Applying the five-man band trope in a real robot anime

[WildeHopps_Shipper]

Click here to understand what the five-man band trope is.

You know how the five-man band trope is mostly applied to combining super robot anime? Say that the trope was applied to real robot anime, instead, like what we got out of Gundam Wing, Gundam 00 (if you were to include Sumeragi Lee Noriega as the chick in Celestial Being), and Majestic Prince. How do you think it'll be applied in a real robot anime, where mecha cannot combine, and why?

For me, it's the following:

The Leader: Either well-balanced or melee-based.

The Lancer: Either melee-based if the leader's well-balanced, or a marksman if the leader is melee-based.

The Big Guy: The heavy-assault specialist.

The Smart Guy: Either the scout if the lancer is the marksman, or a marksman if said lancer is melee-based.

The Chick: A support unit, whether as a repair unit or a sensor unit.

[Seto Kaiba]

You know how the five-man band trope is mostly applied to combining super robot anime? Say that the trope was applied to real robot anime, instead, like what we got out of Gundam Wing, Gundam 00 (if you were to include Sumeragi Lee Noriega as the chick in Celestial Being), and Majestic Prince. How do you think it'll be applied in a real robot anime, where mecha cannot combine, and why?

Since Macross is my particular mecha franchise forte, I'll put my reply in those terms:

The Leader: Command (multirole) variant w/ higher ("ace") performance tuning, some additional armament, enhanced communications systems for C2 functions. Piloted by a platoon leader, a squadron leader, or ship's CAG. (Examples: VF-0S, VF-1S, VF-17S, VF-19S, VF-25S, VF-31S)

The Lancer: Enhanced armament or Reconnaissance-in-Force variant optimized for short-ranged combat (dogfighting) with long-ranged fire support from other units. Usually piloted by the unit second officer. (Examples: VF-1J, VF-17D, VF-19F, VF-25F, VF-31F)

The Smart Guy: Long-ranged support or Designated Marksman variant optimized for medium or long-range combat with guided ordnance or a precision high-powered gunpod. (Examples: VF-171AS, VF-25G, VF-31J.)

The Big Guy: Attacker variant optimized for short-ranged combat and maximum defensive ability, deploying support equipment like the Armored Pack as standard. (Examples: VF-1J Armored, VF-11C Full Armor, VF-25E, VF-31C)

The Chick: Airborne Early Warning and Control variant, possibly equipped with remote unmanned fighters for defense. (Examples: VE-1, VE-11, RVF-19EF, RVF-171, RVF-25, VF-31E)



Macross, of course, doesn't often actually have units quite that big, given that the standard platoon size tops out at 4 planes. Here are a few examples of how it's shaken out in previous shows, though only recently has the franchise introduced enough diversity of variants in a single unit to fill out most of what I've described above:

Super Dimension Fortress Macross
The Leader: Roy Focker (VF-1S)
The Lancer: Hikaru Ichijo (VF-1J)
The Smart Guy: Maximilian Jenius (VF-1A/J)
The Big Guy: Hayao Kakizaki (VF-1A)

Macross 7
The Leader: Gamlin Kizaki (VF-17D/S, VF-22S)
The Lancer: Basara Nekki (VF-19 Custom)
The Smart Guy: Mylene F. Jenius (VF-11MAXL)
The Big Guy: Veffidas Feaze (VF-17T)
The Chick: Ray Lovelock (VF-17T)

(There's a certain irony in 7 in that the Smart Guy and Big Guy are both women, and the Chick is an old man...)

Macross Frontier
The Leader: Ozma Lee (VF-25S, sometimes doubling as The Big Guy w/ Armored Pack)
The Lancer: Alto Saotome (VF-25F)
The Smart Guy: Michael Blanc (VF-25G)
The Chick: Luca Angeloni (RVF-25)

Macross Delta
The Leader: Arad Molders (VF-31S)
The Lancer: Messer Ihlefeld (VF-31F)
The Smart Guy: Hayate Immelmann (VF-31J)
The Big Guy: Mirage F. Jenius (VF-31C)
The Chick: Chuck Mustang (VF-31E)

(Also a bit of fun, in that the guy flying the "Chick" fighter is a VERY big guy where the girl flying the defense-focused short-range fighter is a tiny waifish girl.)

[MythSearcher]

Click here to understand what the five-man band trope is.

You know how the five-man band trope is mostly applied to combining super robot anime? Say that the trope was applied to real robot anime, instead, like what we got out of Gundam Wing, Gundam 00 (if you were to include Sumeragi Lee Noriega as the chick in Celestial Being), and Majestic Prince. How do you think it'll be applied in a real robot anime, where mecha cannot combine, and why?

For me, it's the following:

The Hero: Either well-balanced or melee-based.

The Lancer: Either melee-based if the hero's well-balanced, or a marksman if the hero is melee-based.

The Big Guy: The heavy-assault specialist.

The Smart Guy: Either the scout if the lancer is the marksman, or a marksman if said lancer is melee-based.

The Chick: A support unit, whether as a repair unit or a sensor unit.

A trope is only a trope and not always followed.
For Wing, the 5 of them are obviously not modeled after this.
While Heero/Wing combination is kinda well balanced, you get three extremely melee units, Deathscythe Sandrock and Shenlong.
Sandrock is more leaning towards the Big Guy and Deathscythe the smart guy, but Heavyarms don't really fit the lancer and you don't get the chick in anyway(Unless you think Deathscythe can fit into the role.)

For 00, it gets a bit easier.
Exia is obvious enough to be the Hero, while you get Dynames as the Lancer, Virture as the Big Guy, Nadleeh as the Chick and Kyrios as the Smart guy(kinda). Or you can claim GN Archer as the chick when Nadleeh isn't seen.

[Kuruni]

The trope is one of the most misuse on TV Tropes. It's kind of understandable when listing six with one being Sixth Ranger, but I've seen too many examples listing 7 or 8 characters. Although the trope is mostly associated with Super Sentai/Power Ranger, the originator is actually normal music bands.

The Hero isn't part of Five Man Band, it is actually The Leader.

The Chick is gender specific, this character must be a girl.