Do you see that picture? Do you see that alien in the test tube? Can you think of anything cooler to give to your kid than a “real live” alien in a test tube? No, you can’t. Because there is nothing cooler. In fact, if Santa left one of those under the tree for me I wouldn’t complain in the slightest. Maybe it would be the final step in healing from the Sea Monkey debacle of 1980. (Don’t ask.)

The craze that’s sweeping the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand is now available to customers this side of the pond exclusively through Ty’s Toy Box. Meet the Test Tube Aliens:

If that doesn’t make you want to grow your own aliens at home, I command you to get a Sharpie and write “NO FUN AT ALL” on your forehead.

Honestly, I think it would be more than enough fun to have this goofy little critter in its test tube, ever-expanding from feeding on the sloog the owner must mix up and pour over it. (Sloog!) But it’s so much more than that—once your alien is born, you can surf on over to Test Tube Aliens online and register your new bundle of ectoplasm. From there, you can enter the research lab and check your alien’s health and age, and also… hmmm… well, let’s see what it says.

From the manufacturer’s description:

Test Tube Aliens is an innovative new concept that gives children the opportunity to grow, nurture and interact with their own collectible race of glow-in-the-dark creatures. Using advanced environmental sensor technology, Test Tube Aliens are aware of their environment and will react to changes in the way they are treated.

Kids can adopt a Test Tube Alien, hatching it from chrysalis and nurturing it into a full grown alien. They need to be fed, rested and live in a swampy home of slime. Get the balance right and your alien will survive and thrive into adulthood, but get the balance wrong it will become sick and die.

With a healthy growing alien you can improve its life status by monitoring its health. Test Tube Aliens’ special sensors will interact with any home PC screen, detecting encoded messages from the Test Tube Aliens website.

Log your alien onto the Test Tube Aliens site and hold it to the screen and it will immediately flash to signal that it has received special messages that will help you to extend its existence.

Does a Webkinz want to live in a “swampy home of slime?” I don’t think so. The choice seems pretty obvious, to me. Go check them out and I dare you not to be intrigued.

[image courtesy of CBBC Newsround’s coverage of the 2006 Toy Fair]

This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 7:30 am and is filed under Test Tube Aliens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.