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Five-Man Band cleanup

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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

Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#1376: Jul 7th 2017 at 10:12:05 AM

I'm removing Five Bad Band from VideoGame.The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild, and leaving it here just in case y'all think that it's valid after all.

  • Five Bad Band: Calamity Ganon and the Blight Ganons form one.
    • Big Bad: Calamity Ganon, the progenitor of the Blight Ganons and the main threat to Hyrule.
    • The Dragon: Thunderblight Ganon, who was sent to take over the Divine Beast of Ganon's original homeland. If Link chooses to go through Hyrule Castle at the start of the game, Thunderblight Ganon will serve as Ganon's last line of defense against him.
    • The Brute: Fireblight Ganon, a large monster that relentlessly stalks Link through the arena and relies on a BFS and fire magic to fight.
    • The Evil Genius: Windblight Ganon, who flies out of Link's reach and makes use of Attack Drones to redirect its laser shots.
    • The Dark Chick: Waterblight Ganon, a passive fighter that relies on unorthodox tactics, flooding the arena, hanging upside down, throwing its blades, and copying Link's Cryonis rune.

Main issues are that these are not characters so much as manifestations of evil, and have no observable personalities, and Waterblight Ganon doesn't actually have gender any more than the others so is disqualified as the Dark Chick.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1377: Jul 30th 2017 at 7:32:12 AM

The Dark Chick doesn't have to be female, at least not in a Five Bad Band, a male Dark Chick is normally used as just the guy in a group that doesn't fit any other roles, at least that's how it's used nowadays, this is sort of an unwritten rule with the trope and I've never received any pushback from others for using all male teams. You're other criticism's seem pretty valid (I haven't played the game myself) but I just wanted to clear that up.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1378: Jul 30th 2017 at 9:02:52 AM

Here's my proposal for a Five-Man Band from The Maze Runner

  • Thomas and his friends in The Death Cure
    • The Leader: Thomas, The Hero of the story who is the unofficial leader of the team.
    • The Lancer: Newt, Thomas' best friend and most trusted ally.
    • The Smart Guy: Jorge, Who's knowledge of WICKED and the outside world are invaluable to the group.
    • The Big Guy: Minho, Thomas' other friend who's much stronger and aggressive than the rest of the group.
    • The Chick: Brenda, Thomas' Love Interest who provides emotional support for him and usually is the one to break up arguments among the group.

acrobox Since: Nov, 2010
#1379: Jul 30th 2017 at 9:04:14 AM

"guy who doesn't fit any other roles" lead to a lot of misuse was part of the reason Dark Chick went through a redefinition to be more directly the evil counterpart of the The Chick and to be able to exist as a stand alone trope outside of the band.

That's part of the reason why there's been a debate about whether to change the lineup of Bad Band to be Big Bad / Dragon / Evil Genius / Brute / Wacky Guy - or whether the FBB is even a thing at all beyond FMB but evil.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1380: Jul 30th 2017 at 10:28:28 AM

I understand what you're saying, I was going off of how I use the trope and how I frequently see it used. The Wacky Guy is a good replacement for The Dark Chick in scenarios where the character in question isn't female, but that would make a lot of examples currently listed misuse as a lot of people use it for "the other guy" or even the least malicious member of the group. The question is really how similar we want Five Bad Band to be to Five-Man Band, the more similar we want it to be the more it should have the same gender restrictions and the more it probably should be locked to editing. The current page description makes me feel that we should lock the pages and add gender restrictions which would probably require it's own cleanup form.

Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#1381: Jul 30th 2017 at 1:56:13 PM

I'm pretty sure The Dark Chick actually has to be female since it's described as a foil to The Chick.

lexicon Since: May, 2012
#1382: Jul 31st 2017 at 4:02:24 AM

"the guy in a group that doesn't fit any other roles" doesn't count for anything. That is clear misuse.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1383: Jul 31st 2017 at 11:10:21 PM

Alright then we should probably lock Five Bad Band and start cleaning it up to remove any non female dark chicks and other misuse.

edited 31st Jul '17 11:23:24 PM by papyru30

ChaoticNovelist Since: Jun, 2010
#1384: Aug 1st 2017 at 11:11:13 AM

[up] I support that.

Also, "Thomas and his friends in The Death Cure" looks alright to me.

acrobox Since: Nov, 2010
#1385: Aug 4th 2017 at 7:57:29 AM

i more support axing the Bad Band and just making those tropes addtional classes of the regular Band.

I.e. The Brute is just a class 6 Big Guy, or the Evil Genius is a type of Smart Guy, the Dark Chick is even by name a type of Chick (which still needs to be updated).

There's no reason a team of five needs a different name just because they're evil if they fill the same thematic archetypes.

If Bad Band sticks around, i'd rather see the Wacky Guy join the formation, since if it's a Dark Chick it's really just a The Same But More Specific Five-Man Band but evil

edited 4th Aug '17 8:05:04 AM by acrobox

ChaoticNovelist Since: Jun, 2010
#1386: Aug 4th 2017 at 1:19:53 PM

[up] Are you suggesting that we merge Five Bad Band into Five-Man Band? If so, that is definitely a bridge too far. Five Bad Band may or may nor stand on its own but it is certainly distinct enough to avoid being merged. For instance, the plot role of an Evil Genius is different from the plot role of The Smart Guy and The Big Guy is distinct from The Brute etc. The biggest difference is a Villains Act, Heroes React angle but the nitty gritty is also different (although that is heavily influenced by the specific example).

edited 4th Aug '17 1:20:22 PM by ChaoticNovelist

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#1387: Aug 4th 2017 at 5:16:19 PM

Honestly, if we were to get rid of Five Bad Band, it would make more sense to cut it altogether than to merge it into Five-Man Band. The roles are reasonably different - the real issue is how often, if ever, they actually appear in this configuration.

PricklyVermian Since: Nov, 2016 Relationship Status: Playing Cupid
#1389: Aug 12th 2017 at 7:44:23 PM

Here's my proposal for a Five-Man Band from Waynehead

edited 19th Sep '17 2:45:17 PM by PricklyVermian

My pm system has been turned off.
papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1390: Aug 12th 2017 at 8:59:19 PM

Prickly Vermain you need an explanation for each position when you propose an example.

Also I feel that merging Five Bad Band with Five-Man Band isn't a good idea because they use completely different tropes and serve a different role in the story. I would be easier from an organizational standpoint.

edited 12th Aug '17 9:26:08 PM by papyru30

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1391: Aug 13th 2017 at 6:08:20 PM

We should figure out weather The Wacky Guy is a possible stand in for The Dark Chick or if we should keep it to being only females.

acrobox Since: Nov, 2010
#1392: Aug 13th 2017 at 10:27:45 PM

i feel like the wacky guy is what would actually make it fully distinct from FMB.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1393: Aug 21st 2017 at 4:14:56 PM

This Five-Man Band from The Maze Runner was kind of ignored so I'm reposting it.

  • Thomas and his friends in The Death Cure
    • The Leader: Thomas, The Hero of the story who is the unofficial leader of the team.
    • The Lancer: Newt, Thomas' best friend and most trusted ally, who's much quieter and less level headed than Thomas.
    • The Smart Guy: Jorge, Who's knowledge of WICKED and the outside world are invaluable to the group.
    • The Big Guy: Minho, Thomas' other friend who's much stronger and aggressive than the rest of the group.
    • The Chick: Brenda, Thomas' Love Interest who provides emotional support for him and usually is the one to break up arguments among the group.

Edited by papyru30 on Aug 12th 2019 at 12:17:45 PM

ChaoticNovelist Since: Jun, 2010
#1394: Aug 22nd 2017 at 10:36:54 AM

[up] It looks mostly good but I'd like more detail on Newt's personality. The Lancer is supposed to set a contrast; being the best friend is simply an easy way to make that contrast apparent.

WaterBlap Blapper of Water Since: May, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Blapper of Water
#1395: Sep 10th 2017 at 10:19:56 AM

I just saw this TLP draft dating back from 2012 and I'm not sure if it has any value as a supertrope to Five-Man Band; the draft is titled "Two Pairs Of Foils And A Mediator". I thought I'd mention it here because it apparently used to be a part of the clean-up effort but it's been five years since it started and two years since anybody commented on it (other than me just now, that is).

edited 10th Sep '17 10:20:23 AM by WaterBlap

Look at all that shiny stuff ain't they pretty
acrobox Since: Nov, 2010
#1396: Sep 10th 2017 at 12:45:39 PM

i just commented on it. i don't think it has much value beyond the idea of mediators and foils in a group generally. but not any sort of band with roles since that's all pretty much covered by The Team.

ChaoticNovelist Since: Jun, 2010
#1397: Sep 12th 2017 at 11:09:14 AM

[up] [up] I remember that proposed trope. I think it had potential as part of a clean up but now I'm wary of introducing a new assemble because of all the ZCEs that I see.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1398: Sep 13th 2017 at 9:05:21 PM

[up][up][up] The issue with that is that there isn't always two pairs of foils in a five person group. The Evil Genius and The Brute are foils in most teams but since the Big Bad is almost certainly the moderator this leaves The Dark Chick and The Dragon to be foils which doesn't usually happen. This may work as it's own trope but it certainly isn't a Super-Trope to the Five-Man Band.

papyru30 from Colorado for summer break Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#1399: Sep 13th 2017 at 9:15:57 PM

Also I edited my previous proposal for a Five-Man Band to better explain Newts personality in comparison to Thomas'.

ChaoticNovelist Since: Jun, 2010
#1400: Sep 15th 2017 at 7:08:13 AM

[up] It looks better now, in my opinion.


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