This article is about the character from the Lilo & Stitch franchise. For the character of a very similar name from Gummi Bears, see Sluggard.
Slugger, also known as Experiment 608, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is designed to deflect incoming enemy projectiles and swat away balls, toys, and fruits thrown over the fence by annoying kids. His one true place is at the baseball field as a coaching assistant for Little League softball.
Background
Personality
Slugger is an adept baseball player who is actually stronger than he appears to be, as he was able to grip a basketball pole without any struggle and whack Gantu over a vast distance. He will hit anything that comes his way on instinct due to his programming, but is also one of the least hostile among the other experiments. He seems cautious of people, but gets along quite well with others once he gets to know them.
Physical appearance
Slugger is a yellow pterosaur-like experiment with an orange stripe running down his face, black eyes, a thin beak-like mouth, and a baseball bat-like tail. In the Stitch! anime, he has teeth in his beak.
Powers and abilities
Slugger's bat-like tail can deflect incoming projectiles of almost any texture or substance, although he mainly uses this for deflecting baseballs. His tail can also rotate 360 degrees around his waist at high speeds. Slugger has amazing strength, absurd precision, and coordination, and is capable of flight.
Appearances
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Experiment 608 was the 608th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to deflect incoming enemy projectiles. 608 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 608's pod landing on a baseball field.
608's pod was mixed in with a bunch of softballs. When the team's Little League coach found it and realized it wasn't a softball, he tossed it. The pod landed into a drink cooler, the melting ice activating 608, who shivered from the chill.
608 then spotted a woman in a wheelchair throwing a ball for her dog to fetch. Before the dog could retrieve the ball, 608 deflected it with his bat-like tail, astounding the dog.
Later, multiple coconuts thrown by Mrs. Hasagawa and deflected by 608 hit Stitch on the head, therefore grabbing his and Lilo's attention. Before they could react, Gantu arrived and grabbed 608 (even stating how weak the latter was as he struggled to get free). Just then, Stitch slammed a crate onto Gantu's head, and 608 got loose from his grasp.
Afterwards, Lilo started talking to 608 and pacified him. When Lilo assured him that she and Stitch will keep him safe, they took 608, named Slugger, home and discovered his incredible batting skills. Lilo then decided to put Slugger on her softball team, since Pleakley had jeopardized the previous game with his incompetence, and after Lilo and Mertle had wagered a rematch.
Thus, Slugger became Lilo's new softball player against Mertle's team. He did really well during practice until Mertle changed the game to basketball, put Gantu on her team, and even made Slugger be part of the wager. Slugger struggled at basketball because he was only able to hit things, but Lilo's team still won thanks to Stitch and a very talented Pleakley.
Gantu, being a sore loser, attempted to make off with Slugger, but the latter was saved when Stitch tripped Gantu using one of the basketball goals. Enraged, Gantu ripped out the other basketball pole and prepared to retaliate. However, he was thwarted by Stitch, who then let Slugger use the pole to whack Gantu over a vast distance.
Slugger later found his one true place as the new hitter for the Little League softball team, whose coach (the same one who activated Slugger earlier) wasn't a very good hitter himself. With Slugger coaching, the team would eventually become first place.
Slugger reappeared in "Glitch", coaching for the Little League team, when a baseball pitching machine went haywire while he was practicing his batting skills. Regardless, Slugger spun his bat-like tail around his body and deflected every softball the machine threw at him, causing the team's members to panic as they were getting hit by the balls. When the coach unplugged the machine to stop it, 223's pod was shot out. Slugger gave it the biggest hit of all, sending it all the way to Lilo's house where it met its activation.
Leroy & Stitch
Slugger was seen early in the movie coaching Little League softball with his batting skills as Lilo was making her rounds with Scrump to make sure all the experiments were happy in the one true place they belonged.
Later, the first 624 experiments, including Slugger, 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.
Slugger participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones by deflecting Leroys' plasma projectiles back at them. He also carried off a couple of Leroys with his bat-like tail.
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!
Slugger made a cameo appearance in the Stitch! anime as one of the experiments in Hämsterviel's prison cell. He made another appearance, along with Pix, Boomer, Slushy, Blowhard, and Kixx when Yuna and Stitch visited Tokyo Disneyland.
Gallery
Trivia
- Slugger, Bugby, Babyfier, Jam, Melty, Wishy-Washy, Snooty, Amnesio, Hunkahunka, Blake, Witch, and two unconfirmed experiments are the only known experiments that have wings.
- Despite Gantu claiming Slugger to be weak, he was able to grasp a basketball pole and whack Gantu over a vast distance without any struggle, and another time he suspended Stitch in mid-flight, again without any struggle.
- Slugger is one of two known experiments whose pod got mixed up with some softballs, the other being Glitch.
- Slugger's pod color is blue.
- The Experiment Pod Container describes Slugger as: "Experiment 608. Primary function: Deflection of incoming enemy projectiles."
- According to Jumba, Slugger "will swat at many different things. In addition to deflecting airborne projectiles launched by enemies, he is also programmed to swat away balls, toys, and fruit thrown over fence by annoying neighbor children."