King Candy (hisreal name is Turbo) is the hidden main villain of Disney's 2012 animated feature film Wreck-It Ralph. He was the false ruler of the Sugar Rush kingdom. He is voiced by Alan Tudyk, who is well known for voicing the Duke of Weselton from Frozen anime film series. He is serves as Jeanette Miller's strongest opponent in Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: Samurai Rebellion.
King Candy was originally known as Turbo, a video game character from an old unplugged classic racing game called TurboTime. He was considered an extremely popular racer that loved the attention from players, but when a new racing game called RoadBlasters got plugged in, that game got more attention than Turbo. Out of jealousy, Turbo abandoned his own game and decided to take over the new one, and as a result, he ended up causing both the new racing game and his own, to become unplugged
for good. His actions were nicknamed "Game-jumping" and "going Turbo," which was something that the video game characters were encouraged not to do (as dying in a game that a character isn't native to results in their permanent death for good, and even worse abandoning his game and trying to take over another resulted in both being shut down), which is something that Ralph does later to try to become a good guy 25 years later.
Turbo, King Candy's true identity.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Turbo actually somehow escaped his game before it was unplugged, and thus escaped termination. He then remained dormant in Game Central Station for many years. Until sometime in 1997, he hijacked a new racing game called Sugar Rush and turned himself into King Candy, with the aid of Sour Bill. He then began to tamper with the game's codes by trying to delete Princess Vanellope's code, but instead, this turned her into a glitch. With Vanellope now a glitch, King Candy was free to rule the candy kingdom. Even worse, he locked up all of the memories the inhabitants had of Vanellope so that everyone also saw her as nothing more than a glitch, and believed he was the rightful ruler.
Unfortunately for Turbo, there were two flaws in his plot. In the first place, the game's codes would be restored if Vanellope were to cross the finish line, hence Turbo's desperation to keep her out of racing. In the second place, her picture was still on the side of the game console, as Ralph would discover upon returning to the deserted Fix-It Felix, Jr. with the medal from Hero's Duty after breaking Vanellope's kart.
Personality
King Candy is incredibly eccentric and flamboyant. Throughout most of the film, he portrays himself as a bubbly, yet somewhat strict, ruler. As Turbo, he was said to have loved the spotlight, but the moment that was all taken away, the racer became demented, and he was determined to remain beloved, even if it meant ruining another game.
While most of the film portrays him as wacky and fun, the king's true colors are shown as time goes on. He is revealed to be a villainous mastermind, whose ambitions drive him into insanity. According to his minion, Sour Bill, he'll do anything to get what he wants. This was when Sour Bill explains that King Candy tried to delete Vanellope from the game years before and was proven again when he attempted to murder her on the racetrack during the Random Roster Race. It's traits like these that makes King Candy a virus, what video game characters christen as dangerous threats that can spread and control. Like most Disney villains, Turbo is incredibly power-hungry. This was shown when he was turned into a monstrous Cy-Bug, as he openly planned to take over any game of his choice, now that he had ultimate power to assimilate.
Although he was a strict ruler, Candy was apparently beloved by the Sugar Rush subjects, who all showed a definite respect for him, with the exception of Vanellope of course. The praise, however, was in reality artificial when Turbo had reformatted Sugar Rush years ago. He was particularly close to Sour Bill, his most trusted assistant, who was found by the King's side regularly. Sour Bill was the only other character in the film to know about the secret codes of Sugar Rush, and was trusted by Candy enough to know that Vanellope wasn't really a glitch, as well as the fact that Candy locked away the memories of the inhabitants of the game, and the overall fact that King Candy was truly villainous as opposed to the bouncy benevolent ruler he portrayed himself as to everyone else.
Aside from his dark, yet humorous nature, King Candy also proves to be very manipulative, being able to get Ralph to destroy Vanellope's kart acting as if it was to protect her, though it was really to prevent his plans from being foiled. He also showed signs of being a sadist, specifically when he laughed psychotically when Vanellope was about to meet her end on the race track, yelling, "End of the line, glitch!". This was also shown when he stated that killing Ralph would be more fun than gratitude, and when he attempted to he took pleasure in doing so. He also forced Ralph to watch Vanellope as she was nearly killed by a swarm of Cy-Bugs, gleefully exclaiming "Let's watch her die together, shall we?"
One of King Candy's most notable traits is his random giggling that occurs either in between many of his sentences no matter what mood he's in, whether it be ecstatic, enraged, surprised, and so forth. But what it comes down to, is that King Candy is among Disney's most depraved and evil villains, who is willing to do whatever he must to secure fame and power for himself, even if it means destroying games and killing, and is a most devious manipulator.
Turbo (King Candy)'s death / defeat
Trivia
Concept art of King Candy in the racing line-up
King Candy bares a striking resemblance to The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Animator Zach Parrish even noted that the overall design of King Candy was based on the Hatter.
The Hatter's original voice actor, Ed Wynn, was also used as a reference for the king, specifically by Candy's voice actor, Alan Tudyk.
While not having a villain musical number, King Candy has a recurring theme that plays during most of his scenes, including his final moments in the climax.
On a similar note, according to director, Rich Moore, King Candy was actually meant to have a musical number in the film that explained how disputes were settled in the realm of Sugar Rush. It should also be noted that the song was to have a Sherman Brothers feel to it.
Turbo concept art design.
The TurboTime arcade cabinet looks like that of the Namco arcade game Rally X. Turbo also seems to be based on the artwork on the side.
King Candy has a lisp, again much like the Mad Hatter.
It's believed that when King Candy took over Sugar Rush and made Vanellope into a glitch, he also took her original kart, as seen on the Sugar Rush console picture of Vanellope. The picture of Vanellope on the console shows her racing with King Candy's kart and a Turbo-like racing outfit.
His kart's honk in the throne room is the U.S. Presidential Anthem, "Hail to the Chief."
A poster of Turbo is seen on the subway wall in the entrance to Sugar Rush.
Some graffiti art of a crown with the initials K.C. below it can be seen on the subway wall when Ralph and the villains exit Pac-Man.
When King Candy heads to Sugar Rush's codes, he uses the Konami Code as a password to enter the realm in which the codes lie.
The Konami Code is written on a napkin from Tapper's.
It's possible that the purple and yellow candy-cane stripped Cy-Bug that ate King Candy is the same original Cy-Bug that Ralph accidentally set loose in Sugar Rush, which is the reason that all the Cy-Bugs spawned.
It's also possible that he also gained the Cy-Bug's memories, as he was considering thanking Ralph (but chose to kill him instead) for what he had done, meaning he knew that it was Ralph who brought in the bug in the first place.
It's possible that King Candy's ability to roll into a wheel in his Cy-Bug form is a result from the bug eating his car along with him.
The character of King Candy has gained critical acclaim from both critics and fans, praising the character's writing, voice work, and nod to Ed Wynn, making him one of the most popular Disney villains of all time.
King Candy's true persona, Turbo, wears an outfit similar to the one Kick Buttowski wears.
One of the mural illustrations inside the Fungeon shows a clown in a racecar showing a face similar to that of Turbo's.
King Candy/Turbo, in a sense, is essentially the complete opposite of Ralph: while Ralph is programmed to be a villain in his own game, but is kind-natured, cares for his friends and family, and becomes the hero of this film, Turbo, on the other hand, despite being programmed to be the hero of his former game, is actually arrogant, mean-spirited, and becomes the main antagonist. In fact, Turbo is actually even a brief glimpse of the type of person Ralph would've become had he become too obsessed with getting what he wanted instead of doing the right thing (thus becoming a "true" villain). This is a very rare reversal of traditional character roles that occurs in Disney films.
King Candy's Cy-Bug form resembles either a scorpion, a praying mantis, or a Beetleworx which is one of the enemies from Epic Mickey.
King Candy's Cy-Bug form is often referred to as Turbo Cy-Bug or King Virus by fans, which are rather fitting.
While most video game characters, upon leaving their own game and entering another, had to change their appearance so that they would resemble their destination game's artstyle upon entering (for example, 8-bit characters like Ralph and Felix would become CG-rendered if they enter a modern video game, and vice versa for modern characters like Calhoun if they enter an older one), Turbo does not: upon arriving in RoadBlasters, he simply remains 8-bit causing various sprites of himself to appear all over that game and therefore causing it to crash.
He seems to represent the deadly sin of envy, as his jealousy of RoadBlasters lead to it and TurboTime being unplugged, and pride, in the fact he was afraid that his seat of authority would be taken by Ralph.
King Candy is quite deductive, as when Ralph explained that his medal was stolen, he immediately realized that Ralph's medal was what Vanellope used as a coin to enter the race.
He also used this information to convince Ralph into destroying Vanellope's kart by giving him his medal back.
When Fix-It Felix explains about Turbo's/King Candy's flashback, Turbo's game, TurboTime, was right next to Ralph's and Felix's game, Fix-It Felix, Jr. this could mean that the two game characters knew each other before the events of the film.
There are some, though unnoticeable, hints that King Candy is truly Turbo.
For example, when he learns that Ralph has game-jumped, he begins to overreact and accuses Ralph of attempting to take over his game.
He has access and knowledge of Sugar Rush's code, and used it to get the medal even though he claimed no one could regain the medal, making his true motives questionable.
He is a powerful racer with great intolerance to losing.
In Felix's flashback, Turbo's voice sounded like King Candy's.
He bares little, to no resemblance to the other racers' anime style (looking more like an American 1940's cartoon character), hinting he is not truly from Sugar Rush.
He was the only character in the entire game who recognized Wreck-It Ralph, since TurboTime was next to the Fix-It Felix, Jr. cabinet and from the same time period as Fix-It Felix, Jr.
King Candy's data box is noticeably larger than the other data boxes in the CPU room. It's also noticeably redder in color (all others are blue) and all of his data files are completely disorganized. Also, if you look very closely, you can even see little Turbo faces inside.
Just right before he lies to Ralph about Vanellope and her game causing Ralph to destroy her go-kart, King Candy can be seen panicking as Ralph tries to attack him, not out of cowardice, but rather because he is actually aware that he is not supposed to be in that game. Since characters that die outside their game ultimately die permanently, had Ralph successfully got him that time he would've been killed not only instantly, but also permanently as well.
Early on in the film's development, King Candy was originally a separate character from the character of Turbo. He was still, however, the film's primary antagonist and the usurper of Vanellope's throne. It wasn't until later on during the course of production that the filmmakers decided to have King Candy and Turbo become one character.
During the development of the film, King Candy was intended to ultimately reform by the end of the film, before the filmmakers decided to have him remain a villain throughout the entire course of the film.
Even after his identity is revealed, the credits and even fans of the film still refer Turbo as King Candy due to the amount of time he spent in the film in his King Candy disguise.
King Candy plays a role in the film similar to the Wizard of Oz in that he comes from another land (his own game), leads his subjects on through manipulation and usurped the rightful ruler and had their memories locked away (Ozma and Vanellope), the hero comes to him for a favor (in Ralph's case, his medal), while he asks of something in return that involves the "villain" (Vanellope and smashing her candy car), and is ultimately a fraud hiding behind another image that makes the hero appreciate the things they have in life.
Though there are some fans who have theorized that King Candy could have been a legitimate character in Sugar Rush before Turbo took over, Raymond S. Persi has officially stated on his Tumblr blog that the King Candy character was an identity fabricated by Turbo.[1][2]
It can be minutely possible that Turbo/King Candy chose to take over Sugar Rush due to the fact that it's a racing video game like his former game TurboTime that he abandoned (it can be just a theory).
Ironically, King Candy's line when he speaks to Ralph about Vanellope ("Heroes have to make the tough choices, don't they?") indirectly foreshadowed Ralph's tough choice in sacrificing himself to save the arcade at the film's climax.
During the scene where King Candy reveals himself to be Turbo, if one pauses the movie at the right time, they will find a split second frame of Turbo looking at the camera, smiling while giving a thumbs-up.
Interestingly, when the Cy-Bug's programming overtook King Candy, it was the King Candy identity that was mesmerized by the Cy-Bug's instincts, unlike the fully-aware Turbo. This appears to highlight that Turbo is the one and only true identity of the character itself, as the other two components, King Candy and the Cy-Bug, affected each other correlatedly in appearance and personality while Turbo had remained unchanged.
In the Mickey Mouse cartoon Bad Ear Day, a sign with King Candy's name can be seen on one of the buildings.
Turbo's skin, eyes, and way he looks was very similar to Beetlejuice in the TV animated series of Beetlejuice.
Even though Turbo is his real name, he's credited as King Candy in the credits. This is probably due to Turbo being King Candy throughout the majority of the movie.
