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Stitch, also known as Experiment 626, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba, one of the titular protagonists of the Lilo & Stitch franchise alongside Lilo, and the most prominent lead character of the franchise overall, appearing in all major media. His original primary function is to cause chaos across the galaxy by destroying everything he touches. He is designed to be abnormally strong, virtually indestructible, super-intelligent, and very mischievous. His one true place is with Lilo and her ʻohana.

Background and appearances

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 Jumba 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

Stitch on Earth

Stitch shortly after arriving on Earth

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-land on the island of Kauai.

Stitch protecting turtles

Stitch providing shade to sea turtles

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. Soon after, 626 saw Lilo looking for a pet dog. Seeing the little girl as an unaware hostage, 626 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 whenever 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 own ʻohana when he saw the damage he was causing Lilo's. Instead, Stitch discovered the evil behind his origins from Jumba.

Stitch's Origins

Stitch discovers his origins

When Jumba confronted Stitch, the latter 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. Afterwards, Stitch was captured and arrested by the intergalactic 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

Lilo & Stitch 2 Stitch Has a Glitch - Jumba sees Stitch glitching

Jumba noticing Stitch's 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. However, 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 as she pulled the switch. Unfortunately, she was too late and Stitch temporarily died. However, Lilo's love for Stitch successfully revived him and fully charged his molecules.

Stitch! The Movie

Stitch! The Movie - Stitch dressed in a hula costume

Stitch dressed in a hula costume

At the start of Stitch! The Movie, Stitch is shown having a difficult time connecting with the island locals during a beach party, feeling that he doesn't fit in and is too much of an outcast. Though Lilo tries to comfort him, he seeks Jumba in hopes of learning about having others like he and the evil scientist. However, Jumba explains that, in the vast universe, he and Stitch are alone and lack, what Lilo calls, "cousins".

Later on, Stitch discovers Jumba's first 625 genetic experiments locked in a crate, in the form of dehydrated pods. In order to rescue a kidnapped Jumba, a trade between Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel and Jumba for the experiments is organized, but it instead results in the freedom of the experiments and the capture of Lilo and Stitch. Hämsterviel then tries to clone Stitch, but he was rescued by Experiment 221 (Sparky). Stitch then rescued Lilo and landed Hämsterviel's spacecraft back in Kauai, where the Grand Councilwoman waited to arrest the evil rodent. She then puts Stitch and Lilo in charge of capturing and taming the other illegal genetic experiments scattered on the island.

Lilo & Stitch: The Series

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Stitch behaving like a dog

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. Due to being the most physically capable, Stitch is often the one who defeats Gantu and subdues the experiment, leaving it up to Lilo to rehabilitate them. Along the way, Stitch meets his match 627 (who is tougher than him), and he eventually defeats him.

He is also affected by fourteen experiments' powers: Amnesio wipes out his memory; Babyfier turns him into a baby (along with Nani, Jumba, and Pleakley); Spike makes him goofy; Bugby turns him into an insect; Spooky turns into water and nearly drowns him (thus traumatizing him in the process until he overcomes it); Lax makes him lazy; Dupe clones him into four, weakening his strength; Frenchfry serves him unhealthy 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 megaphone, temporarily deafening Stitch; Snooty sucks out his mucus, temporarily 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, Jake Long, Penny Proud, and the Recess gang.

Leroy & Stitch

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Stitch as captain of the Galactic Armada

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.

Stitch! anime

Stitch! - Ichariba Chodei - Stitch and Yuna's first pinky swear

Stitch and Yuna doing a pinky swear

In the anime spin-off, set years after the events of Leroy & Stitch, Lilo left for college and Stitch felt enough of a void in his life that he chose to leave Kauai and go back into space.

He started reverting to his destructive programming and escaped while Jumba and Pleakley tried to locate and rescue him, but years later, he would land back on Earth on Izayoi Island, off the coast of Okinawa. Soon joined by Jumba and Pleakley, they make a new life with a young girl named Yuna, and Stitch seeks the magic powers of the Spiritual Stone, an object that can grant any wish he wants, in this case, wanting power. But the magic only works by doing good deeds, and Stitch now faces the return of Hämsterviel and a once-again disgraced Captain Gantu, along with various experiment threats.

Eventually, Stitch reunites with Lilo again when she, now fully grown, visits Okinawa with her identical looking daughter, Ani, though things get tricky when Gantu and Hämsterviel use Morpholomew to take advantage of the situation. Stitch decides to stay with Yuna in her hometown instead for the time being.

Also, it is revealed that a special power cell was hidden inside Stitch during his creation called the "Neo-PowerChip". This immense power is latent, but it can be used in times of dire situation. For instance, increased love and support from his friends activated this boost of power inside of Stitch, which he then used to defeat Dark End.

Stitch & Ai

Stitch & Ai - Stitch's Destruction Form

Stitch's newly-introduced "destructive form" as depicted in this promotional poster

This Chinese spin-off series is set chronologically after the events of Leroy & Stitch but on a separate timeline from the anime, since it was produced without any consideration towards the latter.

In this series, it is revealed that Stitch has additional programming which causes him to under go a metamorphosis when activated. This transforms him into a large monster capable of destroying not only cities, but star systems as well. The information about Stitch's programming is hacked and spreads throughout the galaxy. This causes Stitch to be kidnapped by the Jaboodies, who had failed in their own attempts at re-creating Jumba's Experiment 626 research and wish to use Stitch to end their space war against the Woolagongs. When their ship is raided by the Woolagongs, Stitch uses the confusion to escape and falls back to Earth. After surviving re-entry, he ends up landing in the Huangshan Mountains in China and befriends a young girl named Wang Ai Ling. In order to help contain Stitch and stop the Jaboodies and Woolagongs, the Galactic Federation sends Jumba and Pleakley to monitor Stitch in China.

Stitch & the Samurai

In this manga, Stitch escapes the United Galactic Federation in a stolen police cruiser spaceship by using its hyperdrive to make a blind jump that ends up on Earth. However, instead of traveling through just space, he also travels through time; he crash-lands in Japan during the Sengoku period, in which he meets battle-weary samurai warlord Meison Yamato. After a brief struggle, Yamato is not only impressed by Stitch's strength, but the sight of the little blue "tanuki" causes him to have a thought that he has never had before: "cute". Thus, the warlord takes in the alien, not only making Stitch part of his army, but also developing an unlikely bond.

Personality

1000px-Screen shot 2012-12-21 at 10 41 22 PM

Stitch snuggling his little stuffed turtle after a nightmare

Before Stitch was rehabilitated, he was a vicious, hyperactive, selfish, and extremely aggressive and mischievous creature. After he 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. For example, when Lilo used the other experiments for her own personal gain (most notably, Sprout, Slugger, Checkers, Morpholomew, and PJ), Stitch thought she went too far involving such experiments in her schemes.

Biology

Physical appearance

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:

  • Fearsome Manglyoid of Upmoridian Four
  • Goo-Gobbling Booger-Beast
  • People-Eating Puss Monkey
  • Deadly Disemboweler
  • Boiling Tongue-Boid
  • Bottom Feeding Scum Sucker

Special 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!"

  • Feral mind (temporarily): In the original Lilo & Stitch film, 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: Even though we rarely see Stitch shot at with a bullet, he does survive the crash of his spaceship without 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 some 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 a direct 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 postcard; 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 his 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 twenty different languages, but prefers Tantalog (his native language).
  • 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 blasted 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.
  • Quadrupedalism: Stitch can run and walk on all fours in a quadrupedal manner, similar to a dog.
  • Wall crawling: While Stitch's claws are very 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 when 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 increase and can only achieve this by putting effort into his muscles.
  • 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.
  • Superhuman agility: Stitch has extraordinarily 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 the plasma bolts in his hands. He was also 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 when 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 eye or the other if necessary. Using normal vision, his eyes are a glossy, solid black and also magnify his vision for better visibility.
    • Night vision: When activated, Stitch's eyes turn green, permitting him to see clearly at night or in dark places.
    • Infrared vision: When activated, Stitch's eyes turn red, permitting him to locate targets by their body heat. He most notably uses this in "Houdini" to track the titular experiment who can turn things, including himself, invisible.
    • X-ray vision: When activated, Stitch's eyes turn bright green, permitting him to look through walls and other obstacles.
  • 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 open mouth like a sound horn.
  • Enhanced hearing and 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 Earth. While listening for Jumba and Pleakley, who were hiding on a hill outside the dog shelter, he was 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.
  • Marksmanship: He is also dexterously skilled in marksmanship, using plasma blasters (even loaded with net to capture experiments).
  • 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 regressed 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 due to being a genetic alien.
  • Power immunity: Stitch has some resistance but not total immunity to the other experiments' powers. He is shown to be immune to some of the experiments' powers, such as Angel's siren song and Checkers' hypnosis, since Stitch was created after them. While Stitch was put to sleep by Drowsy, he was able to wake up on his own without the need to be sprayed with water.

Both of the two East Asian animated spin-offs add additional abilities to Stitch not shown in the original Western continuity.

  • Battery Storage: The third season of the Stitch! anime shows that he also has a natural battery in his body that can supercharge his powers.
  • Transformation: In Stitch & Ai, it shows that Stitch has a metamorphosis code in his DNA to assist him in carrying out his primary function. When the metamorphosis programming is activated, he transforms into a gigantic and unstoppable monstrosity with four tentacle-like blasters capable of destroying not just cities, but planets and potentially entire star systems.
  • Quill Retraction: In "Tell the World", he is also seen sprouting quills around his neck.
  • Gliding: In "The Phoenix", Stitch sprouts a patagium—a parachute-like membrane found in bats, birds, and other animals that assists in gliding or flight—to glide through the air, mainly for the sake of having some fun while he, Ai, and her cousin Bao head to a shrine that the titular phoenix heads to. (The trio were using a hang glider during their journey, and Stitch deliberately jumps off it so he can glide through the air without hanging on to the glider itself.) Unlike the metamorphosis program, neither the quills nor the patagium have any major factor into the episodes' plots or the metamorphosis program itself.

Weaknesses

  • Program limits: Stitch's primary weakness lies in his programming.
    • 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 charged after his creation, which is proven to be very deadly once his molecules run out of power. As a result, 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. However, his glitches were permanently resolved after Lilo's love for him caused him to be fully charged at last.
    • Memory erase from 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 the rubber of a tennis shoe and palmitoleic acid (found in macadamia nut oil) together will result in this.
    • Mucus drain: Stitch is 62.7% mucus, which is similar in chemical composition to Snootonium. If this is drained from his body, he will become temporarily exhausted from dehydration (evidenced when Snooty siphoned Stitch's mucus).
    • Sonic blasts/Sensory overload: 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 his weight" limit.
    • Experiments' powers: While Stitch is immune to Angel and Checkers' powers since he was created after them, there are some experiments whose powers he is vulnerable to, such as Amnesio, Babyfier, Spike, Bugby, Lax, Dupe, Frenchfry, Swapper, Swirly, and Houdini. 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 that Stitch isn't resistant to bladed objects. This is shown when Stitch was pierced by a 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 temporarily 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: According to Lilo, Stitch is apparently allergic to sauerkraut. However, it was never shown what kind of allergic reaction he has to sauerkraut or if he even actually has an allergy to it.
  • Pollen: It is shown in Stitch & Ai that if Stitch smells flowers, he will sneeze.

Trivia

  • According to Chris Sanders' initial designs, Stitch was originally going to have green fur and smaller eyes. His ears flared at their bases instead of close to their tips, and his nose was below the eye line instead of above. He also had white or silver claws instead of dark blue claws, and wore a yellow-orange spacesuit with burnt orange pants instead of the more uniform red-orange spacesuit that he wears in the original film's first act.
  • Stitch is the only Lilo & Stitch character to have his name in every title of the franchise.
  • 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, and the scene would've likely been too distracting from the film's main message about family.
    • 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, and 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 Lilo saying, "Oh, good. My dog found the chainsaw."), 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.
    • When Jumba attacks Stitch on the ceiling using plates like shurikens in the original film, he claims that he wants to reprogram Stitch to be "taller" and "not so fluffy", hence highlighting Stitch's failure as Jumba's "ultimate monster" experiment, and foreshadowing the creations of both Experiment 627 and 629/Leroy in Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Leroy & Stitch, respectively; coincidentally, both of them are improved versions of Stitch that are more evil and destructive and less fluffy than Stitch himself.
  • 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 due to a coloring error.
  • Stitch's English-language speech capabilities, which are usually broken and childish, vary throughout the franchise and other works.
    • In the original film, he starts out only speaking his native language, Tantalog, but gradually speaks English over time as he acclimates to Earth, though most of the time, he only makes various noises that are mostly animalistic due to him needing to keep up with the dog disguise. He speaks more during the third act, especially after he reveals his true alien nature to Lilo and Nani.
      • In terms of the actual production, his limited intelligible speech is due to Chris Sanders not wanting the character to speak anymore than what's absolutely necessary and keeping his dialogue to a bare minimum.
    • Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch continues from the first film by having Stitch become more proficient in English, though with occasional moments of his more familiar childish English, and he almost never speaks in Tantalog. However, after he has his final glitch at the end of the film, which causes him to crash-land Jumba's ship, he only says a few words in brief sentence fragments from then on out.
    • Lilo & Stitch: The Series and its films has Stitch speaking mostly in Tantalog, which was developed by the show's writing staff based on Chris Sanders' alien gibberish in the original film. When Stitch does speak English, it's usually as brief, broken sentence fragments with some brief pauses between words at times and a few possible instances of echolalia.
    • The Stitch! anime series gives Stitch more dialogue than in any other work in the franchise, making him more talkative compared to his Western and Chinese portrayals. In the Japanese original, he maintains his broken and simplistic speech patterns, including his trademark illeism, and more clearly has echolalia, showing a tendency to repeat that last thing someone else says. However, in the English dub, his English improves, he talks in more complete sentences, and he develops a considerable wit. This is likely to reflect the long passage of time since the events of Leroy & Stitch, as Stitch may have spent enough time on Earth actually get a grasp on the English language. (It should also be noted that English is heavily taught as a second language in Japan.)
    • Stitch & Ai has Stitch's speech revert back to his broken, childish English, and he mainly speaks Tantalog again, much like in Lilo & Stitch: The Series. Interestingly, despite having the same English voice actor as his anime counterpart (Ben Diskin), he speaks with a lower-pitched and somewhat less energetic voice than that used in the anime.
  • Stitch has illeism, which is the act of a referring oneself in the third person. He developed this habit probably because of his broken English or he had gotten it from Jumba, who also refers to himself in the third person.
    • Interestingly, he only does this twice in the original Lilo & Stitch film, after he was apprehended by the Grand Councilwoman. He says "Stitch" instead of "I" when he asks her if he has to go into her ship, and if he can say goodbye to Lilo and Nani. All other times he refers to himself in the original film have been in the correct first-person. It is likely that, since this trait of Stitch's is more prominent in the sequels and spin-offs, his illeism (along with his broken English in a franchise where aliens can speak English fluently) ended up being a case of Flanderization for his character.
    • In Stitch Has a Glitch, he is shown to do this less often up until the climax.
    • 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: he talks in complete sentences, his English has improved, and he has more dialogue.
  • 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.
    • Adding on to this, Chris Sanders published a TikTok video in June 2022 for the film's 20th anniversary in which he unofficially (as it was not made nor authorized by Disney) voices Stitch again, albeit in narration. The video has Stitch speaking in fluent English throughout, with only his famous illeism sticking around. This suggests that Sanders sees Stitch as eventually becoming naturally fluent or near-fluent in English over time.
  • While Stitch and the other experiments are technically siblings, sharing the same creator, "cousins" is a Hawaiian term, like "ʻohana", for extended family and close friends, although Stitch only uses it in regard to the experiments.
    • However, in Stitch & Ai, when he reunites with Jumba and Pleakley, he tells Ai that they're "cousins", despite never having called either of them "cousins" before.
  • 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 has ever eaten, as seen in the original film and also mentioned in Stitch! The Movie. However, when 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.
    • Stitch also enjoys soda, as he steals a can from the Pelekais' fridge in the original film, angrily drinks the rest of the soda from a pitcher at Macki Macaw's restaurant in "Phantasmo" when Pleakley doesn't pour him some after Lilo had Stitch wait his turn, and enjoys a can after stuffing Mr. Stenchy into the Pelekais' pantry in "Mr. Stenchy" before being interrupted by Gantu.
    • 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 spat 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 and merchandise. This has also caused countless fan art and even some official artwork to reflect these and other errors, such as reducing his four toes on each foot to three or changing his paw pads or body markings from dark blue or indigo to the same aqua color as his countershading.
  • 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 with a syringe.
    • Since then, Stitch has developed trypanophobia (a fear of needles) as evidenced in "Sample", when he showed fear of going to the vet to get his shots.
  • When Stitch has a glitch, his eyes glow green.
    • Ironically, in the original film, Stitch's eyes were shown green after he crash-landed on Earth, but he displayed no glitch whatsoever.
    • 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 Disney Adventures prequel comic "Experiment 626" 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 apparent resemblance to a dog (though Jumba did not know how it got in there).
    • Notably, Stitch appeared on more covers for issues of Disney Adventures than any other character, appearing on the cover of twelve issues.
  • 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 he is considerably clumsier in this larger size since he was not designed to be large. The episode's titular experiment also becomes bigger and defeats the enlarged Stitch at the carnival. Stitch would later be returned to his normal size in order to fight back and win.
    • In the Stitch! anime episode "Experiment-a-palooza", 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.
    • Stitch & Ai has the aforementioned metamorphosis program, which transforms him into a gigantic monster armed with four tentacle-like blasters. Notably, unlike with Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Stitch does not become clumsier as a giant in this series, which had some of the same crew members as the Western series.
      • 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.)
  • 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 and anthropomorphic 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 Stitch.
    • Sanders left Disney to join DreamWorks Animation (a rival animation company to Disney) 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, such as Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep, Disney Infinity 2.0, and in many other appearances of Stitch, having established a contract with Disney Character Voices. The notable exceptions are the Japanese Stitch! anime and the Chinese Stitch & Ai series, which had their English voice acting done with Studiopolis instead of in-house at Disney.
  • 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 (alongside a Splodyhead pillow).
  • The number 626 is the area code for San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, the place where one of the writers of the film used to live, albeit unconfirmed.[1]

References

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