SR-6



The SR-6, more often referred to as just the shrink ray, is, as the informal name implies, a laser weapon that shrinks its targets temporarily with an energy beam.

Mechanics
The SR-6 fires a laser which shrinks anything to a constant size. As noted by Dr. Nefario, the effect is temporary, and the time it takes for the object to be restored is inversely proportional to its size. He later names it the "Nefario Principle".

This weapon is fueled by an unknown power source. In order to fire the shrink ray, one must either press a button on the ray itself or another button from a control panel.

Despicable Me
In order to pull off the theft of the Moon, Gru needed the SR-6 shrink ray to shrink the satellite. He manages to locate it by the time the Pyramid of Giza is stolen.

He initially steals the SR-6 from the top-secret testing lab on a East-Asian island, which was used to shrink an elephant. As Gru is flying away from the test site, Vector hijacks the shrink ray from Gru's ship. After unsuccessfully attempting to take back the shrink ray from Vector, Gru's ship ends up being shrunk, forcing Gru and his minions to hold onto it until they get back home. Gru subsequently attempts to retrieve the shrink ray from Vector's fortress, only to be repeatedly pummeled by its defenses.

At Vector's Fortress in the bathroom, Mr. Perkins calls Vector to ask if he has the shrink ray, to which Vector confirms, while playing with the shrink ray, shrinking his mouthwash ("Ha, you got shrunk, tiny mouthwash!"), sink and toilet ("Awww, look at that itty bitty toilet!"). However, the toilet's water supply pipe was not shrunken, and it was pushed off by extreme pressure, drenching Vector with water, who rants: "curse you, tiny toilet!"

Gru, after witnessing Margo, Edith and Agnes getting into the fortress with ease by selling cookies, decides to adopt the girls and use them as a pawn to get the shrink ray. Gru uses the trio as a distraction in order to have his Cookie Robots disable Vector's defenses, cut into the latter's vault and retrieve the shrink ray. Gru successfully retakes the shrink ray without Vector noticing, albeit with some difficulties to avoid being discovered. He then demonstrated the shrink ray to Mr. Perkins of the Bank of Evil via video call by shrinking one of his minions before giving a proposal of his moon heist. However, the girls end up ruining his proposal, causing Mr. Perkins to withdraw all financial support to Gru.

Gru becomes deeply saddened by this. He relays the news to everyone else, prompting the minions and even the girls to help fund his moon heist. Soon enough, they are able to scrape off enough money to build a rocket and carry out the plan. Meanwhile, Vector is summoned into Mr. Perkins' office. Mr. Perkins informs Vector that Gru has successfully stolen the shrink ray from him with the help of the girls. Vector is surprised, but reassures his father that Gru will not succeed while brandishing his latest weapon, the Squid Launcher.

Dr. Nefario, who is growing tired of Gru's affection towards the girls, calls the orphanage and arranges for the girls to be taken back there. With the girls returned to the orphanage, Gru shifts his focus back to his plan. Gru embarks his newly built rocket and blasts off to the moon. Vector tries to hijack Gru's rocket with the help of his Squid Launcher, but is unsuccessful. Once at the moon, Gru uses the shrink ray on it, shrinking the massive object into the size of an apple. Gru grabs the shrunken moon and returns to Earth, while trying to make it in time for the girls' dance recital.

Gru finds out that Vector has kidnapped the girls and demands the moon in exchange for their release. Gru goes to Vector's fortress and gives the moon to him, hoping Vector will release the girls. When Vector refuses, Gru gets angry and easily breaks through Vector's defenses, forcing Vector to flee in his escape pod. Gru clings to the escape pod and later meets up with Dr. Nefario and his minions aboard Gru's Airship, which has now expanded back to its original size, which Gru notices. Dr. Nefario explains to Gru that the larger the object, the quicker the effects of the shrink ray wear off, calling it the Nefario Principle. Realizing that the moon will soon grow to its original size as well, they attempt to save the girls. After successfully doing so, Vector's escape pod launches the moon with Vector on top of it back into space. Vector uses his suit to breathe on the surface of the moon, but realizes that he is stranded there.

Home Makeover
Later Margo and the Minions use the SR-6 to shrink weapons, and then set the table with them(instead of knives and forks), in preparation of the arrival of a Social Worker from Miss Hattie's Home for Girls.

Trivia

 * The lab in which the SR-6 is tested in may possibly be within the Korean Peninsula. Not only is the location close to an area resembling Korea, but on Heitor Pereira's site, the music that plays during the theft is titled "Korean Lab Heist".
 * SR-6 only appears in the first film. It is presumably held with Gru's other equipment inside his estate.
 * In 2013, McDonalds made a happy meal toy with Jerry holding a tranluscent green whistle resembling the shrink ray.
 * SR-6 possibly stands for "Shrink Ray Six".
 * In Minion Madness, you can see a SR-6 replica on a wall.
 * In Despicable Me: Minion Rush, the SR-6 appeared as a gadget as Shrink Ray, which can be used in minion races.