The Shape of Trios

Since the Three Stooges hit Hollywood, animators have been inspired to make their own dynamic trios. From what I have observed, many cartoon trios have characters that are designed using three basic shapes: either a circle, triangle, or a square.

• Circles are used in designing characters who are happy, carefree and silly like Curly.


• Squares are used in designing characters who are stubborn, serious and egotistical like Moe.


• Triangles are used in designing characters who are the real brains of an outfit and rarely get any credit like Larry.

Here's a list of cartoon trios that use these shapes:

1. Ed, Edd (Double D) and Eddy from Ed, Edd n' Eddy
2. Lock, Shock and Barrel form The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph from The Simpsons
4. Yao, Ling and Chien Po from Mulan
5. Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie from Casper the Friendly Ghost
6. Reggie, Darnell and Two Fingers from The Princess and the Frog