It's the drink that's taken the world by storm and demand for Prime Hydration shows no sign of slowing down. A product from YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul, between them they have more than 50 million subscribers, which goes some way to explaining the craze.
The brightly-coloured bottles are more sought after than ever, with new flavours fuelling the desire of mostly tweens and teens to get their hands on the stuff.
Read more: Mum turns Prime bottles into lights for son's bedroom and 'genius' idea goes viral
Initially sold exclusively in Asda stores in the UK, some shoppers have been lucky enough to pick them up for £2 a pop, but demand remains such that customers are still limited to three bottles each.
Spar stores are now also stocking the product sporadically and it's been available as one-off special buys at Aldi and Costco, but it's still like gold dust to get hold of.
On behalf of parents across the north west - and with a 12-year-old son sucked in by the whole craze - I set out to find the drink, to see if it's actually possible to get all the flavours and, most importantly, how much you've got to fork out to get them.
After driving round various Asda stores last year and failing miserably, I wasn't holding out much hope.
In fact the only glimmer of hope seemed to be in Facebook Marketplace, which is swamped with adverts for the stuff.
Now I've never used Marketplace other than to sell the odd item, so I wasn't quite prepared for what happened next.
In hindsight, it all seemed too easy - a seller saying they had all the flavours and agreeing to deliver two of each flavour for £50.
I was asked to pay a £20 deposit, with the rest on delivery, which I thought was a reasonable request. I wouldn't expect anyone to reserve goods or arrange delivery without some sort of commitment from my end.
But when the deposit was made, the seller asked for an extra £10 delivery fee upfront too, which signalled warning signs that all was not as it seemed.
I refused to pay any more online, but agreed to pay the money on delivery, to which the seller eventually agreed.
But, after arranging a time for drop off, there was no delivery. He clearly had no Prime to deliver.
Rather than just deleting the messages once he had the money, he kept the charade up for hours - a couple of days in fact - replying to messages to confirm what time he was arriving and even confirming that he'd set off.
An hour after he was supposed to arrive, he simply left the chat, never to be heard from again.
One angry mum with one disappointed son. £20 down and lesson well and truly learned. After contacting my bank, even they said: "If this was a payment made to an ad on Facebook in most cases it's scam."
Undeterred by events though, I was convinced not all sellers are as fake and heartless.
Thankfully I came across another who said she had all flavours, with collection only, from her home in Salford.
No deposit necessary and this time I made sure the photo she sent me of the goods was actually hers - not one she'd simply swiped from Google.
It wasn't as cheap as the last lot - but then it wouldn't be would it. £8 per bottle for the purple, orange, red, green and blue bottles and £12 for the new pink strawberry watermelon flavour. The only ones she didn't have were Meta Moon and Ice Pop flavours, but we still had a bottle of Ice Pop left from our Costco success last month, the only flavour the retailer was selling.
On a cold January evening in a quiet Ordsall street, and thanks to a genuine Marketplace seller whose friend is shipping them over from America, my hunt was over. Mission accomplished.
Yes they're far from cheap - I wouldn't be spending that much if it wasn't for 'research' purposes - and parents will be making their own decisions on whether it's something they can afford in today's climate. Or even whether it's something they want their children drinking.
There has been much debate around that, but much of it is focused on the notion that children should not be drinking energy drinks, when that is not what these are.
Made up of 10% coconut water, BCAA for muscle recovery, B vitamins, electrolytes and antioxidants, it has no added sugar or caffeine and is essentially 'an expensive, watery coconut drink'.
One lead nutritionist this week said 'there is nothing special in this drink that you would not get from water, a sip of coconut water and a well-balanced meal', but added that it's in fact 'better than most energy drinks which are often just water, sugar, caffeine and a lot of artificial food colourings, sweeteners and preservatives'.
Let's be clear, no parent is buying this because they think it's good for their kids - we need to give mums and dads some credit at least - but a bottle of 'watery artificial multivitamin solution' is not going to cause them harm.
Equally most people are aware that too much of anything like this would do them no favours, like many things we let our kids eat and drink from time to time.
The fact is that with the drink being so hard to find, most kids have probably yet to have a sip of the stuff, let alone consumed too much of it. Most aren't even bothered about the drink itself. Like generations of children before them, they just want to be part of the current 'trend'.
Like anything, it's a craze that will eventually end - no doubt with a universal sigh of relief from parents across the land. But when that will be is anyone's guess.
The M.E.N has approached Facebook for a comment about its Marketplace.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
KSI tells parents this is 'a good' way to find Prime as kids still desperate to get hold of it
Costco sells out of Prime in MINUTES as customers queue round store
Logan Paul and KSI's Prime named as official drink of UFC in major deal
Dad mocked for suggesting parents buy Paddy The Baddy B&M drink instead of Prime
Wayne Rooney got Prime stash for son's birthday as Coleen comes under fire
