shogun029

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Oh, and thanks for the link, JBO. Now that I look at the way a VF-1 tactical wing is set up, it would seem that there would be other members of Skull Squadron. At least it's closer to what a tradition squadron would look like. Although in the series, when Hikaru was named team leader in Focker's air group his Vermillion VF-1 was numbered 101. Kakizaki's was presumably 102 and Max's 103. Were they that far down the line from Skull Leader's 001?! Anyway, too bad the other anonymous veteran 'pilots' of the squadron aren't given even cursory looks in the series or in the movie. It would've been cool to see 12 valks with the Skull insignia on the attack in DYRL. They really had a chance to do that since they were condensing and adding new elements to the overall story anyway. Oh well. I'll keep dreaming. Thanks, again.

Ok, dumb question pending. Let me preface the question first: I've been watching Macross from the beginning and I've noticed that all depicted squadrons are made up of three or four aircraft. From what I understand UN Spacy took its cues from the U.S. Navy for its designations and rankings. One would assume that they would adopt similiar squadron formation procedures as well. A squadron in the U.S. Navy typically consists of between 12 and 24 aircraft. Now I understand that the creators of Macross most likely would not have wanted to nor been able to develop the characters of 12 to 24 different pilots. That's understandable. That would explain why from the opening battle of the movie it is obvious that squadrons are made up of 4 planes each (see Apollo and Angel Squadrons). But what I don't understand is the way they numbered each squadron member's VF-1 in DYRL. For example, Roy Focker's VF-1S is numbered 001 which is fitting since he's the squadron leader, "Skull Leader." However, Hikaru's VF-1A is numbered "11" and is referred to as "Skull 11." Likewise with Kakizaki's and Genius' VF-1As being designated "Skull 12" and "Skull 13," respectively. Why didn't they just number Hikaru's, Kakizaki's and Genius' VFs as 'Skulls 2, 3 and 4?' In Frontier it seems that they've adopted that procedure (Ozma is Skull Leader, Michel - Skull 2, Luca - Skull 3 and Alto - Skull 4). Does anyone know of any written material or of some other resource that would shed light on why they chose the numbers that they did and what they were thinking when they were writing DYRL?

Thanks. I was worried there for a second.

I just got mine today....so nice!! I just love the detail and overall sturdy feel to it. However, it's been awhile since I've watched 'Plus' and can't seem to remember if there was a "21" with the little triangles in white script on both sides behind the cockpit. On Yamato's offering it's only on the left side. I checked the Hasagawa model decal maps and they show one on each side. Does anyone remember which is correct?

VF-27 Seraph VF-27 Ronin VF-27 Dragoon VF-27 Centurion VF-27 .....Midnight Marauder VF-27..........Skull Twister

I know that it might be a little too early to ask this but is there any word about what colors Yamato is thinking of using for the 'hawk? Tan, green, low viz (because they've never done that before).