The Coachman's Assistants are minor antagonists in Disney's 1940 animated feature film Pinocchio. They are a group of mysterious and gorilla-like burly creatures found on Pleasure Island who are the henchmen of the Coachman.
While the boys enjoy themselves in the fairground area of the Island, the Coachman cracks his whip, ordering his assistants to shut and lock the main doors, preventing the unwitting boys from escaping. He then orders them to prepare crates. They are next seen loading donkeys - the naughty boys transformed -into these crates, under the Coachman's watchful eye. The donkeys are then sold as labor.
Their appearance is never completely revealed; they are shown only in shadow, save for their glowing yellow eyes, and they never speak. However, it can be discerned from the silhouette of a minion that they have arms resembling that of a gorilla; they are also whipped by the Coachman, suggesting that they are beasts. However, the fact that the Coachman refers to them as "blokes" suggests a certain amount of humanity. Their history and reasons for obeying the Coachman are unknown, and they carry out their master's orders with golem-like efficiency and obedience.
Trivia
The Coachman's assistants do get a comeuppance in the Pinocchio Super NES video game; they are trying to prevent Pinocchio from fleeing, but Pinocchio destroys them like whirling at the end of the song "I've Got No Strings".
It is unknown if the assistants are actual black creatures, or if they are real human beings dressed in dark costumes, or possibly gorillas. In the remake, they are made of dust and can materialize and dematerialize at will. In printed media, they are ordinary hooded humans.
One assistant had black pupils when he opened the gate when the Coachman threw Alexander into the pen where the boys still talked.
The Coachman's assistants had no counterparts in the original story; apparently it was a one-man operation.
Gallery
The Coachman's assistants closing the doors.
The Coachman's assistants loading the crates full of donkey-transformed-boys to be shipped and sold.
The Coachman's assistants imprisoning donkeys that can still speak.
Coachman's Minions on the Villains Wiki
