Pain and Panic

Pain and Panic are two shape-shifting imps who are minions of Hades from the 1997 animated feature Hercules and its television series. They provide comic relief in the film Hercules. Neither are very intelligent or especially loyal to him, and serve Hades only because they fear him and possibly because he owns their souls. They appear to be immortal and capable of regeneration, but being demonic rather than godly, both are capable of feeling pain.

Their shape-shifting abilities extend to being capable of shifting only part of their bodies, shifting into shapes both larger and smaller than they themselves are, and even more importantly, merging into a single form; however this seems to be a more temporary and harder-to-control ability. Their shifting abilities do not seem to extend to voice-mimicing, and they have to do the best they can with their own voices.

Hades uses them as pawns in his schemes, and during the movie, they are also used by him to keep an eye on Megara, shifting into bunnies, chipmunks and birds to do so, and when he loses his temper, occasionally as punching bags.

Personality
Pain is the fat pink/purple imp with little horns and a bitten bat wing on the left side. He is repeatedly injured through the film and animated series. When he shape-shifts, it is usually into something short or fat (or both), and generally coloured in red tones. He is the more assertive of the duo, and while more cunning, less likely to think things through properly, which is what gets him into painful situations.

Panic is the thin blue/green imp with long horns. While he is slightly less cunning than Pain, his paranoia means he is very much more cautious and rather cynical at times. However he is easily spooked, which causes accidents and messes up plans. When he shape-shifts, it is usually into something tall or thin (or both) and coloured in blue tones.

Design
Pain is the shorter, wider of the two, and is a pink-skinned imp with a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. He has spindly arms that end in four-fingered hands, while his legs are much stockier and end in two-toed feet. His wings, which have purple membranes, seem too small to actually fly with. Pain's hair is maroon and styled into two horns, with his real, black horns sprouting out just behind, and his pointed tail is the same color as his hair. His nose is very small and a darker shade of pink than the rest of his skin. His yellow eyes are set very close together, he has a thin, black uni-brow, and his upper eyelids are a dark purple color.

Panic is a blue imp and much thinner and taller than his partner. Panic's arms, though just as thin as Pain's, are much longer, as are his legs, which end in two-toed feet like Pain, albeit Panic's feet have navy toenails. His eyes are the same yellow color as Pain's, but his are much larger and even closer together than Pain's. His lower eyelids are a darker shade of blue than the rest of his body, and his nose is enormous and pointed, with prominent nostrils, sharply contrasting with Pain. Panic does not have hair like his friend, and instead has much larger horns that are the same color as his skin, unlike Pain's black ones. Panic has the same small, seemingly useless wings as Pain, with navy blue membranes, and his pointed tail is also navy blue. Finally, Panic's teeth are very even and straight, as opposed to Pain's jagged, pointed ones.

Both Pain and Panic may be inspired by a few of Chernabog's minions from the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia, although it has not been proven true.

Hercules
In Hercules, Pain and Panic's main role was as comic relief. They were ordered by Hades to kidnap the baby god Hercules. After they managed to do so, they then had to feed Hercules a potion which would make him mortal, and kill him. However they were startled by Aclemene and Amphitrion, and since Hercules retained his god-like strength, could not kill him. However, Pain decided it was better for them to not tell Hades of their failure than to admit it. When Hades inevitably learned about their treachery he was furious at them.

Later on, they shifted into two small, extremely cute children as bait to lure Hercules to the lair of the Hydra. When he defeated it, Hades used them to vent his rage on.

After Hercules had become a celebrity, Pain and Panic were dimwitted enough to further enrage Hades by buying Hercules' merchandise.

When Hercules went on his date with Megara, two cute birds were seen flying around together in the beautiful Grecian garden the date ended in - and making the general atmosphere even more romantic. This became a parody of normal romantic settings, as it turned out that the two birds were Pain and Panic in disguise, having been sent by Hades to keep an eye on Hercules and Megara.

They displayed their merging abilities by transforming into a female winged horse to divert Pegasus and bind him so that he could not help or advise Hercules. Next they showed themselves perfectly willing and happy to help Hades humiliate Hercules after stripping him of his strength.

Finally, they held a brief discussion on Hades' predicament in the River Styx:

Panic: "He's not gonna be happy when he gets out of there!"

Pain: "You mean, IF he gets out of there!"

Panic: "If. If is good."

Hercules: The Animated Series
Once again their main role in the TV series was as incompetent lackeys, comic relief and Hades' punching bags.

House of Mouse
Pain and Panic made various appearances on House of Mouse.


 * In the episode Jiminy Cricket, they provide a bad influence on Pinocchio that causes Jiminy Cricket to quit being the puppet's conscience. At the end of the episode, The Blue Fairy zaps them into ashes.


 * In Clarabelle's Christmas List, they state that they are proud to be a part of the Naughty List.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Pain and Panic serve simply as the lackeys of Hades who work at the Underdrome. When Hades is reviving Auron, Pain and Panic run off and hide along the wall out of fear. Pete soon follows their example after Hades tells him that this warrior will be "the mother of all bad guys." Sora needs to speak to Panic if he wishes to enter a tournament. They serve as minor characters, and they never utter an audible word in the game.

Pain and Panic have their a cup named after them in the game. It is the first cup unlocked in the Underdrome. The champions of their cup are Leon and Yuffie.

Disney Parks
Pain and Panic appears in the Disney parks as the meetable characters. Although they do not appear in the show, they appear in merchandise for Fantasmic! Onboard the Disney Cruise Line, both Pain and Panic are present in the Hercules stage adaption and Villains Tonight.

Trivia

 * At the end of each main Underdrome Cup, Pain and Panic are seen napping on the tournament's respective trophies.
 * Pain and Panic possessed shape shifting abilities in Hercules, but this ability doesn't seem to be present in the series with the exception of the episode Hercules and the Arabian Night.

Pena y Pánico