History Main / ThreeAmigos

* [[TheSmurfettePrinciple A best friend of another gender]], and potential LoveInterest, 50% of the time an UnluckyChildhoodFriend. She (or he if the protagonist is female) is frequently the Betty on a BettyAndVeronica love triangle.

** ''Series/KamenRider555'': Takumi, Keitaro and Mari, also Kiba, Yuka, and Kaido.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'': Kenzaki, Hirose, Kotaro.

** ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'': Touma, Kento, and [[spoiler:Luna.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': Ikki, Daiji, and Sakura. Plus they’re all siblings.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Ace, Keiwa, and Neon.

** ''Series/KamenRider555'': Takumi, Keitaro and Mari.

** Kanto: [[TheHero Red]], [[TheLancer Blue]], [[LoveableRogue Green]]. [[TheChick Yellow]] takes over hero roles in her own arc, but doesn't offset the original dynamic during the ''[=FireRed/LeafGreen=]'' story.

* ''Literature/HIVESeries'' has this, with Otto as TheHero, Wing as his [[TokenMinority Asian Best Friend]], Laura as the [[TheSmartGuy Smart Girl]] and Shelby as the fourth, doubling as TheBigGuy alongside Wing as well as TheChick. It follows a pattern similar to anime in most aspects, including this one.

* ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' plays this trope with the trio of Hell-Bards that capture Iseult and Vaness, with intelligent Caden as the leader, brutish Zander as his [[TheLancer Lancer]] and sneaky Lev as TheChick.

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': [[TheHero Joker]], [[TheLancer Ryuji]] and [[TheChick Ann]] start as a three-man team that constantly hang out together, before recruiting the rest of the party. This relation continues afterward due to the three being the only 2nd year students from Shujin High School on your team.

** ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'': Like above; Main character, [[CowardlyLion Daichi]], and [[TheChick Io]] in the beginning.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongoFuzzAndJalapeña'':... 'nuff said.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongoFuzz&Jalapeña'':... 'nuff said.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongoFizzAndJalapena'':... 'nuff said.

* ''Franchise/DCSuperHeroGirls'' has Franchise/WonderWoman, Supergirl and Batgirl. They are the web series' three most prominent characters and hang out together the whole time. Diana is the leader and Kara and Barbara are alll but sisters.

* Tetsuya Nomura is quite fond of this trope, as any ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' fan can tell you. So far, there's the Destiny Islands trio (consisting of [[AllLovingHero Sora]], [[DarkIsNotEvil Riku]], and [[PluckyGirl Kairi]]), the Clock Tower trio (consisting of [[LightningBruiser Roxas]], [[PlayingWithFire Axel/Lea]], and [[ArtificialHuman Xion]]), the Wayfinder trio (consisting of [[WaterIsWomanly Aqua]], [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Ventus]], and [[BigBrotherInstinct Terra]]), and the Twilight Town gang (consisting of [[HotBlooded Hayner]], [[BigFun Pence]], and [[NiceGirl Olette]]).

* The ''WesternAnimation/WonderPets'' has Linny, a [[AmbiguousGender gender-ambiguous]] [[ViewerGenderConfusion female]] guinea pig that is supposed to be equivalent to a 5-year-old human child; a male [[TurtlePower turtle]] named Tuck, equivalent to a 4-year-old, and a female duck, equivalent to a 3-year-old, with a [[BabyTalk speech]] [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome problem]].

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': Sora, Riku and Kairi ''and'' Sora, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}. There's also Hayner, Pence and Olette ''and'' Terra, Ven, and Aqua ''and'' Roxas, Axel, and Xion, ''and'' Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Tetsuya Nomura is fond of this trope.

* ''Series/MrRobot'': Elliot,Angela and his sister Darlene.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has [[VillainProtagonist Lelouch]], [[IdiotHero Suzaku]], and [[IllGirl Nunnally]]. Lulu is Nunna's [[KnightTemplarBigBrother brother]], and Nunnally was hinted to have had feelings for Suzaku. Then it all went [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope horribly]], ''[[DiabolusExMachina horribly]]'' [[FromBadToWorse wrong]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Robotboy'': Tommy, Gus, and Lola.

Not to be confused with [[Film/ThreeAmigos the comedy film]]. [[WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros Or that one Disney film some people remember]].

* ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'' had Abigail (the {{Tomboy}}), Russel (the BigEater), and Edgar (the [[HollywoodNerd nerd]]). Subverted in that Abigail is TheHero and leader.

* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', although it has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo have an especial friendship among themselves.

* ''Film/{{Blackbird}}'' has Randy, Efrem, and Crystal.

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran + Mei-ling, Syaoran's ClingyJealousGirl.
** Even moreso in the manga, since Mei-ling is Anime-only.

* Peter, Ned and MJ demonstrate this dynamic in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome''. Especially notable when [[spoiler:MJ and Ned find Peter alone and devestated after May's death and hug him to let him know that [[YouAreNotAlone he is not alone.]]]]

* The classic comicbook example may be a subset of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Young genius Reed Richards and bluecollar jock Ben Grimm were college roommates and later became partners in Richards' plan to fly to the Moon. Both became close and romantically attracted to Sue Storm. In the end Sue married Reed, but Ben is so close he is essentially part of the family; he is also godfather to Reed and Sue's son and a surrogate sibling to Sue's bratty kid brother. And in at least one alternate reality Sue wound up marrying Ben.
** A somewhat similar situation emerged during John Byrne's run between Ben Grimm, his long-suffering girlfriend Alicia Masters and Johnny Storm, resulting in Johnny marrying Alicia with Ben as the Best Man. Later it emerged that Alicia was actually the shape-shifting Skrull Lyja and they divorced. However in the MC-2 universe John and Lyja (now an active member of the Fantastic Five as Ms. Fantanstic) are still married and have a Three Amigos dynamic with Ben.