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Engineering and Wharton senior Danny Panzer (left) and Engineering senior Jonathan Lehr (right) examine the 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' circuit board that they found. As part of the show's ad campaign, many circuit boards like this one were distributed in 10

The "Mooninite" plot to take over the world has been thwarted again - this time, by the Boston bomb squad.

Last Wednesday morning, Massachusetts state police were summoned to shut down the city temporarily after hearing about alleged bombs planted throughout the city.

And later that day, a couple of Penn students spotted a similar device on an air conditioner sticking out of their apartment window on 40th and Spruce streets.

These would-be bombs, however, turned out to be nothing more than an advertising campaign for the television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a popular late-night cartoon that follows a trio of talking foods - a milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball - that live together in a house.

The campaign entailed placing hundreds of roughly 12 feet by 12 feet circuit boards in 10 cities across the country. Each board featured a blinking picture of a "Mooninite" - an alien character from the show - showing its middle finger.

Engineering senior Jonathan Lehr and Engineering and Wharton senior Danny Panzer - who both live in the apartment - first noticed the "bomb" on their air conditioner above Copabanana two weeks ago, not knowing that it was part of a national advertising campaign.

"We thought it was funny because we all love the show," said Lehr, a self-proclaimed avid fan of the show, who thought it was put there as a joke.

On Wednesday night, after seeing the news coverage surrounding the campaign, Panzer climbed onto the roof of his apartment to retrieve the potential gold mine.

And as Boston police officers were busy quelling the public frenzy and detonating the circuit boards, Lehr and Panzer were brainstorming how to make a profit off of the device.

After taking pictures of themselves posing with the "Mooninite," they posted the device on eBay.com, and, within four hours, the page received over 3,000 views.

The product has since been removed by eBay officials - the students do not know why - but Lehr said he has a buyer lined up who is willing to pay $1,000.

"Hopefully, we'll sell it in the next few days," Lehr said, pointing to several other "Mooninites" for sale that have raked in up to twice that figure.

But not everyone reacted with the same levity as Lehr.

"When a citizen sees something like that, and you've got the wires, . battery pack and the circuit board, people think it might be a bomb," said Bruce Lint, a lieutenant with the Massachusetts state police.

Phil Kent, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadtcasting - which owns Cartoon Network - has since issued a public apology.

"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger," Kent said.

Still, Philadelphia's "Mooninite" recipients don't see what all the fuss is about and are currently basking in the fame that their cartoon friend has bought them.

Ezra Bobo, an Engineering sophomore who also lives at 4000 Spruce St., pointed out: "I mean, does that look like a bomb?"

Bomb-like or not, Penn's own "Mooninite" is currently sitting in 4000 Spruce St., randomly turning itself on and off in response to an internal timer.

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