That's true - do we think they can co-exist?
*spits* Wing Commander uniforms do not co-exist.
Seriously, though, I would say that the thing that bugs me the most about the Wing Commander III duty uniforms is that they were clearly--at one point in the process--supposed to look like those svelte Wing Commander II uniforms (that and the strange shift in insigna, from modern military emblems to futuristic squares and triangles).
I'm sure there are plenty of in-continuity explanations for changes in uniforms (not the least of which being that Tolwyn was probably a bit more stringent about uniforms on the Concordia than Eisen was on the Victory...) -- but after a point it just gets silly since there are *so* many different styles out there.
The tan uniforms in WC1 seem to be more in the traditions of 'duty' uniforms, while the dress uniforms in WC2 are certainly a step up. This makes sense, also, considering that even during medal ceremonies in WC1, you're still on the ship surrounded by your squadron mates. In WC2, you are presumably at a trial, or the sentencing portion - it would be much more formal, and the level of dress would undoubtedly be much higher for such an occasion.
I guess the bigger question centers on the duty uniforms of the Concordia. They definitely are blue in any of the rec scenes - I don't see the pilots still maintaining the tan uniforms as well, although one never knows. Presumably, they would still exist as there are no ribbons worn on those blue uniforms - they could be a step down.
Wing Commander II has all-blue duty uniforms and white-and-blue dress uniforms; the ribbons are removed from all -- likely to save memory so that the game can store single male, female and Hobbes paper dolls instead of different graphics for each person.
I always questioned that introduction, the back of the box art shows blair in his WC1 uniform, claiming he is innocent. Yet the WC2 does not show only a different uniform, it shows the "aged"(10 years older) version of him explaining himself to tolwyn, as you see(or are) him through the rest of the game. While the shot I mention is very likely an early draft that had been cut out of the final release, I still keep wondering why it kept re-appearing on the revised CD editions that included expansion packs. And at another wild guess that very rendered room had been re-used for Jazz's courtmartial in SO2?
Good eye. What you see on the box is the original version of the intro, which used Blair's old head and a special court room background. This was cut and the scene rewritten to take place in Tolwyn's office. It's hard to imagine today, but that change saved a lot of memory (remember, it had to fit on seven 1.2 mb disks).
I can speak to why it kept reappearing, too, from having gone through Origin's publications office archive. They had a set of high resolution promotional slides used for advertising made from screen shots... and they reused those same screenshots for everything rather than paying to have more made (if you look closely at all the WC1 screenshots you'll see that they're of a much earlier version of the game too - different weapons and wingmen and FX graphics). Rereleases like the deluxe editions were designed to make money at no cost, so new out-of-house print material wasn't budgeted for.
(And yes, that's why the court reappeared in SO -- they'd already done the work creating it.)