The
Five Man Band is a group of characters whose members fall into archetypes which all complement one another.
The group traditionally includes:
I don't know who these people are, but I know what role they fill.
- The Hero - the leader of the group; can be clean-cut and upstanding, bold and charismatic, serious and driven, or some combination of the three.
- The Lancer - the second-in-command, usually a contrast to The Hero. If the Hero is clean-cut, the Lancer is a grizzled Anti Hero; if the Hero is the driven and straight-laced type, the Lancer is more relaxed and level-headed. In a comedy situation, the Lancer is often The Straight Man or a Deadpan Snarker. Tends to bear some degree of resentment towards The Hero and be attracted to The Chick.
- The Big Guy - the strongman of the team, often dumb. Or mute. Sometimes a Genius Bruiser.
- The Smart Guy - the physically weak, but intelligent or clever member, often annoying or for comic relief; frequently a trickster and a buddy of the Big Guy.
- The Chick - usually the band's "heart" or moral center and the most innocent and/or emotional of the group. This role is usually taken by the token female of the group, hence the name, and if there's a royal in the band, it's usually her. If done wrong, the Chick is little more than a useless tag-along who gets in the other heroes' way. If done right, she can become Team Mom or a Cool Big Sis. The Hero and Lancer are usually in a Love Triangle with her at the center. In some recent series, The Chick is replaced by an Action Girl.
The core five are often supplemented by...
- The Team Pet - R2D2, Scooby Doo (although some might consider him to be The Big Guy).
- Tagalong Kid - Usually the Hero's or the Chick's younger brother. Gets to save the day about once per season.
- Mentors - The wise advisorly type who comes and goes. The Obi Wan, Splinter, Gandalf, Chef.
- Sixth Ranger - A johnny-come-lately addition to the team, often an outrider type who has been lurking on the edges of the action from the beginning.
- A Sacrificial Lamb may pop up at the beginning, and quickly be finished off, to give the team a cloud of danger.
Note: Variations occur where the core five are slightly different or overlap -
The A Team had four guys in a van, lacking The Chick after the second season.
Scooby Doo had five people in a van, including Scooby Doo (Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby). Don't take the title too literally - it's the roles more than the numbers that matter.
See also
Five Bad Band, this trope's
Evil Counterpart.
Associated Characters:
Associated Tropes:
This can sometimes literally be a musical group. Characters can also be divided by personality instead of function: see
Four Temperament Ensemble.
Compare and contrast the
Five Bad Band, which is a five-man team of
villains.
Notable five man bands
These are examples of teams that fit
at least four of the character tropes of a
Five Man Band without trying to shoehorn characters in. It's always tempting to match two of the tropes to characters in a show, then try to convince yourself and others that the other characters can
sort of be squeezed into the description of the other character types, but that's not the point of the
Five Man Band trope. The characters that make it up exist outside of the trope. The
Five Man Band only occurs when the team as a whole fits, not just a few characters. If it isn't a
Five Man Band, it isn't a
Five Man Band.
Examples:
