The "tako wiener", or octopus wiener, is definitely one of the highlights of kyaraben (character bentos, or bentos that feature characters made out of food) in Japan. The miniature sausages cut to resemble adorable little octopuses are usually found in bento boxes, but it's not uncommon to see them served at pubs, and they've even been turned into life-size huggy pillows.

Much to the delight of many online, Japanese Instagram user milktea (milktea.1122) has given the octopus sausage an intergalactic facelift. milktea regularly shares photos of character sausages in bento that have been dubbed "wiener aliens", cleverly using popular bento ingredients to create new characters and stories.

For instance, here are some wiener aliens that went fishing, catching some big shrimp and fish.

Here's some wearing chikuwa fishcake as space helmets--although one appears to be devouring loads of rice as well.

Here's a few more that seems to have eaten their way out of eggs in a serving of curry!

milktea says they've been making bento for themselves for quite some time, but when they started sharing them on Instagram, wanted to inject some personality in them so they came up with the idea of wiener aliens, which can easily be made using simple ingredients. The idea has really taken off, with milktea's followers growing significantly and many of them clamoring for the sausage aliens to be turned into official merchandise.

While we're not sure what their merch lineup hopes are, you can follow milktea on Instagram for even more wieners from another planet.