Basic Trope: A group of three characters. One who acts masculine, one who acts feminine, and one who is androgynous.
- Straight: Bob is an active, energetic jock, his best friend Alice is prim, proper, and traditionally feminine while their other friend, Charlie, is Ambiguous Gender and they aren't really interested in stuff that’s too boyish or too girly.
- Exaggerated: Manly Man Bob loves sports, plays fighting, martial arts, violent video games, hiking, camping, hunting, and works part-time at an auto shop. Proper Lady Alice is an English Rose who dresses impeccably in trendy expensive fashion, works as a beauty vlogger, and enjoys spending time at spas, malls, and salons. Charlie is a non-binary Hermaphrodite and perhaps not even a human.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a buff, brash manly man but actually enjoys cooking and sewing. Alice is a sweet, sensitive fashionable beauty queen but loves mixed martial arts and extreme sports as well. and Charlie dresses neither stereotypically masculine nor feminine and is either a Dude Looks Like a Lady or Lady Looks Like a Dude.
- Alice is a Masculine Girl who likes playing and watching sports, Bob is a Feminine Guy who enjoys cooking and ballet, while Charlie is clearly a guy but he lacks gendered physical traits (perhaps he is a Tagalong Kid) and is a Ridiculously Average Guy who likes basic things such as watching TV and participating in after-school activities.
- Charlie is a tomboy of Tomboy and Girly Girl when she is paired with Alice, but she is not as mannish as Bob.
- Charlie is a Sensitive Guy of Sensitive Guy and Manly Man when he is paired with Bob, but he is not as girly as Alice.
- Bob is a Standard '50s Father, Alice is a Housewife, Charlie is a Kiddie Kid.
- Bob is a guard dog, Alice is a sassy cat, Charlie is an innocent rabbit.
- Town Girls
- A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family
- Justified:
- Bob was raised by his rough and tough father, Alice was raised by an upper-class wealthy family, and Charlie was raised in either the suburbs where they got along with both boys and girls or neither. Or they are an alien who don't quite understand the differences between the sexes.
- Bob is favored by his rough and tough father, Alice is favored by her prim and proper mom, and Charlie is a victim of Middle Child Syndrome.
- Subverted: Bob, Alice, and Charlie all have more in common than they expected.
- Double Subverted : They're actually mimicking each other to get along with the group.
- Parodied : When all of them come over to watch TV, Bob wants to watch the wrestling match, Alice wants to watch Project Runway and Charlie is fine with watching whatever is on television.
- Zig Zagged:
- There are times when one of them acts more boyish than Bob, more girly than Alice, or stays in-between like Charlie.
- Positions of Alice, Bob, and Charlie vary Depending on the Writer.
- Alex, Bobbie, and Charlie are Ambiguous Gender, they keep switching roles and Shapeshifting to mannish square, girlish curvy, or androgyny body of each role throughout the series.
- Averted: All of them are manly, girly, or neither.
- Lampshaded: ” Alice, Bob, and Charlie differ in so many ways, yet they work so well together.”
- Invoked: The trio intentionally bands together to support this archetype.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Bob refuses to hang out with people who aren't as mannish as him, Alice only befriends her Girl Posse friends, and Charlie only spends time with their family and/or no friend at all.
- Charlie decides to undergo either a Girliness Upgrade and come out as a girl, or a Manliness Upgrade and come out as a guy, so there's no androgynous person.
- Conversed : ???
Back to Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio
