- This article is about Stitch as he appears in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. For the version of him as he appears in the Kingdom Hearts games, see Stitch (Kingdom Hearts).
Stitch, A.K.A. Experiment 626, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba, and one of the two primary characters of the Lilo & Stitch franchise. Originally created to cause chaos across the galaxy, he is marked by his short temper and mischievous behavior, traits that endear him to his friend Lilo, who adopted him as her "puppy". He is designed to be abnormally strong, virtually indestructible, super intelligent and very mischievous.
Bio
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
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 and steal a Federal Police Cruiser. 626's cruiser was 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 three 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.
Stitch providing shade to sea turtles
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.
Stitch discovers his origins
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.
Afterwards, 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
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 helping 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 died. However, Lilo and her ʻohana's love for Stitch successfully revived him.
Stitch! The Movie
Stitch reading The Ugly Duckling to several ducklings
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 Experiment 627 (who is tougher than him), and he eventually defeats him.
He is also affected by 13 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, Yaarp blasts his loud megaphone, deafening Stitch, Snooty sucks out his Snootonium, 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
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
In the non-canon anime spin-off, 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. This immense power is latent, but it can be used in times of dire situation. For instance, Stitch used this power boost to defeat Dark End.
Stitch & Ai
In this Chinese spinoff series, ignoring the original sequels and television series, Stitch was kidnapped by space pirates who had failed in their own attempts at re-creating Jumba's Experiment 626 research. When the space pirates ship is raided by a rival gang, 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 Ai.
Personality
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 Stitch was rehabilitated, 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 move 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 uproot buildings, change 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.
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.
Biology
Appearance
Stitch is a blue, koala-like experiment with light blue patches around his eyes, and a light blue patch running from under his chin down to his stomach, two dark blue markings; one on the back of his head, and the other on his back, 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, large black, tear-shaped, pupil-less eyes, a small, short, stumpy tail, stubby legs, two nose wrinkles, one chin wrinkle, three tuffs of sharp hair 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, three thick, long, sharp, venomous 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, but his antennae and spines are a few centimeters longer than that of Reuben's and some of Jumba's other 600 series creations. He stands 3 feet 6 inches (106 centimeters) tall and weighs 120 lbs. (54.4 kg), but is taller than Reuben.
In his disguised "dog form", he wears a red flea collar with a gold name tag.
In his true alien form, he wears a red spacesuit with an upside-down triangle consisting of a red border and yellow center on his chest and 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.
Because Stitch was imprisoned, he wears a prison jumpsuit covered in horizontal dark and light blue stripes.
Covered in blue fur and having exceptionally large ears for his body, 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's missing from them. He's got large black eyes that turn green when using his night vision, red when infrared vision, bright green when X-ray vision, purple when ultraviolet vision and white when binocular vision.
His front legs differ from his hind legs, as his front paws look more like little hands and his back feet have flat pads. They're tipped with sharp claws that help Stitch to attack his enemies. He's also got some darker blue markings on his back, but nowhere else.
Special Abilities
Stitch can think faster than a supercomputer, is fireproof, bulletproof and shockproof, can hear in different hearing levels, see in the dark, jump very high, climb up walls and walk on ceilings, roll into a ball, has super sight and hearing, and can lift objects 3,000 times his own weight (but not an ounce more).
Stitch also has the ability to spit acid if he so desires or roll into a ball like a pill bug. Though mistaken for a dog, this alien actually had 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 heat vision permits him to locate targets by their body heat, and his night vision permits him to see clearly at night/in dark places.
Being a genetic alien experiment as well, he can hide his two antennae, claws, abdominal arms and three spines that are on his back. His feet also have some sort of gripping on them that allows Stitch to climb onto walls and even hang from ceilings. Stitch also has both night and infrared vision that helps him with what he's looking for.
Stitch is also highly intelligent as he had learned English and some Hawaiian sayings from Lilo, though he prefers using his alien talk called Tantalog.
Stitch is mostly physical, but also has four basic plasma guns on hand. He is also dexterously skilled in hand-to-hand combat, using all four arms or just two.
He is also shown to have a natural battery in his body that can super-charge his powers in the Stitch! anime.
Weaknesses
One of Stitch's few weaknesses is water; he cannot swim and will easily drown due to his great molecular density. This weakness also led to Stitch developing aquaphobia (a phobia of water). It is also shown that if Stitch consumes two different elements that form to create a particular chemical compound, all of his physical training will be wiped. As Stitch is also 62% Snootonium, if this Snootonium is drained from his body, he will become temporarily exhausted from dehydration. Stitch is apparently allergic to sauerkraut.
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 it would be too dark for a protagonist to kill someone, and it would also set a bad example for children. In addition, Stitch is more interested in vandalism than violence.
- 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 the Stitch! anime, he talks in complete sentences, his English has improved, and 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.
- 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.
- He is also very fond of sea turtles and even sleeps with a stuffed one, as seen in Stitch Has a Glitch.
- 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 "Swapper", he drank a whole bowl of lemonade (although the lemonade was modified by Jumba to cause those who drink it to temporarily change colors) without expressing any disgust, which would contradict this supposed dislike of lemons. It could be that either Stitch doesn't like organically-grown foods (which may be grown using natural fertilizers; Stitch's 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 anime, he also loves Yuna's blue crab sushi.
- 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.
- 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.
- When Stitch has a glitch, his eyes glow green.
- Stitch is the first successful destructing experiment Jumba created after two failures: 600 and 625.
- Stitch is one of two experiments that was never seen in pod form, the other being Leroy.
- 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.
- Stitch is described by the experiment computer screen as, "Experiment 626. Primary function: Destruction of populated areas. Weapons: Sharp teeth and strong jaws for tearing stone, metal and flesh, 4 clawed hands, and 3 poisonous spines. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS".
- 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, 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).
- Toothless, a Night Fury from DreamWork's 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. This is not a coincidence; Chris Sanders, Stitch's designer, was the designer for both characters and co-directed both films.
- Chris Sanders, the voice of Stitch and creator of the franchise, left Disney to join DreamWorks (Disney's rival 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 the video games like Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep, Disney INFINITY: 2.0, and every other opportunity he gets.
- 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.
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