The Good Guys



''Good boys. Good boys? Good boys! GOOD BOYS.''

The ones the audience is supposed to be cheering for. As the focus of the story, they will have a much higher chance to win in their battles against their enemies than those same enemies do in fighting them. Their journeys and interactions with each other and the world around them are what fuel the events of the story. The Good Guys are the adventurous counterpart to the Main Cast.

The members of the Good Guys differ depending on what franchise, genre, and story structure they star in. Even though this is true, there are some essential and recurring roles that will be on the team. For one, the Good Guys aren't all that good without the Hero. They're the main character of the whole story and could be who the franchise is named after. At their side is their Ally, somebody who's usually equal to or a little below them in power. With these two friends will be the strategic roles whose specialties benefit the rest of the team. There's the Healer, someone with pain-relieving capabilities, the Guide, the one who directs the team, and the Ace, somebody who's generally good at anything they try.

The Good Guys may or may not start out as friends. This seemingly trivial fact can have a meaningful impact on the story if the creators aim for drama between their key protagonists. Long-time friends tend to suffer deeper emotional cuts than a group of people who reach this point over their adventure. Hidden secrets being leaked have potential to shatter relationships and shake the team up. This, in turn, makes it harder for everyone to progress in their travels. Cooperation isn't as easily done with somebody who said or did something that hurt you. Other members of the Good Guys like to attempt to Fix The Relationship, though it's often up to the people in that relationship to restore it themselves.

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Though the Hero is sometimes good enough to embark on an adventure solo, it may be more feasible for them to do it with a team. The Good Guys function as back-up to the Hero ready to support them in their travels, fights, and challenges. Your Good Guys should be balanced in skill and stats, meaning variation in roles is crucial. It's best to accompany the Hero with a collection of people competent in their own specialty that makes them a band ready for anything. The Fighter, Archer, Healer, Spy, and Pilot are one of these combinations where each person can tackle most common issues found during the journey. For the audience to be given a chance to enjoy them all, their personalities are also diverse. For example, the Spy is quiet and secretive, the Healer is given to smothering their teammates with motherly care, and the Fighter and Archer often bicker over which of their fighting styles is best. A team made this well leaves very little space for disruptive Character Problems. An unfortunately recurrent matter with the Good Guys is how they don't always all contribute to the plot with meaningful actions and behaviors. Some creators want to give roles like the Mega Cutie, Fan Favorite, Fan Service Doll, Wimp, and Idiot their places on the team. These roles are given a better home in a familiar franchise's Main Cast, not on your Main Team. Their individual quirks tend to clash with the dramatic atmosphere of the adventure that demands constant competence and teamwork. What makes them so painfully unfit for the spotlight here is how most of them are meta roles that exist for the entertainment of the audience and not the shared strength of the Good Guys. As a result, they feel like aliens that viewers struggle to take their eyes off of because of their distracting antics. They throw the balance of the team out of wack by being so extreme in their behavior. The rest of the partners are forced to waste time on correcting one member's idiocy to shape them into a better teammate.