Roy Focker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roy Focker

Roy Focker (ロイ・フォッカー, Roi Fokkā^?) is a character from the Japanese anime science fiction series Macross (which was loosely adapted as the first story arc of Robotech) and the prequel OVA Macross Zero. A talented and strong-willed fighter pilot, he is known for his love of women and alcohol. He is voiced by veteran seiyuu Akira Kamiya in the original Japanese and by Brett Weaver in the 2006 English dub.

In Macross Zero, Focker is one of the first test pilots for the development of the variable fighter by the U.N. Forces. In 2008 he is deployed with the Skull Team aboard the stealth carrier Asuka II (CVN-99) to the South Pacific and flies the VF-0, in battle against SV-51s of the Anti-U.N. Forces. The work done on the VF-0 helps the coinciding development of the VF-1 Valkyrie.

In Macross, Focker is not exactly portrayed as a fatherly character. Despite being senpai (upperclassman/big brother figure) to a young pilot named Hikaru Ichijyo, his portrayal is that of a smoking, drinking womanizer who constantly defies death and, when not on another desperate mission, enjoyed life and its pleasures to the fullest. He has a relationship with Claudia LaSalle, an officer on Macross's bridge.

Roy dies in episode 18 ("Pineapple Salad"), from wounds sustained while defending Macross from Milia Fallyna's force of Queadluun-Rau battle suits. Instead of going to the hospital to treat his wounds, he chooses to play the guitar while waiting for Claudia LaSalle to finish her pineapple salad; while she's cooking for him, he collapses from a sudden internal bleeding and passes away few minutes later. To Hikaru's chagrin given his then shaken self-confidence in his flying skill in war, he is promoted as the new leader of Roy's squadron, using his mecha as well.

In The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (a movie version of the TV series that is portrayed as a movie within the fictional Macross universe itself), Roy dies aboard the alien Zentradi ship while fighting Quamzin Kravshera. He sacrifices himself to let Hikaru and Misa Hayase escape.

Roy may have been named in honor of the Fokker aircraft company, and its founder Anthony Fokker who built the Fokker E.I, the Fokker Dr.I and Fokker D.VII fighter aircraft during World War I. In flashback sequences, Roy flies a reproduction Fokker D.VII, and gives Hikaru a model of one as a "get well" gift.

The colors on Roy's VF-1S Valkryie are similar to those of the VF-84 Jolly Rogers unit that flew the F-14 Tomcat, the plane that is the basis of the Valkryie.

[edit] Differences in the Robotech adaptation

Roy Fokker

In the 1985 Robotech adaptation of the first Macross series, Roy's portrayal was toned down for American audiences by producer Carl Macek. He keeps his original name, but it was written as "Roy Fokker." His basic persona was the same in both series, though details differed. Episode 18 was renamed "Farewell Big Brother". The Robotech version of the character was voiced by Dan Woren.

Wildstorm's 2002-2003 Robotech comic series developed a background story for this character that was different from the background in Macross. In this version, Roy was the chief test pilot in the VF-1 development program, and as a potential symbol for the nascent United Earth Government (renamed from the U.N. Government in Macross), was the target of a number of assassination attempts by the Anti-Unification movement, including at least two ambushes during his flight tests of the YF-1 (known as two separate vehicles in Macross, the VF-X and the VF-X-1). He survived both attempts on his life, including the crash of his prototype Valkyrie while testing the Guardian (known as GERWALK in Macross) configuration.

After his crash, the Valkyrie program was officially canceled in favor of Project Excalibur, a design project to develop Destroids (walking battroid/battloid tanks); however, the anti-unification hijacking of the "Armor-One" space carrier gave him the opportunity to prove the VF-1 Valkyrie's worth once and for all; he launched on the unofficial and highly illegal orders of Captain Henry J. Gloval, using the first production-model VF-1 (a VF-1S that would be his mount for the rest of his life), and ended the threat to the SDF-1 by destroying the bridge of the hijacked carrier and shooting down the reflex missile it had fired at Macross Island.

Roy is one of the most skilled and formidable of all Robotech warriors.

[edit] Trivia

It can be said ironic that Brett Weaver dubbed over both Focker as well as Gai Daigoji of Martian Successor Nadesico, as both characters represent mentors to the main character, before their untimely deaths.

In any rendition of the famous RPG crossover of Super Robot Wars involving Macross, Roy Focker constituted a major character in the overall story, and did not die as per the scenario of Macross. In these games, Focker was fighting alongside many other robot anime icons, especially those voiced by his seiyu Akira Kamiya (e.g. Ryoma Nagare of Getter Robot, Akira Hibiki of Reideen, Kazuya Ryuzaki of Daimos).