Owl, Cat, Armadillo and Gecko.
A common way to give an individual an "identity" is to give them overarching motifs — and one of them is Animal Motifs. But what if this time, these individuals are a team?
Each of the members have their own animal motif that distincts them from their other teammates. Majority of the examples tend to wear animal clothing to qualify, though some examples may be accomplished with Animal Theme Naming, making them Little Bit Beastly, or Animorphism.
Compare Mixed Animal Species Team, where the team members are actual animals rather than merely having Animal Motifs.
For stand-alone examples, see Animal Motifs and Animal-Themed Superbeing. For teams with motifs other than animals, see Motif Team, the supertrope of this.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Hunter × Hunter:
- The Phantom Troupe have a spider as their main animal motif, even having spider tattoos in their body with each of their tattoo representing a number they have been given. The group is even called "Spider" with each of the members being known as "Spiders"
- The Zodiacs are a group of twelve Hunters chosen by Chairman Isaac Netero to be his counselors. Each of them represent an animal of the Japanese version of the Chinese Zodiac and respect their chairman so much that all of them alter their appearance, personality, and name to resemble the animal they represent with the exception of Ging and Pariston. The members are Pariston Hill (Rat), Cheadle Yorkshire (Dog), Ging Freecss (Boar), Mizaistom Nana (Ox), Kanzai (Tiger), Piyon (Rabbit), Cluck (Rooster), Botobai Gigante (Dragon), Ginta (Sheep), Geru (Snake), Saccho Kobayakawa (Horse), and Saiyu (Monkey). Since the Dark Continent arc, Ging and Pariston quit the Zodiacs to join the Dark Continent Expedition with Leorio Paladiknight and Kurapika replacing them as The Boar and The Rat.
- In KiraKira★Precure à la Mode, each of the Cures is associated with an animal as well as a dessert item: Cure Whip (rabbits and shortcake), Cure Custard (squirrels and pudding), Cure Gelato (lions and ice cream), Cure Macaron (cats and macarons), Cure Chocolat (dogs and chocolate), and Cure Parfait (pegasi and parfaits). In Cure form, they fit the Little Bit Beastly trope by having ears and tails of their respective animals, plus a superpower associated with that animal as well (for example, Cure Chocolat has a powerful sense of smell like a dog).
- Machine Hayabusa: You can tell what motifs the Saionji Team have based on their helmets.
- Ken
◊ represents a falcon, as his helmet has a beak, and his surname (Hayabusa) means "peregrine falcon". Shingo◊'s helmet also has a beak, but what type of bird he is meant to be is unclear.
- Sakura◊ represents a cat, based on her helmet's cat ears.
- Goro◊ represents a bear, based on his helmet's bear ears.
- Tetsuji◊ represents a tiger, based on his helmet's stripes.
- Hiroshi◊ represents a dog, based on his helmet's dog ears.
- Ken
- Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers features the Serpent Society as a group of recurring villains. It consists of three snake-themed villains; King Cobra, Diamondback, and Cottonmouth.
- My Hero Academia has the Wild Wild Pussycats superhero team, who all have a cat-themed motif. Three of them (Pixie-bob, Ragdoll and Mandalay) are named after domestic cat breeds, and one of them is named Tiger. They all wear costumes reminiscent of cats.
- Naruto: Each of the three original genin of Team 7 have been paired with the animal summon that the Sannin have been associated with. Naruto signed a contract with the toads under Jiraiya's tutelage and learned sage jutsu from the toads later in the series. Sasuke learned to summon and use several diverse jutsus involving snakes from Orochimaru in early Part II. After learning the truth of Itachi, Sasuke began using hawk summons, but retained the snake contract as well. Sakura is able to use slug summons being Tsunade's student.
- One Piece:
- Eiichiro Oda himself gives the Straw Hat Pirates an animal motif for each, based on one SBS post: Luffy is a monkey, Zoro is a shark, Nami is a cat, Usopp is an armadillo, Sanji is a duck, Robin is a crane, Chopper is a reindeer, Franky is a bull and Brook is a horse.
- Each of the members of Cipher Pol 9 has different Animal Motifs - Lucci is leopard, Kaku is giraffe (and previously a monkey), Blueno is bull, Jabra is wolf, Fukurou is owl, Kumadori is lion, Kalifa is sheep, and their leader Spandam is panda. Lucci, Kaku and Jabra even has Devil Fruit powers that let them transform into their respective animals.
- The original members of the Shichibukai are all themed after an animal. Dracule Mihawk is a hawk, Crocodile is a crocodile, Bartholomew Kuma is a bear, Donquixote Doflamingo is a flamingo, Gecko Moriah is a Gecko, Boa Hancock is a boa and Jinbe is a whale shark.
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The titular Science Ninja Team are themed after birds: Ken is the Eagle, Joe the Condor, Jun the Swan, Jinpei the Swallow and Ryu the (Horned) Owl
- In Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, all of Team LPFM's members possess Animal Motifs.
- LLENN invokes a rabbit with her small size, Super-Speed of bounding round the battlefield, and her hat that has two ears that resemble a rabbit. She is constantly called a rabbit In-Universe as an In-Series Nickname of sorts.
- Pitohui names herself after a species of toxic bird, but she's also given a lot of snake motifs with her design appearing snake-like and she once gets represented by a actual snake in official artwork.
- M is themed after a turtle, being a Mighty Glacier who carries an indestructium bulletproof shield on his back that he can unfold and hide behind to snipe his enemies, where really resembles a turtle withdrawn into its shell. This is especially prominent when put alongside LLENN with the two of them invoking The Tortoise and the Hare.
- Fukaziroh can be likened to a dog. She based her in-game name after her late dog, is very excitable and energetic like a puppy. She also chose to use a dog as her in-game chat profile picture.
- Tokyo Mew Mew: The series is about five teenage girls who, while transforming into magical girls, have the powers and appearance (specifically, they have ears and tails) of the animals they were fused with in their DNA structure, thanks to the Mew Project. The members were Mew Ichigo (cat), Mew Mint (bird), Mew Lettuce (porpoise), Mew Pudding (monkey), and Mew Zakuro (wolf). The manga sequel, Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode adds a new member, Mew Berry (bunny/cat) and the video game features Mew Ringo (penguin).
- Transformers Victory: The Breastforce members who form Liokaiser (Leozack, Drillhornnote , Guyhawk, Hellbat, Jallguar, and Killbison) all have Animal Motifs, but transform into normal vehicles. It's instead their beast partners who actually are the corresponding animals.
Comic Books
- The DCU:
- The Batman Family are all either themed after bats (Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman) or birds (Robin, Nightwing).
- The Terrible Trio, obscure Batman rogues, are a villainous example. The animals they are themed and named after are Fox, Shark, and Vulture.
- During Forever Evil (2013), Cheetah got her own crew of animal-themed villains named the Menagerie, among them Lion-Mane, Elephant Man, Hellhound, Zebra-Man, and a partially brainwashed Sam Simeon.
- Marvel Universe:
- Captain America: A villainous example is the Serpent Society; a team of snake-themed supervillains. Like many superhero and -villain teams, it has a shifting roster of members, but notable (former) members include Anaconda, King Cobra, Black Mamba, Cottonmouth, Death Adder, Princess Python, Asp, and Diamondback.
- Spider-Man:
- In Spider-Verse, Peter Parker and other Spider-Men in the multiverse decided to become a team in order to defeat the main villain, Morlun, who has been killing a lot of the Spider-Men across the multiverse
- In The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), the current incarnation of the Savage Six is made up of Vulture, Rhino, Tarantula, King Cobra, Stegron and Scorpion.
Fan Works
- The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild adapts and expands upon the events of the namesake game. Among these expansions is the introduction of different spirit animals meant to be wielded by specific Chosen Ones, each one fitting with each members' animal motif. Link and Zelda respectively wield the Wolf and the Owl. Impa is revealed to be one of these heroes only recently chosen, and Ganondorf is the fourth hero who was corrupted by Demise's curse before he could become one. Impa wields the Frog, and Ganondorf wields the Boar, hence Calamity Ganon's appearance as a spectral boar. Together, they are meant to serve as Hyrule's collection Elite Four.
Literature
- Animorphs: The team fights aliens by turning into Earth animals, with each having a preferred battle morph: Jake uses a tiger, Rachel uses a grizzly bear (or an African elephant), Cassie uses a wolf, Marco uses a gorilla, Tobias suffered Mode Lock as a red-tailed hawk (though he regained his morphing ability, he tends to stay in his hawk body during battles), and Ax uses his own Andalite body. These animals are so iconic that Visser Three tries to defeat a staged attack using captured animals during his trial, only to look stupid when the real deal shows up.
- In Zoe Chant's Shifter Kingdom series, every member of the Royal Guard of Valtyra, a nation of werebeasts, is feline.
- Whateley Universe: The group of students known as the Wild Pack, who all have animal-themed codenames, Mindbird, Stormwolf, Firecat, Thunderfox, and Stonebear.
Live-Action TV
- Super Sentai and its American adaptation Power Rangers have a lot of these, and we do mean a lot. Hell, if there's a Power Rangers parody, almost always expect them to have an Animal Motif:
- Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan: A Land, Sea, Sky-themed team with an Eagle (Red), Shark (Blue), and Panther (Yellow).
- Dengeki Sentai Changeman: A team with mythological animals as motif, consisting of a Dragon (Red), Griffin (Black), Pegasus (Blue), Mermaid (White), and Phoenix (Pink).
- Choujuu Sentai Liveman: The core team is another Land, Sea, Sky trio with a Falcon (Red), Lion (Yellow), and Dolphin (Blue); and then its Sixth Rangers have a Bison (Black) and Rhino (Green).
- Choujin Sentai Jetman: A team with various birds as their motif, consisting of: Hawk (Red), Condor (Black), Owl (Yellow), Swan (White) and Swallow (Blue). A manga sequel replaces Black Condor with Eagle (Green).
- Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Both shows have a team with dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals as their motif: Tyrannosaurus (Red), Mammoth/Mastodon (Black), Triceratops (Blue), Pteranodon/Pterodactyl (Pink), Sabertooth Tiger (Yellow). The Sixth Ranger instead has a mythological animal motif: A Not Zilla-style Dragon (Green).
- Gosei Sentai Dairanger: Another mythical creature series, with a Dragon (Red), Lion (Green), Pegasus (Blue), Kirin (Yellow), Phoenix (Pink), and Tiger (White). While the mecha and White Ranger were brought over into the second season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the rest of the Rangers did not adopt these motifs themselves.
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: While the show's animal theme is second to its Ninja motif and doesn't reflect on their suits, the rangers' mecha follow the motif and are themed after a Monkey (Red), Crane (White), Bear (Yellow), Wolf (Blue) and Frog (Black). In the third season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Pink was given the crane mecha while the White Ranger (The one from Dairanger/MMPR Season 2) gets the fittingly-white falcon mecha, which was unmanned in Kakuranger.
- Seijuu Sentai Gingaman/Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: Lion (Red), Falcon/Condor (Green), Gorilla (Blue), Wolf (Yellow), Wildcat (Pink), and Bull (BullBlack/Magna Defender).
- Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger/Power Rangers Wild Force: Has a team with various animals, with the six rangers being themed after a Lion (Red), Eagle (Yellow), Shark (Blue), Bison (Black), Tiger (White) and Wolf (Silver).
- Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger/Power Rangers Ninja Storm: The main team is a Land, Sea, Sky arrangement with Hawk (Red), Lion (Yellow), and Dolphin (Blue); while the Goraigers/Thunder Rangers have the Japanese Beetle Brothers (Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle and Stag Beetle). Shurikenger/the Samurai Ranger has no direct animal motif, though his helicopter mecha has Nose Art with the face of a bird.
- Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger/Power Rangers: Dino Thunder: The members of this team have motifs of dinosaurs, consisting of the Tyrannosaurus (Red), Triceratops (Blue), Pteranodon (Yellow), Brachiosaurus (Black) and Tupuxuara (AbareKiller/White). The Red Ranger also noticeably changes his motif in his Super Mode (AbareMax/Triassic Ranger) to a Styracosaurus.
- Mahou Sentai Magiranger/Power Rangers Mystic Force: Returns to the mythical creatures theme, with a Phoenix (Red), Garuda (Yellow), Minotaur (Green), Mermaid (Blue) and Fairy (Pink). The Sixth Ranger, MagiShine/Solaris Knight, has no animal motif. Neither does MagiMother/the White Ranger. Wolzard Fire/Wolf Warrior has a minor wolf theme, although his personal mecha is a horse.
- Juken Sentai Gekiranger/Power Rangers Jungle Fury has this not just for the Rangers, but for the villains as well. This season's main theme is big cats, with the core team being Tiger (Red), Jaguar (Blue), and Cheetah (Yellow). Other animals are present as well; the Sixth Rangers have Wolf and Rhino and the core team also gets secondary weapons and mecha based on the Shark and Gorilla (Red's secondaries), Bat and Gazelle (Blue's secondaries), and Elephant and Penguin (Yellow's secondaries). Plus Jungle Fury adds Canon Foreigner Sixth Rangers based on the formers of each. As for the villains, The Big Bad is a Lion, The Dragon is a Chameleon, their three mentors are a hawk, a jellyfish and a bear, and the monsters of the week are all based on various animals. The villains later switch their animal motifs with mythical animal motifs, with the above big bad getting a Griffon Super Mode and his four generals being a Phoenix (a Super Mode for the above chameleon-themed villain), a Basilisk, a Chimera and a literal Dragon.
- Engine Sentai Go-onger/Power Rangers RPM: The show mixes between car and animal motifs via the Engines, who are themed after a Condor/Eagle (Red), Lion (Blue), Bear (Yellow), Orca/unspecified fish (Green), Dog/Wolf (Black), Chicken(Gold), and Tiger (Silver).
- Samurai Sentai Shinkenger/Power Rangers Samurai: Once again, the animal theme is second to the Samurai motif, but the mecha are themed after a Lion (Red), Dragon (Blue), Turtle (Pink), Bear (Green), Monkey (Yellow) and Lobster (Gold).
- Tensou Sentai Goseiger/Power Rangers Megaforce: Dragon (Red), Phoenix (Pink), Snake (Black), Tiger (Yellow), Shark (Blue), and Lion (Gosei Knight/Robo Knight).
- Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters/Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Cheetah (Red), Gorilla (Blue), Rabbit (Yellow), and the Japanese Beetle Brothers (Rhino Beetle and Stag Beetle)/Mantis and Scarab (Gold and Silver). A What If? movie for Go-Busters also adds a Hippopotamus (Green) and a Puma (Black).
- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger/Power Rangers Dino Charge: Another dinosaur-themed team, and a larger one than usual; with Tyrannosaurus (Red), Parasaurolophus (Black), Stegosaurus (Blue), Velociraptor (Green), Triceratops (Pink), Pteranodon/Pterodactyl (Gold), Ankylosaurus (Cyan/Aqua), Pachycephalosaurus (Grey/Graphite), Plesiosaur (Violet/Purple), Brachiosaurus/Titanosaurus (Silver) and Spinosaurus (Deathryuger/Dark Ranger).
- While Ressha Sentai ToQger are train-themed, in the summer movie they were briefly bestowed with the powers of a Lion (Red), Eagle (Blue), Wildcat (Yellow), Alligator (Green) and Panda (Pink).
- Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: Eagle (Red), Gorilla (an alternate powerset for Red), Shark (Blue), Lion (Yellow), Elephant (Green), Tiger (White), a combination of Rhino, Wolf, and Crocodile (TheWorld) and an unspecified Bird (Orange); plus in his Super Mode the Red Ranger switches out his Eagle and Gorilla motifs for a Whale, and later gets the ability to combine all three.
- Uchu Sentai Kyuranger partially plays with animal motifs, since this time they're themed after constellations resembling animals. There's Lion (Red, based on the Leo constellation), Scorpion (Orange, based on the Scorpio constellation), Wolf (Blue, based on the Lupus constellation), Bull (Black, based on the Taurus constellation), Snake (Silver, based on the Ophiucus constellation), Chameleon (Green, based on the Chamaeleon constellation), Eagle (Pink, based on the Aquilla constellation), Swordfish (Yellow, based on the Dorado constellation), Dragon (Ryuu Commander, based on the Draco constellation), Bear (Skyblue, based on the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major constellations) and Phoenix (Houou Soldier, based on the Phoenix Constellation). The gold Ranger is the odd one out, since he's themed after the Libra constellation.
- Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger/Power Rangers Dino Fury: Dinosaurs once again; with Tyrannosaurus (Red), Triceratops (Blue), Ankylosaurus (Pink), Stegosaurusnote (Black), Saber-Tooth Tigernote (Green), and Mosasaurus (Gold).
- Avataro Sentai Donbrothers: The season is themed around the Momotarō fairy tale, but the story involves enough animals (or mythical creatures) to count (and the Sixth Rangers not based on the story also have animal themes): Momotaro (Red), Oni (Yellow), Monkey (Blue), Dog (Black), Pheasant (Pink), and Dragon and Tiger (Gold); plus a Shark (Purple) as an Evil Counterpart.
- Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger has an insect theme, with a Stag Beetle (both Red and Silver), Dragonfly (Blue), Mantis (Yellow), Butterfly (Purple), Bee (Black), and Tarantula (White).
- No.1 Sentai Gozyuger: This series has a mixture of regular, prehistoric and mythical animals, with Wolf (Red), Lion (Blue), Tyrannosaurus (Yellow), Eagle (Green), Unicorn (Black) and Polar Bear (White). Their Evil Counterpart, Ring Hunter Garyudo, doesn't have an animal motif but resembles an Evil Poacher with gun decorations on his suit.
Video Games
- The Fans from Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number each wear an animal mask, styling themselves after the protagonist from the first game. There's Tony (tiger), Alex & Ash (swans), Corey (zebra) and Mark (bear). Their Animal Motifs have some bearing on who they are, such as Tony being the most aggressive out of the crew and Mark being a grizzled, hairy man.
- Nose Junior High from Inazuma Eleven is a soccer team whose members are based on animals, both in appearance and often behaviour. They have an Animal Theme Naming to boot. The animals include: a boar (Charlie Boardfield), a chicken (Hugo Tallgeese, who is the team captain), a fish (Wilson Fishman), a frog (Peter Johnson), a lion (Leonard O'Shea), a chameleon (Cham Lion), an eagle (Steve Eagle), a monkey (Bruce Monkey), a gorilla (Gary Lancaster), a snake (Harry Snake), a cheetah (Adrian Speed), a cattle (Chad Bullford), a koala (Alan Coe), a panda bear (Philip Anders), a racoon (Rocky Rackham), and a mouse (Matt Mouseman).
Visual Novels
- Villainous Nights:
- The members of the Syndicate each have an animal alias and wear a mask with the corresponding motif: Wolf, Cat, Badger, Falcon, and Bat. Their elemental powers also correspond to their animal to some extent, aside from Cat. Once the heroine joins them, she acquires the alias "Monarch," as in butterfly. Later seasons add Cobra, whose power gives him the ability to Flash Step.
- Dahlia joins the Syndicate in Andi's fifth season, and, although she joins so close to the fall of Optimus that she never gets a proper suit and codename, hers would have been otter-themed, because of her control over water.
Webcomics
- In Panthera, a serum made the protagonists capable of shifting into different types of big cat- lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar. Later a rogue snow leopard shows up, in accordance with Real Life symbolism: snow leopards were initially not considered panthera because they can't roar, but after genetic analysis scientists now count it as part of the genus.
Web Videos
- Joked about in the Bootleg Zones video on "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Tubtles". The "Tubtles" all inexplicably had sea-creatures on their chests, which Phelous assumed meant each of the "Tubtles" had sea-animal themed powers, like they were Power Rangers.
Western Animation
- In Combo Niños, the titular characters have the ability to transform into animal superheroes. The members are Serio (Tigrillo), Pablo (Bull), Azul (Eagle), and Pilar (Iguana).
- Gargoyles: The Pack is a team of martial artists recruited by David Xanatos, who have a canine motif, complete with animal nicknames: Fox, Coyote, Dingo, Wolf, Jackal and Hyena (although hyenas aren't technically canids).
- In Miraculous Ladybug, the duo superheroes of Paris are Ladybug and Cat Noir, whose true identities are Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. In later seasons, they gave more people the other Miraculous to temporarily fight crime with them if the need arises, who are Rena Rouge (Alya Césaire), Queen Bee (Chloé Bourgeois), Carapace (Nino Lahiffe), Viperion (Luka Couffaine), Pegasus (Max Kanté), Ryuko (Kagami Tsurugi), King Monkey (Lê Chiến Kim Ature), Vesperia (Zoé Lee), Polymouse (Mylène Haprèle), Pigella (Rose Lavillant), Purple Tigress (Juleka Couffaine), Miss Hound (Sabrina Raincomprix), Rooster Bold (Marc Anciel), Caprikid (Nathaniel Kurtzberg), Minotaurox (Ivan Bruel), Bunnyx (Alix Kubdel), and Argos (Félix Fathom).
- PJ Masks has the main trio of Connor/Catboy (cat), Amaya/Owlette (owl) and Greg/Gekko (lizard), with later seasons introducing extra members Armadylan (armadillo), An Yu (dragon), Ice Cub (polar bear) and Bastet (serval).
- The ThunderCats are a Praetorian Guard composed of anthropomorphic big cats. For example, their leader is a lion, and their scout a cheetah.
Real Life
- Yanks with Tanks are famous for this, but many militaries give units names like "Falcons", "Bulldogs", or "Cobras". This is due to the unit insignia, unit history or simply Rule of Cool.