Japanese Twitter completely enthralled by a cricket-powered toy car【Video】

What do you get when you combine a love of toy cars with a love of bugs? This amazing toy.

While toys in Japan can get pretty crazy, Japanese people also appreciate the curious inventions that other nations produce, like this insane Hello Kitty spinning top from Vietnam.

But toys can get even weirder. Japanese Twitter user @saitohyuka uploaded a video of this interesting toy car by Mattel called a Bug Racer that requires a cricket to make it come to life.

▼ Who knew crickets could drive as well as they sing?

運転席に乗せたコオロギの動きをセンサーで感知して走るという狂った車のおもちゃ、買いました。楽しいです。走りが乱暴！音楽まで流れる。 https://t.co/arqBx8QOlR

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サイトウユカ (@saitohyuka) August 24, 2019

When you place a cricket into the little driver’s pod and attach it to the main body of the car, a sensor picks up on the cricket’s movement and transforms that into blood-stirring music and almost erratic driving.

In case you’re wondering whether it actually needs a cricket to move, @saitohyuka also tried it out with an eraser to see what would happen.

▼ The music is different, and that car definitely isn’t going anywhere.

対照実験として、無生物（消しゴム）も乗せてみた。音楽が変わった。 https://t.co/F4EXZ4ffKO

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サイトウユカ (@saitohyuka) August 24, 2019

Perhaps they were inspired by Garimpeiro Toys in Akihabara, who advertised on Twitter about the toy car powered by “elecrickety” just a day before @saitohyuka posted about it.

▼ You might not know the driver’s pod includes food and waste chambers without looking at the box.

たまにあるマテルの乱心！ 軽く嫌な予感しかしないおもちゃ入荷！ 生きたコオロギを乗せることで、車内のコオロギの動きを感知して左右に走り回るバグレーサー！ コオロギじゃなくても動くらしいからみんなで買ってレースしようぜ！ 店内にコオ… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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トイ＆コミックのガリンペイロinAKIHABARA (@garimpeiro_toys) August 23, 2019

Reactions to the vehicle ranged from fascinated to even outraged at the cricket’s treatment.

“It’s like a cricket version of Evangelion…”
“Does it come with the cricket?”
“This must be like hell to the crickets.”
“Do you think there’s a group of people out there saying ‘Hey, this is cricket abuse!’?”
“I want to see a video of a cockroach driving it. I also wonder what happens if you put more than one bug in.”

While this certainly doesn’t seem like the ideal environment for crickets, it might be a tad better than making them into green tea-flavored snacks.

Sources: Twitter/@saitohyuka via My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@saitohyuka
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