Power Trio Discussion - Television Tropes & Idioms

Not sure about this set-up for House

Cuddy: Emotional, confrontational, flirtatious (Id)
Wilson: Mediator and go-between, caring but crafty (Ego)
House: Hyperrational, scientific, emotionally stunted Dr Jerk (Superego)

Cuddy is practically the embodiment of social norms- she tells House what he can't have practically every episode. Despite being scientific, House is all about getting what he wants without any regard to social norms- refuses to wear a labcoat, buys a motorcycle on a whim, lecherous, etc. Plus he's not exactly non-emotional, he just demonstrates the emotional maturity of a child. House demonstrates the Ego's lack of self control or social constraint, while Cuddy demonstrates rational behavior, concern for consequences and conformation to social norms, I think they'd be better switched.

—- So, Torchwood, the Power Trio is Jack, Owen and Gwen. Two things: 1) Torchwood isn't just about these three main characters. 2) By all indications, Jack, Gwen and Ianto are the main characters of Series Three. So... wouldn't they be closer to that than anyone in the previous two series?

—- What about the two historical triumvurates: Caesar/Crassus/Pompei and then Octavian/Lepidus/Mark Antony? —- Gus: what are the opposing ideals in the RODTV entry?

Janitor:pulled out ... The Powerpuff Girls:

Blossom: "commander and the leader"
Bubbles: "the joy and the laughter"
Buttercup: "the toughest fighter"

... as it seems to be off-point. Ditto, this one:

RODTV (Read Or Die TV series)

Michelle - The ditzy leader
Maggie - The shy tank
Anita - The childish ninja

(Subversions of the movie "The Heroic Trio" actually. They shared the same names, but with given names and surnames mixed up.)

... and ...

Totally Spies

Sam, the bookworm and science genius
Alex, the athlete
Clover, the Valley Girl shopaholic

Please note, the trope is about a specific combination of attributes among three characters. Unless the characters fit the description, they are just a trio.

Ununnilium: The Powerpuff Girls definitely count, though which two are the opposing ideals varies; there's at least one episode all about Blossom and Buttercup fighting and Bubbles trying to moderate.

Janitor: So, Blossom and Buttercup are usually at odds with one another, and Bubbles moderates. Following that, Bubbles would be in the Leader slot. Are Blossom and Buttercup usually rhetorical devices for a particular outlook, or is it just squabbling? I'm not familiar with the show.

Binaroid: Going by the Five Man Band archetypes, Blossom's The Hero, Buttercup's The Lancer and The Big Guy, and Bubbles is The Chick (and The Ditz, and sometimes The Fool). Still, I'd say that Power Trios can have more than one balance within them (in this case, Blossom balances Bubbles' naievete and Buttercup's bloodlust, while Bubbles can balance Blossom's tendency to overthink her plans and Buttercup's tendency to just charge in swinging. (Even if the balance comes more from who she is than what she does.)

Janitor: Just trying to parse this out... Going by: The id contains "primitive desires" (hunger, rage and sex), the super-ego contains internalized norms, morality and taboos, and the ego mediates between the two and may include or give rise to the sense of self and the well being of humans. Then...

There is a frequent case where Blossom is too deliberative and Buttercup is not deliberative enough. In these cases, Bubbles (somehow) leads them to a middle ground. That fits Power Trio, for me.(Freud-style):

Bubbles: Ego
Blossom: Superego
Buttercup: Id

... I'm guessing this is the configuration for coping with situations requiring planning. Bubbles having a spontaneity that is not tied to anger issues is likely the key.

The other case you give seems to have to do with complications with trust. In those situations, then:

Blossom: Ego
Bubbles: Superego
Buttercup: Id

... Blossom having more maturity in this area, I'd guess.

Sound right?

Kendra Kirai: In those terms, the Paper Sisters fit too. Anita is the Id, Maggie is...whichever one is the one that's shy, reserved, and second-guessish, while Michelle is the balancing factor. Or, taken another way, Anita is the 'normal' one, Maggie is the recluse, and Michelle is the impulsive one. There's nothing that says a Power Trio can't work multiple ways. Hell, even the first example up there, Kirk Spock and Mc Coy, Kirk sure as hell got impulsive from time to time. Weren't there a couple times when both Mc Coy and Spock were for or against something, and he basically said "This is MY starship and you'll do what I say, or I'm taking it and going home!"? Weren't most of those times he risked the ship and broke the Prime Directive his own decisions? That's hardly being a balancing factor. If anything, Kirk was skewed way to the side of emotion.

Grev: Don't know if anyone here is old enough to remember The Mod Squad, but it seems like they fit here...

Looney Toons: Oh yeah, definitely.

Haphazard:Is there any instance where the main character is the superego? Usually the superego is portrayed as too uptight to really be a main character.

And might I suggest adding Samurai Champloo's trio of Jin, Muugen, and Fuu? It seems really obvious, but it's not there.

Ununnilium: You can add it. The only reason someone else wouldn't is that they hadn't seen Samurai Champloo and/or didn't think to link it to this trope.

noyb_bg:new here, but saw this and so fascinated I had to jump in. Maybe we need a separate trio for female series comprising smart, tough, and feminine? Look at all the examples you guys have come up with: Powerpuff Girls: Blossom (smart), Buttercup (feminine), Bubbles (athletic) Totally Spies: Sam(smart), Alex(athletic), Clover (feminine) Also consider the original Charlie's Angels: Sabrina (smart), Jill (athletic), Kelly (feminine, but also streetwise—not a total fit) Or the book Black Trillium: Haramis (smart sorceress), Kadiya (tough warrior), Anigel (nice domestic)

Lale: I'd lvoe that, since it doesn't perfectly match up with the Id-Superego-Ego set-up for this trope.

noyb_bg: any ideas for a properly snarky name?

Wondering about Powerpuff Girls Z. Momomoko (Blossom) strikes me as Id (being both a Big Eater and insanely boy-crazy), but I'm not sure about the other two.

BTW noyb_bg, I don't think either version of Buttercup would thank you for calling her feminine!

Lale: IMO, girl power is about being proud to be both a girl and tough, proving strength is also a part of femininity, so not necessarily.

Kilyle: Wait, Ron mediates between Harry and Hermione?? I question this deeply, and not just 'cuz (a) Ron isn't the main character and (b) Ron seems to storm off every other book or so. John Granger in The Hidden Key to Harry Potter posits the trio as Harry mediating between Ron (the baser instincts, strong negative emotions) and Hermione (the higher intellect, moral stance), where the Trio is in the most dire straights when Ron decides to go haywire (kinda like the baser nature refusing to bow to the needs of the whole).

Is the Ron-in-the-middle justified, or is it in error?

Ununnilium: I'd say they tend to switch roles every so often.

Fast Eddie: Yup, Ron is Id. I'll make the change. The fact that Harry has Id-like moments simply means he is a rounded character.

Noaqiyeum: Just an extension to the POTC addition. I thought of this before seeing this page, but thought there was a different version that was even more obvious, especially in the first movie. Jack Sparrow - Id. Pirate. Will Turner - Ego. Law-abiding citizen, turns pirate. James Norrington - Superego. Strictly pro-order and presented as specifically at odds with Sparrow. Thoughts?

Fast Eddie Not sure about this one ...

Young JusticeRed Tornado puts the three original members of Young Justice into these groups in issue 1.

Robin, Superego (Most normal of the three)
Impulse, Id (Raised in future, lives in the moment)
Superboy, Ego (Capable of basic judgment.) He also got mad that Robin was the "SUPER" ego.

... not being familiar with the book. However, characterizing superego as "most normal" seems a bit off. In the book, what are the relationships of Robin and Superboy to rules and mediation between needs?

Daibhid C: Robin is pretty much the only member of the group who cares even slightly about rules; Superboy isn't balanced between Superego and Id as much as he's pure Ego, and Robin has a reasonable share of all three.

Unknown Troper: Having begun watching Avatar the Last Airbender (as in, not yet entered the double digits in the first season), I'm surprised that Aang, Katara, and Saka don't have a slot here. Though their roles do shift around: Aang tends to be the Messiah-esque, enthusiastic and optimistic leader, while Saka provides cynicism and points out obstacles — a role that aggravates the other two, but is definitely needed. Katara balances them, but on the other hand, at times Aang is the pessimist who weighs the group down and Saka is the gung-ho kid. Katara... um... stays Katara?

Also, could Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda count as a Power Trio? They oppose each other, but their action cancels each other out. Zelda, the Superego, sits in the castle all day and comprehends the plans and magic to bring down Ganondorf's downfall. Ganondorf moves about the land as the Id, serving his appetite for power. Link, as the mediating Ego, combines the two by moving, striking, taking action, but having a plan and working for the good. Or is a Power Trio specifically a team that works together?

Morgan Wick: I'd add recent Order Of The Stick strips, as they seem to depict a perfect, maybe even literal, Power Trio (Belkar=Id, Haley=Ego, Celia=Superego), but I'm not sure if they would count as spoilers and I'm not sure how to explain it.

Fast Eddie: This needs discussion,re: Supes, WW, and Bats...

Superman: Ego (Built his entire life around helping people, not thinking he knows what's best for them. Hates confrontations and tries to end them as quickly as possible.)
Wonder Woman: Id. (She's a warrior, and the only one of them who doesn't have a problem killing people.)
Batman: Superego (Acts only when absolutely necessary, tends to not trust anyone, easily the most logical)

..as it seems to me the roles are dead-on in the article.

The Mythbusters Build team seems to fit... Tory - Id Grant - Superego Carrie - Ego

Fast Eddie: Pulled spoiler for the Avatar bit... (Probably broken after the last episode.) ... as nobody will know what "the last episode" is in six months.

// later ... pulled example which no longer fits Avatar The Last Airbender: (note that they are not protagonists or allies but antagonists)

Princess Azula, the leader (Ego)
Mai, the somber, apathetic one (Superego)
Ty Lee, the perky, giggly, girly one (Id)

(The trio is now broken: Mai chose to betray Azula to protect Zuko, while Ty Lee betrayed her to protect Mai.)

bluepenguin: Haven't seen ATLA, don't plan to, but: even if they're not a Power Trio any longer, doesn't the fact that they were one once still qualify them for inclusion on this page? I wouldn't think what they are now should negate what they used to be.

Lale: Will make a note of that, since they illustrated the trope almost perfectly.

Clevomon: Hey, do we have two for Digimon Adventure? Should we pick one, or is that okay?

FrozenWolf150: Why is every Digimon series included except Digimon Tamers? I thought that the trio of Takato, Jenrya, and Ruki would have been obvious. Speaking of which, why isn't The Matrix mentioned at all? The trio would be Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. (I don't know what their respective designations would be though.)

moved conversational seed from entry:

One might argue that it is, in fact, Jack Sparrow who is the rational Super Ego, more than capable of getting things done within his own crooked universe, and Will is the two-fisted "bloody stupid" reactionary Id, who generally refuses to check himself and work the system, and thus paints himself into a corner, instead. His "rash actions" tend to make him the Xanatos Gilligan of Jack's well-laid plans.

Fast Eddie: Jack is clearly Id-like. All of his motives are toward personal acquisition. Will's actions are all pointed toward satisfying some perceived duty. Each of them are rash, it seems, but for different reasons.

Guest: Added entry for Mega Man Star Force, contains five Power Trio(s), hope it is good.

Morgan Wick: An honorable mention, especially regarding the origin of the trope, should go to Plato's Republic, which described the ideal state (and through it the ideal person) as set up between the rational (embodied in the philosopher-kings), spirited/emotional (embodied in the soldiers/police), and appetitive (embodied in everyone else) parts. As described, though, the soldiers serve as a mediator between reason and the appetites, thus being closer to the Ego, but as the philosophers rule they could also be argued to serve as Ego...

—-

Diddgery: Having trouble putting together an example for Baten Kaitos Origins. Sagi is clearly the ego, but... Milly and Guillo are kind of odd, since at differing times it seems like they could be either. Plus, I haven't finished the game yet.

Nate Winchester: Just a note, but the "power trio" is also an old Christian thought as well (talked about at length in John Granger's

Finding God in Harry Potter) labeled "The body (id), the mind (super-ego) and the soul (ego)". C.S. Lewis called it "the head (suepr-ego), the belly (id) and the heart/chest (ego)" in The Abolition of Man. Making this one fairly old. At least fuedalism old. (Example: King Arthur legends. Any knight (id), Merlin (super-ego) and Arthur (ego).)

Just so that it's in the discussion page if anyone wants to argue, Lain is all three. Lain of the Wired is obviously the id and Normal/Aware/Godmode Lain is obviously the ego, but child Lain is a little bit harder to completely justify (given that she gets minimal screen time after episode 1).

I don't know if you guys already know this, but Power Trio

refers to something in music. This might be a problem.

Janitor: Yeah, should let them know about that problem they have. ;P

vifetoile Good heavens but this page needed folders. Also, Zeus has been flanderized in myths, so I felt I ought to put in a word for him.

Fast Eddie: The dialectic bit is a trifle dry. Maybe it should be pulled out to an article of its own — Hegelian Dialectic — and simply referred to in the 'see also' section. Talking about it here is introducing two topics, where one is sufficient, and easy to make clear.

Robin: The Dresden Files. As the Dresden files are written in 1st person POV the power trio example does not fit. Looks like it's shoehorned in. Dresden Files has many excellent tropes going for it but Power Trio is not one. suggest it should be removed.

Janitor: Not sure how POV would have anything to do with the characterization. For example, a Star Trek story told from Spock's perspective would not alter the fact that he is the Superego of the trio.

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