Phantasmo, also known as Experiment 375, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He is designed to take possession of inanimate objects and create utter chaos. Being an apparition, he is intangible and can phase through obstacles, thus making him virtually uncatchable. His one true place is inside the Macki Macaw animatronic at the titular pizza restaurant.
Background
Personality
Phantasmo is a mischievous, ghostly experiment whose intangibility allows him to possess inanimate objects and wreak havoc through them. He also has a tendency to gloat by laughing in a squeaky voice and is rather quite smart too. When possessing an object, he tries to do so when nobody is around and will act as the object he is possessing to avoid being exposed. Due to advanced programming, he would dispose of those who discover his true identity. Being always on the move, jumping from object to object, he craves attention. This is ultimately exploited in order to get him to perform for attention instead of causing chaos.
Physical appearance
Phantasmo is a green, semi-transparent ghostlike experiment with short arms, a large conehead with two light green stripes, a koala-like face, long rabbit-like ears, and dark pupil-less eyes. Instead of legs, Phantasmo has a continuous wisp-like tail.
Powers and abilities
Phantasmo's spectral nature gives him abilities commonly associated with those of spirits. He can possess any inanimate object and bring it to life and can phase through anything, making him impossible to keep in one place. As a ghostly experiment, he is virtually uncatchable by conventional means (including nets and capsules), thanks to his intangibility.
Appearances
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Experiment 375 was the 375th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. He was designed to possess inanimate objects and cause massive mischief and chaos through them. 375 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.
375's pod eventually made its way into a pearl oyster inside the crane game at Macki Macaw's pizzeria. Stitch played the claw game and won the oyster, but a glitch in the machine caused him to shake it in frustration, prompting Nani to intervene and scold Stitch. After the oyster freed itself, despite the infraction, the employee let Lilo and Stitch keep the prize, and they took it home with them.
When Lilo tried to give Stitch a bath (after Nani mentioned the word "bath"), the latter fled and hid in the laundry hamper, but she tricked Stitch into coming out and then dragged him to the bathroom. There, an incident with the bathtub, which overflowed after Lilo immersed Stitch in the water, resulted in the oyster opening and the pod inside getting wet, activating 375.
That night, 375 wreaked havoc in the kitchen. When Stitch was alerted, he attempted to save Pleakley's dishes, but 375 made Stitch lose his balance and shatter them. 375 then possessed Scrump and used the doll to paint Nani's face green, sabotage Jumba's experiment analyzer, steal Pleakley's begonia, break Lilo's record player, brush Nani's toothbrush on Stitch's toes, and frame Stitch for it all.
The next morning, Nani, thinking Stitch was the culprit, threw the latter outside and made Lilo chain him up as punishment until Nani returned from work. However, Stitch noticed 375 using Scrump again to unravel Lilo's Elvis videotapes. Stitch broke free and attacked Lilo's doll, only to arouse her suspicion. When Stitch was later being prosecuted, he saw 375 (still inside Scrump) wink at him, causing Stitch to lash out at Lilo's doll.
Later that day, while 375 was attempting to break Pleakley's flower pot to get Stitch into deeper trouble, Lilo caught him right in the act. 375 revealed himself and possessed a rope, with which it tied Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakley up. He then repossessed Scrump and prepared to execute the three with Jumba's blaster, but a wary and vigilant Stitch ambushed 375 and freed his ʻohana.
While the four searched for 375, he possessed a vacuum cleaner and almost sucked Pleakley up with it. Lilo and Stitch then made a vain attempt to capture the intangible experiment, forcing 375 to retreat into Kokaua Town.
After a long pursuit through town, when 375 turned the tables, Nani gave Lilo and Stitch a lift in her jeep and led 375 to Macki Macaw's, where he used the claw machine to trap Stitch. The former then chased Lilo backstage and possessed the Macki Macaw animatronic that had malfunctioned earlier. After Lilo raised the curtain, 375 put on a show for an audience.
375, christened Phantasmo, was then convinced by Lilo and Stitch that using the animatronic parrot to entertain children and receive adoration was a better way of gaining attention than causing chaos, thus taming him and giving him his one true place.
Phantasmo made a cameo inside the Macki Macaw animatronic on Gantu's TV at the end of "Snooty", where Gantu is revealed to love the show.
Leroy & Stitch
The first 624 experiments, including Phantasmo, 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.
Phantasmo participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones, but it is unknown what he did. Although he was seen among some of the Leroys, it is presumed that he wouldn't have been able to be very effective, due to the fact that his powers are deemed useless.
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!
Phantasmo made a special guest appearance in the Stitch! segment "Kung Fu Dragon Pleakley".
Gallery
Trivia
- Phantasmo was first revealed in a DVD bonus feature of Stitch! The Movie in the experiment gallery.
- Phantasmo is clearly a spectral being, as he possesses intangibility and the ability to phase through obstacles, thus making him the only experiment that cannot be restrained or captured.
- Due to this, it is unknown how Jumba managed to create him, let alone dehydrate him into an experiment pod.
- This would come into question in Leroy & Stitch on how he was captured by a Leroy clone. Also, he was seen being chased by another Leroy clone with a plasma gun, despite his inability to sustain physical injuries.
- Phantasmo, Fudgy, Remmy, Tickle-Tummy, and Witch are the only known experiments to have arms but no legs.
- Interestingly, excluding Fudgy, all of these experiments are capable of levitation. Remmy is always seen levitating. Phantasmo and Witch primarily levitate but often possess objects or living beings to move by other means. Tickle-Tummy is also able to levitate, but has been seen bouncing as well.
- Phantasmo, Glitch, and Witch are all capable of possession, albeit in different capacities: Phantasmo can possess any inanimate object, Glitch possesses technology, and Witch can possess living beings.
- Phantasmo has the ability to speak fluently, but he only does so after possessing the Macki Macaw animatronic. Additionally, he replaces the animatronic's pre-recorded voice with that of his own and inexplicably knows who Macki Macaw and the Hammerheads are.
- As Phantasmo's possession of objects brings them to life, the possessed objects are able to perform actions that they normally cannot do.
- Despite being lightweight and having a flexible body, Scrump was able to not only move "herself", but "she" also gains the strength to lift or pull objects, such as a cloth that had Pleakley's plant on it. The same goes to a bunch of bananas in the Pelekais' kitchen that Phantasmo possesses shortly after his activation, as he uses them to open a microwave oven's door.
- A traffic light sprouted arms and legs, grabbing some coconuts and running off until Stitch runs it over with the X-Buggy, destroying it.
- A tiki statue from a store facade was able to move its own limbs and run off. Its eyes were also able to narrow and widen.
- The Macki Macaw animatronic was actually repaired by his possession and vastly upgraded, being able to fly without flapping his wings, play his ukulele, and speak independently (though with Phantasmo's own voice). The animatronic also became more lifelike and less robotic, as his exposed joints and bolts seemingly vanished after his possession.
- Phantasmo's pod color is yellow.
- Interestingly, electrical discharge can be seen when Phantasmo's pod gets wet and activates.
- Phantasmo's ears appear in the online game Jumba's Lab.
