 Hey everybody, it's our four-year anniversary, whoo-hoo, four years and still going strong. I can't believe we made it this far. Some of you probably didn't think we would make it this far and if that's you Come on, have a little faith. I'm no quitter. To everyone who has stuck around for four years Thank you and thank you to everyone who has recently discovered the channel and come on board I am sincerely happy to have you here. This is a journey that we have all taken together With me starting out as a novice GI Joe toy collector and just learning and sharing and in return a lot of you have Shared your experiences with me. It's been a great four years. So what are we doing special for our four-year anniversary? Nothing really just reviewing the manta ray four years isn't really a milestone year But five years is next year We're gonna have to plan something big for the fifth anniversary And I hope you're all still here to celebrate with me for now. We have a review to do so Let's get to it everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and this week We are reviewing a 90s vehicle. I haven't done a lot of reviews on 90s vehicles So now is the time I actually had the box for the manta ray before I had the vehicle itself a Viewer named Tyrell white sent the box to me. I was intrigued so I went ahead and bought the manta ray to go with it Thank you Tyrell for sending the manta ray box now We will find out if the vehicle lives up to my expectations HCC 788 presents the manta ray 1994 GI Joe manta ray this vehicle was first introduced in 1994 and was only available in 1994 the vintage GI Joe toy line that began in 1982 was discontinued after the 1994 series it had a good run it lasted longer than most toy lines But GI Joe still wasn't able to accomplish the sustained uninterrupted multi-generational success that Barbie did for Mattel this vehicle is part of the battle core Subset which really just means it isn't part of any of the sub teams Battle core was just a way to designate the core GI Joe line as distinguished from all the tangents by 1994 GI Joe was very fractured and unfocused this vehicle is basically a raft But it's a little unusual in that it is inflatable You're supposed to fill it with air and it will float there were other rafts in GI Joe the 1991 figure tracker had a rubber inflatable raft in 1985 Cobra had the night landing vehicle and accessories set it included a raft, but it was solid plastic not Inflatable I prefer the solid plastic the manta ray in my experience is difficult to inflate The manta ray almost shares a name with an earlier GI Joe vehicle in 1984 GI Joe had the manta which was a wind-sailing board It was available exclusively as a mail away offer. The name isn't exactly the same This is the manta. This is the manta ray an earlier GI Joe watercraft It's about the same size as the manta ray would be the 1986 devil fish though the devil fish is slightly smaller the devil fish came from the golden age of GI Joe toys So there is a contrast in the sharpness and the crispness of the details Between these two vehicles as much as the bright colors of 90s GI Joe toys is criticized and I think justifiably This 1986 vehicle does have the bright orange Inflatable motorized rafts are used by the military. So this type of vehicle is not unusual The manta ray however has some toyish elements that you won't find on a real military raft The manta ray isn't just a raft the motor really works Sort of the manta ray is rubber band powered by twisting a rubber band attached to the propeller The manta ray could move through the water. We'll see how well that works later This is not an original rubber band that came with the manta ray by the way This is my rubber band that I put on here a rubber tends to dry out and break down over the years It's gonna be kind of difficult to find a vintage rubber band for the manta ray And if even if you did find one if you tried to use it it would probably break rubber band powered toys have been around for a long time It's a primitive technology, but it can be used effectively one example of a good rubber band powered toy is Thunderstreek by the toy company ideal Thunderstreek Thunderstreek Thunderstreek Thunderstreek Thunderstreek the new super speed hydrofoil with five position hydrofins You set for action Rev up high-powered prop Position rudder check your course Thunderstreek speeds across water For submarine action it crash dives underwater I think the Thunderstreek is a pretty cool looking toy I wouldn't mind having one looks like it gets quite a bit of speed out of its rubber band powered propeller Can the manta ray match the power of the Thunderstreek? We'll find out in this video. Thanks to Tyrell white. I have the box for this vehicle So let's take a look at and see how the manta ray was marketed back in 1994 The first thing I have to note is the box art isn't up to the standards of vehicle box art from the 1980s Without the explosion background the image loses a lot of its energy and depth You have a black background that fades to blue with only little puffs of white around the boat to indicate that it's in water They also have flint version 4 on the raft this flint is a desert themed figure So of course they put them on a boat the interior of the boat is Backwards the control panel is on the port side and the torpedo launcher is on the starboard side That's the reverse of the toy I thought maybe this image was painted the other way and they reversed it But the flag is on the correct side. So they just did it wrong We have the GI Joe logo on the side and we have the battle core logo over that at least They didn't shrink down the GI Joe logo like the star brigade vehicles did torpedo launcher shoots wind up powered We'll see about that. We have two flag points on the top You'd have to use these quickly because the toy line was about to end the top of the box and the sides Include a description of the vehicle that is not on the front of the box It says Navy seal attack boat a vehicle like this would work fine for Navy seals GI Joe's Navy seals were usually equipped for deep sea diving I guess you could use this to deploy them on a diving mission looking at the back of the box We see a photo of the toy. This is mostly the same as the vehicle that came out of the box There are minor differences the inflatable part of the raft looks like it's made of plastic There is no air nozzle contrast the box art for the manta ray with the box art for the 1986 devilfish and there is a huge difference by 1986 They were using this digital explosion background rather than the original explosion background But you can see that this lighter color the reds and yellows in the back Really make this pop much better than this black to blue color gradient on the manta ray art Plus the vehicle is just rendered better. It's more dynamic The box art for the 90s really took a step backward Let's look at the parts and the features of the manta ray and let's start with the raft That is the main body of the vehicle this inflatable portion It is made of what feels like a vinyl material It is black on the top and aqua blue on the bottom and on the inside It is inflatable it has an air nozzle here on the back and you're supposed to inflate it like a beach ball There is a sharp seam that divides the top from the bottom really this inflatable raft is the boat the plastic parts Just clip on to it. It's difficult to inflate this raft. It's small so it doesn't take much air But it's not easy to seal the nozzle before enough air escapes to flatten the boat This causes two problems first they can make the boat sink second These side panels need the raft to be inflated to clip on properly if there isn't enough air in the raft They'll fall off up here in front. We have what the boot prints call the bulletproof topside canopy I haven't mentioned the most obvious problem with this vehicle So I'll point it out now the plastic pieces all of them are in bright neon green This is terrible even if the rest of the vehicle worked great the color would drag it down You have a nice black raft for night missions and it's totally ruined by the bright green plastic This would have looked a thousand times better in another color perhaps black It would have been a great night attack vehicle We have some molded-in headlights up here in front and we have some rope details along the sides We have a GI Joe logo sticker with the vehicle name Manta ray in a black circle behind it I hate to keep bringing back the devil fish, but just look at the devil fish logo next to this manta ray logo a Lot more effort went into the devil fish in the interior of the boat on the starboard side We have what the blueprints call a control console with dual steering grips and that is exactly what it is We have some molded-in instruments. We have a radar screen sticker We also have on the space just underneath the control panel a pretty nice battle core logo with anchors on it Actually kind of like that. It looks pretty nice I would wouldn't mind seeing this as like a unit insignia For battle core Navy figures these control sticks are probably small enough to fit in action figures hands But the control panel is actually a little too low to easily fit the control sticks in a figure's hand This is a standing control panel There is no seat. Yes, there is no driver's seat The driver gets a foot peg on the floorboard and you just peg the figure on the foot peg in front of the control panel And that's it. There is no other way to secure the driver in the boat And I'm not 100% confident that this foot peg will hold the figure in the boat in rough waters Foot pegs are a little hit-and-miss on how well they secure the figures on on the other side We have what the blueprints call a front mounted supercharged torpedo launcher I like that this is a torpedo launcher and not a rocket launcher It is spring powered and it really shoots. We'll show you that later. It has two grips I would be cautious about putting an action figures hands on those grips They're a little bit thicker than the grips on the control panel. There's a third peg here But I'm not sure that's supposed to be a grip for the figure. I think that might just be a detail There is a sticker targeting control in the space between the launcher and the control console And there is no seat for the gunner We have another foot peg for the gunner and this one is a little more problematic than the one for the control console It's a little too far center for a figure if you put it on his left foot to Really he's not behind the gun to get the figure behind the gun You have to kind of push the raft over if you can even do it. It's really hard to line up And once he's on there, he's more more in command of the gun But now the raft itself the inflatable part is pressing against the figure And that's going to make him even less secure on that foot peg The vehicle comes with three of what the blueprints call lock on torpedoes They are in that bright green plastic the same as all of the plastic on this vehicle I didn't realize before doing this review that this vehicle is incomplete It should have three torpedoes. I only have two But since the torpedoes are all identical, you're not missing anything Just cross your eyes until you see three the torpedo launcher can pivot but not all the way around It's impeded by a loop of hose that runs from the main body of the launcher to the barrel I don't know why that's there really. It's just an obstruction And it's a piece that looks like it could break off. I can see some white plastic stress marks on mine These torpedoes look like pretty standard spring loaded missiles So we got a lot of those in the 90s, but the fins do have kind of a twist So you could imagine these propelling through the water Let's demonstrate how the spring loaded torpedo launcher works by using our favorite target Dr. Meinbender for target practice You just take the torpedo Press it into the barrel of the launcher keep pressing back until it clicks The trigger is here in the back and you press down just aim press down and fire Well, I missed fortunately. I have two torpedoes. So let's take another shot at Dr. Meinbender there Push it until it clicks aim and fire Well, I hit him, but he's still standing too bad. I don't have that third torpedo The torpedoes have dumbbell shaped slots and they peg on to these side panels that are clipped on to the sides of the raft These side panels have two clips on the outside one on the inside And the outside clips have some stickers for some added color and that's nice It's also nice to have a way to store these torpedoes when you're not using them They just peg on like standard old fashioned gi joe missiles They are not too in the way there and that's how it looks with the torpedoes mounted on the side panels These side panels themselves are pretty problematic. They do want to fall off They are just clipped onto the raft and of course the raft is a bit flexible It doesn't always inflate very well. So these are going to fall off pretty easily We have the deck inside the raft. It runs the length of the boat, but not the width It's kind of a narrow strip in there It has a raised dot pattern And in addition to the two foot pegs up in the front for the driver and the torpedo launcher There are four additional foot pegs if you use one foot peg per figure you can fit six figures in this boat But I am not confident these foot pegs can hold these figures in the boat Is since there are no seats at all and you can only stand the figures in the boat If you're going to put figures in the back, I would suggest only two figures behind the driver and the gunner And use one foot peg per foot that might make them a little more secure. Next we have the flag post and flag It's pretty tall and again the flag post is made out of that same neon green plastic And it attaches to the boat at the back next to the motor It also has this angled protrusion and I don't know exactly what that's for the flag itself is not quite an American flag It looks a little like an American flag. It has a blue field with a lot of stars Not quite enough stripes It's narrow and it has two points We'll just say it was inspired by the American flag But some artistic license was taken finally we get to the motor in the back It's an outboard motor with a removable engine cover similar to the devil fish You can just pull it off and you do see some engine detail And this is where having all the plastic that same color is a bit of a problem If this engine had been done in a darker color, it would have helped pick out those details a little bit better Since it's all that very bright green Some of the details just kind of wash out in the back. You have a propeller a three blade propeller And it is attached to that rubber band underneath so you can wind that propeller to add tension to the rubber band Um, you have to actually wind it quite a bit to put enough tension on the rubber band to spin the propeller Unfortunately, this motor does not turn and I think that is too bad because since this is supposed to Go through the water and you know really move with this propeller It would have been nice if the motor would turn so you could give it some direction Underneath there is a hull of sorts But it's really just kind of a thin band of plastic with raised sides and you can see how the rubber band attaches There are a couple hooks on the hull and there is a hook on the propeller And you just basically just Wind that propeller until there is enough tension on the rubber band To spin the propeller blades back It actually takes quite a bit of tension on that rubber band to give it enough power to spin that blade But once you have it wound tight enough, you should be able to let it go and the blade will spin As you can see after the initial burst of speed Most of the energy of this rubber band is expended and then it has a hard time turning this propeller I do think that will affect how this boat moves through the water Yeah, see it loses energy really fast and then the best it can do is turn that propeller very slowly It may also be the type of rubber band that i'm using I don't know what type of rubber band initially came with this vehicle But this is just a standard rubber band. The media discussion on this vehicle is easy. It had no animated appearances I don't know of any comic book appearances either If you know of any comic appearances, please let me know in the comments. I'm open to correction on that But to my knowledge it was not animated nor did it see print. Okay. I'm outdoors to test if this thing will float I have the largest vessel that I can get here And so we're going to also test the motor and see if that works. It's kind of a windy day So hopefully that doesn't spoil the audio, but here it is. We're going to give it a shot now before you ask No, I am not putting figures in this I did try to put the figures in here, but I could not get them to stay On those foot pegs. So we're going to have to test it without figures. First, let's see if it will float Then we'll test the motor. Okay the manta ray will it float? Yes, uh floats pretty well, uh even uh might be under inflated But uh, I've got enough air in there that it will float with as much air in it You may even have a hard time making it sink. Uh, it should float very well and it does Now let's see if this little propeller will move this boat through the water It's wound pretty tight and I'm pretty sure I wound it in the correct direction to move it forward So, uh, let's put it in the water I'm going to put it at this end and see if it will move the boat in that direction. So let's let it go No, well The problem I have is the wind the wind keeps blowing it and I need it to kind of I'm trying to test the motor Not the wind So let's try it again Now we'll release it and see if it moves. Let's go It did move it did move But in the water this has even an even harder time The rubber band has an even harder time spinning the propeller The resistance of the water is putting more pressure on it. So it's not releasing its energy As easily I guess it sort of works. That's the best I can say for it Looking at the manta ray overall Oh, I have to put it in the bottom tier. What else can I do? It's just got too many problems I like the idea of an inflatable raft, but the thing just has loads of flaws The raft is not easy to inflate and if you under inflate it that will affect how well the boat floats And how well the pieces clip on to the raft no seats You have no way to secure the figures in the boat. No back pegs. No seat belts You only have foot pegs and they do not work well The entire time I was shooting this review I was not able to get the figures to stand in the boat very well at all No matter how I arranged them. This is a three gimmick vehicle. The first gimmick is the inflatable raft The second gimmick is the spring-loaded torpedo launcher and the third gimmick is the rubber band powered motor And of those three gimmicks only the torpedo launcher really works as it says on the tent The raft kind of works as long as you can get it inflated well enough The propeller kind of works, but even at its best it's underpowered It's neon green the 90s just could not help themselves If your gimmicks are not going to work very well, you got to at least give us a good looking vehicle This vehicle with black plastic would have been a pretty cool looking night mission vehicle It could have been gi joe's belated answer to the cobra night landing I think I would have liked it in black even if the other gimmicks didn't work all that well There are things from the 90s that I like Really? Sadly, this is not one of them. That was my review of the manta ray. I hope you enjoyed it I hope this video isn't too short for this week and some people may have tuned in expecting a huge crazy rant But this vehicle didn't make enough of an impression on me to really rant about it next week's review However, maybe rant worthy. Thank you Tyrell for the box and thank you to everyone who watches these videos Thank you for four great years. I look forward to four more Don't forget to find me on facebook twitter and patreon and my website HCC788.com I'll see you next week for another vintage gi joe toy review and remember even in 1994 only gi joe was gi joe Motorized manta ray sleep healthy and armed to the gill A cobra bites back with the sinister scorpion. It is super stinging missile launcher This court razor blade races to the rescue a tech chopper cobra stopper battle core plan c air More machine more mayhem more action than you can handle Gi joe razor blade manta ray and cobra scorpion each old severly Thunder streak thunder streak thunder streak thunder streak