Shortstuff, also known as Experiment 297, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is designed to sabotage mechanical devices; specifically, he is naturally drawn to electrical machinery, which he then shorts out to create utter chaos. Due to him being accidentally enlarged, his one true place is as a carnival ride.
Background and appearances[]
Experiment 297 was the 297th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to sabotage mechanical devices. 297 and the other first 624 experiments were deactivated and smuggled to Earth by Jumba during his mission to capture Experiment 626.
All of the experiment pods were released and scattered across the island of Kauai, with 297's pod landing in a sewage pipe.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series[]
Shortstuff moments after his activation
Stitch was too short to participate in any of the carnival rides, so Lilo tried to treat him to some lemonade instead. However, when the vendor offended Stitch about his size, the latter broke the vendor's lemonade cart. When lemonade from the broken cart trickled into the pipe, it touched 297's pod, activating the experiment.
Gantu, who was at the amusement park with Experiment 625, criticized the carnival games, while Reuben was having fun winning prizes and later attempted to eat a colossal submarine sandwich, but Gantu thwarted him. Gantu suddenly saw 297 and grabbed him, but the latter was able to escape by simply pinching Gantu.
While 297 likely began his rampage, Stitch, who wanted to be bigger than his normal size, rummaged through Jumba's devices. Since Jumba was away doing community service, Lilo allowed Pleakley to enlarge Stitch with Jumba's growth ray.
Giant Shortstuff
Unfortunately, during Stitch's growth process, Gantu came to the Pelekai residence looking for 297, whom Lilo lied about capturing. Gantu then saw a humongous Stitch towering over him after he illustrated his vast size compared to Lilo's. When she explained what happened and threatened to make Stitch even bigger, Gantu was forced to retreat.
Later, 297 had proceeded to sabotage every ride at the amusement park before being chased by Lilo and Stitch, the latter having great difficulty due to his enormous size that made him unbalanced. 297 was then captured in a containment orb and taken back to the house, where Lilo named him Shortstuff (because he liked to short out stuff).
While Stitch was asleep on the couch, Lilo convinced Pleakley to shrink him back to his normal size. Unfortunately, while Pleakley fired up Jumba's growth ray, Shortstuff was able to use his claws to escape containment and attempted to sabotage the device. However, in the process, the ray enlarged Shortstuff into a behemoth just as he fled outside. Stitch then requested to be enlarged into an equal behemoth so he could take on Shortstuff.
Shortstuff vs. Stitch
Meanwhile, a humongous Shortstuff resumed his rampage at the carnival, where he engaged an equally gigantic Stitch in battle. At first, Shortstuff was able to easily overpower Stitch, but after Jumba arrived and shrunk Stitch back to his normal, functional size with the shrink ray, the latter easily defeated Shortstuff, who was restrained with ropes.
Shortstuff's size was never reverted, and as a result, he found his one true place as an amusement park ride, which Lilo and Stitch got to try out.
Leroy & Stitch[]
The first 624 experiments, including Shortstuff, were rounded up by Leroy and taken to a stadium to be destroyed. However, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, Pleakley, Reuben and Gantu arrived before the experiments could be destroyed.
Shortstuff participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones by swatting attacking Leroys with his huge claws until a bunch of Leroys ensnared Shortstuff, causing him to fall over.
However, the Leroys soon gained the upper hand in the battle, but were defeated when Lilo, Stitch, Reuben and several other experiments performed the song "Aloha ʻOe", which caused the Leroy army to shut down due to the original Leroy's fail-safe.
Stitch! anime[]
Shortstuff made a cameo appearance in the Stitch! anime as an image on a computer screen (where he was shown to be at his normal size). Hämsterviel was going to unleash him on the island, but Gantu somehow confused Shortstuff's number (297) with Wishy-Washy's number (267) and accidentally sent the latter instead.
Personality[]
Shortstuff is shown to be short-tempered, reckless and clever. Armed with four pincers, he is not exactly afraid to take on bigger opponents. He also seems to be quite tolerant of his enormous size after he was accidentally enlarged. As a giant, he was still able to wreak havoc and overpower an equally giant Stitch in battle. When Shortstuff was tamed and became a carnival ride after his defeat, he didn't seem to mind at all.
Biology[]
Physical appearance[]
Shortstuff is a small, red-orange crab-like experiment with four pincer-like claws, four spindle legs, dark blue eyes, a thin mouth with a turquoise tongue, and two small antennae on his head. Originally the size of a crab, he was accidentally enlarged to twice the size of a house. He was also returned to his normal size as seen in the Stitch! anime.
Special abilities[]
Shortstuff can sabotage machinery by entering and then cutting the mechanism's electrical wiring using his claws, thus short-circuiting the appliance. He is also able to swivel at the waist more than 360 degrees. At his giant size, Shortstuff could overpower an equally giant Stitch in battle.
Weaknesses[]
Shortstuff can only carry out his original function at his smaller size. When he was exposed to Jumba's growth ray, he could no longer wreak havoc on machinery.
Trivia[]
- Shortstuff is one of the rare experiments to not have black eyes like most experiments, having dark blue eyes instead.
- Shortstuff, along with Gigi, Dorkifier, Nosox, Butter, Spike, Yang, Richter, Phoon, Tank, Splodyhead, and one unconfirmed experiment, are the only known experiments that are primarily quadrupeds.
- Shortstuff's manner of defeat is very similar to Part I of Gulliver's Travels.
- Shortstuff's pod color is green.
- Oddly, when Shortstuff's image is reflected off of Stitch's eyes in The Origin of Stitch, he is facing directly at the screen instead of to his right.
Gallery[]
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