History Main / CounterpartCombatCoordination

This is when a team of characters, generally ColorCodedForYourConvenience, faces of against their counterparts, and specifically plans for or around any possible confusion that could arise by the matching schemes and themes. As with the [[ThePsychoRangers Psycho Rangers]] page, confusion could be invoked by one side by an OpponentSwitch.

* In the second season of ''SailorMoon'', when the Sailor senshi face the Ayakashi sisters. Every senshi fights the sister who has similar powers and serves as her Evil Counterpart: Koan uses Dark fire against Mars, Bertier uses Dark water against Mercury, Calaveras uses Dark whip/chain against Venus and Petz utilizes Dark thunder against Jupiter.

* Many fights in ''Manga/OnePiece'' function along these lines, to the point where once combatants on both sides are known, it can be predicted who will have each fight. Most crews fought by the protagonists, for example, seem to have a clear (physical fighter) leader, a KnifeNut, and another physical fighter, to match up with Captain Luffy, swordsman Zoro and [[ExtremityExtremist kicking guy]] Sanji. The Blackbeard Pirates are expected to have this kind of fight with the Straw Hats, thanks to the number of analogues.

* In "The Order of the Stick", the titular party faces off against their evil counterparts in the Linear Guild: Roy vs Thog, Elan vs Nale, Haley vs Sabine, Vaarsuvius vs Zz'dtri, and Belkar vs. Yikyik.

* One of the highlights for ''Film/KamenRiderXSuperSentaiSuperheroTaisen'' are the battles between the eponymous heroes that are arranged in such ways.

** Averted for most of the fight with the Rowdyruff Boys. Both sides simply go beserk on the nearest enemy.
* In ''JusticeLeague'', The original Justice Lords episode had the teams fight their counterparts, more or less. [[spoiler: TheFlash fought Lord!Superman as the other Flash died causing the lords to form. Superman was off getting permanent help (from his personal nemesis, naturally). Batman and Lord!Batman had a one-one one fight earlier on.]]

->'''[[color:red:Red Ranger:]]''' ''Oh, sorry Green, I was aiming for Psycho Green. Wait, why's Psycho Yellow [[TooDumbToLive punching himself in the face]]? Alright, ''time out'', all '''[[FiveManBand 1]][[FiveBadBand 0]]''' of us![[hottip:*: You too, [[SixthRanger sixth guys!]]''

*** ...And then they went right back to it both times the Psychos were revived. When it happened on ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', it resulted in two teams of Rangers going against the Psychos. The Black Space and Green Galaxy rangers, being the only color that changed regularly between seasons, went against the Black Psycho Ranger. The Magna Defender[[hottip:*:The Silver Space Ranger wasn't involved.]], not having anyone to fight, stood around like a chump until he could fight the person who summoned the Psycho Rangers.

** In the later episode ''Divided We Fall'', this was yet again the standard, with "Brainthor/Luthoriac" constructs designed to resemble the Lords. As it turns out, Flash, Batman and J'onn beat their counterparts pretty much instantly. Superman and WonderWoman have to trade partners because Superman can't kill his own[[hottip:*:as it changed to resemble Luthor, Lord!Superman's killing of Luthor also causing the ForWantOfANail / BadFuture described above]], while GreenLantern John Stewart and Shayera swap and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything rather transparently]] let loose some [[UnresolvedSexualTension old]] [[BelligerentSexualTension frustration]]. Of course, we can never be too sure if J'onn beat his clone, because they both shapeshifted into the same thing.

* {{Superman}} and {{Batman}} do this so often, they'll occasionally switch just to throw their opponents off. Batman being TheChessmaster, he refers to it as castling.

* In ''JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the League faces off against their alternate universe counterparts, twice in some cases. Not all of them had counterparts on both sides, so the ones without them were incapacitated in some way to allow for this fight style.

* In "WebComic/ The Order of the Stick", the titular party faces off against their evil counterparts in the Linear Guild: Roy vs Thog, Elan vs Nale, Haley vs Sabine, Vaarsuvius vs Zz'dtri, and Belkar vs. Yikyik.

* In "WebComic/Order of the Stick", the titular party faces off against their evil counterparts in the Linear Guild: Roy vs Thog, Elan vs Nale, Haley vs Sabine, Vaarsuvius vs Zz'dtri, and Belkar vs. Yikyik.

* In "The Order of the Stick," the titular party faces off against their evil counterparts in the Linear Guild: Roy vs Thog, Elan vs Nale, Haley vs Sabine, Vaarsuvius vs Zz'dtri, and Belkar vs. Yikyik.

->'''[[color:red:Red Ranger:]]''' ''Oh, sorry Green, I was aiming for Psycho Green. Wait, why's Psycho Yellow [[TooDumbToLive punching himself in the face]]? Alright, ''time out'', all '''[[FiveManBand 1]][[FiveBadBand 0]]''' of us![[hottip:*: You too, [[SixthRanger sixth guys!]]]]''

* This pops up from time to time in ''SuperSentai / PowerRangers'' whenever there's a squad of [[ThePsychoRangers Psycho Rangers]].
** In the "[[MyWayEntertainment Gangsta Crizzab]]" episode, the MightyMorphinPowerRangers are beaten by their counterparts in a straight up fight. Instead of trying any confusion, they have to go back and get empowered weapons from Zordon, which pretty much breaks their rule of "don't escalate fights when you don't have to". The parody lampshades this with quotes like "It's time for some ''Black on Black crime!''"
** The TropeNamer [[ThePsychoRangers Psycho Rangers]] knew the moves of their respective [[PowerRangersInSpace Space Rangers]] inside and out, and by learning their voices, switched back the first time they tried an opponent switch. Then [[DemotedToExtra Blue]] [[HyperCompetentSidekick Ranger]] [[TheSmartGuy T.J.]] comes up with the idea of making everyone blue, and to make sure it works, having the Silver Ranger dress up as "Psycho Silver", to make the Psycho Rangers even more confused. It works, and the Psychos eventually resort to attacking each other to make sure [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou they are the only ones who can beat their counterparts]]. For the rest of this run of the Psycho Rangers, coordination wasn't needed again as the rangers could go 2-on-1 from this point forward.
*** ...And then they went right back to it both times the Psychos were revived. When it happened on ''PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', it resulted in two teams of Rangers going against the Psychos. The Black Space and Green Galaxy rangers, being the only color that changed regularly between seasons, went against the Black Psycho Ranger. The Magna Defender[[hottip:*:The Silver Space Ranger wasn't involved.]], not having anyone to fight, stood around like a chump until he could fight the person who summoned the Psycho Rangers.

DesignatedGirlFight is a related trope.

** The TropeNamer [[ThePsychoRangers Psycho Rangers]] knew the moves of their respective [[PowerRangersInSpace Space Rangers]] inside and out, and by learning their voices, switched back the first time they tried an opponent switch. Then [[DemotedToExtra Blue]] [[HyperCompetentSidekick Ranger]] [[TheSmartGuy T.J.]] comes up with the idea of making everyone blue, and to make sure it works, having the Silver Ranger dress up as "Psycho Silver", to make the Psycho Rangers even more confused. It works, and the Psychos eventually resort to attacking each other to make sure [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou they are the only ones who can beat their counterparts]]. For the ''original'' run of the Psycho Rangers, coordination wasn't needed again as the rangers could go 2-on-1 from this point forward.

This is when a team of characters, generally ColorCodedForYourConvenience, faces of against their counterparts, and specifically plans for or around any possible confusion that could arise by the matching schemes and themes. As with the PsychoRangers page, confusion could be invoked by one side by an OpponentSwitch.

* This pops up from time to time in ''SuperSentai / PowerRangers'' whenever there's a squad of PsychoRangers.

** The TropeNamer PsychoRangers knew the moves of their respective [[PowerRangersInSpace Space Rangers]] inside and out, and by learning their voices, switched back the first time they tried an opponent switch. Then [[DemotedToExtra Blue]] [[HyperCompetentSidekick Ranger]] [[TheSmartGuy T.J.]] comes up with the idea of making everyone blue, and to make sure it works, having the Silver Ranger dress up as "Psycho Silver", to make the PsychoRangers even more confused. It works, and the Psychos eventually resort to attacking each other to make sure [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou they are the only ones who can beat their counterparts]]. For the ''original'' run of the PsychoRangers, coordination wasn't needed again as the rangers could go 2-on-1 from this point forward.

->'''[[color:red:Red Ranger:]]''' ''It's finally arrived! A showdown versus the PsychoRangers! Let's get em, guys!''

* In ''ThePowerpuffGirls'', three tattooed, adult male criminals (one of them black) dress up as the girls, and fool everyone but Miss Bellum, ''including'' the girls themselves. Both teams wind up attacking each other during the fight, despite everything listed above, and the girls ''flying'', until they agree to attack their counterparts only.

* [[AllThereInTheManual Canonically speaking]], the penultimate fight in ''VideoGame/{{The King of Fighters}} '97'' pitted the Japan Team against their elemental counterparts from the New Faces[=/=]{{Orochi}} Team: [[PlayingWithFire Kyo faced Chris]], [[ShockAndAwe Benimaru fought against Shermie]], and [[DishingOutDirt Daimon tangled with Yashiro]]. When defeated, Yashiro and Shermie simply commit suicide to give their energy to Chris, preempting [[SealedEvilInACan Orochi's]] resurrection.

->[[color:red:Red Ranger:]] ''It's finally arrived! A showdown versus the PsychoRangers! Let's get em, guys!''
->[[color:green:Green Ranger:]] ''Ow! Dude!''
->[[color:red:Red Ranger:]] ''Oh, sorry Green, I was aiming for Psycho Green. Wait, why's Psycho Yellow [[TooDumbToLive punching himself in the face]]? Alright, ''time out'', all '''[[FiveManBand 1]][[FiveBadBand 0]]''' of us![[hottip:*: You too, [[SixthRanger sixth guys!]]]]''

* Many fights in OnePiece function along these lines, to the point where once combatants on both sides are known, it can be predicted who will have each fight. Most crews fought by the protagonists, for example, seem to have a clear (physical fighter) leader, a KnifeNut, and another physical fighter, to match up with Captain Luffy, swordsman Zoro and [[ExtremityExtremist kicking guy]] Sanji. The Blackbeard Pirates are expected to have this kind of fight with the Straw Hats, thanks to the number of analogues.

** In the "[[MyWayEntertainment Gangsta Crizzab]]" episode, the MMPR Rangers are beaten by their counterparts in a straight up fight. Instead of trying any confusion, they have to go back and get empowered weapons from Zordon, which pretty much breaks their rule of "don't escalate fights when you don't have to". The parody lampshades this with quotes like "It's time for some ''Black on Black crime!''"
** The TropeNamer PsychoRangers knew the moves of their respective In Space rangers inside and out, and by learning their voices, switched back the first time they tried an opponent switch. Then [[DemotedToExtra Blue]] [[HyperCompetentSidekick Ranger]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse T.]][[TheSmartGuy J.]] comes up with the idea of making everyone blue, and to make sure it works, having the Silver Ranger dress up as "Psycho Silver", to make the PsychoRangers even more confused. It works, and the Psychos eventually resort to attacking each other to make sure [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou they are the only ones who can beat their counterparts]]. For the ''original'' run of the PsychoRangers, coordination wasn't needed again as the rangers could go 2-on-1 from this point forward.
** ...And then they went right back to it both times the Psychos were revived. When it happened on ''PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', it resulted in two teams of rangers going against the Psychos. The Black Space and Green Galaxy rangers, being the only color that changed regularly between seasons, went against the Black Psycho ranger. The Sixth rangers, not having anyone to fight, stood around like chumps until they could fight the person who summoned the psycho rangers.