Happy (belated) anniversary to Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Stitch!

Yes, I know that the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of Lilo & Stitch: The Series (on ABC Kids) was on September 20th. I was sick back then, though. So, I'm celebrating it today on the anniversary of its Disney Channel premiere instead.

Lilo & Stitch: The Series continued our beloved titular human-alien duo's adventures on their home island of Kaua'i after the first film and the show's pilot film Stitch! The Movie. Throughout the course of 65 episodes over two seasons that aired within almost three years (September 2003 to June/July 2006), they went around the island (and occasionally elsewhere) to find, capture, and rehabilitate Jumba's other genetic experiments by giving them a place where they truly belonged. They also dealt with the ex-Captain Gantu, now working for Jumba's ex-partner Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel, as they hunted down the experiments.

While Lilo & Stitch creator Chris Sanders, who reprised his voice role as Stitch in the show (as did almost all of the original film's voice cast reprising their roles), never really intended for his film to go anywhere beyond the one film he made, Lilo & Stitch: The Series has left a lasting impact with Lilo & Stitch fans everywhere that can still be seen to this day. Dr. Hämsterviel and his Python-esque Frenchman-sounding voice became recognizable while giving the franchise a proper villain. Gantu was fleshed out more as a character instead of just being a brute enforcer for someone else, especially through his interactions with the memorably lazy, wisecracking, sandwich-loving, reluctant sidekick Experiment 625, who we know today as Reuben. The second season did crossovers with other Disney properties before it was cool, with the casts of Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long, The Proud Family, and Recess each joining our duo's 'ohana for an episode. Then there are the genetic experiments themselves, with their fun designs and wide and sometimes wacky abilities making a lasting impression on those who enjoyed seeing Stitch and his mischief while expanding on the (admittedly crazy and inconsistent) lore of Lilo & Stitch's universe. One of them, X-619/Splodyhead, even made a cameo in a Walt Disney Animation Studios film in Big Hero 6, while another, X-221/Sparky, who debuted in Stitch! The Movie, became a boss in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. And we can't talk about experiments without mentioning X-624/Angel, Stitch's love interest and mate who became so popular in her own right that she now gets a regular influx of merchandise and has made several video game appearances, including most recently in Disney Speedstorm.

Not to be forgotten, the Stitch! anime series also recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary of its premiere back on October 8th. The first spin-off made after the original Western continuity, Stitch! had the little blue alien crash-land on a small fictional island in the Ryukyu Islands called Izayoi, where he meets and befriends the tomboyish Yuna. During the first two seasons, which were animated by Madhouse, Yuna and Stitch go on their own adventures around the island, befriending yokai who live in the island's Chitama Forest, and dealing with Hämsterviel, Gantu, and Reuben again. Some of the experiments even return in this show, especially Angel, who became an intergalactic pop star in the (in-universe) years since we first met her on Kaua'i. The main plot of these two seasons is about Stitch getting enough good deeds to have the magical Chitama Spiritual Stone grant him a wish, which was apparently to become "ruler of the universe". However, by the end, he decides that living with Yuna is better. After Madhouse's 56 episodes (which includes two post-season specials), Shin-Ei Animation took over for the third season, retooling it by having Yuna and Stitch move to a fictional Okinawan city called New Town, going on wackier adventures there with her new classmates, while Hämsterviel now goes after Stitch on behalf of a big-eared humanoid alien woman named Delia to gain a power cell within him, using several experiments that he "transmutated" to do his dirty work. The 30-episode (again, including another post-season special) season also had Stitch reuniting with Lilo, now all grown up with a daughter of her own, for one episode. The main series of three seasons ran from 2008 to 2011; they were followed by two more specials, Stitch and the Planet of Sand in 2012 and Stitch! Perfect Memory (or Stitch! A Perfect Memory) in 2015.

Infamously, the English dub of the anime established itself as a post-Lilo continuation from the get-go with probably the worst-chosen opening lines to any sequel show ever, when Jumba claimed (later proven false by Lilo's aforementioned third-season appearance) that Stitch left her because Lilo became more interested in a boyfriend over him; such lines, which weren't in the Japanese original, caused many fans to swear off the anime series as "not 'ohana". However, as the years passed since Stitch! ended, the anime faded to relative obscurity, which in turn caused much of the hate it received to die down. In more recent years, it's now garnered some appreciation in its own right after years of ridicule and vitriol, with those such as Saberspark enjoying the show for what it is and making videos about their more positive thoughts on it.

My friend @angoraram made the drawing at the top of this post for this special occasion featuring Stitch, Reuben, Angel, and several other experiments well-known and obscure from throughout Lilo & Stitch: The Series (plus Dorkifier from Stitch!). She already shared this picture on her DeviantArt galley last month, but she also allowed me to share some special 5K desktop wallpaper edits I made of her drawing available in 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratio versions. You can download these over here.

"don't leave me, okay?"

Hey Ani, have you met Yuna before?

Doverstar

In Stitch and Ani, the anime can either be canon or non-canon depending on the audience's preference! That's because Okinawa, Yuna, and the events of the anime are never mentioned. The only things in our story that match the anime are as follows:

Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley all left Kauai around the same time and didn't come back or have contact with the Pelekais for years.

Stitch and Lilo had a misunderstanding that deeply hurt both of them and directly led to Stitch leaving.

Stitch's reasons for leaving had to do with Lilo's boyfriend.

Lilo's reasons for not meeting him on time had to do with Nani having a baby.

Lilo's daughter's name is Ani.

Ani helped reunite Stitch with his Ohana and his One True Place!

So maybe Ani has met Yuna! Maybe not! Up to you. Either way, Yuna makes no impact on Ani or anyone else in the story. :)

screenshot redraw + timelapse (sadly not full)

Despite being a pretty hardcore Jumba collector, I actually haven’t posted any about my collection?

Anyways, I have this very beautiful SEGA Jumba stuffie, who’s actually based on Jumba’s traditional outfit in the second season (I believe) theme song in the Stitch! anime!

I actually wanted to post about him just because I was curious if any other L&S/Disney collectors knew anything about him. I’ve gathered from doing a bit of my own reading that he’s from SEGA’s Fun Fan Amuse Prize Collection (as pictured on his hang tag below), which was a collection of officially licensed Disney stuffies, albeit lower quality than something you’d buy at the parks, used as arcade prizes!

I’ve never actually seen him in anyone else’s collection (although to be fair there aren’t a lot of Jumba collectors out there, even if some hardcore L&S fans occasionally collect merch of the side characters), but he’s a very unique and beautiful plush, and I really wanted to know if anyone knows anything else about him or his collection!

Visual development for Lilo & Stitch by Paul Felix

- Floyd is so stitch coded -

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Natalie Ouellette (Clockwork)

animals r crossing

Happy Experiment Appreciation Day! 👽

Oh, yes, I'm still going to keep this tradition I established going. The genetic experiments are one of the many unique things of the Lilo & Stitch franchise, and they've been around since the very beginning. Experiments like Chopsuey (X-621) from the PlayStation 2 prequel game, the early version of Reuben (X-625) from the Disney Adventures prequel comics, or... you know, Stitch (X-626) himself.

Here are some fan art of the genetic experiments made in the past year!

Yaarp by @kiwibon – As if the little blowhorn wasn't already cute and fluffy enough, here his cuter and fluffier than ever before!

Zutto Fights by @salty-nebula – Oh, no! Gantu's strike team have all been transmutated by Dr. Hämsterviel! (Well, three of the four actually were in the Stitch! anime's third season, but Hammerface didn't.)

Sparky, Spike, and Yaarp by Kinnachan456 – A trio of this artist's favorite experiments! (Also, lucky Yaarp getting two appearances here!)

Experiment ZBrush renders by @konnestrasketch – (Clockwise from upper-left: Richter, Splodyhead, Gigi, and Finder) Never expected these guys to get 3D renders now did ya?

Clip and Slushy by @blubird513 – Clip hides a devious mind while Slushy gets excited over making a perfect ice cube!

一点实验品 (A Little Experiment) by lether – Shoe enjoying a little four-leaf clover while Bonnie & Clyde raise a toast to crime!

Slugger by mayoooon_626 – He's always happy to play ball! ⚾

#040 - Backhoe, #044 - Forehead, #051 - Hocker by @psychedelic-lemur – This artist's never-ending quest to draw all the experiments continues!

Hoppy Easter by @angoraram – I hope Houdini didn't get startled by the kids for Easter!

Evil Anime Experiments by @crees-a – Ih, even the Stitch! anime's most evil experiments are getting some attention, too!

That's it for this one. There's still plenty more days left this Stitch Week!

squeaky_toy_sound_effect.mp4

This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

What are your thoughts on Zero and Dark End from the anime? Would Chopsuey be able to recruit them for his plans as they, along with Leroy and 627, were the only truly evil experiments?

ArtistIssues

okay you asked, so I don’t have to feel bad about ranting for a moment. That’s how this works, right? XD

I do NOT like Zero OR Dark End. I think it’s total nonsense that the first Experiment Jumba ever made was “the perfect monster of destruction.” Because then why would he work so hard to create any more Experiments, let alone Stitch, if he got it right the first time?People argue that no, he didn’t get it right the first time, because Zero was too destructive, too dangerous, he couldn’t be controlled and had to be sealed away! But you know what, Jumba never acts like controlling his monsters of destruction is his goal. Obviously he doesn’t like it when they turn against him or eat all his hair but it would be totally out of character for him to be like “oh, that experiment was a failure because I did my job too well.” That’s not how he reacted when he made 627, either!

AND why would Zero look so much like Stitch?? That implies that Jumba found all the monsters he needed to make Stitch right off the bat, which, again, makes the fact that it took Jumba so many more tries before he created Stitch totally nonsensical. And then they slapped cyborg upgrades on him. Like, what? Was he too powerful and destructive, therefore he doesn’t NEED cybernetic upgrades, or not? They just wanted to rip off the “evil-twin-of-main-character” trope for the umpteenth time, except they put NO thought into it! He’s just a black-purple Stitch-Joker mashup and I do not like him because he does not make sense and has no purpose.

And Dark End?! Don’t get me started on Dark End. First of all, I take issue with the idea that anyone in the Lilo & Stitch universe could make a genetic Experiment that comes anywhere close to Jumba’s in terms of powers and utility. The Grand Councilwoman always acted like it was amazing and unique that Jumba could do that, and even if you count the Experiment 626 video game as canon, where Habbitrale has genetic-mutants for henchmen, you can obviously see that those mutants are little more than shambling automotons. They don’t have personalities and they are no threat to Stitch: what I’m saying is, Delia should not have been able to create Dark End, even if she used Stitch’s “blueprints” to do it.

But since he (“she?” Apparently Dark End is a girl in the dub?) DOES exist in the anime, I can tell you why else I don’t like him. His design looks nothing like Stitch, or any Lilo & Stitch character, for that matter. He looks like a Pokémon with Delia’s ears.

His personality, (like most of the personalities in the anime) is totally inconsistent. He’s ruthless and brutal one minute, then polite and reluctant to hurt “nice” people the next. (I also hate that he can speak English, but that’s besides the point.)

Ultimately my biggest beef with Dark End is the idea that he doesn’t believe in family and thinks that Stitch will discard Experiments when he doesn’t need them any more. I know that sounds a little like our idea for Chopsuey’s belief system, but you know what? It makes sense when Chopsuey says those things. Because Chopsuey has a canon history of being created and discarded by Jumba, and seeing how Jumba has done the same with other Experiments.

What I’m saying is, Chopsuey was built up by the canon events. He’s a fully rounded character. So when he believes the opposite of what Stitch believes about family, it has meaning. It makes sense. But Dark End has been alive for all of like two hours in the events of the anime and he already has a fully-formed understanding and rejection of Stitch’s worldview. Which came out of nowhere, makes no sense, and has nothing to do with his character history.

Also he’s grossly overpowered and rips off 627 without feeling like he belongs in the Stitch universe. He just feels like the final boss of a Final Fantasy video game.

So…to answer your other question, no, 621 wouldn’t be able to recruit Zero/Cyber OR Dark End, because they don’t exist in the canon. Because they don’t make sense as characters, and never should’ve been created. :)

BUT since you bothered to ask and read my long long rant, I will give you a hypothetical headcanon. If Zero DID somehow get past Doverstar and I and make it into the Stitch & Ani canon, 621 would probably try and recruit him for extra muscle, then get insanely jealous when he realizes that Jumba feared Zero (because in 621’s naughty Jumba-educated-brain, fear is the same thing as respect. And he wants Jumba’s respect all to himself.) Then 621 would probably mutate into his stronger self and they’d fight.

if Dark End somehow got past Doverstar & I and wiggled his way into our fancanon, she’d first of all be her female self, because that, at least, is a little more original than just another Pokémon-looking-627-knockoff. Then 621 would absolutely NOT try and recruit her, because 621 doesn’t believe any experiment created after himself should exist. (He feels the same way about Angel, Rueben, Leroy, and 627, and all the rest of the post-621-Experiments, yes.) Bonnie and Clyde might try and convince him to keep Dark End on their side, like they do with Leroy. But ultimately I don’t think they’d get along.

"I lied."