Does Not Illustrate: Power Trio

That doesn't seem like it would show that these characters are ensembles. How do we show Team Tropes of three?

Y'know, we could just declare this a "no pic" page and let its subtropes do the grunt work.

I'd like to get a pic up showing characters interacting with each other to show it's about trios, and not three people. You'd be surprised how often I come across entries for a "Power Trio" that isn't an actual trio, just a group of three people (sorry if that doesn't make sense). One common thing I see is a Five-Man Band where The Hero and The Lancer are a pair, and someone refers to the rest of the band as a "Power Trio" even though they have no connection other than they're all not the Hero or Lancer, you know?

Also, three foils aren't necessarily a Power Trio. I can't find the discussion, but Fast Eddie recently said in Ask The Tropers that The Three Faces of Eve isn't a Power Trio, just a trio, because they don't have to interact with each other.

re The Three Faces of Eve: "Interact" may not be the right word. They need to be foils of one another, which is an interaction of a kind. The characters do not need to act together or speak to each other. They do not, that is, need to be an ensemble. However, they can be an ensemble, so a given instance of The Three Faces of Eve may be a Power Trio, but very often is just a trio.

Power Trio is always an ensemble.

edited 25th Oct '13 6:29:05 PM by FastEddie

I completely agree, so how do we have an image that indicates that in general The Three Faces of Eve doesn't fit the Power Trio?

We don't, of course. If we can get people thinking about trios, that is all the image needs to do. Other than make the page look cool.

So why does the Korra example not work? It's a trio, doing cool stuff. I don't see how it doesn't fit your definition.

He doesn't know who they are and therefore didn't count, that's about the limit of what reasoning we were given.

He reasoned that there must be familiarity with the people on the image for it to work, even though I'm not entirely certain why it has to be. The trope is about a Trio with a dynamic, not about a trio that is iconic (For that matter, I have completely no idea on who "the angels" were in #36 post, and it's even more JAFAAC than the current image since it's just 3 people sitting together).

Charlie's Angels

I agree that the angels pic doesn't work. Anything else looks more recognizable. Maybe the idea is that an example should be iconic as a trio in their world and being iconic to us would reflect that.

So should we have a crowner now or what?

Another thing about that Korra image. It just looks like three people in the same uniform. A picture of three soldiers wouldn't work. either.

I'm sorry, but I'm still not following the logic. How does being in the same uniform make them not a trio? Seems the opposite to me, it shows they're working together. Really, if you just don't like The Legend Of Korra, just say so.

I know nothing about Korra, one way or the other. Three people in the same uniform doesn't say trio. It says they're in the same army.

The Earth/Fire/Water complimentary elemental powers says team, not part of a larger army. Besides, they're a sports team, not soldiers.

Someone mentioned Harry Potter? [1]◊[2]◊[3]◊[4]◊

For what it's worth, I do think the Superman Stays Out of Gotham aspect detracts somewhat from the Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman trio. And a collage isn't a bad idea.

edited 28th Oct '13 7:04:24 PM by troacctid

That I agree with. Using characters who're primarily known to act on their own speaks against the trope.

I third that. The three superheroes are two well known for having their own worlds so they aren't ideal for the image. If they're going to be in a collage it should be from an image other than the current but I'd rather they not be there at all.

I like the idea of doing a collage.

I think the image(s) can be one of two things: either it's an iconic trio, or the image shows a non-iconic trio working together.

For the iconic trio, I don't like the idea of using Batman, Robin, Batgirl, because the trio is unbalanced - Batman is the centrepiece of the trio, so it's not balanced. The same is true for Harry, Ron, Hermione.

Some more ideas:

1. Cover for Phoenix Rising (the toad is part of the trio!)
2. Charlie's Angels (lots of possible alternatives)

For myself, I have a hard time coming up with a better example than Charlies Angels.

I don't agree that the same is true of Harry/Ron/Hermione. HP may be the "centerpiece" but they are totally a Power Trio. The problem with the superhero one isn't that anyone is front and center, it's that those characters are better-known for working alone.

As the second paragraph of the description points out, it's normal to have a character in the center. The Ego of a Freudian Trio is a natural center, for example.

Some fan art takes on Harry/Ron/Hermione: 1◊, 2, 3

I like the second pic.

That's my favorite of those three.