I was way too old for Manta Force.
I did get some as a toy dealer in the early 00's.
I still have some I think.
Anyways, here's a reminder of what Manta Force was like in an original TV ad on You Tube.
I did get some as a toy dealer in the early 00's.
I still have some I think.
Anyways, here's a reminder of what Manta Force was like in an original TV ad on You Tube.
Those of you that really know this stiff would you say its better than other contemporary toy ranges like Starcom, MASK or Multimac?
Bluebird had a good stab at it with Manta Force, a great Thunderbirds like idea with the big ship carrying lots of small vehicles. It ran for several years with at least five large ships and lots of smaller vehicles. Build quality is reasonable to poor, with later toys being simple recolours of existing molds. Its always on ebay, due to the market saturation and the figures often turn up mixed in with Multimac and Lego toys. Vastly inferior to the superb Starcom line, Multimac is probably its nearest neighbour. Manta Force was succeed by the excellent Zero Hour line - which was taken up by Mattel as Count Zero in the states, a paramilitary terrorist task force which combined army toys with MASK like transforming civil vehicles. Apparently some of the Zero Hour toys are quite rare due to a containership bound for UK grounding near the Hook of Holland, spilling toys into the sea and costing Bluebird millions in lost revenue.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant insights Bill. You know youre Eighties plastic! I must have been asleep. First time I saw most of them was in the early 90's at Car Boot Sales.My only excuse is living abroad a lot in the Eighties interspersed with studying. My head was full of alpines and crossbills! The container ship story is fascinating. Some Zero Hour may just re-surface soon!
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