 Look up in the sky. It's a bird! It's a queen! It's a fish! The hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review And this week we are staying in the 80s so we can pay tribute to a couple awesome GI Joe fans The Cobra Sea Ray was sent to me by a viewer Mike Lopez and I was able to assemble the thing from the box Though not all the parts were in perfect condition Since then Mike and another viewer helped me replace the damaged and discolored parts So I would have a perfect Cobra Sea Ray to show you. Thanks Mike Lopez and Peter Chickwack for helping with this review I get a lot of donations from viewers and I appreciate it through their help I always have plenty of toys to review Sometimes though it takes a while for me to get around to reviewing those donations Well, this video is proof that I do get to them even though these toys are donated by viewers I still have to review them objectively. So let's see if the Sea Ray is any good HCC 788 presents the Sea Ray This is the 1987 Cobra Sea Ray and the Driver Sea Slug This vehicle and figure set were first available in 1987 and were also available in 1988 They were discontinued for 1989. The Sea Ray was later available for mail order from Hasbro Direct The Sea Ray came with one action figure the sea slug We will take a closer look at the sea slug later in this video But I'm going to set it aside for now so we can take a closer look at the Sea Ray The Sea Ray is a flying submarine similar to the 1984 GI Joe shark, but the Sea Ray goes about it in a different way It comes apart into two pieces with a flying and submerging component The shark and deep six would definitely be the closest GI Joe rival to the Sea Ray and the sea slug Submarines were not well represented in vintage GI Joe on the Joe's side They had the shark which doesn't look much like a submarine in 1988 Cobra got the bug a Submarine that was built like a submersible land vehicle That same year GI Joe got a re-release of the shark for a night force called the night shade In 1990 Cobra got the hammerhead another submersible land vehicle GI Joe got another reissue of the shark for the sky patrol line called the sky shark in 1992 GI Joe got the barracuda. It was more of a traditional submarine But it was a small one-man craft. That was the last true submarine in the vintage line Flying submarines have existed, but they are not very practical in the early to mid 20th century Engineers have tried to achieve the dream of a submersible aircraft The Russians tried it, but they couldn't make it work an American engineer named Donald Reed Designed a flying submarine called the reed flying submarine one. It had a successful test flight in 1964 There hasn't been a lot of development on the flying submarine since then It's unlikely that any such vehicle would be good as a dedicated aircraft or submarine Cobra has had boats before but the sea ray was Cobra's first attempt at a submersible So it has no predecessor. Its successor as a submarine was the bug in 1988 Its successor in the air is less clear Cobra's next aircraft was the stellar stiletto in 1988 But that was a rocket plane more of a spacecraft the Cobra condor from 1989 was much larger than the sea ray The closest successor may be the 1989 python patrol conquest Which was just a reissue of an earlier GI Joe jet for the sea ray I have the instruction sheet which has the blueprints on the back And I'll use this to describe some of the parts and the features on this vehicle I also have the box for the sea ray and I'll take a look at that now It's not often that I have the box for vehicles. So this is a nice bonus It's nice to see how the vehicle was marketed on retail shelves We can see the artwork is pretty standard for 1980s GI Joe vehicles It has the digital explosion background that was in vogue by 1987 it is the Cobra sea ray weapons do not shoot it has a window pane here That's where the figure would have been visible since I did open and assemble the vehicle myself I do have all the interior packing material Including this red-backed bubble that the figure was packaged on the figure was sealed in here And then was placed just inside that pane So when you were going to buy the toy you could clearly see the action figure with it We have a caption here in the corner that illustrates the features on the vehicle It says air attack craft splits into two separate attack units a one-man glider and a submarine What is saying here is the sea ray itself is an aircraft It is not itself submersible, but it detaches a submarine pod This is different from the GI Joe shark, which was entirely submersible We have the same artwork on the sides and the bottom of the box Just text and logo on the top of the box swinging the box around to look at the back We have a photograph of the toy and this looks pretty close to the production version of the toy The missiles may be a slightly darker red than the missiles on the production toy a lot of times They would photograph prototypes for the back of the box But this one actually looks pretty close to the production vehicle We have another description of the vehicle here. It says cobra sea ray is a formidable flying nemesis for cobra It's a highly armed attack craft that quickly disengages to become a submarine and glider wing Again implying that the whole sea ray is an aircraft One thing that is different from the production toy The guns in the photograph are different and they are better than the guns on the production toy We will talk about that when we get to the guns nice photographs of these separate components here I noticed there is no photograph of the sea slug driver A lot of GI Joe boxes that came with action figures would have included a photograph of the figure about in this area The sea ray was worth three flag points and it had the file card for the sea slug Unfortunately partially obscured by residue from the stringy tape for vintage GI Joe fans. This stringy tape is very familiar This is what they used on the old GI Joe boxed vehicles and it's pretty darn sturdy tape And here you can see that it's even left a mark on the file card Of course, we will take a closer look at this file card when we look at the sea slug here It says submarine detaches and floats so we will have to test that Let's look at the parts and the features of the sea ray But first let's look at an overview of it. It has a light grayish blue main body The overall shape is meant to be reminiscent of a stingray But still have the features of an aircraft It has a blunt flat nose and a smooth curved profile It has two red canons one on each side and the blueprints call these Pulverizer 30 millimeter sealed combustion canons both of these canons can pivot up and down There is a hole that goes straight through the cannon And you can see the mushroom clip that attaches it to the vehicle in my opinion This is kind of ugly these kinds of joints should be covered up on vehicles and earlier in the 80s They would have been this is just a bit of corner cutting in the late 80s It has a canopy on top the canopy is red Translucent plastic it swings up by a hinge on the back You just pull up at the front and swing it up although mine likes to pop out It doesn't like to stay in very well under the canopy We have the cockpit and we have some detail on the pilot seat there a couple control sticks and some molded in Instruments no instrument panel sticker or anything like that I'd say the detail in this cockpit is sparse not a lot of detail in there It does have a gap in the front of the cockpit where the action figures feet would go and this is a problem for a figure That comes with a small gun the sea slugs gun could easily drop in there and get lost to place the sea slug In the sea ray just bent his knees slightly and slide him into the cockpit He fits very well even with his pistol and you can close the canopy there is plenty of room It has sea ray logos on each side of the nose and this looks really good it is a black and red manta ray on a white circle background and I think this is a great design We see this repeated elsewhere on the vehicle and on the action figure moving further back We have the engine cover it is black and it is removable, but not very easily removable on mine It has a tab here in the front and a couple tabs on the side You kind of have to squeeze it and work it out and hopefully don't break those tabs removing the engine cover reveals some engine detail We have a black engine in there It goes down there pretty deeply and the detail is decent not too bad replace the engine cover by putting the front tab in first and then squeezing in and Fitting the side tabs in that is not very easy, but it will go in the engine cover is open in the back That's because this vehicle does come apart and there has to be room to take out these hooks We will get to that in a minute the sea ray has wings They are curved and elegant if a bit small They have missiles on the top and on the underside they have Cobra emblems I'll look more at the underside of the vehicle when the components are separated But for now I would like to point out it has no landing gear To me this implies the sea ray would land on water So this is a sea plane flipping the sea ray back to the top side We can see it has eight red missiles four on each side Three on each wing and two on the fuselage. The missiles are all identical. They are red in color The blueprints call these snake attack 200-pound air-to-surface missiles these would take out surface watercraft or tanks They're not designed for aerial combat. They connect to the vehicle with these dumbbell shaped pegs And like I said, they are all the same so it doesn't really matter which missile goes on where they are identical I will say the sea ray has a lot of missiles for a vehicle this size moving around to the back We have the jet engines. We have a large central engine here. That is that grayish blue color Then we have a couple smaller engines here on the bottom. That's black plastic some of that light blue plastic continues to the tail The tail is very long and thin and most of it is black plastic The tail does have a couple curved downturned stabilizers But no rudder now it's time to talk about the split apart feature on this vehicle So I have to take it apart and this makes me nervous every time I feel like I'm going to break the vehicle every time I do this I have practiced it a few times so hopefully I don't break the sea ray on camera Deep in this recess There is a latch that hooks on to the underside of this central engine and on the top side There are a couple hooks that connect to the engine section and that's what holds this thing together To take it apart. You first have to undo the latch on the bottom There's no graceful way to do this You just pull on it until it releases and just keep pulling back until it clicks off of it That horrible clicking sound that sounds like breaking plastic is not actually anything breaking It's just the sound of this clip Clearing the back of the engine. I'll do it one more time so you can hear it Yeah, you hear that kind of sound when you're pulling a vehicle apart and you're terrified that you've broken it with the bottom Latch released then you just pull these hooks off of the top and that is not always very easy But once you get them loose you then have two Vehicles the front section of the sea ray is now a submarine pod that includes the cockpit with the pilot and The two guns on the side and a couple of the missiles It has all the same features as it had when it was attached to the sea ray This is just the front section of the sea ray, but now it is a submersible pod Or actually the box says it will float so we'll have to see if it will actually float So I guess these guns and these two missiles are supposed to work underwater It's the only armament this front part of the vehicle has now these were supposed to be air to surface missiles But when the submarine pod is underwater, I guess we're supposed to pretend these are torpedoes What was the central engine for the sea ray is now the only engine for the submarine pod This is a good time to look at the underside of the submarine because in this recess here There is a backpack and this allows you to add another figure to this portion of the vehicle The instruction sheet shows battle armor cobra commander in that slot But this is an underwater vehicle and I would not use that figure for an underwater figure I think the only appropriate figure to place on there is my favorite cobra army builder The 1985 cobra eels these guys are divers So they would be appropriate to tag along with the submarine while it is underwater I guess you could keep this figure on the sea ray when it is in aircraft form But imagine being in this position when the sea ray is landing that would be terrifying It will be landing on your face the GI Joe shark has the same gimmick where you can remove the torpedoes and you have some back pegs where you can Add a couple figures now I was never able to get to work very well on the GI Joe shark the figures don't fit on there very well for me I think it might actually work a little better on the sea ray for both the shark and the sea ray I assume the vehicle has its own scuba gear that the diver can connect to because the diver cannot have His own scuba tanks while he is connected to the vehicle We will test whether this floats in a few minutes, but now let's turn to the back half of the sea ray Which is now allegedly a glider. This glider is something else It consists of the wings and the tail from the sea ray So it is mostly in that light blue color with the black tail It has six of the eight red missiles. It has the sea ray emblem on each side We still have that when it's attached and I do like that on the underside We have a backpack on this black plastic section between what look like engine cones And we have a couple control sticks here and a couple radar screens looks like it's already picked up a GI Joe Jet for the pilot of the glider I can use a spare sea slug and you just peg him on there just the same way as putting on a backpack I just goes into the hole on his back like a backpack would and you can maneuver his hands up to the control sticks The control sticks are perhaps a bit too thick to fit in the figures hand, but you can put his hands over the control sticks Now I don't know if the figure will stay on very well But I can say this is an awkward position for the pilot of this glider His radar screens are at an angle where he can't really see them When he is in the flying position to look up He would need to look above this black piece here that has the control systems on it But it's at an angle where he can't really do that So he can neither look forward to see where he's going Nor can he see his instrument panel However, you could still have this guy pegged onto the sea ray while it is attached to the main body So I guess you can carry an extra figure that way I am not very fond of the design of this glider It does not look very aerodynamic to me even though it has the nice wings from the sea ray It also has this wall here where it attaches to the submarine pod That's where the clip is and it's got a hole in it. It does not look very aerodynamic to me And yes, the figure fell off. So be careful about that. You may not attach very well This glider section is definitely my least favorite part of the sea ray I will now attempt to reconnect the sea ray pieces and I will hopefully not break it These two hooks have to go on this connecting wall here That's the wall from the backside of the engine section They have to hook down on there and you have to get them on there pretty well in order for the clip to clear the Bottom part of the engine. Oh, and it just barely did it But I had to work it a little bit but the clip did get past The bottom lip of the engine and then you just push it until it clicks together And knock off a missile But it does all fit together reasonably well once it's attached It's not going to fall apart very easily. I'm not a huge fan of the split apart gimmick on the sea ray I think it looks better as a whole vehicle The submarine pod is not bad But I really dislike the glider and I think it's better to just leave the thing together Can it float? Let's try the submarine pod first Well, it's not sinking kind of lists to one side but It it is floating now, of course, it's a submarine so you might want it to go underwater But I guess it'll work as a boat not a very stable boat though Now let's try the glider and see if it can float on its own And now nope, it just sinks no buoyancy at all Yeah, it has sunk all the way to the bottom since the glider didn't float on its own I don't have high hopes for the entire sea ray floating, but we'll give it a try anyway Let's see if the complete sea ray will float and It kind of does it's being held up by that submarine pod, but the back end is sinking I guess it's not going down But it's not Floating, you know level with the surface It's kind of tipping up because that back end does not float at all now Let's look at the action figure the sea slug the sea slug was included with the sea ray in 1987 and 1988 it was not available separately This is the only version of the sea slug ever released a sea slug is a generic name for a lot of marine Invertebrates that resemble slugs. I don't know why Cobra would want to name a trooper a sea slug It's similar to Cobra worms from the same year They are the bad guys So they're given the names of spineless creatures that crawl on the ground You can't get any lower than slugs and worms. Let's take a look at sea slugs accessory He came with only one he came with a silver pistol And this pistol is a very sci-fi looking weapon. It has curves and hooks on it I'm not a big fan of this accessory Since the sea slug is a vehicle driver This accessory will be in the cockpit with them and it could get lost within the body of the vehicle if I had the Sea ray as a kid. I can't imagine I would use this pistol very often Let's take a look at the articulation on the sea slug He had the articulation that was standard well before 1987 So he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to move his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around This was an o-ring figure meaning the figure was held together with a rubber o-ring that looped around the inside That allowed him to move at the torso of it He can move his legs apart about so far He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of the sea slug and first I have to say he is very purple Purple became a popular color for Cobra in the late 80s with the Techno Viper from 1987 and the Toxo Viper from 1988 and the Hydro Viper also from 1988 there was a lot of purple for Cobra in the late 80s So Cobra must have just loved purple, but for me it will never supplant the classic Cobra blue looking at the sea rays head He has a bucket helmet in purple a brow ridge in red that goes all the way around and Silver goggles a Caucasian skin tone this helmet actually reminds me a bit of Magneto's helmet from the X-Men on his chest he has a fairly plain purple shirt with a black collar and black shoulder ridges and A silver sea ray emblem on the left side of his chest That is a silver version of the sea ray emblem from the vehicle and it's really nice It was rare to get patches or insignia on the figures that matched the vehicle So this coordination is a great plus for both the sea ray and the sea slug on his arms He has very short sleeves the sleeves seem to have a little ridge pattern sculpted on them He has an extra muscular build on his arms and he has black gloves on his waist He has kind of a mustardy yellow belt with a silver belt buckle and detail and pouches on each hip This is actually a nicely detailed belt more detailed than the rest of the figure his legs like his chest are fairly plain But they do have some design flourishes to them on his right thigh He has a wide band in that mustardy yellow color, but it has some purple ovals that run all the way around it He has a yellow pistol holster on his right thigh in a black pistol in it His left thigh is relatively plain just that base purple plastic color on his lower legs He has black boot covers with the raised purple designs on them They're like teardrop shapes and then purple boots this figure has a lot of odd Retro sci-fi details on it. It looks like something out of Buck Rogers But despite that the figure is kind of plain and there's nothing on the figure that suggests He is a pilot or a submarine driver. He doesn't have a pilot's jumpsuit or helmet and he doesn't have any underwater gear Let's take a look at the file card for the sea slug Which is still on the box So I'll have to move the box up closer and move the stringy tape out of the way It has as faction as Cobra and it has a portrait of the sea slug Which is a copy of the artwork from the front of the box his codename is sea slug He is the sea ray navigator this top paragraph says sea slugs are chosen from the ranks of eels in parentheses Cobra frogmen as such they are qualified in underwater demolitions small boat tactics and a wide range of sonar gear This is another offshoot of the eels Cobra's frogmen the eels were the most influential unit within Cobra feeding into numerous Specialties specialized sea slug training Concentrates on the use of the sea ray tactical submersible and its variants the three phases of sea ray training are River sand ports deep ocean and arctic the training cadre expects a 35 percent attrition rate during the arctic phase This first paragraph is purely about the technical description of the sea slugs qualifications this bottom paragraph says the sea ray is coated with a rubberized damper that Sends back an extremely indistinct bounce to all known sonars It is also equipped with a nose generator that can mimic the sounds produced by a humpback whale It has almost no heat signature and sits low in the water when on the surface in other words They are very hard to detect and once you found them you have to deal with the sea slugs that man them The second paragraph is entirely a technical description of the sea ray This file card gives a little info on the vehicle and the figure it gets the job done, but that's all This is a no frills file card looking at how the sea ray and the sea slug were used in GI Joe media Well, they weren't really the sea slug was not animated in any form And the sea ray was only animated for commercials neither the sea ray nor the sea slug were used in the GI Joe comic book either Which is surprising because cobra could have used more watercraft and aircraft Neither the sea ray nor the sea slug were used in the GI Joe comic book either which is surprising Because cobra could have used more watercraft and aircraft looking at the cobra sea ray and the sea slug Overall the sea ray is a fun toy with a fair number of features But it has some problems the breakaway feature doesn't work great The separate parts are less than the whole the submarine pod works Okay, but I am not a fan of the glider even though the packaging suggests the sea ray is primarily an aircraft I would treat it the same way as the GI Joe shark as a fully submersible Aircraft that can function as a submarine with the wings attached. I like the organic design of the vehicle It looks a little like a ray or maybe a flying fish the curves give it an elegance and grace Just keep the thing together forget about splitting it up I think the colors work well enough They are reminiscent of the cobra maggot but with red in place of yellow and I think that works better The sea ray would be underarmed when it is underwater unless you decide to treat those missiles like torpedoes They're missiles in the air and torpedoes underwater. They are missile torpedoes. They are missile pedos or Torpistles the sea slug is super purple and that's almost all I can say about it The silver tampo on the chest looks good and adds a little something but the figure is kind of plain He comes with a pistol that could easily be lost. I think they could have left that out This is a very forgettable figure for me You know what is not forgettable though the guys who sent this to me to review. Thank you very much It is through the help of viewers that this show can keep on going if you like GI Joe and you like GI Joe reviews Please consider subscribing to my channel and hitting the notification bell so you don't miss any videos And if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube and share it with your friends That's what helps this channel grow You can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter and I have a website HCC788.com. Thank you to all my patrons. If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way Please check out my patreon. You can get some special perks and learn how to decode the secret messages you see in videos Thank you everyone for watching. I'll see you next week with another vintage GI Joe toy review and until then remember only GI Joe is GI Joe It's a fish