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Sam: A small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs... and solve crimes.
Toby: Sam...
Sam: It'd be good.
The West Wing, "Shibboleth"

Two very different characters are obliged to work together to solve a crime. The premise is very often expressed in Trailers and pitches as "He's an X. She's a Y. Together, they fight crime!"… So much that it's almost become a Stock Phrase. Expect lots of cultural clash humor arising both from different policing traditions and from general personal differences between the two characters. Sometimes the ante will be raised by making the crime-fighters from two groups that are actively antagonistic.

The story often (but not always) involves one character being on his own turf while the other character is a visitor. If there is a sequel, the character who was on his home turf in the first story will probably be visiting the home turf of the other character.

Can be the premise of a Buddy Cop Show, although then there usually needs to be some reason for the other cop to continue hanging around beyond the pilot.

A subtrope of both Wunza Plot and Odd Couple.


Examples:

Anime and Manga
  • The Big O: He's a rich negotiator with a Humongous Mecha, she's a robotic maid. They Fight Crime!
  • Read Or Die:: Three sisters: two love books and the youngest...doesn't. They Fight Crime!
  • Cowboy Bebop: He's an ex-mafia martial artist/fighter pilot/bounty hunter. She's a hot 70-year-old cryogenically unfrozen amnesiac crack-shot waif perpetually on the run from astronomical gambling debts. He's an ex cop taken out by injury, and possibly mafia influence, who owns the main HQ. She's...Ed. They Fight Crime... In SPACE!
  • Hellsing: He's the First Vampire, with more than enough power to destroy everything that exists. She's his dual-howitzer-wielding big-chested innocent spawn. They Fight Crime!
  • Death Note: One is a bored, brilliant high school student. The other is an immature supernatural being with an addiction to apples...They Fight Crime!...kind of.

Comic Books

Film

Literature

Live Action TV

Video Games

Web Original

Web Comics

Western Animation
  • An episode of Family Guy played this as a joke, with the newest cop show, where the hardened cop got paired with a kid from the streets, a robot, and a couch?
  • Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers: Two chipmunks, two mice, and a housefly fight crime among both animals and humans.
  • Kim Possible: She is the popular cheerleader. He is the under achiever who has no friends. They Fight Crime! And she'd better be home before 10.
  • Parodied on The Critic, when Clint Eastwood played a cop partnered with a child, a leprechaun, and a velociraptor.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force. One's a megalomaniacal, sociopathic milkshake. One's an intelligent, African-American box of french fries. One's a dumbass meatball. They're detectives... or at least used to be.
    • Hilariously, the shows creators had to describe the show's premise as They Fight Crime, because the real concept of the show was too bizzare for the network to want to put on the air.
  • Bonkers. He's a by-the-book cop who aspires to be promoted. The other is a washed-up, toon actor bobcat. Together, they fight crime!