History Main / TokenGoodTeammate

Compare TokenEvilTeammate, TokenWholesome, HeroAntagonist, TokenGoodCop and TokenHeroicOrc. Related to the FishOutOfWater, the OnlySaneMan, and TheHeart. See also AllLovingHero. For possible variations on the 'good guy amongst irredeemable villains', you could try the SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains.

Compare TokenEvilTeammate, TokenWholesome, HeroAntagonist, and TokenHeroicOrc. Related to the FishOutOfWater, the OnlySaneMan, and TheHeart. See also AllLovingHero. For possible variations on the 'good guy amongst irredeemable villains', you could try the SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains.

Compare TokenEvilTeammate, TokenWholesome and HeroAntagonist. Related to the FishOutOfWater, the OnlySaneMan, and TheHeart. See also AllLovingHero. For possible variations on the 'good guy amongst irredeemable villains', you could try the SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains.

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[[caption-width-right:350:Even demons need a guardian angel.]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* Situ from ''Animation/HappyHeroes''. He wanted to do justice like Happy S., but he was rejected, and instead ended up [[spoiler:joining Losu/Dark Demon's team]]. He befriends Happy S. and being an good friend of him until [[spoiler:he was killed in season 14 episode 32.]]
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!!Example subpages:

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!!Other examples:

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Phoebus is this in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. He is a professional soldier who however has moral standards that contrast with the orders he is supposed to follow. Especially when after freeing himself, he takes leadership of the people he was ordered to oppress, and turns them on Frollo's soldiers.
* There is a deleted scene that was cut from the Disney movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' where a soft hearted Hun tries to rescue a canary only for them both to end up dead soon after.
* Though Sonata Dusk in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' gleefully goes along with the other two siren's plans to TakeOverTheWorld via MindControlMusic HatePlague, she's shown to have enough virtues that suggest she's at least a nice person when left to her own devices like making punch for everyone, being a [[FriendlyEnemy friendly]] (if InnocentlyInsensitive) [[FriendlyEnemy enemy]] to Sunset Shimmer, and actually enjoying Snips and Snails' cringeworthy rap.
* Bronze Tiger from ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay''. He has a rule against harming innocents, doesn't share his teammates' selfish natures, and he draws his conflicted morality from his religious faith. The movie is about Amanda Waller and several supervillains fighting over the fabled [[KarmaHoudini "Get Out Of Hell Free" Card]], which allows one person to go straight to Heaven when they die, bypassing divine judgement. [[spoiler: Ultimately Bronze Tiger was the one given the card after being mortally wounded by Zoom. Ironically, he was the one character who probably would have gone to Heaven anyway]].
* Joy from ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' is this to the emotions... she ''thinks''. Her primary function is letting Riley feel happy, and since happiness is the only "positive" emotion, that naturally means she should be in charge all the time, for Riley's sake, right? She does understand that Fear, Anger, and Disgust have their place (mostly in regards to keeping Riley safe), but views them as NecessaryEvil, and avoids letting them make memories or stand at the control panel whenever possible. She can't fathom what Sadness is there for, other than to make Riley upset, and does everything she can to prevent her from even doing her job... which leads to a ''lot'' of problems, and the main plot. [[spoiler:Joy's CharacterDevelopment is having her realize she's ''not'' the Token Good Teammate, and in fact, none of the emotions are inherently good ''or'' bad--they just ''are'', and Riley needs to be able to feel all of them in order to be a truly healthy, functional human being.]]
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Dumbo}}'': One of the clowns does seem to show genuine concern for Dumbo's well-being, admonishing the others that their ideas for future performances might harm him.
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[[folder:Music]]
* Music/TheMegas give this characterisation to Hard Man (an old boxer whose town clearly reveres him, even after his death) and Clash Man (who's programmed to kill but spends his entire song FightingFromTheInside).
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[[folder:Myths and Religion]]
* Basically the only gods in Myth/GreekMythology who aren't JerkassGods are [[LovableRogue Hermes]], [[MommasBoy Dionysus]] and, [[EverybodyHatesHades ironically, Hades]]. All of whom you should never piss off, however, as they are still gods. Dionysus in particular can drive men and women into frenzies that make them lose all touch with reality and sic them onto people as shown in the tragedy '''''The Bacchae'''''.
** Then there is Hestia, who is the nicest goddess of them all. So nice in fact that if you do do something to insult, hurt, or anger her it won't be her that does the Greek God overboard rage thing. It will be ''every other Olympian God as furious as if you insulted them specifically''. Don't be mean to Hestia.
* In [[Myth/AztecMythology a pantheon]] full of [[CruelAndUnusualDeath astoundingly creative]] ways to demand HumanSacrifice, Quetzalcoatl was the ''only'' [[JerkassGods Aztec god]] who didn't require any. Though it's a misconception, since A) Quetzalcoatl did receive "huge amounts of HumanSacrifice" in his Ehecatl aspect, and B) no Aztec god can really be considered evil, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality just weird]].
* Iktomi to the [[Myth/NativeAmericanMythology Wakan Sica]]. Despite being in opposition to the Wakan Tanka, he is responsible for the advancement of humanity, and spreads wisdom even when it's [[StealthMentor indirect]].
* Literature/BookOfGenesis:
** Lot's family are the only people deemed worthy of living in the city of Sodom.
** Likewise, Noah and his family were deemed worthy to live out of the entire world.
** Among Joseph's brothers (excluding Benjamin), Judah comes off as the most benevolent. He suggests selling him as a slave to prevent his eviler brothers from killing Joseph. Reuben comes close as he wanted to release Joseph from the well.
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[[folder:Podcasts]]
* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' game of ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'', Caleb is the only member of the Zelda's crew who's not an outright criminal, and is generally opposed to throwing people into space when he doesn't like them.
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[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/MichinokuProWrestling's {{power stable}}, Los Salseros Japoneses, Banana Senga stood out for being a mostly non malicious funny man the fans loved.
* When the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]] was invaded by Wrestling/{{WCW}} and Wrestling/{{ECW}}, Wrestling/GregoryHelms joined WCW's ranks as a standard villain. He soon became the comical superhero character ''The Hurricane'', who was polite to his opponents and eschewed typical heel tactics. After the WCW/ECW Alliance folded, he became a beloved [[HeelFaceTurn good guy]] nearly instantly.
* Wrestling/RobVanDam is another example from the WWF's "Invasion" angle. Since he was such an over {{Face}}, it was teased that he was going to join the WWE with the rest of the Faces, but he never did.
* Wrestling/SamoaJoe in Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels's Prophecy and later, Wrestling/KurtAngle's Main Event Mafia in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] after Wrestling/{{Sting}} was ousted from the group. Joe was actually worse before his nominal FaceHeelTurn. Other than the betrayal itself, which was more stupid than evil, he hardly did anything wrong since joining and in both groups he was [[OnlyInItForTheMoney only motivated by money.]]
* Wrestling/RingOfHonor rookie Bobby Dempsey in Wrestling/LarrySweeney's Sweet N' Sour Inc, which incidentally also made him the group's {{butt monkey}}.
* Wrestling/JohnCena filled this role when he was forced to join Wrestling/TheNexus.
* [[Wrestling/LowKi Kaval]] in WWE when he was being "mentored" by Wrestling/LayCool, or more accurately, was the "property" of Laycool.
* Wrestling/KevinSteen became the token good teammate in S.C.U.M. as after [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico]] and Wrestling/JimCornette were out of the picture, he suddenly had no more desire to destroy Ring of Honor, but Steve Corino and Wrestling/JimmyJacobs still very much did, as did Wrestling/MattHardy, with the rest of the group being some form of PsychoForHire.
* Lucky 13 in Wrestling/{{CZW}}'s Nation Of Intoxication. Devon Moore and Danny Havoc are basically {{Nineties Antihero}}es who are capable of nice things but cause most of their own problems through excessive violence and drunken behavior. Lucky's the nicest baby{{face}} of the three and as such is frequently the RickyMorton.
* Wrestling/AJStyles, and to a lesser extent Wrestling/TheYoungBucks in Wrestling/BulletClub when the group stopped through Wrestling/RingOfHonor. When most of them kept to their rude, cheating, disrespectful ways, Styles was just happy to be back for the most part and utterly disgusted with then World Champion Wrestling/AdamCole, who was on a quest to ruin the life of Michael Elgin. For that matter, the group's first leader, Wrestling/PrinceDevitt, eventually became more noble while the rest of the group...didn't. Styles and the Bucks joined latter, rather than [[Wrestling/DrewHankinson Doc Gallows]], Wrestling/KarlAnderson or Tama Tonga getting nicer.
* Donovan Dijak in during The House Of Truth's second run through Ring Of Honor, to the point he slowly managed to turn every other member of the group, [[TokenEvilTeammate except]] Taeler Hedrix, [[HeelFaceTurn into a baby face]] after they inevitably got into fights with him.
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* A not uncommon position given the high popularity of [[ChaoticEvil supposedly]] ChaoticNeutral characters among {{Munchkin}}s and [[TheRealMan Real Men]]. This puts anyone in the party actually interested in roleplaying in a very uncomfortable position.
** The AlwaysLawfulGood [[KnightInShiningArmor Paladin]] is this trope in old editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', inasmuch as their prohibition from associating with genuinely [[CharacterAlignment Evil]] people allows them to be.
** In parties that are actually ''supposed'' to be evil, someone tends to end up as this, at least [[PragmaticVillainy relatively]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards speaking]].
** In the module ''Prince of Lankhmar'', Sabbon Draman is this for the Legions of Doom. In a group of overpowered murderous psychopaths, he is a psychopath who attempts to fairly judge his prisoners, sentencing the 'guilty' to death and letting the 'innocents' go (though his colleagues routinely murder most of the 'innocents' behind his back anyway)
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s ''Scars'' block, we see the colors slowly become remade into Phyrexia. (Think the Borg meets the Zerg, with enough BodyHorror to go around.) Black is [[IncrediblyLamePun completely]] Phyrexian in the last set, but red is the last one to be Phyrexianized, because red, being the color of individuality and emotion, is the least Phyrexian. Not surprisingly, red's praetor, Urabrask the Hidden, is the only one of the five that can feel anything akin to compassion. So we get flavor text like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=218037 Priest of Urabrask]] and, [[DefectorFromDecadence perhaps hinting at the far future]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214378 Urabrask himself.]]
** Chromium Rhuell was pretty much the only Elder Dragon to not be entirely shitty, starting off as arrogant but ultimately becoming wise and friendly up to his death. By contrast, the others range from complete psychopaths (Nicol Bolas, Palladia-Mors, Vaevictis Asmodi) to a former benevolent leader turned paranoid tyrant (Arcades Sabboth) to a holier-than-thou detached type (Ugin) to someone without a personality (Piru).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': The Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Raven Guard and Salamanders SpaceMarine Chapters are pretty much the only space marines who actively seek to protect civilians and the [[RedShirtArmy Imperial Guard]], making them this to the vast forces of the [[TheEmpire Imperium]]. In fact, the Space Wolves have a history of subverting Imperial doctrine and openly warring with the more brutal Space Marine chapters and the Inquisition.
** Primarch Sanguinius of the Blood Angels was the only Primarch who was a genuinely good guy, not by ''Warhammer 40000'' standards, but ''a good guy'' by anyone's standards. There's a reason why he is the second most venerated person in the whole Imperium besides the Emperor Himself.[[note]]Aside from this whole "sacrificed his life to give the Emperor and the Imperium a fighting chance" thing.[[/note]]
** Nurgle is notably the only Chaos god who shows any serious consideration for his followers. He also expresses genuine love and concern for the Eldar goddess, Isha. Of course, his ways of showing said consideration and affection are... [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer insanely]] [[PlagueMaster twisted]].
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', the archdevil Dispater's [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascended mortal]] [[UnholyMatrimony wife]] Erecura is this for Hell's nobility. Despite having been banished to Hell for stealing secrets from the gods themselves, her canonical alignment is LawfulNeutral (not LawfulEvil like everyone else in Hell), her portfolio doesn't contain any overtly villainous elements, and she's generally non-malicious.
* In ''TabletopGame/ScarredLands'', Denev and Golthain are the only Titans who aren't sociopathic assholes.
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[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. None of the protagonists are evil on default but sometimes they become villainous [[spoiler:due to a HatePlague]]. Mion is the only protagonist, besides SixthRanger [[spoiler:Hanyuu]], who has never killed anyone in any arc. However, this doesn't mean she hasn't actually killed anyone. According to one of the [=TIPs=], in an unseen [[spoiler:world]] she became a ClingyJealousGirl towards Keiichi and [[MurderTheHypotenuse killed the other girls]] due to seeing them as "rivals" for him.
* Beatrice from ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'', despite being part of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden and formerly part of the Nazi's as well, is an unfailingly good and idealistic woman. And in spite of being surrounded by madness and bloodlust on all sides and her experiences [[KnightInSourArmor having rendered her more cold and ruthless]], she never stops fighting for what she believes is the right cause and is even trying to destroy the L.D.O. from the inside to help the heroes and save her former friend and commander Eleonore.
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Website/GoAnimate: In the WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} family, Boris and Caillou are both psychotic twats, Doris is an apathetic bitch who enables her husband's bad behavior, However, Rosie is nice and doesn't try to be mean to Caillou. It can be a bit of a {{Tearjerker}} seeing as how Caillou [[BigBrotherBully bullies]] her even when he has no reason to.
* ''WebAnimation/{{Grej}}'': Out of the Anti-Realists, Communalist is the only member of the group with anything resembling a moral code, although it's a sense of morality that's more similar to a eusocial species than humans. In essence, Communalist suffers more from GoodIsDumb as it's highlighted their ideology would fall apart the fastest given the reference to hoarding in the real world.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':
** The eternally cheerful Donut seems to be the only Blood Gulch soldier who doesn't openly despise the rest of the crew. The series' DesignatedHero Church even remarks that Donut is harmless and probably wouldn't hurt a fly (this is in spite of the fact that he actually killed his [admittedly, tank-driving, out-for-blood, mercenary] girlfriend). Everyone else on either team are various mixes of apathy, misanthropy, and ComedicSociopathy. Even the easy-going and friendly Caboose secretly harbors a huge dislike of Tucker, as well as a tendency to accidentally kill his own teammates.
** Doc. It's especially hilarious because the other members of his team consist of: a bomb, a robot's head, and an AI that's taken control (mostly) of Doc's armor.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** Hazel of Salem's faction. His first scene as an individual sees him helping a Oscar get a train ticket, as well as offering him some sage advice, is very soft-spoken and polite, and shows a clear disdain for unnecessary violence, as seen when he berates Adam [[spoiler: for killing Sienna Khan when they could have brought her back in line through more peaceful means]].
** Marrow Amin, the rookie member of Atlas's Ace-Ops team. While the team aren't evil, they are professionals that are bound by strict military hierarchy and will follow General Ironwood's orders even if it means doing unpleasant things. As the youngest and most inexperienced member, Marrow struggles with JustFollowingOrders and is the only one to [[spoiler: try to de-escalate the confrontation with Team RWBY]]. He also clashes with TokenEvilTeammate Harriet over whether lethal force is justified or not. He accuses her of going too far, while she yells at him for being reluctant to fight.
* Angel in ''WebAnimation/NoEvil'' seems to be allied with [[BigBad Charles]] and [[TheDragon Amaroq]], but attempts to "adopt" Kitty as Charles's mother to stop him doing bad things (admittedly by kidnapping her and taking her to Mictlan Woods, but her intentions were good, at least).
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/{{Jreg}}'':
** Depending on the definition, Ancom or Ancap could qualify. Ancom's positions are depicted as being the most reasonable of the four extremists and while the other extremists favor genocide, gulags and child sex slaves, his most unreasonable position is giving children drugs. On the other hand, Ancom is eager to assault anyone he thinks is a Nazi (which happens to be essentially everyone who isn't him). Ancap, meanwhile, while endorsing a number of morally dubious policies, is the least violent extremist [[spoiler:, lets his more moderate purple quadrant colleague Libertarian escape unharmed rather than kill him as ordered and displays far more angst over whether or not he's a good person than the rest of the extremists do]].
** Transhumanism qualifies as this for the Wackies, as while the other ones want societies that are dysfunctional and likely hellish to live in (or bring about in the case of Posadism), Transhumanism just wants to get 'that robot dick' which is far less objectionable.
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Disgaea}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flonne_laharl_etna.png]]]]

** In the ''Dungeons&Dragons'' module Prince of Lankhmar, Sabbon Draman could be this for the Legions of Doom - that is, in a group of overpowered murderous psychopaths, he is a psychopath who attempts to judge justly their prisoners, sentencing the 'guilty' to death and letting the 'innocents' go ( his colleagues routinely murder most of the 'innocents' out of is sight anyway )

Despite their high moral standards, they need not be TheHeart for the party, as they may not be interfering with their questionable activities. They can remind the others (or ''teach them'' for the first time) that there is more at stake than money, power or [[{{revenge}} personal vendettas]]. Alternately, they may be someone who simply holds themself aloof from the "debauchery" of the rest of his team. In extreme examples, they may become hated by other characters as they try to foist their ideas on the others, becoming a terribly annoying CommanderContrarian.

Alternatively, a Token Good Teammate can be found amongst a group of dastardly villains, in order for the show to make sure that the antagonist side does not go too black in terms of morality. Perhaps this character [[NobleDemon shows restraint in doing atrocious evil]], or [[ForcedIntoEvil is forced against their own will to be a bad guy]] (due to a hostage or some other leverage held by the bad guys, for example), or [[NotInThisForYourRevolution has other goals that are noble, but require them to be on the bad guys' side]], or [[MyMasterRightOrWrong is merely just following orders from the higher ups]] [[MyCountryRightOrWrong that they have sworn loyalty to]] ([[HonorBeforeReason high honor standards can cause such]]). This character has a high chance to become a sympathetic character that the audience can root for, or perhaps even [[HeelFaceTurn call it quits and jump ship to the good guys]]. They may also be the TeamFace by virtue of not being an asshole. The other members will trust them more than each other and have this character talk to the {{muggles}} when needed. In more cynical works, expect the Token Good Teammate to be [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killed off]] by the BigBad to show how ruthless they are.

* Joy from ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' is this to the emotions... she ''thinks''. Her primary function is letting Riley feel happy, and since happiness is the only "positive" emotion, that naturally means she should be in charge all the time, for Riley's sake, right? She does understand that Fear, Anger, and Disgust have their place (mostly in regards to keeping Riley safe), but views them as NecessaryEvil, and avoids letting them make memories or stand at the control panel whenever possible. She can't fathom what Sadness is there for, other than to make Riley upset, and does everything she can to even let her do her job... which leads to a ''lot'' of problems, and the main plot. [[spoiler:Joy's CharacterDevelopment is having her realize she's ''not'' the Token Good Teammate, and in fact, none of the emotions are inherently good ''or'' bad--they just ''are'', and Riley needs to be able to feel all of them in order to be a truly healthy, functional human being.]]

* Phoebus is this in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. He is a professional soldier who however has moral standards that contrast with the orders he is supposed to follow. Especially when after freeing himself, he takes leadership of the people he was ordered to oppress, and turns them on Frollo's soldiers.
* There is a deleted scene that was cut from the Disney movie ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' where a soft hearted Hun tries to rescue a canary only for them both to end up dead soon after.

A Token Good Teammate is someone in TheTeam whose greater principles stick out like a sore thumb. A typical example might be a JustifiedCriminal forced to [[GoingNative go native]] among real criminals, perhaps because of deliberate persecution or simple error by TheGovernment.