Maleficent's Goons

Maleficent's goons are humanoid creatures that work for Maleficent in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. While Aqua and Ventus explore the Enchanted Dominion, they are seen to guard their mistress's castle with their lives. Their appearances are very similar to their guise in the film Sleeping Beauty, and use axed spears, maces, and bows and arrows to attack.

Story
They are first seen in Ventus's scenario when he rushes at them when they guard the hall housing Aurora's captive heart. When Aqua is helping Prince Phillip escape, hundreds of goons came to stop them, but none were successful.

After the events of the game, they are never seen again in other games of the continuity. This is largely because Maleficent learned to summon and control the much more powerful Heartless, and thus favoured them instead of her previous servants, leaving them to their own endeavors in Enchanted Dominion.

Appearance
In the Disney film, various versions of Maleficent's goons appear. Some have porcine heads and an overweight body, while some have the faces of vultures and a frail, thin body. They wear black and brown clothes and their skin is a pink-brown color. Some of them have fish-like feet, and others have bird-like feet. They have small yellow eyes, similar to those of a Heartless.

Abilities
Different from the Unversed which can appear alone or in groups, the goons are always grouped. Their difficulty resides in that, because more often than not the player faces a combination or either spear or mace goons along with archers. While they have relatively low HP they can still do great harm as both the spear and mace goons have a tendency to surround the players and mercilessly attack them.

The archers are also difficult as they are often located in either long distances or areas difficult to reach and also have lethal accuracy, although they are slow in their attacks which given the opportunity close combat defeats them easily. Because of this, it is fairly easier to defeat them with Ventus's fast attacks rather than Aqua who excels in Magic, as at this point of the game it is doubtful that she has many powerful spells if any, and either many Magic Haste abilities equipped, making Aqua's gameplay with them a hit-and-run tactic. This does not mean players who use Aqua cannot use physical combat with them, but it is risky as the goons can surround her and defeat her easily if not cautious.

Origin
Maleficent's goons made their debut in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, searching nearby lands for Aurora under Maleficent's command after she disappears when Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather sneak her into the woods.

They often disappoint her due to their incompetence, which results in them facing her anger. They remain loyal to Maleficent and help her capture Prince Philip and later to stop the latter, along with the three good fairies as they escape Maleficent's castle atop the Forbidden Mountain.

Trivia

 * When they are defeated, the goons vanish into green flames.