Reuben

**Reuben** (also known as **Experiment 625**) is one of the main characters in the Lilo & Stitch Franchise.

## Background

Experiment 625 was the 625th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed for Stitch's purpose but was considered a failed experiment due to his lazy nature. 625 and the previous 624 experiments were deactivated and smuggled to Earth by Jumba during his mission to capture Experiment 626.

### Personality

Despite having all the powers of Stitch, Reuben is an incredibly lazy coward. However, during the events of Leroy & Stitch, Reuben finally made something of himself and used his powers to help save the entire galaxy. He is actually very humble, friendly and sympathetic, though often makes wisecracks but is usually quite crabby towards others when they disturb him (especially Gantu). He has tagged along with Gantu and Dr. Hämsterviel during many villanous plots but has stated that he doesn't really care who wins.

Reuben constantly insults Gantu's bumbling and incompetent nature but is sometimes very compassionate and thoughtful towards him and secretly sees him as his best friend and companion. He can also be considered somewhat of a coward, especially when Gantu forces Reuben to battle Stitch on a few occasions. Unlike Gantu, however, Reuben is fearless of Hämsterviel who apparently rejects him due to his laziness, explaining why Gantu has never sent Reuben to him. He also has a rather unusual and bizarre love for sandwiches. Most of the time, he is seen with either a finished sandwich in his hand or making one. His sandwiches are apparently very tasty, as even Gantu asks Reuben for some.

During the course of the series, it has been shown that Reuben secretly sees Stitch as his brother and vice versa. Also, just like Stitch, he has a crush on Angel, therefore making him Stitch's rival for Angel's love. Despite his wisecracks and laziness, Reuben is also shown to have sensitive side as seen in Leroy & Stitch, when Gantu abandons him and leaves him alone on Earth, causing him to become bitter and lonely.

Aside from this, Reuben is incredibly intelligent and clever, especially when it comes to the experiments. Although he was the second-to-last experiment to be created, Reuben has excessive knowledge of every experiment, even the ones that were created far before his time, such as Ace, most likely due to being Jumba's former assistant. There are also a few instances where Reuben acts like kind of an "inside man" for Lilo and Stitch, like telling Lilo how to bet Experiment 627 (but this was only so 627 would leave him alone, not for the sake of the galaxy).

Reuben is also shown to be inquisitive. In "Babyfier", his curiosity led to him releasing Babyfier from his container on Gantu to find out what Gantu's alien species started out as.

### Physical Appearance

Reuben is a golden yellow (blue in the Disney Adventures magazines), chubby koala/marmoy-like experiment that looks like Stitch, with a big head with short ears that flop down at the sides of his head, large black eyes, three small brown-tipped antennae that look like a tuft of fluffy fur, bright yellow stomach, chest and around his eyes, dark yellow toes, big red nose, pointed fingers, short stumpy legs, two brown markings on his back (one hourglass-shaped and an oblong marking above it) and two flat buck teeth sticking out of his mouth and overlapping his bottom lip. He also has brown retractable claws on front limbs.

He stands slightly shorter than Stitch (their antennae and Stitch ears ignored) but the height difference is very subtle, to the point that animation doesn't seem to depict this well. The anime-based video game Stitch Jam has arguably the best depiction of their height difference (along with that of Angel and Felix), as on the character select screen for the game's Free Mode and Challenge Mode, Reuben is slightly shorter than Stitch and Felix (both of whom stand at the same height), while Angel is shorter than all three of them.

### Powers and Abilities

Reuben possesses all of Stitch's powers, including the ability to grow an extra pair of arms, three black spines and two antennae on top of his head, lift objects up to 3,000 times his own weight, think faster than a supercomputer, roll into a ball, see in the dark and scale walls and ceilings. He can also speak fluently (with a hint of a Brooklyn accent), though he is capable of understanding Tantalog, his native tongue and is a very talented sandwich maker (and sandwich eater). Obviously, he is too lazy for much physical combat of use of his powers and therefore prefers to stand on the sidelines.

## Appearances

### Film

* Stitch! The Movie
* Leroy & Stitch

### Television

* Lilo & Stitch: The Series
* Stitch!

## Printed Material

### Disney Adventures Prequel Comics

Before Stitch's creation and when Jumba was struggling with creating his ultimate monster, 625 served as Jumba's primary assistant in the labs, though this mostly involved him making sandwiches for his master. When Stitch first gets loose on Turo, 625 comes with Jumba to help him track the creature down but the arrest would eventually come and 625 would be podded.

These events have since been retconned by the events described in Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, where Stitch is apprehended directly after his creation and Reuben is nowhere to be seen.

## Disney Parks

Reuben makes occasional appearances at Tokyo Disneyland, usually in parades along with many other experiments. Reuben makes an appearance in Lilo and Stitch's Big Panic on a float with the villains of his franchise (and Felix). Reuben makes an extremely brief, non-speaking appearance in Stitch's Great Escape! at the Magic Kingdom when Gantu gives guests a quick look at the "criminals" of the galaxy.