http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TeethClenchedTeamwork

Black Mage, 8-Bit Theater "Fine, we'll work together. At the very least, we'll prove it's a bad idea."

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Sometimes in Real Life, people on the same side don't get along. In fiction, this often occurs when there are multiple villains trying to work together, a mismatched team of heroes, or a situation where former enemies have to team up. The problem with this sort of team is that they have trouble using The Power of Friendship or The Power of Love to winlikely because this is essentially the more cynical version of those tropes. It's still not at the far cynical end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism, however, because it still assumes that people can (and should) at least work together.

Generally, the imperfect teamwork generated serves as both a good source of drama and/or comedy, depending on the situation. It's particularly dramatic if the group undergoes a period of Divided We Fall first. It also helps ensure that the group is interesting and varied without raising questions of why they work so perfectly together.

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This dysfunctional teamwork often takes the form of Family Drama (in cases where the team includes at least part of a Dysfunctional Family). The touchstone of enmity is family, after all.

The Leader may often find himself demanding an Ordered Apology.

Compare with Fighting the Lancer, where animosity between teammates actually does lead to a fight, and Headbutting Heroes, where the heroes are not necessarily working together.

Contrast Sour Supporter, who is convinced that the team is doomed to failure, but works well with them anyway. If the series goes on long enough (and becomes less cynical), with enough Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments, this might turn into The Power of Friendship or The Power of Love. Conversely, this trope is a good counterpoint to True Companions; it is a way of introducing some conflict and authenticity into works that would otherwise be too sugary.

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Contrast We ARE Struggling Together, and A House Divided where there's lots of infighting on the same side but no teamwork. An Enemy Mine and Colliding Criminal Conspiracies usually results in this trope. Chained Heat is a more specific version of this trope involving being forced to work with someone by some method of a physical attachment. Frequently a by-product of Jurisdiction Friction. Family Drama usually has this within a family. Not to be confused with teams whose members always clench their teeth, or with pronounced determination shared within a group. Red Oni, Blue Oni and Vitriolic Best Buds are duos rather than teams, but they usually display this trope. May end up as an Inevitable Mutual Betrayal.

If they really dont like each other, than usually one side or the other will give them an Implied Death Threat, and depending on who reaches their goals first, they will proceed to carry out a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.

Often, this is how Fire-Forged Friends start out. Also compare with Forced into Evil.

Examples

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Podcast

Dr. Bright and Damien are forced to do this in season two of The Bright Sessions. Dr. Bright reluctantly helps Damien improve his ability and then has him infiltrate the AM's headquarters to get Mark, in exchange for finding Damien someone who can also manipulate minds. Leads to Damien kidnapping Mark when he finds out Mark is a mimic

This applies to two pairs of characters in Guiders of Our Dreams. Fang murdered Lexia's family AND destroyed her village, and they are forced to work together for a greater cause, which is to kill the queen of Skiya. After a while, they do start to get along and look out for each other. Zephyr and Orpheus are also like this, but they simply don't trust one another.

In The Magnus Archives, the entire Archives team has fallen into this as of season 4. Half of the protagonists are transforming into eldritch monsters as a side effect of their unwilling servitude to the Powers Elias to get information, Martin's involvement in Peter's secret plans), leading to a dynamic where none of them trust each other enough to work together and get anything done.

Professional Wrestling

Radio

Present in The Navy Lark whenever Commodore Povey and the Troutbridge Crew were forced to team up to defeat whatever lunacy the Admiralty foisted upon them. In Season one whenever Lt. Cmdr. Price and CPO Pertwee had to team up to outfox Povey's plans to drill them out of the Navy.

Religion and Mythology

Some versions of The Krampus have his partnership with Santa Claus be this, enslaved by Santa rather than it being genuine friendship like in other versions. Despite his terrifying appearance, Krampus is actually an example of Dark Is Not Evil, and punishing naughty children is simply his duty.

Sports

The 1986 New York Mets were one of the best baseball teams ever assembled. They were also, almost to a man, a bunch of drunks, womanizers, drug abusers, and masters of Jerkassery. More memorable then their fights against other teams (like literal, knuckle-up fights) were the ones among themselves. One of the more fractious ones was between team star Daryl Strawberry and the unofficial team captain Keith Hernandez.

The New York Yankees of the 1970's weren't called "the Bronx Zoo" for nothing. Team star Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin nearly came to blows in the dugout and had to be separated. Team captain Thurmon Munson and Jackson did not get along, and that was no secret. And of course, owner George Steinbrenner, fired and rehired Martin multiple times. By some miracle of talent and skill, they found the time amidst all this dysfunction to win back-to-back World Series titles in 1977 and '78.

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant spent 8 years together knowing they each would be more likely to win with the other around, but finally, in 2004, the team fell apart in the Finals largely due to their feud and it was obvious one or the other had to go. Both men did end up winning a title or two afterward though. After both men retired from the NBA, they made an effort to mend fences and were on good terms until Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter crash. O'Neal was devastated by the tragedy and served as one of the speakers during Bryant's public memorial service.

In a similar vein, the 1985 Chicago Bears are often considered to be one of the greatest teams in the history of the NFL, but their head coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan did not get along at all. The roots of the problem began when their deceased founder and owner, George 'Papa Bear' Halas, hired Ditka to be the head coach in 1982 over Ryan, who had been with the Bears five years prior and felt he should have gotten the job. This effectively led to a schism in the team where Ditka ran the offense and Ryan ran the defense as separate units. Both men were able to stomach each other for the cause of winning, but their animosity came to a head on a Monday Night Football game against the Miami Dolphins, who ended up spoiling an otherwise perfect season giving the Bears their only loss that year. During halftime, Ditka and Ryan finally came to blows and after that year Ryan left for the head coaching job at Philadelphia. Ditka later commented that they were both better together than apart.

Despite being one of the NFL's top teams throughout The New '10s, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy did not get along at all. Their animosity began when McCarthy, then the offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, convinced the team to pass on Rodgers in the 2005 NFL Draft in favor of Alex Smith and remained unapologetic about the decision even after being hired by Green Bay. The relationship only continued to go downhill to the point Rodgers would frequently ignore McCarthy's game plan and call his own plays. While the duo did manage to win a Super Bowl title, eventually the turmoil began to affect the team's performance and McCarthy was fired in 2018.

Theatre

In The Book of Mormon, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham get into this towards the climax of the play. Price and Cunningham are having an argument, with neither being particularly fond of the other at the time — Price is undergoing a Crisis of Faith thanks to Cunningham's success, and Cunningham is still mad at Price for trying to abandon him. But with the mission president coming to preside over their mission and check their progress, Cunningham says that it would be in both his and Price's best interests to at least act like everything is fine. Price agrees, but the animosity remains until close to the end of the show.

In the Mrs. Hawking play series: This is one of Mrs. Hawking's M.O.s: she hates working with anyone else. Every play except Gilded Cages sees her reluctantly allowing someone else into her circle— Mary in Mrs. Hawking , Nathaniel in Vivat Regina , Clara in Base Instruments , and Clara again (plus Madam Malaika ) in Mrs. Frost. Mrs. Hawking does eventually come to admit that she needs their help, but her extreme dislike of doing so (and struggles to admit her own weaknesses) are a major source of conflict for everyone involved.

Toys

Visual Novels

M and Mary sign a contract in Shikkoku no Sharnoth in order to destroy the Metacreatures. M is completely dispassionate, while Mary grows to hate him more as time passes. In the end, she finally understands him and saves him in some sense, but contrary to what might be expected this does not develop into a romance.

Akai Ito: Uzuki the demon hunter openly despises supernaturals since her big brother was killed by one , Sakuya yields an undying grudge toward the demon hunters due to their act of genocide on her clan , while Tsuzura just want to get the hell out since she hates being the leader of the demon hunters, and don't like people in general . However, they must set aside their difference because Nushi is the real threat.

, Sakuya yields an undying grudge toward the demon hunters , while Tsuzura just want to get the hell out . However, they must set aside their difference because Nushi is the real threat. All over the place in Danganronpa, because forcing multiple volatile teenagers into solving murder cases under the threat of death is bound to cause some friction. The Rival characters, in particular, tend to make life even more difficult for their respective protagonists while simultaneously being a valuable asset in the investigations and trials.

Fate/stay night is full of this, though it usually lessens as the parties get to know each other or come to a mutual understanding. Rin and Shirou, Shirou and Saber, Saber and Rin, Illya and Rin, Illya and Saber, everyone and Kotomine ... but nothing tops the sheer molar-grinding of Shirou and Archer. Shirou cannot stand Archer, as his callous nature and willingness to sacrifice innocent people to achieve victory so long as he saves more than he kills fly in the face of Shirou's ideals of "saving everyone, regardless of the cost to myself". Archer, on the other hand, would like nothing more than to murder Shirou in cold blood so that he can be erased from existence , but typically he can't either because Rin has him under a Command Seal to not hurt Shirou, or because he considers keeping Rin alive to be more important. The one route where Archer manages to Xanatos Gambit his way into being free Everything goes to hell very quickly.

... but tops the sheer molar-grinding of Shirou and Archer. Shirou cannot stand Archer, as his callous nature and willingness to sacrifice innocent people to achieve victory so long as he saves more than he kills fly in the face of Shirou's ideals of "saving everyone, regardless of the cost to myself". Archer, on the other hand, , but typically he can't either because Rin has him under a Command Seal to not hurt Shirou, or because he considers keeping Rin alive to be more important. The one route where Everything goes to hell very quickly. Ban and Rosé from Spirit Hunter: NG are both professionals who work well in assisting Akira, but due to their wildly different personalities they can barely go a minute without sniping at each other.

Web Animation

Broken Saints gives us a villainous example: Benjamin Palmer and Lear Dunham clearly have no great love for each other, but they need each other's help to execute the Evil Plan . Of course, once Palmer has outlived his usefulness , Lear is quick to dispose of him.

Red vs. Blue This is true for pretty much the entire casts, especially at the start of the series, with neither team getting along with each other, let alone with the opposite team. This is downplayed somewhat as the series goes on, with them becoming more or less True Companions, but even then they still have their squabbles, especially with Sarge insisting on acting like the war between Red and Blue is still on, long after both teams had more or less made peace with each other. This is noted to have been Felix's and Locus' relationship during the war. They greatly disliked each other and were extremely competitive, but they were on the same side in a very deadly war, so they worked together to survive it. Now that the war is over they still work together, due to the fact that they make a disturbingly effective team, allowing both of them to make a good living for joint mercenary work. But they still most certainly hate each other, and are implied to want to kill each other, but they both know they will never get another partner who works in sync with them as well as the other .

This is the conflict driving RWBY's first season. Three mostly good people are forced to work with a bratty, arrogant Alpha Bitch (although she eventually becomes more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch as she undergoes Character Development). This also applies to Ozpin's personnel circle and the Atlas Military, most notably between Qrow Branwen and Winter Schnee who only barely reluctantly associate with each other and in the first appearance together quickly get into a fight.

DSBT InsaniT: Between Asia and Julie vs their Darkness counterparts in 'VRcade'.

Web Original