchwimmer
->'''Voiced by:''' José Carlos Moreno, Creator/MarioFilio and Creator/MarioCastaneda (Latin-American Spanish), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs and Felipe Grinnan (Brazilian Portuguese)

*** Interestingly as the series continued a lot of the story arcs are about them overcoming their issues. Phoebe reconnects with her family, becomes more grounded and builds a successful relationship rather than jumping from guy to guy. Monica and Chandler fall in love and [[HappilyMarried find in each other]] the support their parents never gave them. Ross gradually gets over his divorces, Rachel learns how to be independent, and Joey starts considering commitment.

-->'''Ross:''' ''*snaps*'' And for the record, it took ''two'' people to break up this relationship!
-->'''Rachel:''' ''*outraged*'' Yeah! You, and that girl from the copy place!

-->'''Monica:''' ''[mocking]'' "Hi, I'm Rachel, is my sweater too tight? No? Oh, I'd better wash it and shrink it!"

'''Rachel:''' [turning to Ross] Did you hear that? My dad's proud of me! [{{beat}}] Right, not the point. [turning back]

-->'''Monica:''' "I'm Rachel. I love Ross! I hate Ross! I love Ross! I hate Ross!"

** He really does not like to share his food. When Rose steals his muffin, Joey reminds him of that quite loudly.

* ItalianAmericanCaricature: * He fits some of the stereotypes but not others, you don't really see him in bowling shirts as being an aspiring actor he follows fashion a little more than average. However, he has a huge family (being the only boy with [[MassiveNumberedSiblings seven sisters]] whom he is very protective of) who are Catholic (even if he doesn't attend). He is also very fond of both his grandmothers (Nonna and Nonnie) and translates for Nonnie who can't speak English. He's a BigEater who will eat anything but does have a fondness for Italian food like pizza and lasagne in particular, and at one point realises [[TurningIntoYourParent to his horror]] he's becoming like his father when he gets upset and angry about wasted pastrami.

-->All kids are embarrassed by their parents. You'd have to come up with a whole new word for what I went through.

** Bing-a-ling [[note]] Janice's nickname for him [[/note]]

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: While not as prominent as Joey or Monica's obsession with food, he also enjoys sandwiches. The most notable example is the "Moist-Maker".

* EnsembleCast: The show famously has six main characters. All six main characters appear in every single episode, with (usually) equally divided-up screen time and the cast themselves insisted they be paid the same amount and each be concealable for Lead Role award nominations. At one point, they even had a chart marking the number of lines and jokes each cast member got, to make sure it was even.

** His divorce from Carol seems to have gone poorly for him as the first episode sees him putting together all-new furniture. It's never established whether or not the apartment was new or if he got a new one.

'''Monica:''' Because, you were mean to me and you, you teased me and you always, always got your way.

* HiddenDepths: He plays a mean game of ping pong much to Monica's surprise (Note: he was well-aware of this skill, he just didn't tell Monica because he didn't want to do couples tournaments and the like). It's not just ping pong, judging by the [[{{Calvinball}} kinds of games]] Joey and Chandler play in their apartment Chandler actually is fairly athletic, just not competitive (which is TruthInTelevision, as Matthew Perry is a very skilled tennis player in real life).

* {{Cuckoosnarker}}: Adds a darker more sarcastic streak to her normal {{Cloudcuckoolander}} status as the seasons go on. Often throwing a barb at the most inoppertune times even.

* LovableAlphaBitch: A former classmate mentions just how horrible she was in high school, but was friends with the unpopular Monica. She still retains some traits of this as an adult.

* ButtMonkey: His friends sometimes make fun of him for his embarrassing acting gigs (Al Pacino's butt, the VD poster) and he's often the butt of the jokes for his stupidity, his failures, and other situations.

* MistakenForGay: His co-workers thinks that he is homosexual and one of them even tries to set him up with a male friend. He and Joey are also mistaken as a gay couple on more then one occasion. Hilariously, he's never mistaken for being gay by actual gay people, with the aforementioned friend claiming that their {{Gaydar}} pegs him as straight instantly.

* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: Rachel claimed that she had never failed to score when wearing her cheerleader uniform, leading to her donning it at a party in a desperate attempt to win the attention of Joshua in "The One with the Fake Party". It ends with her falling down and biting her lip.

* GiftedlyBad: With his acting skills.