My Favorite Teams and Group Dynamics
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| Image description: The Fellowship of the Ring from J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, as portrayed here in the films by Peter Jackson. From top left going clockwise, we have Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Gimli, Pippin, Merry, Frodo, and Sam, one of the most quintessential teams in all of literature and film. Naturally, it was only appropriate that they be the group that represents this post, which is all about, well, my favorite groups and teams, of course! |
So instead, I’ve chosen to fall back on the tactic of giving
myself a slightly more fun and lighthearted topic to blog about before
Thanksgiving and the subsequent little break I give myself around the end of
every November. For instance, last year my post was all about my favorite
mentor/mentee relationships in media; the year before that, it was another
edition of my ongoing lists of quirky asexual and/or aromantic headcanon
characters. As you can see, when I do these posts, I love to explore my
favorite non-romantic characters or my favorite non-romantic relationships to
add a little levity to the blog’s otherwise very detailed analysis.
This year, I’m choosing the latter. I go on and on about
friendships on this blog, but usually when I do friendship posts, I tend to
stick to dynamic duos. However, there are so many amazing groups, teams, and
friendships involving more than two people that we see throughout our media,
and so I thought it would be fun to dedicate a post entirely to them. Something
I’m always thankful for each and every year are the friendships I have in my
life, so what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to highlight some
amazing bonds in media? I hope you’ll join me today as I take a look at a few
of those special relationships and why they mean so much to me.
Mulan and her
fellow soldiers in Mulan
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| Image description: Mulan is embraced by Chien Po, Yao, and Ling after they collectively save the day through their unconventional warfare at the end of the eternally brilliant 1998 animated gem, Mulan, one of my all-time favorite Disney films. |
There are several times on this blog where I have mentioned growing up during the Disney Renaissance and where I have praised many of the incredible movies found within this time period. Once or twice on the blog, I have also mentioned that one of my favorite movies from this time period is 1998’s Mulan, and I’ve been thinking about the movie a lot lately. During a recent vacation with my best friends from adolescence, we sat down to watch Mulan for old-times sake, and it is honestly mind-blowing how good this movie is and still continues to be, even now that I’m an adult in my thirties.
There is a lot about Mulan that I wish we could see
more of in media, from the way its not afraid to take big swings (the scene of
the destroyed village is absolutely haunting, for instance, in a way I
seriously doubt modern Disney would be willing to do) to the way it fleshes out
every single one of its characters to the way it portrays Mulan herself. I
don’t want to derail what is otherwise supposed to be a fun and lighthearted
post, but I will briefly pause to mention that a lot of modern media – Disney included
– tends to grate on people’s nerves because of its unwillingness to confront
more serious themes, instead relying on humor or quips to try and endear a
character to us. Mulan is a masterpiece primarily because, even though
it has funny moments and comedic relief in spades (thanks largely to Eddie
Murphy’s voicing of the “travel-sized” dragon Mushu), it doesn’t rely on these
things to prop up the story; what drives the story forward is that spectacular
character development.
The story centers on Fa Mulan, a young woman in China whose
life is turned upside down when the invasion of the Hun army leads to one man
from every family being drafted to serve as Imperial soldiers. Since the Fa
family has no sons, this duty falls to Mulan’s war veteran father, who is no
longer fit to fight and will doubtless be killed if he goes into battle.
Desperate to save him, Mulan flies in the face of law, tradition, and honor,
disguising herself as a man in order to take her father’s place. Although she
initially struggles to fit into the army and is ridiculed by her fellow
soldiers, she is eventually able to win their trust – first as her alter ego,
Fa Ping, and then as herself.
A huge theme of Mulan is the limitations that are
placed on the titular character by her society and how these expectations do
not fit who she is, nor do they reflect who she wants to be. In fact, I covered
her in my post all about characters who are not normal, discussing how the
things that make Mulan different turn out to be exactly what’s needed to save
the day. In that post, I also briefly mentioned enjoying the friendships Mulan
finds during her time in the army, and I think these dynamics bear exploring
first and foremost in this post.
When Mulan first joins the army as Fa Ping, she encounters
three other soldiers named Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, all of whom she manages to
alienate almost immediately thanks to her clumsiness and general
fish-out-of-water mentality. However, something I’ve always loved is that this
initial hostility doesn’t need a major catalyst to begin thawing out; it is
eventually replaced with camaraderie as an inevitable result of training
together. While training begins with the other soldiers still treating Mulan as
an outsider, they eventually begin to gain respect for her and even root for
her when they see her dedication to accomplishing the camp-wide impossible task
– retrieving an arrow from the top of a tall wooden pole while being strapped
down with two heavy weights.
The fact that they are already rooting for Mulan to succeed
when they see how far she's gone to accomplish this task is proof that their
respect for her isn’t tied to the actual act of accomplishing it. Instead, the
three men come to respect her for her tenacity and her unwillingness to quit,
and eventually they come to apologize for their earlier treatment of her,
starting anew as friends and comrades. Of course, when all of this happens, the
three men think Mulan is a man, and so it might be easy to think they’d feel a
sense of betrayal upon learning her true identity, but this is not the case
either.
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| Image description: Mulan and her friends during the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" |
As I mentioned in my “Characters Who Aren’t Normal” post, the men’s respect for Mulan does not fade when they discover she’s a woman, despite the sexist attitudes they themselves have held in the past. Despite knowing that what Mulan did was not only a violation of the law but a massive violation of the honor and morality of their society, the three soldiers are horrified by the idea that Mulan could be executed for it, and are utterly despondent when she’s left behind in the mountains. It’s clear that being hailed as heroes is now deeply unappealing to them when they know that it was Mulan’s bravery and quick-thinking that saved them, and when she returns later to warn them that the Huns are in the city, they believe her unquestioningly.
The fact that Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po are completely willing
to throw aside everything they once knew and believed in order to support Mulan
is beautiful to me. They know Mulan is brave, loyal, and true, despite having
only known her up until that point as Ping, and all the trust they had in Ping
they are able to effortlessly transfer to Mulan when they learn her true
identity. It’s proof that their friendship and camaraderie was not inherently
tied to this one thing, nor can it only exist between them as men. Rather, it
can exist as an amazing platonic bond of trust and mutual support, inspiring
them to break out of their previously limited ways of thinking. Mulan’s
friendship helps the three men become better, just as their support helps her
grow and help her save the day. It’s the unique talents of all three of them
combined and the things they learn together that allow them to do what
otherwise seems impossible.
Another thing I’ve always loved about the movie and have
especially loved about this core friendship is the fact that what saves the day
is a blending of roles. At the beginning of the movie, Mulan is set up for
failure by being pushed into the stereotypes and stereotypical roles expected
of her gender, feeling inadequate due to the fact that she can’t meet them and
lamenting that her failure to conform to these norms make her, by the standards
of the world around her, a bad daughter. Later, she flourishes as a soldier,
but the stereotypically masculine pursuits of the army and the way they are
taught to be men likewise don’t entirely fit her. In the end, what triumphs is
the blending of roles.
While of course Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po dressing as women is
played for laughs as they and Mulan sneak into the Emperor’s palace after the
Huns invade, there is a deeper layer to this plot point. The men are not able
to break into the palace through brute force alone; just like Mulan could not
succeed when locked into the stereotypically feminine role in their society,
neither can they succeed when only approaching it with stereotypically masculine
force. They have to blend the two in order to succeed and the fact that they
trust Mulan enough to do this makes all the difference. These three men truly
value and cherish her enough that they are willing to risk everything to follow
her, including putting aside their old beliefs to embrace new ones. I can’t
think of anything more special than that.
The Counters
from The Uncanny Counter
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| Image description: The Counters posing for a picture together in their red tracksuits. From left to right - Mae-ok, Ha-na, Mun, and Mo-tak. |
Whenever I talk about Korean dramas on this blog – or indeed on my secondary blog entirely dedicated to them – you’ll probably notice that almost every show I talk about is dubbed with the moniker “one of my favorites.” This is both entirely true and entirely not my fault, since a huge majority of the K-Dramas I’ve seen are spectacular in one way or another. Not only do these shows often combine terrific writing, amazing and perfectly balanced plot, engaging and gripping characters, and brilliant acting, but these shows often catch my attention for how often they focus on a diverse array of relationships.
While of course there are many K-Dramas that center on
romance (and I’ve discussed before how the best K-Dramas portray such a thing),
there are just as many that focus on friendships, family dynamics, platonic
bonds, and yes, incredible teams. In fact, so many of my favorite dramas thrive
on spectacular teams that – as with K-Dramas themselves – it’s difficult to
pick a singular favorite. But, if I had to go with one team that always warms
my heart, it would be the Counters, a group of demon hunters with special
powers who, during the day, act as simple noodle shop workers in the 2020
series, The Uncanny Counter.
As stated, the show follows the Counters as they endeavor to
stop evil spirits from taking over human hosts
and stealing the lives of the innocent, and each Counter brings a unique power to
the table. This is accomplished thanks to each of them playing host to guardian
spirits that give them these powers, which range from advanced strength to
healing powers. The team is quite literally incomplete without any single
member, but it’s not just that they need everyone’s powers; rather, the team is
like a family to each other, and it shows. The series begins with one of the
Counters being slain by a high-level spirit and, although he is shown only
briefly, we are easily able to see how much the other Counters cared for him
and are deeply affected by his death.
Following this Counter’s death, the spirit guardian within
him is forced to seek a new host quickly and is drawn to a high school boy by
the name of So Mun, who is shocked to find he is now in possession of
extraordinary powers. This eventually leads him to the Counters, who gladly
accept him into their ranks, especially once he’s proven his special powers.
Eventually the bond between Mun and his fellow Counters becomes deep and
loving, with all of them coming to genuinely care about one another as they
fight to save their city from the demons that have started to take over.
One of my favorite things about the bond of the Counters is
that they, in many respects, are a family unit, but this doesn’t erase other
bonds they have outside of the group, nor does it mean that anyone is limited
by what might otherwise be their “family” role. For example, one of the
Counters is a woman named Mae-ok, who spirit guardian is actually her own
deceased son. As such, she often fills the motherly role more often than not,
but in her interactions with her son’s spirit and in the way she treats and
cares for Mun. But just because Mae-ok is the mother of the group doesn’t mean
she is limited in any way, nor does it mean the other Counters neatly fall into
other parent and child roles. I think this really allows their bonds to
flourish organically and makes it even more believable that they all care for
each other as much as they do. It makes every action scene more rewarding to
watch how this little found family fights for and defends each other, and makes
the stakes higher both in this season and in the second season, appropriately
called “Counter Punch.”
Another reason I gladly picked The Uncanny Counter to
discuss today is that the Counters aren’t even the only dynamic that would fit
this post. For instance, the guardian spirits that give the Counters their powers are a sweet group in and of themselves, and even before he becomes a
Counter, Mun is part of an amazing trio of friends. All three of these groups
are a mix of genders, and the Counters and the spirits are a mix of age ranges
as well, making this one of the best series I’ve ever seen – both K-Drama and
otherwise – when it comes to elevating platonic relationships to an important
height. Couple this with the fact that there is very little romance in the
series and even more friendships and family relationships spread throughout the
story and you have something unique.
The Fellowship
of the Ring from The Lord of the Rings series
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| Image description: The Fellowship sets out on their epic quest in The Lord of the Rings |
Something I always love in media is when a group of characters is presented in which each individual member of the group is unique, important, and fleshed out. It’s not easy in any story to keep track of multiple characters, let alone make them all stand out so that we care about each of them as distinct people and also as a unit. This is even harder to do in a complicated story such as a fantasy series with lots of plot points, plenty of other characters, and complex lore. So any example of this done perfectly would doubtless come from a truly top-tier fantasy series, created by a master – and so it’s not surprising that one of the best examples I can think of for this notion is the Fellowship of the Ring, the group that is tasked with getting the Ring of Power to the fires of Mount Doom in J.R.R Tolkien’s epic fantasy series, The Lord of the Rings.
Something I’ve always loved about the Fellowship is the
diversity of the group, as several different fantasy races and walks of life
are represented in its number. We start the story with the four hobbits Merry,
Pippin, Sam, and the ringbearer himself, Frodo Baggins, who I also discussed as
part of my “Characters Who Aren’t Normal” series. From there, they are joined
by Gandalf the wizard, Gimli the dwarven warrior, Aragorn the future king, Boromir
the heir of the Steward of Gondor, and Legolas the elven prince and archer (the
latter two of whom I’ve included in previous “Quirky Aspec Headcanons” posts).
But the diversity of the Fellowship isn’t just a coincidence or a happenstance. While writing this post and thinking about these groups, I went down something of a rabbit hole and discovered fascinating scholarship entirely dedicated to the idea of why the Fellowship (or the “Company of the Ring”) were deliberately crafted to be this way. For years, Tolkien scholars have pointed out that this attribute is the entire point of the Fellowship, not only because they represent the various races of Middle-Earth, but because they purposely stand in stark contrast to the evil Ringwraiths of the story, the homogenous group who seek to take back the ring and are corrupted by its power. The Ringwraiths are enslaved to the ring and thus are a group, but each working for their own desires; the Fellowship, on the other hand, is comprised of diverse people working together for a common cause, as any good community should be.
[Spoilers!] This is further underscored by the fact that this is a group bound by friendship to undertake this vital quest, and they make several sacrifices for one another along the way. From Gandalf’s sacrifice in the Mines of Moria to Boromir’s death at the hands of the orcs in order to protect the others, these heroic sacrifices are tender, moving, and heartfelt, all done from a place of genuine brotherhood. Few scenes in media of any kind have made me cry the way Boromir’s death at the end of the book that shares the group’s name, and this is largely because of the camaraderie that unites these men. The genuine sorrow that Boromir’s death elicits and the tenderheartedness with which they mourn him are all deeply moving, and are allowed to be highlighted in ways that are deliberately profound.
The end of the first novel sees the Fellowship of the Ring
broken, but many of these same scholars point out that even after this event,
the group splits into smaller groups, still acting as communities that rely on
one another’s strengths and weaknesses alike. One Tolkien scholar, Ariel
Little, notes “the deep affection of the Fellowship breaks down racial and
cultural barriers,” such as the ones that would otherwise exist between species
that are hostile to one another, like elves and dwarves. For that reason,
there is something almost beautifully utopian about the Fellowship in that,
despite the trials they have within the group, they all come to forge such terrific
and meaningful bonds with each other. I wish more stories had teams like the
Fellowship, and that we had more such teams in real life as well.
Bonus: BTS
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| Image description: A silhouette shot of BTS during one of their concerts. From left to right - RM, V, Jin, Suga, Jimin, Jung Kook, and J-Hope. |
If there is any group that comes close to the energy of the Fellowship in real life, it would have to be BTS, the seven-member Korean superstar band. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a proud ARMY (BTS’s fandom name), but I wouldn’t be nearly as devoted a fan if it weren’t for the camaraderie between the seven young men who make the group possible. Since BTS are not characters in media but real people, it makes their team dynamic so much more complicated than the already complex and fascinating dynamics that we’ve discussed today, but I believe that only serves to make them more worthy of a section in this post. Like many teams, BTS started off as seven separate individuals with different lives, skill sets, goals, and backgrounds. They came from different parts of South Korea, where they all lived different lifestyles, and yet came together to form one incredible team, all through respecting each other’s skills and helping one another flourish.
Some members were specifically there to sing, while other
had aptitude in dance. Others were brought on for their acting ability or
striking looks, while the core of the team – originally formed as a hip hop
group – was its three rappers. Some of the members had skill in songwriting and
producing while others had to pick up these skills from the others. The rappers
taught their vocalist brothers how to do hip hop while those with dancing
aptitude helped the others become skilled and
precise dancers. Eventually, when their concept became more pop focused than
solely hip-hop, the rappers learned how to integrate with the singers more
frequently and the singers helped each other hone their craft.
Together, they went from seven young men to trainees
struggling to debut, then became new idols trying to find success despite the
odds being stacked against them, to a band that discovered both success and
hardship, to a team that began taking the world by storm. None of this would be
possible without the brotherhood they share, something which is even more
pronounced due to certain social morays of Korean culture that bring this
fellowship to the forefront. This friendship and bond
BTS is a real-life example of how individuals can honor each
other’s talents and personalities, respecting individuals while also coming
together to form something special. Each individual member of BTS brings so
much to the table on his own merit, but the team that they managed to create
through their combined efforts is somehow even more special. We have a sort of
rallying cry in the BTS fandom that BTS is seven – it’s a way of making it
clear that the team needs all seven of its members to thrive and that it can’t
possibly be complete if any single person is missing. But it’s more than a
fandom slogan or a platitude we say; it’s the truth. BTS as a team is the
collective dreams and efforts of its seven members, the seven boys who started
off as Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim
Taehyung, and Jeon Jungkook and became RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and
Jung Kook through hard work and dedication, and that is something that I as an
ARMY will always be proud of.
Honorable
mentions
As I said in my introduction, there are simply so many
wonderful groups and teams in my favorite media that it’s difficult to limit
myself. For that reason, I was a bit choosy when it came to criteria and as
such, there are some teams I love that simply didn’t make the cut due to this
reason. For example, I tried to choose teams that were altogether harmonious. While
every team has a little bit of conflict here and there – as we can see in, for
instance, the Fellowship – I wanted to pick teams that were, at the end of the
day, a cohesive unit.
And, as a blog that celebrates platonic relationships, I did
my best to also choose groups that were largely based on friendship and family
bonds only, rather than bonds of romance. While of course there will always be
shippers for any piece of media and any combination of characters, meaning that
at some point characters in any group have doubtless been shipped with each
other, I tried to stick with groups that are, at least canonically,
non-romantic.
These criteria saved me from getting a bit overwhelmed and
going overboard with all the possible groups, teams, and trios that exist out
there, but it does mean that I had to make the active decision to pass over a
few groups I would have otherwise loved to talk about. Therefore, I’ll give
them a quick shout out in this section, highlighting what I love about these
bonds and stating why I ultimately decided not to include them in the main part
of the post.
For a start, the Harry Potter series contains a few
different groups and teams that I thought might have been interesting to
discuss, chief among them being the trio dynamic between the series’ main
characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The main thing that kept me from
discussing these three as part of this post is of course romance – chiefly the
fact that Ron and Hermione end up in a romantic relationship. This romance means
that, despite the terrific friendship that exists at the core of the group,
there is still a large romantic component to it that makes it not quite fit the
theme I was going for. The romance doesn’t negate all of the friendship the
group shares, of course, and I will always love the dynamic between Harry and
Ron and between Hermione and Harry, but those are perhaps topics for another
day.
Another team that I didn’t include for a similar reason is
the crew of the starship Voyager from the Star Trek series of the same name. Every single Star Trek crew could go on this list and it
would make perfect sense, but the crew of Voyager has a special place in
my heart, not only because the series is my favorite Trek, but because Voyager’s
unusual circumstances mean that its crew is bonded together perhaps more than
any other. At the beginning of the series, the ship is thrown into a wild and
uncharted region of space, one that it will take decades to return from,
meaning that the ship essentially becomes their home. Together, they form
tighter bonds of friendship and family, but occasionally romance too, which is
why I opted not to include them in this particular post, as difficult as it was
to skip over them.
The other team I considered putting on this list was the
inner circle of the Inquisition in my favorite video game, Dragon Age: Inquisition. Like some of my other favorite teams, the Inner Circle is
diverse and they bring a variety of talents and traits to the story that are
deeply valuable. Each character has their own unique story arc, ways they grow
and change within the Inquisition, ways they relate to each other, and more,
and every single one of them feel so important to the feel of the story for me.
However, while this is something I appreciate about the writing of the game,
there is one key factor that keeps me from including them in the above list:
the fact that they don’t all get along.
While this is a great thing from a storytelling perspective
and it adds some realism to the story, for this post, at least, I wanted to
focus on bonds that were a bit more positive, in which all the characters lift
one another up rather than tear each other down. However, I wanted to
nevertheless mention the Inquisition’s Inner Circle, because the characters who
don’t get along are far more rare than the characters who do, and watching many
of them form these friendships is actually very wholesome and uplifting. Watching
the Inquisition come together to “restore order in a world gone mad” – despite
their differences and occasional spats – is also in and of itself inspiring,
because it gives hope that perhaps we can all do the same in the real world,
something which definitely bears mentioning, both at this time of year and all
the time.
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| Image description: A promo image for Dragon Age: Inquisition, featuring the Inquisitor in the center, flanked by all nine members of the Inner Circle |
On this blog, I love discussing relationships of all kinds and bonds of love that extend far past romance, and so I hope you enjoyed this discussion as much as I did. In this day and age, it can feel so hard to form bonds of community, which is why I think analyzing groups and teams is so valuable. A good team teaches lessons such as cooperation, sacrifice, platonic companionship, and connection, all of which are so very special and which should be celebrated. Honestly, there are so many amazing teams that I could probably find even more to analyze in future, and will continue to look for these dynamics, both in my media and in my real life.
In the meantime, I will be back in early December with my
last post of 2025, in which I’ll recap my final thoughts on a few topics and
begin to think about what 2026 will bring to my blog. There will be some
changes coming that I’ll share with you soon, but until then, I hope those of
you who celebrate have a lovely Thanksgiving and just a good rest of the month
in general. May this season be full of warmth, gratitude, and love – whatever
that means to you.
With platonic love,
The Asexual Geek
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