Alien is considered one of the best of the horror-science-fiction films. Aliens, the sequel, was one of the best science-fiction sequels ever created. And, yes, one of the most horrific scenes in film history involves this acid-blooded, fleshy creature, which resembles a creepy, grasping hand with a snakelike tail. The sight of it undulating on Cain's face was icky enough. Once its task was revealed, it indelibly etched itself into the modern human psyche.

And the franchise is popular. Toys of all kind have been made based on this series, from accurate sculptures of the various characters and aliens, to many action figure toylines, to spaceships. The gamut has been covered.

I doubt anyone would have taken seriously the idea of making a cute, stuffed plush doll out of this horrific thing. But Palisades did it.

Made mostly from a glossy golden velour, the creature has eight legs, each incorporating wires so the legs can be bent around hands, arms, even faces.

While this is a stuffed toy, the detail is still impressive. The main body is in three major sections and looks vaguely like a lobster's or crab's. A wire stretches four inches down the tail, but the tail is, for the most part, wire-free.

Details, like spiny ridges running in parallel up the body of the creature, and the rear sacs, are all there. The tail is segmented across the top in parallel sections all the way down to the tip. The tail is cut on a zig-zag.

The underside of this thing, which was not really scrutinized in the films until Alien vs. Predator, the most recent entry in the franchise, goes mainly undetailed, and that's probably a good thing if it's meant to sell to kids (the package claims it is appropriate for ages 8 and up), but instead the underbelly is made of the scalelike cloth that has appeared on various stuffed dinosaurs and reptiles in recent years.

Overall the effect achieves two things. It is a fairly accurate representation of the hideous facehugger, and at the same time it is indeed cute and cuddly.

Two things would have made this a better toy—a straight tail and a wire running all the way through it. This way the tail could wrap around a person or pose in positions other than the zig-zag the tail is cut from.

Of course, this could have caused strangling hazards for children, so I can understand this decision.

Palisades' Facehugger Plush Replica is as bizarre a toy as you can imagine. Whether you find it unsettling because of the horror films it represents, or from the fact that it has been rendered in soft, fluffy velour, it will be a conversation starter, make no mistake.