A sinister action figure of al-Qaeda kingpin Osama Bin Laden could have been nestling among the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the world's toyshops, it has emerged.
The face of the figure was painted with heat-dissolving material, designed to peel off and reveal a demonic face with green eyes and black facial markings.
The brains behind this charming toy?
In a nutshell, the action figure of Osama Bin Laden was created to 'scare' children
The face of the toy was painted with heat-dissolving material designed to peel off and reveal a demonic visage
The CIA.
The Washington Post cites sources which say the intelligence gathering agency teamed up with toymaker and former Hasbro executive Donald Levine, known for his work in creating the popular GI Joe toys.
The newspaper says the goal of the project was to scare children and their parents, "causing them to turn away from the actual Bin Laden".
Here is he inexplicably holding his own head
But while prototypes were created, the project (code named Demon Eyes) never quite took off, with a CIA spokesman stating: "To our knowledge, there were only three individual action figures ever created, and these were merely to show what a final product might look like."
As the Verge points out, the doll looks not unlike another notorious villain, in this case the Star Wars character Darth Maul.("It's Darth Maul dressed in a thwab")
Looks familiar: Darth Maul from Star Wars
Bin Laden was living in a concrete compound situated in the northwestern Pakistan town of Abbottabad when it was stormed by Navy Seals in May 2011.
His body was dumped at sea hours later.