Best Squid Game Doll Sightings

You'd be surprised how many times the Squid Game doll, featured prominently in the first episode of the Netflix series, has popped up post-release.

A human-sized doll figure plays red light, green light with people in the distance
Photo: Netflix

Squid Game has some amazing production design, and some of it will live on long past the Netflix series. When it comes to props, the giant Red Light, Green Light doll, which has an iconic (and horrifying) role in the Netflix series opening episode, may be the standout. A video of the Mugunghwa doll (named for Mugunghwa Blooms, which is what Korean call Red Light, Green Light) dancing to various songs is currently being shared around Twitter and other social platforms. I have to admit… watching them is strangely addicting.

https://twitter.com/keumdong_hyunn/status/1442504009504284672

My personal favorite so far…

The doll may be internet famous, but that celebrity has translated to the “real” world too. The Mugunghwa doll has been spotted in the outside world following the release of the drama. According to Koreaboo, some eagle-eyed Netizens made the connection between the Squid Game doll and a Korean historical museum in the country’s North Chungcheong province.

One user posted a photo of the doll in her new home at the Jincheon Carriage Museum Adventure Village, aka Macha Land, via The Qoo, a Korean forum. The doll is notably missing a hand in the post-Squid Game photos, which have led some to joke that the deadly competition took its toll on our friend here.

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Squid Game doll

While it’s unclear exactly how the doll ended up in the historical museum, it’s likely that the giant prop was made by the Squid Game production and then sold to the Jincheon Carriage Museum Adventure Village following filming on the first season. Or perhaps Macha Land made the giant doll? It seems to have an established connection with the Korean entertainment industry, as they sometimes produce carriages and weapons for Korean historical dramas. Those props are then later displayed at Macha Land for the public to view. Making a giant doll and an historical horse carriage doesn’t seem like the same skillset, but I am neither a giant doll maker, nor a historical carriage maker.

Honestly, however the Mugunghwa doll ended up at Macha Land, it was probably a good deal. Squid Game is currently the most-watched series on Netflix, so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a future in which people visit the museum in order to see the doll specifically. Move over prop weapons and carriages from historical k-dramas! You have some serious competition. The Squid Game doll is reportedly now stationed close to the village entrance.

In a much creepier post-Squid Game appearance, a version of the giant Mugunghwa doll has also popped up in the Philippines. The replica is in Manila, stationed by Netflix as promotion for the series in front of the Robinsons Galleria Ortigas Mall. The doll turns, her eyes lighting up red to mimic the motion-detecting sensors the prop uses to choose players to eliminate in Squid Game’s First Round. Horrifying.