'Cute and murderous': How Squid Game's iconic killer doll came to life

In the South Korean television series, Young-hee, a seemingly harmless-looking robotic doll, actually plays a lethal function by locating competitors to shoot down while they are playing the game "Red Light, Green Light" if she notices them moving.Wearing a basic orange dress and a hair clip, Young-hee has become the focal point of the streaming behemoth's marketing campaign and a popular meme on social media. "Squid Game" production designer Chae Kyoung-sun claimed that her own daughter served as some inspiration for the doll's look. "My daughter had a bowl cut for a long time which was very cute so I decided to draw a very short bang," Chae stated to Reuters."Her eyes are a little crazy.

She's a killing machine and the movement of her eyes had to be easy to see, so we made her eyes quite big." The initial inspiration for Young-hee came from a girl of the same name on the cover of old primary school textbooks in South Korea, though the killer doll was initially conceived as genderless, Chae said. The first season of "Squid Game" became the most-watched show on the streaming platform and expectations were high for the second season to replicate the success.