Five-Man Band has been receiving a lot of misuse. As was concluded in this TRS thread
, it needs a massive cleanup. There are over 30 subpages and almost 3500 wicks to be gone through. This thread is for organizing the cleanup effort and discussing any and all examples to be added and cut.
What is correct use of the trope?
- The characters must be part of a team, that is, a team dynamic must exist between members of the band.
- There must be exactly 5 team members
Format for examples
In an effort to cut down on misuse as well as get rid of all the Zero Context Examples, we are trying to shift all examples to the following format. If you are familiar with a current work and can do a writeup for it, please do so and post it here.
The sandbox for sorting examples is here.
Completed
Subpages:
- Other (Moved and redirected to a Just for Fun page, as that is what is was acting as.)
Still needs work
Wicks (Related To page
):
- B-V
I will keep this post updated with the progress made, and any other needed information.
Edited by MacronNotes on May 19th 2022 at 8:59:40 AM
If changed to The Team, then add more context for The Chick. Being "the only girl" is not The Chick, that is the Smurfette Principle and it is not a "team" role.
For The Chick, Kono starts fresh out of the academy with only a handful of experience in law enforcement. She knows how to subdue a suspect peacefully, unlike Steve.
From Prison School.
- Five-Man Band: The five male students form one quite nicely.
- The Leader: Kiyoshi, the main protagonist and the one most determined for the group to escape.
- The Lancer: Shingo, a delinquent who is quick to sell out the others for his own benefit.
- The Big Guy: Andre, the biggest of the five and quite possibly the second strongest character in the series after Meiko. Gakuto even compares him to Lu Bu's crimson steed at one point.
- The Smart Guy: Gakuto, the self-described "modern day tactician" who comes up with the majority of the group's plans.
- The Chick: Jo, the one with the weakest constitution and otherwise the biggest oddball of the five.
Jo is a man, so he can't be The Chick in this case. And from read the manga I already know Gakuto is closer to The Lancer than Shingo is.
could just need the roles to shift around;.
Change it to The Team. Make Shingo like The Sneaky Guy or Token Evil Teammate. Gakuto The Lancer with some Smart Guy traits. make Jo the Plucky Comic Relief? if that's closer to what the actual group dynamics are.
Plucky Comic Relief is not a team role but an ensemble archetype. Furthermore, The Team is not a dumping ground for main casts that don't fit Five-Man Band. Unless Jo does something to contribute to the group's goal than it is not The Team.
If they are a Team, they can go on The Team. The post indicates that they are indeed a team, just not an FMB.
Also Plucky Comic Relief is a team role. The very first line in the description is 'also known as ... The Funny Guy." See also Party Members under The Index Team.
And granted thats not the most flattering way to put it, but the team is essentially a dumping ground for non-FMB teams, because people used to and still do, incorrectly use FMB just to list the groups main dynamics even if they don't fit at all, leading to shoehorning, misuse and other problems. But when you move something from FMB to Team, you should give team roles that fit. If you don't have it off top of your head, pulling from Party Members is a good place to start.
I proposed and launched The Team for that purpose.
edited 16th Aug '16 6:11:07 PM by acrobox
My mistake. I have made that explicit on the Plucky Comic Relief's page.
Yes, I recognize that The Team was created to help solve FMB misuse but we don't want to simply move misuse from one page to another. "This is a list of the show's cast and a random collection of ensemble archetypes that fits each character to some degree" is hardly a trope. My intention was to prevent The Team from needing this sort of thread in the future.
The two examples from Only Fools and Horses use seven people each, and: The Chick of the second group is a dude:
- The Leader: Del Boy
- The Lancer: Rodney (also a secondary Smart Guy)
- The Smart Guy: Uncle Albert (also a secondary Big Guy)
- The Big Guy: Grandad
- The Chick: Cassandra
- Team Mom: Raquel
- Tagalong Kid: Damien
- The Leader: Del Boy
- The Lancer: Boycie
- The Smart Guy: Jumbo Mills
- The Big Guy: Trigger
- The Chick: Denzil
- The Sixth Ranger: Albie Littlewood
- The Mentor: Alberto Balsam
Also the Power Rangers examples all include The Mentor and Mission Control. Is that the right protocol?
Nope not protocol.
The Five-Man Band rules as I understand them now is that it must be
- 5 who clearly fit the roles (Leader, Lancer, Big, Smart, Chick) no shoehorning.
- Exception: If a pair of characters often function as The Dividual (see R2 and 3PO from Star Wars) they can be listed in one role.
- Chick is mandatory female.
- Overall gender ratio must be 4:1 male, or 3:2 male.
- If you have all of the above, you can add Sixth Ranger.
If you stretch it any further with roles, members, or gender ratios from there it stops being an FMB, and becomes The Team if all the characters listed actually still work and identify as being on the same team.
For these examples you could move to The Team, and it would be even better if you could add context to reduce ZCE's around the site.
edited 24th Sep '16 4:51:23 PM by acrobox
Well technically I can't cause those pages are locked. I don't think sitcom ensembles really fit The Team trope.
There's a thread for requesting edits for locked pages in the FAQ subforum. I'd link it, but I'm too lazy to do that on mobile atm.
If they don't fit The Team, just delete it.
Someone add Five-Man Band to Undertale.Tropes A To G and it looks really iffy to me.
Found this on Fools' Guild:
- Five-Man Band: The Fools in Byzantium are this.
- The Hero: Theophilos/Feste.
- The Lancer: Claudia/Aglaia.
- The Smart Guy: Rico.
- The Big Guy: Plossus 'the Colossus'. Okay, it's because he's a stiltwalker, but still...
- The Sixth Ranger: Xintziphitzes.
..no idea if it applies, but doesn't look like it, so I'm deleting it and putting it on the discussion page. But maybe someone else knows more.
Would this work as a Five Bad Band?:
- Sharpe's Honour
- Big Bad: Napoleon Bonaparte, as the other villains act with his approval
- The Dragon: Major Pierre Ducos, Sharpe's Arch-Enemy who commands the others on the behalf of Napoleon
- Evil Genius: Father Hacha, a Sinister Minister who is trying to stir up support for France among the upper class and clergy of Spain against the English
- The Brute: El Matarife, a partisan leader who is the most bloodthirsty person in the scheme
- Dark Chick: La Marquesa, who is coerced into participating in Ducos' plan and is regarded as expendable once Sharpe is framed
edited 4th Nov '16 9:58:22 PM by k410ren
"I'll show you the Dark Side." CM actors and killsi dunno, Dragon-in-Chief is by definition a type of Dragon. I think it fits.
edited 4th Nov '16 11:08:00 PM by acrobox
On the other hand, though, it's a pretty strong indicator that the actual Big Bad is not really part of a "band" with the others - which is the impression I was getting here anyway.
And anyway, I rather suspect the work here portrays Napoleon as the Greater-Scope Villain, not the Big Bad.
edited 5th Nov '16 3:10:12 AM by nrjxll
Deleted this from Daily Life With Monster Girl MON
- Five-Man Band
- The Leader: Ms. Smith tends to be the one orchestrating how things should play out, though being human leaves her typically unable to directly assist.
- The Lancer: Zombina, being declared the group's commander, is in charge of more immediate matters for MON while actively working.
- The Smart Guy: Doppel; being required to know how she needs to look and act to deceive enemies puts her in this role.
- The Big Girl: Shared between Manako and Tionishia. Manako has shown the ability to quickly disable a large number of enemies, while Tionishia is noted to be the strongest of the group and utilizes that strength to bypass things like walls.
- The Chick: Shared between Manako and Tionishia. Manako feels that she's not really considered part of the group for being required to stay at a distance and her specialty requires the element of surprise so she can't repeatedly assist the group on the same mission. Tionishia, despite her strength, is more used simply to guard and escort hostages and can be seen trying to keep the group from fighting amongst themselves and attempting to boost morale, especially Manako's.
Both of those (Five Man and Five Bad together) have bad examples of The Chick and Dark Chick; more of that "chick is useless" sort of thing.
i hate to bring up again but the chick sandbox? anybody? can we make a move on this?
I don't understand the line, "Especially proactive chicks combine the role with The Lancer, acting as feminine foil to the main hero." Didn't we agree that it's one role per character and one character per role?

too many people with the Tagalong Kid anyway. change it to The Team.
edited 26th Jul '16 12:47:23 PM by acrobox