Cartoon figures giving the finger?

Little glowing men?

A promotional scheme run amok?

All of the above, actually.

		AP
	This photo provided by Todd Vanderlin shows an electronic device that was removed from where it had been hanging beneath an overpass in Boston, Monday.

The King County Sheriff's Office confirmed Wednesday that several illuminated "cartoon figures giving the finger" have been turned in, but it is reacting differently from law enforcement authorities in Boston, where the devices caused a bomb scare, shutting down streets, bridges and a section of the Charles River and forcing an evacuation of a hospital. Two men were arrested.

"To us, they're so obviously not suspicious," said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart. "They're not suspicious devices or packages. We don't consider them dangerous."

The Associated Press reported that road workers in Woodinville found the figures, which are an advertising gimmick for a late-night TV show on the Cartoon Network. Urquhart could not confirm where the obscene-gestured whatsits were found.

"I haven't actually seen them; I don't know how many there are or where they were found," Urquhart said. "I just know they're lighted cartoon figures. This is a joke. I really don't know the promotional point."

Nor did Seattle authorities.

Seattle police confirmed that Seattle was one of several cities chosen for the promotion, but gave no specific locations.

The company responsible for the stunt, Turner Broadcasting System's Cartoon Network, "was cooperating fully" with the removal of the glowing "devices" from public places, said Debra Brown, Seattle Police Department spokeswoman.

Turner Broadcasting was trying to advertise its "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" cartoon show characters. Some characters of the adult show give the finger. When not illuminated, authorities said, they look like circuit boards with wires hanging from them.

	Lit up, the devices look like this.

Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said fewer than 20 of the figures were believed to be in the city.

Neither Seattle police nor the King County Sheriff's Office received 911 calls regarding the figures, authorities said.

The reaction was different in Boston earlier Wednesday. Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston resulted in near panic, and bomb squads were dispatched before authorities declared the devices harmless.

"It's a hoax -- and it's not funny," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said.

Authorities there arrested Peter Berdovsky, 29, of Arlington, Mass., and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, Mass., and each faced one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct. Berdovsky had been hired to place the devices, authorities said. Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged.

The Cartoon Network issued a statement saying that the promotional devices were placed in 10 cities two or three weeks ago. Outside of Boston and Seattle, the devices were also placed in New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," the statement said. "We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs late at night for adults on the Cartoon Network.

The surreal series centers on a talking milkshake (Master Shake), fries (Frylock) and a meatball (Meatwad).

The cartoon also includes two 1980s-graphiclike characters called "mooninites" -- named Ignignokt and Err -- who were pictured on the suspicious devices.

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