“This recent atrocity is only the tip of the iceberg. As an organization you consistently make mistakes. If anyone is a Maverick, it would be you.”

— Manta

Manta is a Type-VII "Jock" Brute-Chassis Reploid who operates as a freelance (vigilante) Maverick hunter, also known as a "poacher", serving as one of the four highest-ranking members of the Seaside Shore Protection Agency.

Manta is a focused individual, following accurate calculations made by his team and taking the necessary strategies and actions to improve upon any undesirable outcome. For the most part, this involves retiring Mavericks. Unlike many NeoHunters, Manta is willing to accept an individual as not truly being Maverick, though when it comes to the NeoHunters he sees them as a severe threat to the safety of the planet due to too many cases of mistaken identity in the past. Because of this, he has chosen to turn a blind eye to the pleas of NeoHunters he encounters. He has come to believe them to be the true Mavericks, and along with the rest of his agency (who survived the Poacher Purge only a few months prior), that the entirety of the NeoHunter's sanctioned regime is severely corrupted at its very core and that it requires immediate retirement.

During these months of retaliation against the NeoHunters by numerous angered and scared Poacher groups, Manta was sent to Anemone Park to investigate the damage caused by Phono, who had recently decommissioned the rookie Poacher Premnas there. He found it to be in ruins, angering him even further against the actions taken by the NeoHunters, as it was an extremely important coral reef sanctuary. He was spotted by surveillance mechaniloids and his profile was uploaded to the NeoHunter Maverick Database, not for being a potential Maverick but because he was seen as a threat to the NeoHunters, a threat that needed to be quelled one way or another. Making it his mission to stop the Seaside Shore's actions they had been taking and seeking peace between the two groups, Tempo transmitted himself to the Anemone Park ruins in an attempt to apologize and hopefully begin a process of a peace treaty between the two organizations. Manta would have none of it, even from his own template-father, and ultimately Tempo was forced to put him down, much to his heavy disappointment, as he believed Manta to be his best chances at a peaceful settlement.

Quotes

Manta: "Do you have any idea on the calculations of innocent machines you and your bloody organization have put to death?"

Tempo: "It wasn't our fault!"

Manta: "They may have been rival organizations, but that doesn't mean they deserved to be slaughtered like that."

Tempo: "Listen, it was Goth, I'm telling you."

Manta: "Likely story. Goth is dead. We all are simply mopping up what's left."

Tempo: "He reprogrammed our data files so that you were all listed as Mavericks. The system has been purged and new anti-viruses are in place. It won't happen again. Please, Manta. Let's talk about this. We can achieve peace."

Manta: "This recent atrocity is only the tip of the iceberg. As an organization you consistently make mistakes. If anyone is a Maverick, it would be you."

Behind the scenes

His helmet crest is based directly off of the markings of a member of said species, as seen here.

He and the rest of his Poacher team, the Seaside Shore Protection Agency, are based off of a group of anthropomorphic animal antihero characters created by Somarinoa when he was in 4th Grade known as the Seaside Shore Gang. Specifically, he is based off of Manta Ray, the second-most commonly drawn character of the bunch.