Experiment "626" Stitch

: “Monstrosity? What you see before you is the first of a new species. I call it Experiment 626. He is bulletproof, fireproof, and can think faster than [a] supercomputer. He can see in the dark, and lift objects three thousand times his size. His only instinct... to destroy everything he touches!”―Jumba Jookiba
Stitch (also known as Experiment 626) is one of the titular male protagonist of the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is an illegal, genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba, whose primary function is to destroy everything he touches. After escaping the lawful Galactic Armada, Stitch crash-lands on Earth, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where he meets a lonely girl named Lilo. Through Lilo's love and guidance, Stitch abandons his evil programming, permanently reforms, and becomes part of Lilo’s Ohana (family).
== Background ==
=== Development ===
Chris Sanders first created the character of Stitch in 1985 for a planned children's book that never came to be.
Years later in 1997, when production on Mulan was currently wrapping up, he had the opportunity to pitch a film version of his planned story, beginning the development of the film.
In early drafts, Stitch was originally slated to have landed in Kansas, but the setting was changed to Hawaii since the location would provide a greater degree of isolation from large cities, and the islands were among some of Chris Sanders' favorite places. Also, the character himself started as an intergalactic gangster rather than a recently created genetic monster. In these early drafts, his gang (including ex-gang member Jumba) would have been the ones hired by the Galactic Federation to hunt him down.
=== Personality ===
: “626 was designed to be a monster, but now he has nothing to destroy. You see, I never gave him a greater purpose. What must it be like to have nothing, not even memories to look back on in the middle of the night?”―Jumba giving an example on the instinct of Stitch
Throughout the course of the entire Lilo & Stitch franchise, Stitch is depicted as a character that is unlikable to many people except Lilo (on rare occasions, even she falls out with him, most notably in Lilo & Stitch 2, where she declares that he is "bad and always will be bad!" after he has an uncontrollable glitch attack) due to his destructive and temperamental behavior. It is interesting to note that people who are averse to Stitch (such as Mertle Edmonds, Gantu, and Dr. Hämsterviel) describe him as "ugly and deformed", while those who do love him (like Lilo, Nani, and Jumba) describe him as "cute and fluffy". This reflects the basic idea behind Stitch (and his cousins) that counters what societal standards are for good physical appearance. Despite having odd features such as extra pairs of arms, misshapen heads, or unusual coloring, Stitch and his kin prove that you don't have to look 'normal' to fit in.
Whether Stitch is displayed in his true alien form; complete with an extra set of arms, antennae, and spines on his back, or in his 'dog' form (the one the audience is accustomed to seeing), sans the aforementioned features, his overall 'cuteness' belies his extremely aggressive and destructive personality. This is especially apparent during and immediately after his escape from the Galactic Federation. He proves to be a complex character as he comes to terms with his own 'good' and 'bad levels' and struggles to find his place in the world. According to his creator Jumba, Stitch is a 'machine' who was made without a greater purpose than to destroy. The fact that he becomes trapped on the island of Kauai, which has no large cities, he has more time to contemplate and reflect on alternative occupations. Although Stitch seeks to destroy because of his innate programming, he has a personality of his own (a fact that only Lilo and Jumba truly understand) and shows that he has the will and ability to make the choice not to follow his original design.
In comparison to his super strength and computer-like intelligence, Stitch is emotionally fragile, behaving almost like a child having a tantrum at times. Lilo relates to this and believes that a couple of main reasons for his naughtiness are because of some past trauma and receiving little to no understanding or sympathy from others. Of course, Stitch eventually becomes much more well-meaning after his betterment, but is frequently unable to control all of his impulses toward anti-social actions. Fortunately for him, Lilo (and later Reuben and Angel) is always there to support him, and he returns her support willingly.
There is a common misconception from viewers that Lilo is dependent on Stitch for protection and support; if anything, it is Stitch who is more dependent on Lilo. Despite her having her own troubles to contend with, Lilo makes every effort to help Stitch in life and, as the story progresses, he becomes more self-conscious and capable of making the right decisions. By the end of the series, Stitch has friends, family, loved ones, and a purpose worth believing in.
Stitch may still become prone to having temper tantrums when things do not go as well as he hopes. He also gets easily angered by inanimate objects, especially the toaster. After it popped toast in his face once, he has since beaten it and juiced it at least twice. Despite these tantrums, Stitch can sometimes display a little common sense and be more mature than Lilo. He occasionally sees when she goes too far in using the other experiments for her own personal gain, examples of which were seen in her schemes involving Sprout, Checkers, Morpholomew, and PJ.
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Before Stitch was rehabilitated, he was a vicious, hyperactive, selfish, and extremely aggressive and mischievous creature. After Stitch was rehabilitated by Lilo, although his mischievous, destructive, and aggressive tendencies remained, he possessed a heart of gold.
He also seems to like turtles, being there is a picture of Stitch shading two sea turtles in the credits of the original Lilo & Stitch movie and snuggling a stuffed turtle after a nightmare in Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. As well as having a soft spot for turtles, he also seems to like frogs. He gently moves frogs out of harm's way constantly and seems to talk to them as if they are his friends. These likes may be a sign that Stitch may be growing fond of Earth creatures.
Starting off bad when he was programmed by Jumba Jookiba, Stitch was originally designed to create pandemonium and chaos wherever he was. He was drawn to large cities where he would back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal people's left shoe, but Lilo changed his ways a while after adopting him at an animal shelter.
Stitch is still prone to having temper tantrums when things don't go his way, or he sees that he's been squirted by a water bottle for something that he thought was good. So he isn't good all of the time. Or more accurately, he isn't well-behaved all of the time. He also gets easily angered by inanimate objects, especially the toaster. The toaster has popped toast in his face once, and since then, he has beaten up the toaster and juiced it at least twice. He is a complex character. According to his creator Jumba, Stitch is a destructive machine who was not given a greater purpose in life. Since Stitch is trapped on an island in Hawaii, where there are relatively few things to destroy, he has many occasions to reflect on occupations other than evil. It is implied that Stitch is only destructive because that is what he was programmed to do; but since he has a personality of his own (a fact that only Lilo, and Jumba truly understand), he also has the choice, and even the will, not to be destructive.
Despite having superhuman strength and a high level of computer intelligence, Stitch is emotionally fragile and has a childlike personality beneath his monsteresque exterior. Lilo believes that one reason why he originally pursued his destructiveness was for reasons similar to her own naughtiness—that it was because he was emotionally scarred (for having been made a monster by Jumba), but received little or no understanding or sympathy from others. Stitch becomes much more well-meaning after his betterment but is frequently unable to control all of his destructive impulses. Fortunately for him, Lilo (and later, Jumba, Reuben and Angel) is always there to support him and he returns her support willingly.
Stitch has a huge appetite and gets very irritable if he doesn't get what he wants to eat. Also, despite his temper tantrums, Stitch can sometimes have a little common sense and be more mature than Lilo. Such an example is when Lilo wanted to use Sprout to win an orchid competition, Stitch wasn't so sure it was wise, and he straight out told Lilo that it was her fault that Sprout had gone out of control.
=== Physical appearance ===
Designed by his voice actor Chris Sanders, Stitch is a blue alien genetic creation standing around three feet tall. He strongly resembles a koala or a French bulldog and is referred to as both throughout the franchise, especially since humans (with the exception of Lilo, Nani, Cobra, and David) are completely oblivious to the fact he is an alien. He has sharp teeth inside his mouth along with a long pink tongue. A short, stumpy tail cuts out from his rear. He has a limited ability to change his physical appearance, only able to retract his second set of arms, his antennae, and the three spines on his back into his body.
When Stitch was first introduced by Jumba, and during his time as a criminal, he donned a red spacesuit with an upside-down triangle consisting of a red border and yellow center on the chest. Similar patches adorned the elbows of the sleeves and square patches consisting of a dark red border with an orange center showed on each of his legs. He also wore a black belt with a crimson square buckle, and his cuffs, anklets, and collar were also black. The suit survived when he crashed on Earth, but it was torn to pieces when he was run over by a convoy of trucks.
When Stitch was captain of the B.R.B. 9000, he donned a black spacesuit similar to that of Gantu's which consisted of a black shirt with thick red brims on his shoulders. Unlike Gantu's tank shirt, this suit features wrist-length sleeves with red cuffs, along with matching vertical linings on both sides of the shirt and trousers. He also wore a gray belt with a light gray "V" on the front, along with a small gray mark on the upper left chest that resembles a tear drop with a black dot on it. The suit was destroyed during his fight with Leroy.
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Stitch is a blue-furred, koala-like experiment with aqua countershading around his eyes and running from under his chin down to his stomach. The upper rims of the countershading around the eye sockets have black eyebrows. He has two dark blue markings; one on his occiput (the back of his head), and the other on his back. His head features large rabbit-like ears with pink insides and dark blue tips on the back, a wide mouth with a pink inside, white teeth, a navy round nose, navy claws and toes, two nose wrinkles, one chin wrinkle, and large black, tear-shaped, pupil-less eyes. He also has a small, short, stumpy tail, stubby legs, three tufts of sharp fur on top of his head and on his chest, as well as two extra, retractable arms, sharp navy retractable claws on his front and back paws (hands and feet), three thick, long, sharp, retractable porcupine-like spines tipped with white and a very dark navy that run down his back, and two long dark blue-tipped retractable bug-like antennae on his head. His blood is neon pink in color, as shown in the first film when his blood is drawn as a DNA sample for the prison turrets to lock onto.
In some promotional art with his disguised "dog form", he wears a red flea collar with a gold name tag. However, he almost never wears a collar in the actual film or the rest of the animated canon.
In his true alien form, he formerly wore a red spacesuit with an upside-down triangle consisting of a red border and yellow center on his chest, with each of his sleeves and patches consisting of a dark red border and orange center on each of his legs, black belt with a dark red square buckle, both black collar, cuffs, and anklets. His spacesuit was shredded to bits when he was run over by three trucks shortly after crash-landing on Earth.
Covered in blue fur and having exceptionally large ears for his body, which measures around a third of his height, Stitch is an unusual thing to see wandering the streets. Usually, his smile scares people, as his gums are lined with nothing but sharp teeth.
Stitch's ears both have a little notch missing, though both in different places (although in Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, it was shown that he initially had pierced ears); his lower left ear and upper right ear have a triangular piece of flesh that is missing from them. He has got large black eyes that turn green when using his night vision, red when using infrared vision, bright green when using x-ray vision, purple when using ultraviolet vision, and white when using binocular vision.
His arms differ from his hind legs, as his front paws look more like little hands and his back feet have flat pads. Each of his paws have four digits (fingers and toes) that are tipped with sharp claws that help Stitch to attack his enemies, although the toe claws are shorter and more blunt.
There have been a few instances in the franchise in which several creatures' DNA from which Stitch's genetic template was created are discussed. In the Disney Adventures comic titled: "Experiment 626!", we see four fearsome creatures whose DNA Stitch possesses in addition to a domesticated dog from Earth, although the comics were later rendered non-canon. In The Origin of Stitch, we learn that Stitch has had some of his DNA sampled from the following creatures.
=== Powers and abilities ===
While explaining his creation to the Galactic Council early on in Lilo & Stitch, Dr. Jumba gives the following rundown of Stitch's powers: "He is bulletproof, fireproof, shockproof, and can think faster than [a] supercomputer. He can see in the dark and can move objects 3,000 times his size. His only instinct: to destroy everything he touches!" / While explaining his creation to the Galactic Council early on in Lilo & Stitch, Dr. Jumba gives the following rundown of Stitch's powers: "He is bulletproof, fireproof, and can think faster than [a] supercomputer. He can see in the dark and can move objects 3,000 times his size. His only instinct: to destroy everything he touches!"
* Feral mind (temporarily): In the original Lilo & Stitch movie, Jumba claimed that Stitch's "destructive tendency was taking effect" and that he would be irresistibly drawn to large cities to "back up sewers, reverse street signs and steal everyone's left shoe."
* Dense body tissue: Although we rarely see Stitch shot at with a bullet, he does survive the crash of his spaceship with not even a scratch, is only briefly stunned by a fall of several thousand feet, and has to be run over by three tractor trailers in succession to be knocked out.
* Fireproof skin: He drives a tanker truck of gasoline into a volcano and ends up only a little singed from the explosion.
* Bulletproof skin: Weapons fired from plasma guns seem to cause him discomfort, although he can hold it in his hands long enough to throw the plasma back at his enemies.
* Shock resistance: He also has some resistance to electricity; he was able to take an electrical attack from Sparky and he quickly recovered from it. However, he can still feel pain from such shocking.
* Hypercognition: Thinking faster than a supercomputer is harder to quantify, but he does escape from captivity fairly ingeniously; builds a model of San Francisco after only glancing at a post card; grabs a crossword puzzle from the table and finishes it in about seven seconds; builds a bomb out of a plasma bolt, a doll and a roller skate; builds a "bucking bronco" out of a toaster, a vacuum cleaner, and a lamp; reads aloud a description of a local museum's display he is able to understand at a remarkable speed; uses a human being as a shield from Jumba near Pleakley's presence; and generally picks up quickly on what is happening around him.
* Lingual intuition: Stitch can converse fluently in over 20 different languages, but prefers Tantalog (his native language).
* Cooking intuition: He can cook 372 recipes, but prefers Chinese food most of all.
* Parallel computing: He is an information repository, with a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and experiment catalog, and records every moment of his life in a reserved portion of his brain that can theoretically store up to 300 PB.
* Instrument player: He is also skilled at playing musical instruments, most notably the ukulele, thanks to his quick learning.
* Vehicle intuition: Stitch can drive any sort of vehicle, from coming as simple as a tricycle to as complex as intergalactic spaceships.
* Enhanced strength: His ability to lift objects 3,000 times his own size and weight is seen several times throughout the franchise, including incidents where he picks up a descending blast door, hits Dr. Jumba with a thrown Volkswagen Beetle (shouting gleefully, "Blue punch buggy! No punch back!"), and stops an 18-wheeled tanker of gasoline dead in its tracks. The reason why Stitch can lift 3,000 times his own weight, even though he has small arms, is because his muscles contain excessively compressed amounts of myofibril in one muscle cell. This muscular arrangement makes Stitch's muscles contract 1,000 times faster than a human's muscle can and makes them much much more powerful. The ability is sometimes joked about in the later series; for example, in Stitch! The Movie, when Hämsterviel had Stitch physically restrained for a cloning experiment, countering his strength with restraints that were equal in strength themselves, as Hämsterviel loudly declared, to "three thousand and one!" times Stitch's own weight, though he later admitted it was only a joke. This was further accompanied in the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Swirly", when Gantu correctly guessed that Stitch cannot lift even an ounce more than 3,000 times his size and weight by adding a small ticket to the load.
* Wall crawling: The pads on Stitch's hands and feet can secrete a sticky substance, allowing him to scale and adhere to almost any surface, such as buildings and walls.
* Spherical form: His skeletal system is very flexible, allowing him to put his feet into his mouth and become a rolling ball, allowing him to squeeze through tight spaces.
* Enhanced speed: Stitch was shown at super speed while carrying Jumba, during a bet made with Lilo to catch Experiments 501 (Yin) and 502 (Yang), and Lilo, while hurrying from Gantu's ship back to the fundraiser. His speed is also usually used when he's in his spherical form.
* Enhanced jump: Stitch's legs are small but, thanks to the muscle advancements mentioned above, powerful enough to enable him to jump several feet into the air.
* Electromagnetic vision: His eyes can pick up various forms of light and he can filter out one or the other if necessary. Stitch can see in normal vision; during this mode, his eyes are a glossy, solid black. Furthermore, he can also magnify his vision.
** Night vision: Where his eyes turn green.
** Infrared vision: Where his eyes turn red.
** X-ray vision: Where his eyes turn bright green.
* Audio amplifier: He also can act as an audio amplifier, radio, and/or microphone, illustrated when he uses his claw as the needle on a record player, and the music comes out of his open mouth.
* Enhanced hearing & smell: He has an acute sense of smell and hearing. Concept designs detailing Stitch's anatomy describe the sensory filaments of his nose being so dense and extensive that if unraveled, they could blanket the Earth.
* Skilled hand-to-hand combat: He is also dexterously skilled in hand-to-hand combat, using all four arms or just his main two.
* Venomous spines: In anatomy drawings of Stitch from the film's production, his spines are described as being poisonous and connected to venom sacs in his spinal cord.
* Alien form: In his alien form, he has three spines on his back, two antennae on his head, and can grow an extra pair of arms.
* Dog form: Stitch can hide his spines, antennae and extra pair of arms in his body, taking the form of an ordinary Earth dog; he used this to become Lilo's dog.
* Semi-immortality: Stitch cannot age; when Skip flashed ten years ahead, he did not age whatsoever, but for some reason, Babyfier's powder reversed him into an infant, meaning he is immune to aging older.
* Vacuum adaptation: Along with the rest of his "cousins", Stitch can survive in the vacuum of space due to being a genetic alien.
Though mistaken for a dog, Stitch actually has the smelling capabilities of a normal dog and also has sharp hearing that allows him to hear people or things within a thirty-foot radius. Stitch is resistant to poisons, though not immune to them. His infrared vision permits him to locate targets by their body heat, and his night vision permits him to see clearly at night/in dark places.
Though he still primarily speaks Tantalog, Stitch is capable of comprehending other languages quickly, as he has become fairly fluent in English along with some Hawaiian, Japanese, and Chinese sayings.
Stitch is mostly physical, but also has four basic plasma guns on hand that he can use at will.
Whether the original Western animated version of Stitch has the two above extra abilities revealed in the East Asian spin-offs is unknown. Likewise, it is unknown if either new ability also applies to the other spin-off's version of Stitch, although it is unlikely, as both shows had different production staffs. Complicating matters is that Disney does not acknowledge either show in the United States—apart from having given them brief runs in the country for only a short period of time with little advertising—and that Stitch's real-life creator and original voice actor, Chris Sanders, had no involvement with either of those shows.
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* Feral mind (temporarily): In the original Lilo & Stitch movie, Jumba claimed that Stitch's "destructive tendency was taking effect" and that he would be irresistibly drawn to large cities to "back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everybody's left shoe."
* Superhuman durability/Dense body tissue: Although we rarely see Stitch shot at with a bullet, he does survive the crash of his spaceship with not even a scratch, is only briefly stunned by a fall of several thousand feet, and has to be run over by three tractor trailers in succession to be knocked out.
* Fireproof skin: He drives a tanker truck of gasoline into a volcano and ends up only a little singed from the resulting explosion.
* Bulletproof skin: Rounds fired from plasma guns seem to cause him discomfort, although he can hold the material in his hands long enough to throw the plasma back at his enemies.
* Shockproof: He has some resistance to electricity since he was able to take an electrical attack from Sparky, quickly recovering from it. However, he can still feel pain from these types of shocks despite his immunity to it.
* Hyper-cognition: Thinking faster than a supercomputer is harder to quantify, but he does escape from captivity fairly ingeniously; builds a model of San Francisco after only glancing at a post card; grabs a crossword puzzle from the table and finishes it in about seven seconds; builds a bomb out of a plasma bolt, a doll, and a roller skate; creates a "bucking bronco" out of a toaster, vacuum cleaner, and a lamp; reads aloud a description of a local museum's display, showing he is able to understand written language at a remarkable speed; manipulates moral compass by using a human being as a shield in Jumba and Pleakley's presence; and generally picks up quickly on what is happening around him.
* Lingual intuition: Stitch can converse fluently in over 20 different languages, but prefers Tantalog (his native language).
* Cooking intuition: He can cook 372 recipes, but prefers Chinese food most of all.
* Parallel computing: He is an information repository, containing an internal dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and experiment catalog, and records every moment of his life in a reserved portion of his brain that can theoretically store up to 300 PB.
* Instrument player: He is also skilled at playing musical instruments, most notably the ukulele thanks to his quick learning.
* Vehicle intuition: Stitch can drive any sort of vehicle from something as simple as a tricycle to complex machinery like intergalactic spaceships.
* Superhuman strength: His ability to lift objects 3,000 times his own size and weight is seen several times throughout the franchise, including incidents where he picks up a descending blast door, hits Dr. Jumba with a thrown Volkswagen Beetle (shouting gleefully, "Blue punch buggy! No punch back!"), and stops an 18-wheeled tanker of gasoline dead in its tracks. The reason why Stitch can lift 3,000 times his own weight, even though he has small arms, is because his muscles contain excessively compressed amounts of myofibril within one muscle cell. This muscular arrangement makes Stitch's muscles contract 1,000 times faster than a human's, making him much, much more powerful. The ability is sometimes joked about in the later series; for example, in Stitch! The Movie, when Hämsterviel has Stitch physically restrained for a cloning experiment, Stitch's restraints counter his strength at, as Hämsterviel loudly declares, to "three thousand and one!" times Stitch's weight, though he later admits it was intended as a joke. This was further validated in the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Swirly", when Gantu correctly guessed that Stitch cannot lift even an ounce more than 3,000 times his size when he adds a small ticket to the given load.
** Superhuman jump: Stitch's legs are small but, thanks to the muscle advancements mentioned above, are powerful enough to enable him to jump several feet into the air.
* Wall crawling: While Stitch's claws are strong, the pads on his hands and feet can secrete a sticky substance, allowing him to scale and adhere to almost any surface, such as buildings and walls. He can also stand on walls and ceilings.
* Spherical form: His skeletal system is very flexible, allowing him to put his feet into his mouth and roll like a ball. This allows him to squeeze through tight spaces.
* Superhuman speed: Stitch can move and run faster as shown moving past Lilo and Pleakley while carrying Jumba, during a bet made with Lilo to catch Experiments 501 (Yin) and 502 (Yang), and hurrying from Gantu's ship back to the fundraiser while carrying Lilo. His speed is also usually used when he's in his spherical form. When Stitch runs, his speed doesn't automatically increased and can only achieve it by putting effort into his muscles.
* Superhuman agility: Stitch has greater agility, dexterity, balance, and body coordination, capable of doing feats far beyond an acrobat, such as leaping far distances, jumping off from wall to wall, swinging from vines, and standing on branches, wires, and narrow platforms. He is also capable of standing and walking on his paws. The reason is Stitch has a very flexible skeletal system that also allows him to squeeze through tight spaces.
* Superhuman reflexes: Stitch is able to react and dodge plasma bolts from the plasma guns from Jumba and Gantu. When Jumba tried to shoot him, Stitch caught it in his hands. He is able to catch some tennis balls with his four arms and even threw them back in the pitching machine.
* Superhuman stamina: Stitch's advanced musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins, allowing him to exert himself for extended periods of time. Stitch can still fight, run, and even eat without tiring out, even hunting for other experiments he would hunt them for an entire day to when night comes.
* Electromagnetic vision: Stitch's eyes can magnify objects and pick up various forms of light, filtering out one or the other if necessary. Using normal vision, his eyes are a glossy, solid black.
** Night vision: When Stitch's eyes turns green, he can see clearly in the dark.
** Infrared vision: When Stitch's eyes turns red, he can see heat signatures from objects and body heat from people.
** X-ray vision: When Stitch's eyes turns bright green, he can see through objects and solid matter.
* Audio amplifier: He can act as an audio amplifier, radio, and/or microphone, illustrated when he uses his claw as the needle on a record player and plays music through his mouth like a sound horn.
* Enhanced hearing & smell: He has an acute sense of smell and hearing. Concept designs detailing Stitch's anatomy describe the sensory filaments of his nose being so dense and extensive that, if unraveled, could blanket the Earth. While listening for Jumba and Pleakley, who are hiding on a hill outside the dog shelter, he is able to detect Pleakley speaking at a whisper.
* Skilled hand-to-hand combat: He is dexterously skilled in hand-to-hand combat, whether using all four arms or just two.
* Venomous spines: In anatomy drawings of Stitch from the film's production, his spines are described as being poisonous and connected to venom sacs in his spinal cord.
* Shapeshifting: In his alien form, he has three spines on his back, two antennae on his head, and an extra pair of arms. However, he is able to retract all of these features to look more like a dog while on Earth and used this to become Lilo's pet.
* Semi-immortality: Stitch cannot age. When Skip flashed ten years ahead, he did not age whatsoever but, for some reason, Babyfier's powder reversed him into an infant. This could simply mean he stops aging once he is physically mature.
* Vacuum adaptation: Along with the rest of his "cousins", Stitch can survive in the vacuum of space.
* Power immunity: Stitch is immune to some of the experiments' powers, such as Angel's song and Checkers' hypnosis, since Stitch is created after them. Stitch was put to sleep by Drowsy but he was able to wake up on his own without the need to be sprayed with water.
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=== Weaknesses ===
* Water: Stitch's greatest weakness is his inability to float, let alone swim, in water due to his molecular structure being much denser than the average human or animal. This causes him to instantly sink like a stone. Stitch originally had an instinctive aquaphobia (which was even used against him by Spooky), but he was able to overcome it thanks to Lilo's influence.
* Glitch (formerly): In Stitch has a Glitch, it is revealed that Stitch's molecules were not fully in charge after his creation, Stitch frequently experiences periodic glitches that have him revert to his original destructive programming; basically suffering from a seizure disorder and having nightmares of destroying everything and everyone in his path, including Lilo.
* Crezonyte: It is shown in "Kixx" that if Stitch consumes two different elements which form to create a particular chemical compound called Crezonyte, all of his training skills will be wiped. Eating a rubber tennis shoe and metolayic acid found macadamia nut oil together will result in this.
* Mucus drain: Stitch is 62.7% mucus, which is similar in composition to Snootonium. If this is drained from his body, he will become temporarily exhausted from dehydration (evident when Snooty siphons Stitch's mucus).
* Sonic blasts: Another weakness is the fact that his super-sensitive hearing can lead to temporary deafness when exposed to sonic blasts, such as Yaarp's destructive sound blast.
* Strength limit: As stated above, he cannot lift even an ounce past the 3,000 times limit.
* Experiments' powers: While Stitch is immune to Angel's and Checkers' powers since he was created after them, he can still be affected by the other experiments, such as Amnesio, Babyfier, Spike, Bugby, Lax, Dupe, Frenchfry, Swapper, and Swirly. Stitch can also be put to sleep by Drowsy but he was able to wake up on his own without the need to be sprayed with water.
* Blades/Durability limit: While Stitch can withstand plasma bolts, being beaten, and even the most hazardous environments, it is implied Stitch isn't resistant to bladed objects. This is shown when Stitch was pierced by the Sample Extractor and able to take out his blood.
* Trash ingestion: If Stitch consumes vast amounts of trash, he will become incredibly sick as shown in "Ploot". He first gets sick to his stomach and sneezes, then his fur turns yellow, his tongue becomes orange, and his nose turns red. Another symptom is, with each sneeze, an arm grows from random areas of his body. Stitch's garbage-eating illness was theorized as a rare space disease by Jumba. Stitch was cured when he drank a barrel of orange juice and took medicine from an eyedropper, though it was only for a few seconds. When he sneezed again, he developed yellow stripes and grew legs instead. The only permanent cure is inhaling steam from a vaporizer.
* Sauerkraut: Stitch is allergic to sauerkraut.
=== Weaknesses ===
* Water: Stitch's greatest weakness is his inability to float, let alone swim in water due to his molecular structure being much denser than the average human or animal, which causes him to instantly sink like a stone as he so much as falls in. Stitch originally had an instinctive aquaphobia (which was even used against him by Spooky), but was able to overcome it thanks to Lilo's influence over him.
* Memory erase: It is also shown in "Kixx" that if Stitch consumes two different elements that form to create a particular chemical compound, all of his physical training will be wiped. It will result from eating a left shoe and macadamia nuts.
* Mucus drain: Stitch is 62.7% mucus, which is similar in composition to Snootonium, and if this is drained from his body, he will become temporarily exhausted from dehydration (evidenced when Snooty siphoned Stitch's mucus).
* Sonic blasts: Another weakness is the fact that his super-sensitive hearing can lead to temporary deafness when exposed to sonic blasts, such as Yaarp's destructive sound blast.
* Strength limit: As stated above, he cannot lift even an ounce past the 3,000 time limit.
* Trash ingestion: If Stitch consumes vast amounts of trash, he will become incredibly sick as shown in "Ploot". He first gets sick to his stomach and sneezes as his fur turns yellow, his tongue becomes orange, and his nose turns red. Another symptom is that with each sneeze, an arm grows from random areas of his body. Stitch's garbage-eating illness was theorized as a rare space disease by Jumba. Stitch was cured when he drank a barrel of orange juice and took medicine from an eyedropper, though it was only for a few seconds. When he sneezed again, he developed yellow stripes and grew legs instead. The only permanent cure is inhaling steam from a vaporizer.
* Sauerkraut: Stitch is allergic to sauerkraut.
== Biography ==
=== Early-Life ===
Experiment 626 was the 626th genetic experiment created by Jumba, and the first to be made without Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to be virtually indestructible, fireproof, bulletproof, shockproof, think faster than a supercomputer, have super sight and hearing, and lift objects 3,000 times his own weight (but not an ounce more). He was created by Dr. Jumba Jookiba from six or more of the galaxy's deadliest predators, though instead of him appearing vicious, he appeared to be cute and fluffy. Shortly after his creation, the intergalactic police arrived to arrest 626 and Jumba, preventing 626's molecules from being fully charged in the process.
=== Lilo & Stitch ===
Jumba and 626 were taken to the planet Turo to stand trial. When 626 replied to the Grand Councilwoman's attempts to reason with him with an obscene phrase, he and Jumba were declared guilty, and 626 was escorted by Captain Gantu to be exiled on a desert asteroid.
However, 626 was able to escape his detention cell (thanks to the incompetence of the lieutenant left to guard him) and steal a federal police cruiser. 626's cruiser was soon fired upon by a fleet of police cruisers, and, in an attempt to escape, 626 activated his cruiser's hyperdrive, but the damage inflicted on the police cruiser by the fleet caused it to exit hyperspace over Earth and crash on the island of Kauai.
Shortly after landing, 626 was run over by a convoy of trucks, knocking him out, and taken to the local dog shelter.
When 626 awoke, he attempted to escape the shelter but was forced to retreat back inside by an attack from his own creator.
When 626 soon after saw Lilo looking for a pet dog, he saw her as an unaware hostage and altered his appearance to look less otherworldly and pose as a dog in order for her to adopt him. The plan worked and Lilo adopted 626 and named him Stitch.
Using Lilo as an unsuspecting hostage and Pleakley's concern for humans, Jumba was unable to try and capture Stitch when he was near Lilo.
At first, Lilo only mattered to Stitch as a hostage, but over time, Lilo taught Stitch how to love others as his ʻohana.
As a result, Stitch eventually left to find his ʻohana when he saw the damage he was causing Lilo's. But instead, Stitch discovered the evil behind his origins from Jumba.
Thus, Stitch engaged Jumba in a standoff to protect Lilo, which ended in a tie when Jumba's plasma cannon exploded.
Stitch then revealed his alien origins to Lilo and later helped rescue her using a tanker truck when she was mistakenly captured by Gantu.
Afterward, Stitch was captured by the Galactic Police but then allowed to stay on Earth as exile due to his change of heart and Lilo's legal ownership of him.
=== Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch ===
About a year after the events of the previous film, Stitch was fearing that he would revert to his destructive programming.
Though all seemed well for Stitch at first, he began to suffer from glitches (caused by his molecules not being fully charged during his creation before his capture), during which he would experience seizures and temporarily revert to his original, destructive programming.
The damage Stitch's glitches caused began to drive a wedge between him and Lilo and was ruining the latter's chances of winning the hula competition. Because Lilo was so concerned with winning the hula competition, she failed to notice Stitch's glitches or that he had no control over it. Thus, Lilo blamed Stitch for the destruction his glitches were causing and neglected to help him.
Eventually, the two devised a hula based on the legend of Hiʻiaka, but as Stitch's glitches ruined their practice sessions, Lilo became increasingly mad with him.
Just before the competition, Stitch attempted to make up with Lilo, but he suffered another glitch during which he accidentally scratched Lilo. Visibly upset by this, Stitch stole Jumba's ship to banish himself to an uninhabited planet where his glitches could not cause any harm. But before he could activate the hyperdrive to send him to one, he suffered another glitch which caused him to crash the ship into the Hawaiian mountains.
Lilo then arrived and dragged a near-death Stitch from the wreckage and into Jumba's fusion chamber, praying that he would be okay. Unfortunately, Lilo was too late, and Stitch temporarily died. However, Lilo and her ʻohana's love for Stitch successfully revived him.
=== Stitch! The Movie ===
Sometime later, Lilo tried, with little success, to get Stitch accepted by the rest of the community.
Later, when Jumba was kidnapped by Gantu, Lilo and Stitch discovered the other 625 experiments, and, against Pleakley's warnings, activated Experiment 221 to recharge the ship, only for 221 to escape.
After Lilo and Stitch later heard that Hämsterviel demanded a ransom of Jumba's first 624 experiments (Experiment 625 had already been captured by them) for Jumba, they hunted down and recaptured 221.
Stitch managed to quickly teach 221 how to love others as ʻohana as Lilo had taught Stitch, and thus, Stitch refused to allow 221 to be given to Hämsterviel, as he was now ʻohana.
Lilo and Stitch, and 221 (named Sparky) arrived at the rendezvous for the ransom exchange in time to prevent Gantu from killing Jumba due to one of the 624 experiments (Sparky) being missing.
When Hämsterviel forced Lilo to choose between Jumba and Sparky, Stitch was on Sparky's side.
When Lilo made her choice of neither of them, Stitch rescued Jumba from Gantu and stowed away on his leaving ship with Lilo and Sparky.
Lilo and Stitch battled Gantu for the other 623 experiments, and managed to release them on Kauai, but were captured after.
Hämsterviel attempted to clone Stitch into an army to replace the other experiments in a process which involved cutting Stitch in half, but he was saved by Sparky and went to Lilo's rescue.
The three lured Gantu and 625 into Gantu's ship and caused it to crash on Earth, and then used Hämsterviel's ship to return to Earth.
There, the Grand Councilwoman assigned Lilo and Stitch with the duty of capturing and rehabilitating the experiments scattered across Kauai.
=== Lilo & Stitch: The Series ===
In Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Stitch and Lilo have to capture Jumba's experiments, turn them from bad to good, and find them each a home before Gantu, 625 and Hämsterviel capture them and use them for evil. Along the way, Stitch meets his match 627 (who is tougher than him), and he eventually defeats him.
He is also affected by 14 experiment powers: Amnesio wipes out his memory; Babyfier turns him into a baby; Spike makes him goofy; Bugby turns him into an insect; Spooky turns into water and nearly drowns him; Lax makes him lazy; Dupe duplicates him into four, weakening his strength; Frenchfry serves him non-nutritious meals (along with Lilo and Pleakley) and fattens him up into a giant bowling ball; Swapper switches Stitch and Lilo's minds; Yaarp blasts his loud megaphone, deafening Stitch; Snooty sucks out his mucus, putting him out of commission; Swirly hypnotizes him; Drowsy (in the episode "PJ") puts him to sleep; and Houdini makes him invisible. He also meets Experiment 624 (Angel), who is introduced as a love interest for Stitch.
Over the course of the series, he and Lilo have also had adventures with Kim Possible, Penny Proud, Jake Long, and the kids from Recess.
=== Leroy & Stitch ===
After all of the first 624 experiments were captured and rehabilitated, Stitch was assigned to replace Captain Gantu by the Grand Councilwoman as a reward, but found himself missing Lilo and his ʻohana.
He was soon assigned to recapturing Hämsterviel, but got in a fight with the newly-created Leroy, his red evil twin. Though Stitch had the upper hand for most of the battle, Pleakley's untimely arrival caused Stitch to drop his guard, enabling Leroy to strike the final blow and get Stitch locked in a capsule.
Hämsterviel attempted to dispose of Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley by sending them into a black hole, but Stitch broke free and was able to use a rock to cause the black hole to instead transport them to Turo in time to save Lilo, Gantu and Reuben from a group of Leroys.
They then returned to Earth in time to save the other experiments from Hämsterviel and the Leroys, and Stitch led the experiments in a battle against the Leroy army.
Stitch, Lilo and Reuben eventually defeated the winning Leroy army with the song, "Aloha ʻOe", and Stitch willingly resigned and returned to Earth, to his ʻohana.
== Trivia ==
* Despite not appearing in the show itself (as the show ran for about one year before the movie came out), Stitch was featured with Lilo in some online games for the television series House of Mouse.
* In a deleted scene of the original film, Stitch was responsible for the death of Pudge the fish. This incident made him learn about the consequences of his evil actions and gain a better understanding of mortality. It was cut out because Disney figured that it would be too morbid for a protagonist to kill someone and would also set a bad example for children. Moreover, Stitch is more interested in vandalism than violence.
** Also, the original version of the scene where Jumba attacks Stitch which results in the Pelekai residence accidentally being burned down was actually going to have more violent scenes like Stitch using a chainsaw to attack Jumba, as well as Stitch setting the house on fire by biting apart a gas pipe and tricking Jumba into shooting it with his blaster. The final version of the same scene has everything violent edited out and replaced in favor of making the scene more slapstick-oriented (Jumba knocking the ceiling down with dishes instead of laser blasts, Jumba's "shuriken" being made of hairbrushes and a tube of toothpaste instead of knives and a pizza cutter, the entire chainsaw scene shortened), having more comedic scenes added in (exploding Scrump, Stitch catching Jumba's laser, Stitch yelling, "Blue Punch Buggy! No punch back!" when hitting Jumba with Nani's VW, the Elvis Presley song "Hound Dog" playing in the background), and the house being destroyed by having Stitch stop up Jumba's blaster with a carrot and then having them both play "hot potato" with it until the blaster overloads and explodes.
** A similar treatment was done to the climax, where Jumba, Pleakley, Stitch, and Nani fly through the sky to pursue Gantu after he accidentally captures Lilo as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
* Stitch is considered to be one of the first successful prototypes for Jumba's "ultimate monster" experiment, though he is technically a failure because he wanted to belong and find a family. Other notable attempts for this prototype are 000, 262, 600, and 625, and each failed for its own reason: 000 is uncontrollable, 262 is good, 600 is clumsy, and 625 is lazy. 627 and Leroy are additional attempts Jumba made after Stitch, but both of them also failed: 627 is weak to laughter while Leroy is weak to a song. However, Leroy can also be considered a success, since Jumba deliberately programmed the weakness into him.
* Stitch appears, along with several other Lilo & Stitch characters, in a parody of the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, which was broadcast as part of the High School Musical: Around the World one-year anniversary special.
** In said parody, when Stitch and the other experiments are looking up at the ceiling, Stitch is colored red and 627 is colored blue. It is unknown how this happened, though it could be a coloring error.
* In the Stitch! anime, he talks in complete sentences, his English has improved, and he has more dialogue.
** This may actually imply that his command of Japanese is better than his English; since he is on an island prefecture of Japan, it is reasonable that he is speaking the local language, and thus the American-dubbed version is actually a case of "audience filter". On the other hand, since the anime takes place years after Leroy & Stitch, Stitch may have spent enough time on Hawaii before leaving to actually get a decent grasp on English. It should also be noted that English is heavily-taught as a second language in Japan.
** However, in Stitch & Ai, he mainly speaks his original dialect (Tantalog).
* Stitch has a tendency to refer to himself in the third person. He developed this habit probably because of his broken English or he had gotten it from Jumba, whom he too refers to himself in the third person.
** In Lilo & Stitch, the only two times he did this was after he was apprehended by the Grand Councilwoman, asking her if he has to go into her ship, and if he can say goodbye to Lilo and Nani.
** In Stitch Has a Glitch, he is shown to do this less often.
** In the English dub of the Stitch! anime, he does it even less often than before, but over the course of the series, he seems to have grown out of this habit.
* Stitch's weak grasp of English throughout the franchise (especially in the original 2002–2006 continuity) does not make logical sense, considering his hypercognition, the fact that he shows no apparent signs of struggling in understanding English, the fact that the aliens in the franchise can speak fluent English (including his own creator more or less), and the fact that he spends most of his time with Lilo, who has a very complex vocabulary (especially for someone her age). The indirect explanation that he does not have "advanced language programming" like his predecessor Reuben also does not make sense considering the above, and in fact leaves a plot hole as to why Stitch doesn't have such an ability when his predecessor, who is said to have every power and ability that Stitch has, does.
* While Stitch and the other experiments are technically siblings, "cousins" is a Hawaiian term, like "ʻohana", for extended family and close friends, although Stitch only uses it in regard to the experiments.
* Stitch loves reading his favorite storybook, The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, which he obtained from Lilo at some point.
** The plot revolving around the book mirrors Stitch questioning his purpose, as it revolves around his loneliness and desire to find a family, to which he did in the end.
** Stitch also developed a fondness for ducks as he showed some ducklings the storybook, as seen in the credits of Lilo & Stitch.
* Stitch apparently has a fondness for frogs as seen in Lilo & Stitch, where Stitch saves one from being blasted by a plasma gun of Gantu's ship.
* He is also very fond of sea turtles and even sleeps with a stuffed one, as seen in Stitch Has a Glitch.
** In the end credits of Lilo & Stitch, Stitch is also seen covering a turtle and its baby with a leaf.
* Stitch likes to dress up as Elvis Presley and is very skilled at playing the ukulele.
* His favorite foods are coconut cake and coffee, which are the very first Earth-based food and drink he ever ate, as seen in the original film and also mentioned in Stitch! The Movie. However, whenever he drinks coffee, he gains a massive amount of uncontrollable energy. Ironically, in "Slugger", he drank a large bowl of cappuccino, along with Lilo's cappuccino, but didn't go crazy at all.
** He has also been shown to eat anything inedible and very rarely doesn't like to eat something. An exception was in "Spooky", when he spit out a lemon, saying, "Ew, organic!", implying he might not like lemons.
*** However, in "Shortstuff", Stitch, as a giant, drank some lemonade from the cart he accidentally smashed without expressing any disgust, and in "Swapper", he drank a whole bowl of lemonade (albeit modified by Jumba to cause those who drink it to temporarily change colors), again without expressing any disgust, which would contradict this supposed dislike of lemons. It could be that either Stitch doesn't like organically-grown foods (as his heightened senses might have the unintended side effect of him tasting even the tiniest amounts of manure residue), he doesn't like the taste of unsweetened lemons or lemon juice, or him spitting out the organic lemon was nothing more than a simple joke.
** In the Stitch! anime, he also loves Yuna's blue crab sushi.
* Due to a continuity error, Stitch's ear notches have a tendency to disappear or change position in some works or merchandise.
* Following after Stitch! The Movie, Stitch's toes have changed from dark blue to black.
** Additionally, following after Stitch Has a Glitch, Stitch's fur color has changed from dark blue to light blue.
* Stitch's blood is revealed to be pink when a sample was taken out of his body.
* When Stitch has a glitch, his eyes glow green.
** In the original movie, Stitch's eyes were shown green after he crashed landed on Earth. In Stitch Has a Glitch, the animation was reused in the beginning.
* Usually when Stitch rolls into a ball, he puts his feet into his mouth and covers his face with his butt. In "Dupe" and "Snafu", his ball form resembles Cannonball's ball form in Leroy & Stitch.
* Since Lilo's adoption of Stitch was a legal process under State of Hawaii law (complete with legal documentation), it can be said that his legal name is indeed "Stitch" and not "Experiment 626". Disney INFINITY seems to re-enforce this by describing him as "Dr. Jumba's former Experiment 626" on the description for Stitch in the games' Hall of Heroes.
** This may also provide additional context when he interrupts the Grand Councilwoman to clarify his name in the denouement of Lilo & Stitch, as he may also imply that it would no longer be considered proper to refer to him as "Experiment 626" in any further formal or legal matters. Since he is referred to as "Captain Stitch" when he joins the Galactic Armada in Leroy & Stitch, it could also be that the United Galactic Federation does formally acknowledge "Stitch" as his proper legal name; if they didn't, then he would have been "Captain 626" instead.
* In the prequel comics and The Origin of Stitch, it is revealed that Stitch's genes contain those of some of the most powerful creatures in the galaxy, as well as some of Jumba's for "brains and good looks". One of the genes was a puppy, explaining Stitch's resemblance to a dog (though Jumba did not know how it got in there).
* In each of the franchise's three TV series, Stitch grows into a giant at least once per show via some method.
** In the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Shortstuff", Stitch uses Jumba's Protoplasmic Growth Ray to make himself bigger, but the episode's experiment also becomes bigger. Stitch uses his giant size to fight Shortstuff at the carnival, but loses. Stitch would later be returned to his normal size in order to fight back.
** In an episode of the Stitch! anime, Shrink zaps Stitch with an energy ray after the latter falls into a swimming pool, causing him to grow into a giant. Due to Retro reverting Stitch to his original destructive programming, Stitch goes on a rampage in this giant form until Yuna reaches out to him and reminds him of his promise. Shrink would be used again to revert Stitch to his original size.
** In Stitch & Ai, it is revealed that Stitch has a metamorphosis code programmed in his DNA, which transforms him into a gigantic monster armed with four tentacle-like blasters.
*** However, a deleted version of the opening of the original film contradicts this. In this opening, the Galactic Council shows video footage of Experiment 626—in his familiar small size—causing chaos and destruction in an alien city, including tipping over a skyscraper by lifting it from its base. The existence of this scene strongly suggests that Chris Sanders, Stitch's creator and original voice actor, never intended or at least considered giving Stitch this metamorphosis ability, thus likely making the monstrous "destruction form" in Stitch & Ai a retcon or a "revision" of the character. (Sanders did not work on either Stitch & Ai or the Stitch! anime series in any capacity; he was only credited in those shows for creating the characters who originated in Lilo & Stitch, including Stitch.)
* Stitch appeared on more covers for issues of Disney Adventures than any other character, appearing on the cover of twelve issues.
* Toothless, a Night Fury from DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon franchise, bears a strong resemblance to Stitch. Even their facial expressions are similar, especially those showing, excitement, wariness, and anger. However, their personalities are somewhat different, as Stitch is far more mischievous than Toothless. This is not a coincidence; Chris Sanders was the designer for both characters and co-directed both films with Dean DeBlois. It is also possible that Toothless was inspired by him.
** Chris Sanders left Disney to join DreamWorks (Disney's rival animation company) in 2007 due to creative differences over Disney rejecting his original Bolt script and designs. Despite his departure, though, Sanders still continues to voice Stitch in video games like Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep, Disney INFINITY 2.0, and in any other appearances of Stitch.
* In Big Hero 6, Stitch is referenced twice: the first as a costume worn by Mochi in a painting, and the second as one of the pillows on Fred's bed.
== Gallery ==
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Category:Characters
Category:The 2D-Animated Characters