- “Agent Pleakley, at your service.”
- ―Pleakley[src]
Agent Wendy Pleakley is a major character in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. A former member of the Galactic Federation, Pleakley reluctantly became Jumba Jookiba's partner when forced to assist him in capturing the escaped Experiment 626.
Background
Pleakley is a one-eyed, "noodly" alien from the planet of Plorgonar and, as mentioned above, is a former member of the Galactic Federation, serving as their "Earth expert", and seemingly held in high regards, as he was summoned once the Grand Councilwoman demanded an Earth expert in her presence during the initial escape and pursuit of Stitch. However, whether or not Pleakley had traveled to Earth prior to the events of the film is questionable, though his childlike fascination and wonder of the planet shown throughout imply that he has not, and is merely one who studies from afar.
Personality
Pleakley is a fairly over-the-top and obsessive character, prone to panicking and making a large fuss over the smallest things, though, in his perspective, they often mean a great deal. His actions are often performed out of raw emotion, a false sense of logic, and ignorance, and as such, he can sometimes be seen as a nuisance to the other characters, especially considering the prominent prideful side of his personality. Despite this, Pleakley generally means well, and has no ill-intentions or vendettas against other members of the cast, unlike the majority of the characters in the film. Instead, Pleakley's primary goal is to keep the peace on Earth, while ensuring his missions and ambitions are met with success, whether they are capturing Stitch, or simply gaining a better understanding of Earth and its customs.
Pleakley has a massive fascination with Earth, its customs, and even its atmosphere. He finds just about everything unbelievably rich from mere rocks to holidays. At some points in the series, though, he voices his belief that Earth technology is rather primitive, and is shown to have a disliking towards some of its customs, such as its oceanic wildlife.
He is undoubtedly loyal to the Galactic Federation, and the rules they set, which often causes conflict with rule-bending and rebellious characters, such as Jumba and Stitch. Pleakley also has the tendency to nag other people, including Jumba over many issues, such as laundry and it's obvious that he got his tendency to nag from his mother, who he seeks to please. Despite this, Pleakley and Jumba have grown a strong bond over the course of the franchise, considering each other best friends, despite having no desire to work together in the original film. This is mostly seen in the television series, as well as the sequel, Stitch Has a Glitch. Also seen in the latter film, Pleakley is a supportive friend and is shown to serve as Jumba's confidante, as well as an effective motivator of sorts, which is specifically interesting due to Jumba's equally prideful (if not a tad more so) opinion on himself.
Pleakley is also known for his recurrent feminine gender expression, originally as a disguise in the first film, but as the franchise grew, he began having this form of expression regularly, apparently finding it more comfortable and fashionable than the masculine gender expression, as Pleakley is quite obsessed with fashion in some points of the series. He also has a lot of other interests typical of women, such as cleaning, sewing, cooking, and baking.
In "Spooky", Pleakley's worst fear is revealed to be upsetting or disappointing his mother.
Physical appearance
Pleakley is a slender, beige-green cyclops-like alien with three stout legs with two toes on each foot, a wide mouth with two purple tongues, three elongated fingers on each hand, an egg-shaped head topped with a single small antenna that acts as an ear and nose, and a large, single eye in the middle of his face.
In his "agent" form, he wears a blue agent uniform with gold epaulets that carry brownish-gold trimmings, three matching vertical buttons, matching wrist linings, and matching brooch with a small red jewel on it. He also wears a black belt with a round gold buckle and brown pouch with a flap on his left. In his "housemaker" form, he wears an orange sleeveless jumpsuit with white muumuu designs on it and a matching sarong. He also at times wears a brown wig with long hair on his head.
Appearances
Lilo & Stitch
Pleakley in Lilo & Stitch.
Pleakley, seemingly being an Earth expert, is first called forth by the Grand Councilwoman after the fugitive Experiment 626 crash-landed on the planet Earth. Pleakley requests backup through someone with a strong affiliation with 626 in order for the capture to go smoothly. He is paired with 626's creator Dr. Jumba Jookiba. The duo travels to Earth and land in Hawaii, where 626 currently resides. They quickly spot him exiting an animal shelter with a human girl named Lilo. Jumba nearly blasts both Lilo and 626 (now named "Stitch" by Lilo), but Pleakley interferes and prevents the blast. He feels the human race shouldn't be affected by the hunt in any way and that they should disguise themselves to blend in (namely because humans, being unaware of the existence of aliens, would most likely panic at the sight of them).
However, Jumba realizes Stitch is simply using Lilo as a human shield, which he claims is low even for Stitch himself. For the entire day, Jumba and Pleakley followed Stitch all over the island and that night, at a luau, they make their first attempt, using alien bait (a green, amethyst-spotted chicken-like drumstick) to lure Stitch to them, but Stitch bites on to Pleakley's head before he is able to handcuff him. Nani, Lilo's older sister, arrives and removes Stitch. Later on that night, Pleakley and Jumba rested on a hill overlooking Lilo's home where they have a perfect view of Stitch.
The next day, at the beach, Pleakley and Jumba once again make an attempt to capture Stitch, but fail yet again. Soon after their latest failure, the Grand Councilwoman contacts Pleakley and fires them. As a result, Jumba now has no restrictions on the capture of Stitch and can cause as much destruction as he wants. After a destructive battle in Lilo's house with Stitch, Lilo is accidentally kidnapped by Gantu, who was hired by the Grand Councilwoman to capture Stitch in place of Pleakley and Jumba. The duo successfully captures Stitch anyway, but is confronted by Nani, who witnessed Lilo's kidnapping and blamed Stitch for it. Jumba agrees to help Nani and Stitch rescue Lilo with Pleakley joining reluctantly. They chase after Gantu with their ship. Stitch successfully rescues Lilo and when they return to the island, the Grand Councilwoman leaves Stitch in the custody of Lilo and Nani. Jumba and Pleakley are also left behind on Earth and become additions to Lilo's "ohana".
Stitch! The Movie
Pleakley appears in the film, trying to help free Jumba from Gantu and Dr. Hämsterviel. He is now referred to as Lilo's "aunt". At the end of the film, Pleakley tries to return home, but the ship leaves without him and Jumba. He then accepts the fact that he's on Earth and teams up with Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba to capture the remaining experiments.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Pleakley seen with Bugby in Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
In Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Pleakley is the main character alongside Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba, appearing in every episode except "Morpholomew". Like his previous appearances, he is under the guise of Lilo and Nani's "aunt" and is rather easily fascinated by what he and Jumba call "primitive earth technology and customs", such as comic books and reality television.
In one episode, he had a brief mock engagement with Nani to placate his pushy visiting mother. In this same episode, he also had a mock engagement to Jumba. Pleakley's mother is concerned that he has not found "the right girl" and that he is not married. Pleakley feels he must pretend to be married for his mother to approve and accept him. When his family arrives on Earth for the mock wedding of Nani and Pleakley, he reveals that he is happy being who he is, which includes being unmarried. After that, his family becomes more understanding of him and loves him for who he is.
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
Pleakley in Stitch Has a Glitch.
Pleakley (now living with Lilo and Nani) has become comfortable with his new life on Earth, but soon enough, Stitch becomes out of control during a family movie night. Jumba fears the worst and heads to his ship, having Pleakley follow. Pleakley spends most of his time trying to find out what's wrong with Stitch and beholds a chilling discovery: Stitch is on the verge of death. Together, Pleakley and Jumba work together to create a machine to save Stitch.
A side story involving Pleakley revolves around David, who believes Nani is losing interest in him. Pleakley comes to his aid and tries to give advice on romance.
Leroy & Stitch
Pleakley in Leroy & Stitch.
As a reward for his help in capturing and taming all of Jumba's 625 experiments, he is granted a position at Galactic Alliance Community College as Head of Earth Studies. He gets an assistant (who is excited to learn he has actually been to Earth), a new wardrobe and the keys to the college's carpool van, but is only a supervising professor and is dissatisfied with not being able to spread his knowledge of Earth and starts to miss Jumba and the rest of Lilo's family.
He goes to visit Jumba in the GACC van, but gets caught by Hamsterviel and nearly sent into a black hole which Stitch manages to save him, Pleakley and Jumba from. He returns to Earth for the final battle with Leroy and his clones and operates the lights during Lilo and Stitch's impromptu "Aloha ʻOe" concert (accidentally blinding himself at first).
In the end, Pleakley quits his job at Galactic Alliance Community College and returns to Earth to be part of Lilo's family once again.
Stitch!
In the anime series, Pleakley left Earth for a research trip and eventually became stranded on an asteroid for two years. However, Pleakley was sucked into a black hole before he became stranded, and in real-time it's only been two weeks. Jumba found Pleakley when his ship crashed during his hunt for Stitch.
The two escaped their prison, returned to Earth, reunited with Stitch, and met his new friend Yuna. Pleakley joined Jumba and Stitch as they moved from Hawaii to the small island of Izayoi, becoming dedicated to helping Stitch earn good deeds to gain ultimate power.
Pleakley also starred in his own spin-off short segments known as "Kung Fu Dragon Pleakley" where he gave kung fu lessons, with guest appearances by other characters from the show.
Video games
Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition
Pleakley in Disney Infinity.
Pleakley appears as a non-playable character during the Stitch-exclusive quest, Stitch's Tropical Rescue.
Here, Pleakley is seen in panic, eventually informing Stitch that he inadvertently led the Galactic Federation into believing Earth ducklings were deadly, stating: "Earth Ducklings are so cute! Trust me, if you saw one, you would literally die." In response, the federation sent hundreds of collection robots to gather ducklings for experimentation.
After the robots are destroyed, Pleakley introduces the Ducklings to Stitch, only to inadvertently cause them to flee, claiming they're cute enough to eat.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Pleakley in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Pleakley is a playable character in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. He is one of 5 playable Lilo & Stitch characters. Pleakley is a Back-line Damage role hero. Pleakley's basic attack is to send a mosquito towards enemy, this also applied stacks of "Mosquitoes" debuff. Pleakley's main ability is to send massive swarn if mosquitos towards all enemies this deals immediate damage as well as damage over time per stack of "Mosquitoes". Pleakley's other ability is to spin and send small swarn of mosquitos to deal damage towards enemy with least HP, this ability also causes Pleakley to heal a value equal to damage dealt by this skill. Another ability allows Pleakley to use his image viewer to study all enemies. With his passive abilities whenever enemies are studied they are applied with stacks of "Mosquitoes". Additionally, each stack of "Mosquitoes" reduces Basic damage stat and apply damage over time while they are under this debuff.
Pleakley has friendship campaigns with Moana and Jumba Jookiba. Pleakley also has friendship campaign with Jim Hawkins.
Disney Parks
Pleakley in HuliHuli Ohana Bash in Tokyo Disneyland.
Disneyland Resort
In World of Color: Season of Light at Disney California Adventure, Pleakley briefly appears in a segment centering on Lilo & Stitch.
Walt Disney World
Pleakley can be heard in Stitch's Great Escape! at the Magic Kingdom. He introduces the guests to the attraction along with Gantu and the Grand Councilwoman. He also instructs the guests where to go during the attraction as well.
A statue of Pleakley was also located near a Disney Vacation Club booth in Tomorrowland, but was removed as of 2017 (the year after Stitch's Great Escape! was reduced to a seasonally operating attraction).
Tokyo Disney Resort
Pleakley also appears as a walkaround at Tokyo Disneyland, having been featured in shows, such as Dreams Within, HuliHuli Ohana Bash, the Aloha Christmas parade, as well as the Tokyo Disneyland Easter parade.
Disneyland Paris
In France, Pleakley made appearances in the Disneyland Park (in drag) as part of the Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary event. He also appeared roaming throughout the park alongside Stitch as part of Guest Star Day in August 2017.
Gallery
Trivia
- Pleakley's antenna is shown to act as a type of sensory organ similar to an ear and nose.
- In "Mr. Stenchy", when it comes to scents, his antenna functions somewhat differently, allowing him to appreciate certain odors which humans and most aliens would consider noxious and horrible, as Pleakley and the Plorgonarian couple who found Mr. Stenchy were delighted by his odor; whereas Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Gantu were repulsed by it.
- In "Yaarp", Pleakley informs everyone that his antenna is called a Plorgonarian quart flanch, and it is capable of reading "several strata of subspace ether transmissions."
- In "Spike", Nosy reveals that Pleakley secretly dyes his antenna green to match his skin because he is going prematurely orange.
- Pleakley experiences a lot of bad luck throughout the entire franchise, mainly for the purpose of slapstick. The most notable instances include (but are not limited to):
- Getting bitten in the head by Stitch in the first film.
- Getting bitten by mosquitos in the first film.
- Getting flung away by the tree by Jumba in the first film.
- Almost got attacked by Jumba from outside the Pelekai residence in the first film.
- Getting attacked by various experiments in numerous episodes of the TV series.
- Pleakley was slated to appear in the video game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, but was dropped from the final game for unknown reasons, though he is found in the game's coding, albeit without textures.
- The shape of Pleakley's body and his style of movement is highly reminiscent of the enchanted brooms from The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence in Disney's 1940 anthology film Fantasia. In fact, it is possible that Ruben A. Aquino used the scenes with the brooms as a reference when animating Pleakley.
- Pleakley appears, along with several other Lilo & Stitch characters, in a parody of the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, which was broadcast as part of the High School Musical: Around the World one-year anniversary special.
- A running gag in Lilo & Stitch: The Series features Pleakley cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which he believes happens once a month.
- Ironically, despite disguising himself as a human woman, he hates his first name "Wendy", which is typically a female human name. However, according to his mother, it means "brave warrior" in Pleakley's native language (his brother Bertley wanted that name).
- In "Phantasmo", Pleakley is revealed to have upper teeth when he was screaming.
- In "Spooky", Pleakley's worst fear is his mother disappointed in him.
- In "Kixx", Pleakley hates Crezonyte due to how its toxicity ruined his complexion.
- It is revealed in "Slugger" that Pleakley is an excellent basketball player because he used to play a sport virtually identical to it (Priznolaprack) on his home planet of which he was a champion.
- According to "Mrs. Hasagawa's Cats", when Pix, a camera-like experiment, takes a picture of Pleakley's mouth, it is revealed that not only does he have two tongues, he also has two uvulas.
- Pleakley's sister, Pixley, became CEO of the Glorknot Galaxy because she felt inferior to her brother, but all that made her lonely. Ironically, it happened to Pleakley in Leroy & Stitch, when he became chairman at Galactic Alliance Community College while he was happy at first, Pleakley learned he was only a supervisory professor and felt lonely just as his sister.
- Pleakley's obsession with wearing women's clothing and embracing being identified as female can be seen as behavioral patterns associated with those of trans people, somewhat informally making Pleakley LGBTQ+. This is most likely an intentional homage to voice actor Kevin McDonald's long history of wearing drag to perform as a woman while with his comedy troupe "The Kids in the Hall", a show with positive LGBTQ+ theming.
References
- ↑ "Chris Sanders in Final Talks to Return as Voice of Stitch in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter (April 21, 2023).
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