Manta Ray (G2)

This article is about the Generation 2 Autobot. For the Beast Wars Predacon, see Manta Ray (BW).

Manta Ray is an Autobot from the Generation 2 portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Leadfoot's head isn't normally part of his character model.

Brave to the point of foolishness, Manta Ray is an intrepid aquatic warrior. Luckily, his prodigious speed gets him out of most scrapes—and when that doesn't work, he has his deadly roto-prop weapon to fall back on!

He is also known as Piranha.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 2

Manta Ray's rotor-related puns may be awful, but he's young. Cut him some slack.

Like the rest of the Rotor Force, Manta Ray was originally one of Megatron's next generation of Decepticons, animated by the stolen power of the Creation Matrix. He first saw combat on Tykos, when the Decepticons raided a Rheanimum gas mine. New Dawn

When the Decepticons allied with the Autobots to combat the Cybertronian Empire, Manta Ray later joined the other Decepticons in rescuing their new allies from Cybertronian attack on Ethos. Escalation!

Manta Ray's allegiance began to shift during the course of the alliance, as the youthful Transformer's innate likability won over his new allies. He and Leadfoot earned Tracks' praise for their swift and skillful blading during the initial sortie. Manta Ray later impressed Grimlock, of all bots, with another quick save. Manta Ray was quick to return Grimlock's respect, but their mutual admiration society caused Razorclaw to doubt the young Decepticon's loyalty. Total War!

When the war against the Cybertronians turned into a battle for survival against the Swarm, Manta Ray joined the survivors in preparing a makeshift defense point. Manning the perimeter defenses, Manta Ray ignored Razorclaw's order to fire, instead waiting for Grimlock's direction. This almost cost him his life, but Leadfoot decapitated Razorclaw before the Predacon could kill him. A Rage in Heaven!

In the Generation 2 comics, each faction had different symbols lining their speech bubbles—Decepticons had triangles, Autobots had rectangles, while Dinobots were slightly in-between. To indicate his changing loyalties, Manta Ray began with triangle boxes, switched to Dinobot-style boxes when he made the decision to listen to Grimlock instead of Razorclaw, and finally had full Autobot boxes in the end.

TransTech

Manta Ray is one of countless "offworlders" residing in Axiom Nexus. Gone Too Far

IDW comics continuity

He's got a large portable fan and he's NOT afraid to use it!

Manta Ray was among the first responders to Nemesis Prime's attack on Garrus-9. He and Drench fell victim to the corrupted Prime's touch of death. Spotlight: Doubledealer

Wings Universe

Manta Ray was one of the "second generation" Transformers created on Earth in the 21st century, who joined the Autobots after conflict broke out among the new robots. Stationed at Autobot City in 2010, he had to be towed into battle as the Autobots "Roll Out!" for Switzerland. (Seriously, even Seaspray has a hover mode for land.) Keenly aware of the absurdity of his alternate mode, Manta Ray commented during battle how they were fighting Sharkticons and still his alt mode was of no use. He and Leadfoot were sent to fight Ransack and Powerdive on the roof over the building's turbines. They were all presumably exposed to forestonite gas and presumably developed spinning rotor based powers. Presumably. Generation 2: Redux

Toys

Vice-president of the Grimlock Fan Club. Noise is president.

Generation 2

• Manta Ray (Rotor Force, 1994)
  • Accessories: Engine, 2 "flying" rotors

Among the first of the totally-new molds designed for Generation 2, Manta Ray transforms into a twin-pontoon racing boat. His rear fan engine block is a manually-wound spinner that launches his flying disc into the air. He graciously came with two in case you lost one. This assembly becomes a hand-held weapon for robot mode.

• More information on Manta Ray at TFU.info

Notes

He traded in his yellow head for a green chest.

• Pre-production samples of Manta Ray had a yellow head, as seen in the Rotor Force's cross-sell. Though the yellow head design also showed up in the Generation 2 comics, it never made it into mass production.