What does Otto trade the Zodiac Stone for in Minions: The Rise of Gru? Otto trades it for a pet rock. Gru gives Otto the valuable Zodiac Stone for safekeeping after stealing it from the Vicious 6, but Otto exchanges it during a distraction-filled encounter with another child.
The trade drives the film’s central chase. Gru is furious when he learns that the stone has been swapped away, and he fires the Minions before setting out to recover it himself. Otto eventually realizes that the stone has been attached to a biker’s necklace and follows the biker toward San Francisco.
The Zodiac Stone is a jade-studded pendant connected to the Chinese zodiac. The Vicious 6 originally stole it during a heist led by Wild Knuckles, then abandoned their former leader and kept the artifact. Its supernatural power becomes important during the climax, when the villains use it to transform themselves into giant animal-like versions of their zodiac forms.