Swapper, also known as Experiment 355, is an illegal genetic experiment created by Jumba Jookiba and a character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. They are designed to switch individuals' minds; it is possible for them to swap more than two individuals at once, and they will only switch them back by choice.
Background[]
Personality[]
Because Swapper is two heads on the same body, they are two conjoined twin beings cooperating as one, though their personalities mirror each other; they can be indecisive at times, but usually work well together. An example is when Stitch in Lilo's body asked the two-headed cousin to switch their minds back, Swapper's left and right, after hesitating, blew a raspberry in response. The two enjoy messing with individuals by swapping their brains and refuse to switch them back unless threatened. However, Swapper will eventually switch individuals' minds back into their original bodies when both heads choose to do so (or when given "proper motivation").
Physical appearance[]
Swapper is a green lizard-like experiment with two heads on a conjoined body at the rear. Both sides of the body have a set of arms, but only one pair of legs and purple markings extending to each. They have three purple-tipped tendrils on each head.
Powers and abilities[]
Swapper can emit a green ray from each head's eyes once each head is pointed at one of two individuals. The ray will swap the minds and voices of the targets, as well as vice versa, and the only means of returning to normal is through Swapper choosing to do so. It even works if one or both targets are on a video screen, or if Swapper is encased in clear glass (unless the glass is covered from the experiment's view). Although they normally use their power on two people, Swapper isn't limited to this specifically, since they were able to hit four beings at once. They can also scale walls and roll into a wheel-like shape.
Appearances[]
Lilo & Stitch: The Series[]
Experiment 355 was the 355th genetic experiment created by Jumba with Hämsterviel's funding. They were designed to swap any two (or more) individuals' minds. According to Jumba, 355 once swapped the former and his wife for an entire month, which led to a divorce in the end. 355 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 355 was activated and captured by Gantu.
When Gantu was about to teleport 355 to Hämsterviel, 355 got loose and swapped Gantu and Hämsterviel's minds, allowing 355 to escape. Hämsterviel in Gantu's body then decided to go AWOL and recapture 355, but refused to have 355 switch their minds back afterwards, although Gantu in Hämsterviel's body protested.
Sometime later, Lilo and Stitch encountered 355 in town and managed to capture them in a containment orb, but 355 was able to swap their minds in the process. After 355, named Swapper, refused to switch Lilo and Stitch's minds back, they took the two-headed cousin home, where Jumba covered up Swapper's container with a towel to prevent the latter from using their mind-swapping power on the former.
When Pleakley removed the towel, Swapper switched his and Jumba's minds as well, forcing Lilo's dysfunctional ʻohana to throw a "Lilo's Not Weird" party that she hosted earlier. As soon as Victoria, Mertle, and the hula girls showed up, the four attempted to act like the other's self as they entertained their guests, which proved to be difficult for all of them.
Later, Gantu with Hämsterviel's mind arrived at the Pelekais' house (after being tipped by Hämsterviel with Gantu's mind) for Swapper, where a fight ensued during which they switched Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley's minds again, though each one was in someone else's body.
After Hämsterviel in Gantu's body was defeated, Swapper switched Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley's minds back into their original bodies, and they were then forced to do the same with Gantu and Hämsterviel's minds as well, on account of Jumba threatening to feed them Pleakley's disgusting cuisine (namely Aunt Pleakley's famous chocolate green bean surprise) for dinner.
Afterwards, Lilo and Stitch decided to find Swapper's one true place, though it was never revealed.
Leroy & Stitch[]
The first 624 experiments, including Swapper, 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.
Swapper participated in the following battle between the experiments and the Leroy clones, but it is unknown what they did.
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. Swapper joins them for the song by playing the keyboard piano.
Stitch![]
Swapper made an appearance in the Stitch! anime where Hämsterviel used them to switch Stitch and Hiroman's bodies. It is also revealed that Swapper is capable of speaking fluently. Until they could find Swapper again, Hiroman needed to figure out how to use Stitch's abilities to take on Heat when he attacked. After Heat, Gantu, and Reuben were defeated, Jumba made a request for Swapper to swap Stitch and Hiroman back into their original bodies, but instead of obeying Jumba's plea, they switched everyone's bodies again. Eventually, Swapper was presumably reverted back to normal, then dehydrated back into an experiment pod and locked in Jumba's vault. Eventually, Jumba grabbed their pod to help Stitch in his fight against Dark End, but Swapper wasn't one of the experiments that was activated. They later appeared in the special Stitch and the Planet of Sand.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Swapper's appearance is a reference to Siamese twins of people or animals.
- Swapper is one of the few known experiments whose powers Stitch is vulnerable to.
- Swapper was activated off-screen.
- Swapper is one of the three known experiments that has more than one head, the other two being Forehead and 627, having four heads and two heads respectively, though 627 usually only appears with one head.
- Similar to Splodyhead, Clink, and Plasmoid, Swapper has six limbs. However, unlike those three, Swapper does not use all six for locomotion.
- Swapper is one of the few experiments to not have their one true place revealed.
- Swapper's ability to swap victims' bodies is a very common trope seen in various fictional media, also known as a Freaky Friday Flip, named after the 1972 novel and its three film adaptations (also produced by Disney).
- Jumba explained that Swapper once swapped him and his wife for entire month which taught them so much about each other before they got divorced.
