That’s right, we’re still bringing some of our favorite animated characters in to play some
not-so-friendly games. At this point, it only seems right to finally touch on a studio that,
while maybe not the most profound or respected when compared to Pixar or even Dreamworks,
still has plenty of fans: Illumination. The studio has plenty of lovable characters who know
how to fight, scheme and even save the day! But which one is the most likely to come out on top?
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and we’re here to figure out which
Illumination character would win Squid Game?
As always, every character who enters the Squid Game loses access to any weapons or extraordinary
abilities in order to keep everyone on as even of a playing field as possible. Additionally,
while some Illumination franchises are obviously going to have more representation than others,
we are going to try to include at least a couple characters
from each of Illumination’s fully animated film franchises.
With that said, let’s go over our players!
From “Despicable Me”, we have: Gru, Dru, Marlena (Gru’s mother), Lucy Wilde, Dr. Nefario,
Vector, Mr. Perkins, El Macho and Balthazar Bratt. Moving onto its spin-off, “Minions”,
we have: Kevin, Bob, Stuart, Otto, Scarlet Overkill, Herb Overkill,
Master Chow, Wild Knuckles and Belle Bottom. Can’t have an Illumination Squid Game without
throwing in some Dr. Seuss characters, so we’re also including: The Onceler,
the Lorax, Granny Norma (Ted’s grandmother), Aloysius O'Hare and, of course, the Grinch.
From “The Secret Life of Pets”, we also have Max, Duke, Gidget and Snowball.
Finally, we have our SING characters - and if you’ve seen our Anthro-Characters Squid Game
video, you know that we’ve already included the main characters from that particular franchise.
So, for this game, we’re selecting: Eddie Noodleman, Nana Noodleman,
Big Daddy (Johnny’s father), Porsha Crystal, Clay Calloway, Nooshy and Klaus Kickenklober.
That gives us a total of 34 Illumination characters - and with these players all set
and ready to go, it’s time to see who will win that big cash prize!
As always, we’ll start with our first game: “Red Light, Green Light”.
“Red Light, Green Light” is a game that’s all about speed and sharp listening skills.
The goal is to make it to the finish line as fast as you can. However, if a player is too
focused on the finish line to realize when a ‘red light’ is coming up, or if they easily panic and
accidentally move or stumble when they’re supposed to freeze, this game could spell their doom.
Of the players who have the easiest time with this game,
AVL Agent Lucy Wilde is certainly one of them. Being a secret agent, she’s not only used to
following orders, but she’s also fast, agile and has a cool head when it comes to danger.
Another character who wouldn’t struggle too badly with this challenge is Master Chow.
Though this particular game doesn’t require any combat prowess,
Chow is still incredibly fast as well as incredibly patient.
Normally, elderly characters struggle quite a bit with this particular game.
Granny Norma, however, is an exception to this. Being someone who falls into the
‘cool grandma’ character archetype, Norma is fairly athletic and even a bit strategic - as
we saw when she was evading O’Hare’s security guards.
Similarly, despite having a body that doesn’t look like it’d be very athletic,
we’ve seen that Otto can not only be very fast but VERY determined. Additionally,
his small size could give him an advantage, in that he could hide behind much bigger characters.
Speaking of evading, both Nooshy and Klaus are talented dancers that are both quick and graceful
on their feet. Since every good dancer needs to be able to dance along to the beat of the music,
we can assume that they’ve both got pretty good listening skills too.
As for this round’s deaths, the first one - unfortunately - is Dr. Nefario. Yeahhh,
remember what we said a moment ago about elderly characters? Well, Nefario has all the elder traits
that you DON’T want to have when playing this game - like poor hearing and a slow moving body.
The next character to die is Eddie Noodleman. Unlike his best friend, Buster Moon,
Eddie doesn’t have nearly as much determination or as much nerve.
In fact, he’s a bit on the anxious side and we feel that all the chaos of this game would
result in him most likely panicking - which is never a good thing to do in this game.
Following him is a fan-favorite villain, Vector. Yeahhh, we’re sure quite a few
of you are disappointed with this one. However, for as smart as Vector may be, we just couldn’t
see him having the athletic skills needed to survive, given how much he relies on his gadgets.
Our next character, Aloysius O’Hare, dies for a similar reason. O’Hare is a CEO
who relies on his personal bodyguards to act as both his muscle and transport. Without them,
he just doesn’t have the athleticism - or height - to make it to the finish line. We could also see
him acting irrationally when things get down to the wire, like he does when he learns Ted has a
truffula tree seed. A cool head is key in a game like this, and O’Hare just doesn’t have that.
The final death of ‘Red Light, Green Light’ is also our first Minion death, Stuart. Out of all
the Minions, Stuart is the one who’s most likely to mess around when he’s feeling bored or cocky,
which would naturally seal his fate.
With 29 of our players surviving, it’s time for our next game - “Ppopgi” or Honeycomb.
The Honeycomb game requires patience and a steady hand.
Too much shaking or pressure could cause a fatal break. As such, our contestants will
need to have enough focus to poke out their shape without accidentally breaking it.
To the delight of former fangirls everywhere, we can see the Onceler doing quite well in
this challenge. He has fairly nimble fingers, and we’ve seen that he both
knows how to sew - as shown when he’s making his thneeds - and knows how to play guitar.
Both of these things likely gave him some pretty steady hands as well as quite a bit of patience.
Another guitar player we see making their way out of this game alive
is Clay Calloway. While his paws may not be as nimble as Oncie’s fingers,
he still seems to have quite a bit of skill with them.
Similarly, Herb is also a standout in this game. Being an inventor,
he’s likely used to working with tiny tools and screws
as well as fragile circuitry. Add in his chill nature, and he definitely seems like a shoe-in.
Naturally, Chow once again easily succeeds in this game. Given that she’s an acupuncturist by trade,
she’s already extremely skilled with being precise, steady and gentle when she needs to be.
As for this round’s losers, we can easily eliminate most of our “Secret Life of
Pets” characters (Max, Duke and Gidget) due to them lacking opposable thumbs and thus
not having much of a chance at getting the honeycomb out. The only Pets character that
makes it out alive is Snowball, since he not only has more flexible paws but he also has his teeth,
which he’s used before to do things like turn a carrot into an escape key,
so he has a couple options when it comes to getting his honeycomb piece out.
We’re also going to be saying goodbye to the fairly intimidating Mr. Perkins. Remember,
this is the guy who was able to crush an apple with his bare hand without even breaking a sweat.
Strong hands like that can be a death sentence in this game. Perkins also seems pretty impatient,
which is also a huge detriment.
The final death, sadly, is Big Daddy. Being a gorilla with such huge and powerful hands,
Big Daddy really didn’t stand much of a chance in a game where you have to be careful.
Looking at our remaining contestants, we’re left with 24 players still
standing. Following the Honeycomb game, we of course have “The Midnight Brawl”.
Lack of food and sleep plus the stress of staying alive can drive any person to the
point of violence, and in these games, it’s every player for themself. To survive this game, a
person must be either strong enough to fight or clever and sneaky enough to hide. So,
who would be able to either fend off attackers or properly hide themselves until the brawl was over?
Obviously, someone like Wild Knuckles is going to have an easy time with this game, being
a skilled fighter who has the ability to take on multiple opponents at once.
Gru may not be AS skilled of a hand-to-hand fighter as his villainous mentor, but he does
still have some impressive fighting skills. At the very least, he knows how to throw a good punch.
In the first “Minions” movie, we saw that Scarlet was much more than just a pretty face,
being someone who could take on at least a dozen different villains at once
when she invited them to try and steal a ruby from her.
Speaking of Minions, we feel that both Kevin and Bob actually don’t have too hard
of a time with this one. After all, we saw them learn martial arts in the Rise of Gru,
and even if they can’t go toe-to-toe with some of the
other great fighters in this round, they’re small enough to easily hide if they need to.
This goes double for both the Lorax and the Grinch,
as both characters have shown that they know how to sneak around in the dark,
ensuring their safety even if they can’t really fight back physically.
Moving onto the deaths of this round, we’re sad to say that our remaining Minion,
Otto, isn’t as lucky as the other two. While yes, he does have the same small
and thus easy-to-hide body as Kevin and Bob, Otto also has one extra trait that would prevent him
from staying hidden and surviving the round: His motor-mouth and inability to be quiet.
The next character to fall is yet another SING character, Nana Noodleman.
While she may look somewhat intimidating, Nana is still an older woman who doesn’t seem
to be much of an actual fighter, relying more on her glares to intimidate people.
Unfortunately for her, that just won’t be enough this time around.
Another SING character, Porsha Crystal,
also fails to make it out of this round alive. Porsha is not only young,
but can also be pretty emotional at times, so we could see her panicking once the lights go out.
Next character on the chopping block, sadly, is Herb. Being the complete opposite of his
wife in terms of personality and not having much power without his weapons, we just couldn’t see
Herb making it out of this one. Now, you could argue that Scarlet would try to protect him,
but given that she’d likely have tons of people going after her to try and get her
out of the game, Herb would likely be without that protection. Sorry, Herb.
Finally, we have to say goodbye to the snooty Klaus. While his dancing skills
might have helped him through the first game, Klaus seems to struggle in actual
non-choreographed fights - as we see in the “Sky Full of Stars” performance from “SING 2”.
With several more contestants permanently down for the count and 19 players
left standing, it’s time for another strength-based game - “Tug of War”.
Unlike the actual “Squid Game”, we aren’t going to assign characters to specific teams.
Instead, we’re simply going to judge them based on their abilities and likelihood to survive.
To win “Tug of War”, you don’t just need strength. You also need strategy,
and a willingness to work with others. Even weaker players have a shot at surviving
if they can coordinate properly with stronger players.
We’re sure some of you would be pleased to hear that we think the brothers Gru and Dru
would likely make it through this round. Gru is both smart and strong, having both strategy and
muscle on his side as well as a willingness to work with others so long as they aren’t
outright hostile towards them. As for Dru, while he may not be as talented or skilled as his twin,
he at the very least knows how to work with a team and very much has the enthusiasm of a team-player.
Nooshy also has this enthusiasm, as we see her being the type to support others - even
people she barely knows. We also can’t forget how athletic she is in general.
Going back to the “Despicable Me” franchise, El Macho is also a shoe-in at this game. Not
only is he incredibly strong, but he’s also one of the few villains we see who are willing to
work with others, as we see him do with Nefario and when he offers a partnership deal to Gru.
And of course, while our two remaining Minions are on the tiny side, Kevin and Bob have shown
that they can sometimes be stronger than they look. Also, being Minions,
their whole thing is being able to work together well, which also gives them a better chance.
The same, however, can’t be said for Snowball,
who ends up being this game’s first death. He’s more a leader than a follower and,
more importantly, he just doesn’t have enough bunny-strength to pull off a win.
We also have to eliminate the Lorax for also being incredibly small and lightweight. Yes,
he’d probably have good teamwork skills, but while those are important in Tug-of-war,
they can only get you so far.
We’re also saying goodbye to both Balthazar Bratt and Belle Bottom. Both of these villains
are incredibly self-centered and don’t exactly play nice with others.
Bratt’s only companions are robots that he can command while Belle betrayed one of her oldest
teammates for no good reason at all. We could easily see these two being so focused on trying
to be their team’s leader that they fail to win the actual game. Tough break, guys.
After a fairly round, we have just 15 contestants left. Up next, we have “The Marble Game”.
Marbles is an interesting one, at least in the context of “Squid Game”. There are multiple
ways for pairs of players to play their marble game. They could focus on accuracy or how far
they can roll their marble, or they can simply guess how many marbles are in their opponent’s
hand. As such, there are multiple ways to win, with most of these ways relying on either skill
or luck. Of course, if you don’t have the skills to win, there’s always manipulation…
Surprisingly, we could see both El Macho and Scarlet Overkill doing pretty
well in this particular game. While El Macho may seem more like a physically-focused guy, we’ve
seen that he can be clever, sneaky and incredibly strategic, given how long he was able to stay
undercover and plan his revenge on the world. As for Scarlet, despite her temper she does in fact
know how to use others to her advantage and how to act nice in order to get someone guard down.
While she may be more genuine than El Macho or Scarlet,
we could also see Nooshy making it through this game alright just based on her steady
hands and keen eye - two great things to have when playing a game of marbles.
Similarly, Master Chow once again excels at a game thanks
to her skilled hands, incredible patience and perfect accuracy.
Moving onto the deaths of this game, we sadly have to finally say goodbye to Gru.
Given that both he and Lucy are still in the game, they would essentially be like the husband
and wife we saw in the actual Squid Game show, being forced to choose which one of them would
survive. When it comes down to it, we just can’t see Gru choosing his own life over Lucy’s.
Sadly, they aren’t the only pair who have to make a hard choice. Between our remaining two Minions,
we feel like Kevin would let his protective older brother-esque nature take over,
thus pushing him to sacrifice himself for Bob’s sake. Ouch…
And speaking of brothers, Dru also likely falls here. Simply put, Dru just isn’t as clever or as
skilled as his twin, and without Gru helping him out, his death just seems like an inevitability.
Finally, while he may not have any personal connections within the game,
we just can’t see Clay Calloway actively choosing to kill someone else.
He’d play the game, sure, but we feel like he wouldn’t be too focused or determined to win.
Outside of our noble sacrifices, we feel that the Onceler is also
likely to die playing this game. As we see through his interactions with his family,
the Onceler is VERY easy to manipulate and trick. He can also make rash decisions when frustrated,
and in this game, that can cost you everything.
The final death in the deadly round is another Dr. Seuss character, the Grinch. Illumination’s
version of the Grinch is, ironically enough, a very emotional guy who can get easily stressed
out. He also is very much NOT a people-person, meaning that he would struggle to manipulate
others. Finally, he’s got fur covered hands, so even if he did try his hardest at the actual game,
all that fur would potentially make it pretty hard to try and accurately shoot or roll marbles.
We’re now officially down to our final 9! And just in time for one
of this competition's deadliest games: “Glass Stepping Stones”.
This game is another tricky one for a hypothetical scenario,
as much of this game relies on luck. There is ONE strategy to it, however,
that being the advantage of going last - after some glasses pieces have already been broken.
As such, those who have a big enough ego to want to try a game first will likely seal their doom.
Though not necessarily egotistical, Norma is pretty brave for an old lady.
She doesn’t get shaken by much and seems to laugh in the face of danger,
making it likely that she wouldn’t worry too much about picking a high number.
Another older lady, Marlena, also takes the long plunge. Being the opposite of Norma,
Marlena often comes off as apathetic, not being someone to take things too seriously.
If anything, she’d probably pick a high number just to try and get the
game over with as soon as possible - which would be a big mistake.
Looking at some of the remaining big egos,
Scarlet’s is certainly the biggest. At this point in the games, we could see her being pretty
confident and sure of herself - and thus not being afraid of being one of the first ones to play.
But for as skilled as Scarlet is, not even she can tell heated and regular glass apart.
Next up on the chopping block is our favorite dancing lynx, Nooshy. Though
her ego is not as big as Scarlet’s she does have quite a bit of confidence. To be fair,
her long limbs and dancing prowess would give her an advantage, but being in the middle of
the pack would still give her some fairly low odds at successfully getting to the other side.
Our next contestant in line, El Macho, would also have quite a bit going for him.
We saw at his evil lair that he had to memorize a pattern for his password. So when it comes to the
memorization involved in this game, El Macho would have no problems with that. Unfortunately, his
shorter legs and large body would make breaking an undiscovered regular piece of glass all too easy.
We now have to say goodbye to our final Minion, Bob. Yes, despite being the most
innocent Minion of them all, he managed to outlast all of his Minion brothers. The luck,
however, stops here. Though he’d likely make it pretty far, thanks to his mid-to-low number,
Bob isn’t always the most strategic or careful Minion, and any fear that he would
be feeling during this game wouldn’t exactly help him keep a calm head.
The final death on the Glass Bridge, we’re sad to say, is Wild Knuckles.
It was an extremely close call, but while we could see Knuckles being strategic enough to
pick a low number and having the legs to pull off some impressive jumps,
Knuckles doesn’t have any extraordinary skills that would help him memorize the pattern
or help him tell apart the glass panels. Still, he probably would’ve gotten pretty close to the end.
So, our two remaining players are Lucy Wilde and Master Chow. Both of these ladies are athletic,
skilled, smart, patient, observant and know how to think on their feet
and act quickly when needed. Of all our remaining players, it
just made the most sense that they’d be the ones making it to the final game.
Just like in the show, our final challenge will be a one-on-one duel in the titular Squid Game.
In this game, two opponents must go up against one another, with one acting as a defender
and the other as an attacker, with the attacker doing everything they
can to reach the top of the court (or the squid’s ‘head’) and touch it with their foot,
with the defender doing whatever they can to stop them. Or at least, that’s how Squid
Game is traditionally played. Here though, it’s more of a ‘battle to the death’ type of deal.
Now, as we said just a minute or so ago, these two are pretty similar to each other,
so it was a pretty close call. Ultimately though, we had to pick Lucy as the one who would die.
This was for a few reasons. Firstly, while Lucy can indeed fight, her style can at times
be a bit more chaotic than Chow’s more traditional style. While this can sometimes provide an
advantage through being less predictable, it can also be less reliable. We’ve also seen Lucy
lose more fights than Chow, getting overpowered and tied up by both El Macho and Balthazar Bratt.
Chow, meanwhile, was able to fight off three guys at once without breaking a single sweat.
Additionally, her knowledge of the human body would make
finding her opponent’s weak points even easier.
So congratulations to Master Chow, our Illumination Squid Game winner!
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our results,
and tell us what we should cover next! Remember to hit that notification bell
and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked!