Digger, also known as Experiment 529, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is designed to dig or drill holes through planets, making him capable of digging or drilling through many other surfaces.
Background
Physical appearance
Digger is a yellowish-tan meerkat-like experiment with a long, bony drill-shaped tail, a round body, short arms and legs with sharp claws, a round head with sharp teeth, a dark round nose, black eyes, and a row of spikes protruding from his head down to his tail.
Powers and abilities
Digger can use his thick, sharp claws to dig in a fashion similar to a mole, but at a much quicker pace and more efficiently. He also has a tail that is similar in shape and function to a drill, which he can support himself on, and he can start drilling through the ground using this at will.
Appearances
Stitch! The Movie
Experiment 529 was the 529th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to dig or drill holes straight through planets. 529 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 529's pod landing atop a little boy's sand castle on a beach.
Later that night, a wave washed over the sand castle, activating the experiment, which proceeded to escape underground.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
529 was captured by Lilo and Stitch at an unknown point and named Digger.
In "The Asteroid", Digger was one of the six experiments that Stitch convinced to come with him and Lilo to save Earth from an approaching asteroid. Along the journey, Digger was shown digging restlessly into his seat. He later drilled a hole through the asteroid's core for which to insert the ship's hyperdrive engine into.
Digger was one of the experiments in "Checkers" that presumably joined Stitch in a rebellion against Gantu. Earlier in the episode, he, along with Yin and Backhoe, helped Lilo make mud.
Leroy & Stitch
The first 624 experiments, including Digger, 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.
Digger participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones by sending attacking Leroys into his underground tunnels.
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.
Gallery
Trivia
- Digger's design was first revealed in a bonus feature trivia game on the original Lilo & Stitch DVD, before he officially debuted in Stitch! The Movie.
- Digger is one of the few known experiments to be turned to good off-screen, as he was seen already rehabilitated in Lilo & Stitch: The Series after his activation in Stitch! The Movie.
- After Reuben and Sparky, Digger is tied with Slimy for the most appearances of experiments that debuted in Stitch! The Movie. Both appeared in two different episodes of Lilo & Stitch: The Series as well as Leroy & Stitch.
- Digger's pod changes color between scenes. In one scene, it was red, and in another, it was purple.
- Digger is one of the few experiments to not have his one true place revealed.
- He is also one of the few experiments to not appear in the group photo at the end of Leroy & Stitch.
