Basic Trope: Vague impressions of OT3.
- Straight: The Power Trio consists of Alice, Bob, and Charles. Alice and Bob are the Official Couple, Alice and Charles are Ship Teased, and Bob and Charles share Homoerotic Subtext. The three of them are commonly shipped.
- Exaggerated: Alice, Bob, and Charles are in a love triangle... although it's anyone's guess which of them is supposted to be the hinge.
- Downplayed: The actors have some chemistry, but the writers do little to support it.
- Justified: ???
- Inverted: The romance is actually a canonical Exotic Extended Marriage. Fans interpret this as a Unwanted Spouse scenario by all three parties.
- Subverted:
- Alice, Bob, and Charles have UST... until they get into a Love Triangle. As Alice and Bob compete for Charles's affections, they get increasingly crazy and desperate. Alice and Bob's relationship is ruined by this competition, and any subtext they once had is whipped away.
- Alice, Bob, and Charles have UST... until they enter a triad.
- Double Subverted: ...this craziness leads Charles to Screw This, I'm Outta Here. After Charles leaves, Alice and Bob make up, and start getting flirty again. Then new cutie Dan shows up—and he's their type. By now, Alice and Bob have learned that love triangles are not the way to go, so they're looking for other options...
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: The subtext results in a Broken Base.
- Averted: The couples in the work are clear, with no confusing subtext.
- Enforced:
- The writers try to keep up the drama in their show with excessive—often overlapping—Ship Teasing.
- The writers try to make every Official Couple possible because they have not yet decided what will be the Official Couple, so they tease all of them.
- Lampshaded: "With Alice, Bob, and Charles, which two of them are actually dating?"
- Invoked: Alice, Bob, and Charles are in a Love Triangle. In order to attract Alice—who they know thinks Guy on Guy Is Hot—Bob and Charles flirt with each other in front of her. Hilarity Ensues.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Their subtext attracts the attention of a swinger, whom Alice, Bob, and Charles turn down. After that, they try to not seem so couple-y.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The creator is disgusted and stops interacting with his fandom because of the shipping.
- Reconstructed: The creator makes up with the fans, and all is well, and includes more subtext in later episodes.
- Played For Laughs: Alice and Bob are a couple, and their best friend Charles is single. They go out with him and try to be his wingmen, but because of their subtext, prospective dates keep thinking Alice, Bob, and Charles are a triad, and that Charles is taken.
- Played For Drama: Despite not actually being in a relationship, their subtext means that people read Alice, Bob, and Charles and a couple, and they all face social disapproval for it. Alice is Slut Shamed for supposedly having two boyfriends. Bob and Charles face both homophobia and biphobia. And all three of them face disapproval from monogamists.
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