Elastico, also known as Experiment 345, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is designed to distract hostile forces with his clownish antics and elastic body. His one true place is with the circus.
Background
Personality
Elastico is a very playful, fun-loving experiment and treats just about anything like a game. He loves entertaining folks, sometimes breaking the rules for his own fun. Being a natural contortionist, he amuses himself by stretching his body into fun shapes or using them to pull little stunts or jokes on others. He can be a bit of a prankster, as he enjoys fooling around and teasing his enemies, often irritating them. Despite this, he can be very jumpy in immediate danger or if someone is trying to catch him. Also, he loves both of his families (his circus family and his ʻohana with Lilo, Stitch, and the other experiments) very much.
Elastico is generally very friendly and affectionate towards others. The one thing he dislikes more than anything is being grabbed or restrained, with the exception of hugs. He is also very terrified of Gantu, screaming every time he sees him and grabbing onto Stitch's head when Gantu approaches. This is quite reasonable due to the fact that Elastico has been grabbed, choked, netted, kidnapped, pulled, squeezed, blasted, and shackled by Gantu. Despite this, he seems to have gotten over his fear by "Checkers", as he was seen bravely rebelling against Gantu.
Physical appearance
Elastico is a green, furless, earless, clownish, roughly monkey-like creature with a small, stumpy tail, a large, red, round clown nose; white face and stomach, wide mouth, black eyes, neck frill, three huge tendrils on his head that resemble a jester's cap, and a purple spot on his stomach. He always wears a pink ruffled collar (like the ones that typical white-face circus clowns wear) around his neck, though it is unknown if it's removable.
Powers and abilities
True to his name, Elastico has rubbery properties. He can manipulatively stretch and bend any part of his body like taffy. This ability ranges from him flattening himself until he is incredibly thin, to reshaping to anything from a parachute to a rubber raft. He uses this ability to perform amazing stunts and tricks. Like his cousins, Elastico can roll into a ball, though it acts more as a bouncy ball than the form Stitch and other experiments use. He can also inflate himself and float like a balloon.
Appearances
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Experiment 345 was the 345th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to distract enemies by performing tricks with his elastic body. 345 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.
At an unknown point after this, Experiment 345 was activated.
345 eventually found his way to an international circus, where he was taken in and named Elastico by the troupe's ringmaster.
A newspaper article with Elastico's picture in it was almost used as a sandwich wrapper by Experiment 625. When Gantu noticed the article on his ship, he snatched it and read the section. Reuben then revealed that Elastico had been activated two weeks ago, so Gantu headed off to the circus to capture the experiment.
Meanwhile, Lilo was engrossed in a new hula dance, but ignored Stitch when he offered to help her. Stitch later noticed Elastico riding atop a circus van, and after Lilo rebuffed Stitch about it, he followed Elastico to the circus. There, Stitch disguised himself as a clown and attempted to capture Elastico, but the latter teased Stitch and turned the whole chase into a game. Eventually, Elastico calmed down when Stitch grabbed him and called him "cousin".
The entire audience began cheering for Stitch, who was then praised by Elastico's ringmaster. However, at that moment, Gantu barged in, strangled Elastico, and stuffed him into a net before fleeing.
Stitch revealed that Gantu kidnapped Elastico, much to the ringmaster's dismay. He then mentioned how Stitch stole the show with his incredible stunts and even invited him to perform in Elastico's stead, to which Stitch happily accepted. He later met the circus troupe, where he put on a show and signed a contract permitting him to travel with the circus.
Meanwhile, Gantu tried to teleport Elastico to Hämsterviel, but the experiment put up quite a fight and proved difficult to control. Reuben wagered a sandwich on the whole ordeal, though Gantu eventually disabled Elastico by blasting him and then put him in shackles. However, he stretched out of the cuffs and under the teleport chamber just before the transfer could be completed.
Elastico somehow packaged himself and then shipped himself back to the circus, reuniting with his ringmaster. When Lilo later discovered that Stitch had run away with the circus, she paid him a visit and attempted to make amends. Just then, Gantu attacked and tried to take Elastico back, but was thwarted by Lilo and Stitch, as well as the entire circus troupe.
As Elastico's family prepared to leave for their next show, Lilo and Stitch made up. When the ringmaster learned that Stitch had a family of his own, the former voided the contract on a technicality (as Stitch had signed it with his own name, rather than the nickname the ringmaster gave him) and let Stitch be with his ʻohana. After Stitch said his goodbyes, he and Lilo decided that Elastico's one true place was staying with the circus.
Elastico was one of the experiments in "Checkers" that joined Stitch in a rebellion against Gantu. Gantu even put Elastico on his head (thinking the latter was Checkers).
In "Remmy", Elastico was one of the experiments in Lilo's dream.
Leroy & Stitch
The first 624 experiments, including Elastico, 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.
Elastico participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones by strangling attacking Leroys with his elastic body.
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. Elastico joins them for the song by playing the trombone.
Stitch!
Elastico made an appearance in the Stitch! anime where Hämsterviel modified him with the ability to transform things into circus-related items and animals, such as dogs, monkeys, elephants, seals, and so forth, in order to turn Stitch into a harmless little puppy, thus making him easier to capture. It is also revealed that Elastico is capable of speaking fluently. However, Yuna was turned into a dog by mistake, and Stitch was unaware that it was actually her until he later found her in a circus tent being tortured to do tricks for the circus.
Elastico later appeared as one of the experiments who helped Stitch fight Dark End. He also appeared in the special, Stitch and the Planet of Sand.
Gallery
Trivia
- Elastico was activated off-screen.
- Elastico is one of the ten known experiments named by someone other than Lilo, the other nine being Gigi, Yaarp, Hammerface, Heat, Thresher, Plasmoid, Morpholomew, Shrink, and Leroy.
- Elastico, in particular, was named by the ringmaster of the circus.
- He is also one of the six known experiments to be rehabilitated by someone other than Lilo and Stitch, the other five being Gigi, Yaarp, Spike, Frenchfry, and Snooty.
- Elastico, in particular, was rehabilitated by the ringmaster of the circus, which became his one true place.
- He is also the only known experiment to be rehabilitated by a one-shot character rather than one of the regulars.
- While the Stitch! anime established that Elastico can speak fluently, his one spoken word in his debut episode in the original series — the word "cousin" — and the fact that he seemed to understand the word, imply that he always had such speech capabilities.
- Despite being very flexible, Elastico could not seem to escape the net he was captured in.
- Elastico's number was never revealed in his debut, but his number officially appears on the experiment name list in Leroy & Stitch.
- According to Reuben, he describes Elastico as: "Primary function: Distraction of hostile forces."
- Elastico's head appears in the online game Jumba's Lab.
