The Promise: The illustrations looked so promising didn't they? A family of sentient underwater aliens that you could observe and take care of. All you had to do was add water and these little guys would come to life right before your eyes. You could even train them to do tricks and you would learn how with the free sea monkey manual that came with a year's supply of food and their water habitat. They were the ultimate no fuss pets, since they ate very little and kept their water very clean. As the ad said, "So easy, a six-year-old could raise them without help."

The Truth: Sea monkeys were actually an artificial breed of brine shrimp that looked nothing like those humanoid illustrations drawn by legendary DC Comics artist Joe Orlando. They were just above microscopic and only survived about a week. Though, their biology allowed them to survive in a lifeless stasis when the pools they lived in went dry.