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    Roy Fokker

    Character » Roy Fokker appears in 146 issues.

    Lieutenant Commander Roy Fokker was the leader of the Skull Squadron aka Jolly Rogers, one of the most decorated units in the Global Civil War and the First Robotech War. He was also instrumental in the SDF-1 research.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Roy Fokker last edited by downinthesewer on 11/01/23 09:26PM View full history

    Lieutenant Commander Roy Fokker was born in January of 1979, Roy Fokker was the only child of Dan Fokker, a veteran U.S. Navy aviator, and his wife Linda.  Roy was adopted by family friend Mitchell Hunter after his mother and Father died.  Mitchell's son Rick Hunter and Roy treated each other like brothers.  
     
    Growing up around pilots, gear-heads and aviation aficionados, it was only natural that Roy became interested in aviation at an early age.  Mitchell Hunter taught him how to fly, and was soon performing in the Hunters' Flying Circus in a replica Fokker D.VII bi-plane.  In high school, Roy was in the U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and had hopes of joining the Air Force immediately upon graduation.  Mitchell, a stalwart pacifist, had other ideas and convinced Roy to stay and perform for the flying circus.  However , with the outbreak of the Global Civil War, Roy immediately joined the U.S. Navy as an Naval Aviator and became an ace of aces shooting down 108 enemy planes during the war.   He became known for being brash to the point of recklessness, surviving against impossible odds, and often seeming to be mindlessly aggressive.  Still, he kept himself and his men in the air and fighting, and no one was sure if it was due to skill, or luck.  Roy claimed it was both, but mainly skill.  One of his favorite boasts was how he shot down five enemy plains while he had a massive hangover.
     
    During his service, he was stationed at a small air base in Wyoming, where he met the love of his life,  Claudia Grant.  He often joked that the reason he stuck with her was because she made the world's best pineapple salad.
     
    In the year 1999 Roy was aboard the Supercarrier U.S.S. Kenosha in the South Pacific on a mission to track the activity of a Oscar Class Russian Nuclear Submarine.  When a U.S. Navy helicopter was apparently destroyed by the very Russians they were sent to track, Roy was scrambled to intercept them in his F-203 Dragon fighter plane.  What his wingman Steve thought to be 14 Russian SU 37s comming at them were really 14 MiM-31 Karyovins that had set up the whole encounter with both navies, controlled by the Anti-Unification League who was interested only in the continuation of the Global Civil War.  Roy nearly destroyed all the enemy fighters single-handedly after losing his wingman Steve and the rest of his squadron.  Immediately after the attack,  Zor's space ship, the  SDF-1 entered Earth's atmosphere.   Going at hypersonic speeds it destroyed buildings in its wake and overturned the U.S.S. Kenosha killing all aboard, leaving Roy one of the few survivors of that whole carrier group, one of the others being Admiral Donald N. Hayes. 
     
    Reeling from the devastation, Roy eventually learned that the Russian submarine, commanded by Captain  Henry Gloval, had gone to investigate the unidentified object that had wreaked such havoc.  While the Russian sub guarded the object, Admiral Hayes scrambled an international team of scientists and hand-picked military personnel to try and investigate as well.  Roy was one of those hand-picked by Hayes.  When Captain  Henry Gloval learned of the international initiative, he defied the orders of his government to keep the discovery for the Russians and allowed the team access.  The object was found to be a ship, a ship with technologies far and away more advanced than the Earth's.  The revelation that aliens existed and possessed this type of power unified the warring nations, and a global government was created.  The disparate national militaries were disbanded, replaced by the Robotech Defense Force.
     
    Roy Fokker continued to be a key player during the investigation and research of the  SDF-1, present when Dr. Emil Lang discovered the massive energy source that he later dubbed "protoculture".  There was also a mishap during Lang's exploration, and Roy saved his life, although he was unable to keep Lang from becoming saturated with the mysterious substance and becoming a bit altered.     
     
    As the ship's functionality continued to increase, more actual crew was assigned to support it.  One of those crew was none other than Roy's unofficial fiancee,  Claudia Grant, who became third in the line of command and the ship's communications officer.  In another twist, Admiral Donald Hayes requested, and received, none other than Roy's old enemy, Captain  Henry Gloval, to be acting captain of the ship.  Roy was now under his command.

    As construction drew to a close, a launch day was announced amidst much fanfare.  A large event was organized to celebrate the ship's return to flight, and Roy invited his adopted brother, Rick Hunter, to attend.  The relationship between the two had become highly strained during the intervening years, due to Roy's active military career and Rick's pacifist outlook, Roy hoped to get Rick to see what he had been fighting for.  Rick hoped to get Roy to return to the Flying Circus. 
     
    Launch Day arrived, with a lot of celebration, and Rick arrived in true style, crashing the carefully organized and choreographed air show in his stunt plane.  Roy, narrating the show, immediately began squabbling with his arrogant little brother, but did manage to keep him from getting arrested when Rick finally landed.  The two were in the middle of a heated discussion, Roy proud of his military achievements, Rick scornful, when a shattering blast split the air, and the island.  The ship had apparently discovered the proximity of an old enemy, the  Zentraedi, and had fired off its main gun in response.  Sirens immediately began blaring and Roy had to leave Rick to scramble his squadron. 
     
    Thus began a years long conflict, known as the  First Robotech War.  Captain  Henry Gloval in a desperate move to get the battle away from the completely unprepared Earth, used the   SDF-1's untested Space Fold System to jump to the moon.  They jumped, but overshot the moon by about five billion miles, ending up near Pluto instead.  Everything within a half mile radius of the ship was carried along for the ride, including the military personnel, civilians, most of  Macross City, some ocean, and even sunlight and atmosphere.   
     
    Roy's squadron was instrumental in defending the ship on its long voyage home, the Jolly Rogers inspired by Roy's skill and talent in the cockpit, and his cool levelheadedness in the face of fire.  Even pacifist Rick began to understand that perhaps there were some things worth fighting for, and joined the Robotech Defense Force himself.   
      
    Sadly, it was during his defense of the  SDF-1 that Roy lost his life.  Distracted by an injured team mate during battle, an enemy scored several direct hits against his veritech's main body.  He saw the battle through to the end, safely landing his fighter back in the bay, and climbing out to go to  Claudia Grant's place, where they had a date.  As she prepared dinner, she vented her frustration about his risk taking and reckless behavior, claiming it seemed like it was all a game to him.   
     
    He replied, "It was never a game, Claudia.  Maybe someday you'll understand that." 
     
    They were his last words. 
     
    Roy's death inspired Rick to take his military duties seriously, and further inspires the Skull Squadron to even greater acts of heroism.  Claudia never got involved with another man, until her death in the final assault on Earth by Khyron. 
     
    Note:  In the Antarctic Comics, Roy's final words are changed to a very familiar sounding "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

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