History Main / ComicTrio

* ''Series/Yonderland:'' has Negatus' three demon minions: Neil, the loudmouthed, 'leader' one, Jeff, the stupid one, and Rita, the most intelligent one. Downplayed in that they are all fairly bumbling and incompetent.

*
''Seriwa/Yonderland:'' has Negatus' three demon minions: Neil, the loudmouthed, 'leader' one, Jeff, the stupid one, and Rita, the most intelligent one. Downplayed in that they are all fairly bumbling and incompetent.

* A number of Soviet comedies (including ''Film/OperationYAndShuriksOtherAdventures'' and ''Film/KidnappingCaucasianStyle'') feature Vitsin, Nikulin, and Morgunov. A.K.A. The Coward, the Fool and the Experienced. Morgunov is the leader, Nikulin is the dingbat and Vitsin is the complainer. In the 2014 remake of ''Kidnapping, Caucasian Style'', all three are played by different (younger) actors, partly because the three original actors have passed away.

* Film/OlsenBanden is one of, if not ''the'' most famous examples of this trope in Scandinavian media. Egon is the schemer, Benny is the follower and Kjeld is the complainer. For added measure, whenever they're in a car, they tend to follow this dynamic precisely, with Benny behind the wheel, Egon in the passenger's seat and Kjeld in the backseat.

* ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'', particularly in the scene where Max gets onstage to impress Roxanne, has one in the form of Max (the schemer), PJ (the powerless), and Bobby (the follower). Strangely, though the trio gets more screentime in the sequel, they don't play this as much, though they still do have the personalities to match. This is evident when Bradley is impressed by Max's charisma, and unimpressed by Bobby's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} weirdness]] and PJ's [[ShrinkingViolet timidity]].
%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'': Donald, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' has Gene, the hapless leader, Jailbreak, the genius hacker girl & Hi-5, the egotistical Tagalong.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'': The Sheriff, Nutsy and Trigger.

* The Golden Trio ended up being this in the early ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books, with Harry being the Leader, Ron being the Idiot and Hermione being the Complainer.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

The most common set-up is for the navigator to be a PointyHairedBoss and incompetent {{Schemer}} whose schemes always backfire, but there are other ways to do it.

* The Chanels in Series/ScreamQueens fit this in different combinations:

* Hank, Dale, and Bill from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' 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.

* Played with in ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'': Elijah Snow is eager to discover the secret history of the world [[spoiler: and fight The Four.]], Jakita Wagner generally follows him because it stops her from getting bored, and The Drummer usually recognizes that it's dangerous but he's too crazy to make his case clearly (and they wouldn't listen if he did).

** Played with in the case of puppy mill females Corabell, Dorabell, and Mae in “The Seven.” While serving as comic relief, they do not fulfill the trope’s most common stock roles.

In the driver's seat is TheFool, a total moron who [[TheBlindLeadingTheBlind blindly does whatever he's told]]. So, with the navigator screaming directions at him, the car approaches the cliff. In theory, the driver could stop at any time, but due to either ignorance or stupidity he's confident that heading towards a cliff is all part of the plan, so he soldiers on.

%% ** The Chaotix. Vector is the schemer, Charmy is the follower, and Espio is usually powerless, but pretty badass.

** Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino exemplify the trope in "The Ski Trip" and "The Cakes," with Rhino being the instigator, Bolt as the muscle, and Mittens as the OnlySaneMan. The last eventually loses patience and morphs into a NotSoAboveItAll active participant in retaliation.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'': Donald, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'': The Sheriff, Nutsy and Trigger.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'':

** In ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and subsequent games, Eggman, as the series BigBad, is the sschemer who comes up with evil plans, while of his two robot advisors, Cubot is the dim follower who does whatever his boss wants and often annyos him with his antics, and Orbot is the rational one who shrugs at the stupidity of both his boss and hos fellow advisor.

** Island: Duncan (the leader), Owen (the fool), and Geoff (the powerless)
** Action: Duncan (the leader), Owen (the load), and Harold (the only sane man)

** And last up is the Babylon Rogues in ''VideoGame/SonicRiders''. Jet is the impulsive schemer, Storm is the blind idiot, and Wave is the powerless one who usually complains about Jet's reckless behavior.
%% ** In ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', Eggman is the schemer, Cubot is the follower, and Orbot is powerless.

* Film/TheThreeStooges may have been the original ComicTrio -- certainly they're the guys we're most likely to think of. Moe comes up with dumb schemes, Curly carries them out (while making them even dumber), and Larry is just too spineless to avoid being dragged along. (Sometimes, but only sometimes, Larry's aware of the stupidity of a plan; he's got a less crippling case of CloudCuckoolander than Curly does.)

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Two examples.
** Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino exemplify the trope in "The Ski Trip" and "The Cakes," with Rhino being the instigator, Bolt as the muscle, and Mittens the OnlySaneMan. The last eventually loses patience and morphs into a NotSoAboveItAll active participant in retaliation.