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Usually a Power Trio of secondary characters, if there are three of them chances are one will be large and/or fat, one will be skinny, and one will be short. The big one will generally be good-natured, and the short one will generally be grumpy.

Sister Trope to Fat and Skinny and Big Guy, Little Guy. Compare with Terrible Trio, which is usually composed of two "skinny" and one "short" member.

Examples of Big, Thin, Short Trio include:


Anime & Manga[]

  • The three other kids in the "Boy Detectives" in Detective Conan. Big/Fat kid, skinny kid, short kid who is also the girl.
  • Arguably, the three sister goddesses, Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld, from Ah! My Goddess! Skuld is short, Belldandy is skinny, and while Urd is only slightly taller than Belldandy, she has a much more voluptuous figure.
  • Somewhat averted in R.O.D the TV: Michelle is buxom and bubbly, Maggie is quiet and thin, and Anita is small, young, and grumpy.
  • Warera, Konda, and Rori respectively, from Super Dimension Fortress Macross, aka Bron, Konda, and Rico from Robotech
  • Eyeshield 21 has a few:
    • Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku.
    • Kurita, Hiruma, and Sena.
    • Yamabushi, Unsui/Agon, and Ikkyu to an extent.
  • Jose(big), Placido(skinny) and Lucciano(short) from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Although the usual personalities for the short and big ones are inverted here as Jose is the grumpy one, and sort of good-natured Lucciano.
  • Foxy (short), Porche (skinny) and Hamburg (big) from One Piece. Foxy isn't that much shorter than Porche, but still he is about the height of Luffy which makes him VERY short for a grown-up male (Porche is female) One Piece character.
    • The 3 Captains: Eustass Kidd (big & muscular), Trafalgar Law (lean) and Monkey D.Luffy (short..even shorter after he used his Gear)
  • Ed, Al and Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist are this for the bulk of the story. Al is obviously big, while Winry, due to only being a teenager, still has a rather slight figure, and Ed is The Napoleon.

Comic Books[]

  • Big Figure, Lawrence and Michael from Watchmen. Big Figure is short, Lawrence is fat and Michael is thin, or at least not short or fat...
  • Colossus (Big), Nigthcrawler (Thin) and Wolverine (Short) from Chris Claremont's X-Men
  • Marvel Comics' Enforcers: Big (Ox), skinny (Montana), short (Fancy Dan)
  • Casper's three uncles from the comics/movie.
  • Patience, Prudence and Plenty, the ladies-in-waiting of Castle Waiting.
  • Mac, Tony and Tim in Les Innommables.
  • The Bad Lads, Boss-short, Knuck-big and Fingers-thin from now-defunct UK comic The Beezer.


Film[]

  • The three Strangers in Dark City, Mr. Wall is tall, Mr. Hand is thin and Mr. Sleep is short.
  • Fezzik, Inigo and Vizzini in The Princess Bride.
  • The Olsen Gang: Egon (short), Benny (thin), Kjeld (fat).
  • Shakey (short), Salty (thin) and Mooch (big) from Alpha and Omega are a heroic comic relief version of the trope.


Literature[]

  • Boggis, Bunce and Bean ("one short, one fat, one lean") from The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
  • Eric Bacon, Eric Fry, and Eric Ovens from the Wayside School books. Eric Bacon is short but not fat, Eric Fry is fat but not short, and Eric Ovens is short and fat.


Live Action TV[]


Video Games[]

  • Haggis McMutton, Edward Van Helgen and Cutthroat Bill, Guybrush's crew in The Curse of Monkey Island.
  • The Magus Sisters in Final Fantasy IV (reappearing in Final Fantasy X).
  • Kirby's three main level helpers in Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards. Waddle Dee is short, Adeline is skinny and King Dedede is big. Ribbon is also one of Kirby's supporters, but she doesn't show up to help in levels except to grab Crystal Shards.
  • While Fatal Fury's Kim Kaphwan isn't particularly skinny, he cast himself in the thin role by teaming up with big Chang and short Choi in The King of Fighters.
  • Snips, Ronk, and Papes from The Legendary Starfy fit this. Snips is skinny, Ronk is big, and Papes is short.
  • The Shadow Sirens — Vivian (thin), Marilyn (big), and Beldam (short)—from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
  • Tibarn (large), Janaff (short), and Ulki (thin) from Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. In this particular example, the short one, while certainly not calm, is friendly and likes joking quite a bit, and is clearly the least serious member of the group. Also, while the large one is certainly heroic, he is also extremely aggressive and revenge-prone.
  • Violen (Big), Agile (Thin) and Serges (Short) from Mega Man X 2
  • Feedback (short), Goggles (thin) and Lugnut (big) from Toonstruck.
  • Jugger, Kindle, and Koal, the Terrible Trio from Advance Wars: Dual Strike.
  • The three customers from Mighty Math: Zoo Zillions: Bear (big), Camel (short), and Horn Bird (thin).
  • The boys from the Edmark Early Learning Series: Bailey (big), Sammy (thin), and Stanley (short).


Webcomics[]

  • Problem Sleuth, Ace Dick and Pickle Inspector, from Problem Sleuth.
  • Cucumber Quest
    • The three sidekicks: Almond (short), Sir Carrot (thin), and Commander Caboodle (big).
    • The BLT trio: Bacon (short), Lettuce (thin), and Tomato (big).


Western Animation[]

  • In Mulan: fellow recruit characters Yao (short), Ling (thin), and Chien-Po (large and fat). They also conform to grumpy/good-natured personality pattern.
  • Bobby, Squit and Pesto, the three Goodfeathers pigeons from Animaniacs.
  • Chow, Finn and Ratso in Jackie Chan Adventures (short, thin and big respectively).
  • Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.
  • Flora, Fauna and Merriweather, the good fairies from Sleeping Beauty.
  • The Trio from Gargoyles. Broadway is the good-natured fat guy. Brooklyn is lean muscle, but one less charitable gargoyle described him as "scrawny". Lexington is short, though maybe more prissy than grumpy.
  • Jimbo (skinny), Dolph (short), and Kearney (large) from The Simpsons
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox: Boggis and Bunce and Bean/ One fat, one short, one lean...
  • The three guards of Agrabah who show up most often in the Aladdin series. There are more guards, but the three main guards are Razoul (big), Hakim (skinny) and Fazal (short and fat).
  • Taurus Bulba's goons Hammerhead, Hoof and Mouth in the first two episodes of Darkwing Duck.
  • Cars apparantly features three types of pitty (forklift) body styles: tall(ie. Guido), short(ie. My Name is Not Chuck), and wide(ie. Wide Chick Pitty).
  • Misha, Yasha, and Vladamir from Make Mine Music.
  • The Toad (short and bad-tempered) and his henchrats Spike (thin) and Whitey (big and good-natured) from Flushed Away.
  • Chungu (big), Janja (thin), and Cheezi (short, and thin) from The Lion Guard.
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