Professor Pericles

"I am The Smartest Criminal Parrot in the World, you didn't think I had a backup plan? Aha, ha, ha, ha! Until we meet again, Auf wiedersehen Mystery Incorporated."

- Pericles mocking the Mystery Incorporated.

Professor Pericles is the main antagonist of the animated series ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the 11th TV series of the Scooby-Doo'' franchise. He is a parrot who is the leader and former mascot of the original Mystery Incorporated, having betrayed the gang years ago to get the Planispheric Disk for himself to gain infinite power. He and Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. are the reasons behind the original Mystery Incorporated's disappearance.

He was voiced by Udo Kier.

Personality
Professor Pericles is a genius; since his brain is no bigger than a cashew nut, this makes him, by comparison, uncannily intelligent and he prides himself as "The Smartest Criminal Parrot in the World". He speaks with a distinct German accent. The purple parrot is shown to be deranged and slightly insane, given his appearance and demeanor. He is also possibly suffered from an inferiority complex, evidenced when Danny Darrow attacked the new Mystery Inc and referred to one of them as a "big, fat, insensitive know-it-all", which most likely means Pericles. This trait may have been originated from being the animal mascot despite being the smartest one of the group and also what allowed Mayor Jones to turn Pericles against his friends. Like most parrots, Pericles appears to have a liking for sunflower seeds.

It should be noted that Pericles is not always evil through and through from the beginning, as he used to be just as friendly and happy like Scooby during his younger days, and being a good and helpful friend of the old Mystery Inc. until when his ambitions and desire for the Planispheric Disk and absolute power corrupted him.

It is later revealed that all of his evil nature is a result of The Evil Entity's influence, and Pericles is shown to be actually friendly once The Evil Entity is removed from time and no longer influence him.

Appearance
Professor Pericles is an elderly parrot, who has a cataract and a big scar over his left eye as a permanent mark ever since when Fred Jones, Sr. knocked him out years ago, caused a rock to cut his face as he was thrown to the ground. His eyes also have black eyerings around them from spending so many years locked inside the asylum, gives him a sinister appearance. He has a skin that is dark purple in the light, but is bluish-black when in the dark, and also wears a purple scarf on his neck. Pericles has pink feathers in his tail, a sharp beak, a big head with white hair on the top, inside there is a brain which according to Officer Johnson is no bigger than a cashew nut, yet pound for pound is the smartest brain in the world, and two-toed feet.

When he was still young, Pericles has white or light purple parts around his eyes, and he looks less creepy. In the new timeline, he simply looks like an older version of his younger self, without the creepy features like in the old timeline.

Past
Professor Pericles is once a friend of a scientist named Abigail Gluck in 1930s, who he first met in Bavaria, though otherwise his early life prior to that meeting remained unknown. He later took over her robot factory after her death and took control of her Kriegstaffebots, used them to take what he needed.

When Ricky Owens was still a young child, Pericles met him when Ricky found out he somehow accidentally crashes into a tree in Ricky's front yard, and is injured from it. Despite initial mistrust, Ricky nursed Pericles back to health until the parrot was healthy enough to fly again. Initially sad, Ricky was then pleasantly surprised to see Pericles flied back, decided to be Ricky's permanent friend and the two became best friends ever since. Together, they founded the original Mystery Inc., alongside Cassidy Williams, Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves, and solved several mysteries, which inspired the new Mystery Incorporated years later. Pericles proved himself helpful in many situations such as when he was visiting the buried Darrow Mansion along with his gang, and helped investigating the old Spanish church where a monster had been sited, speculated that the monster might have led them there on purpose.

Pericles was very interested when the drawing of the Planispheric Disk was discovered, so he led the original Mystery Incorporated to a site where the first Planispheric Disk piece was found, but was corrupted by it, resulted him teaming up with Fred Jones, Sr. to betray the original Mystery Incorporated and find the Cursed Treasure of Crystal Cove. However, Jones eventually betrayed Pericles as well and threw the latter into a rock, caused the parrot's left eye to be injured and blinded due to being cut by the said rock, so Pericles was accused of the crime and sent to Crystal Cove's Animal Asylum, while his gang disappeared from the town for many years after this event as Fred Jones Sr. forced them to never return.

Season 1
In the present, the new Mystery Incorporated, following the orders of Ricky, who poses as a mysterious man called Mr. E, managed to release Pericles from his imprisonment during a chaos in the Animal Asylum. Mr. E then told the Gang to "follow the parrot".

Now freed, Pericles started to put his plans into motion. To do this, Pericles first secretly gave the criminal Aphrodite her love potion formula to influence the entire Crystal Cove, then helped with the antidote, so that he could get the help of Scooby-Doo to obtain things he needed to find the lost treasure. After the events was resolved, he ordered Ed Machine, a henchman of Mr. E, to send a message to the Mystery Gang (who just believed that Pericles was redeemed due to helping them to against Aphrodite) through a recording tape, and told them the truth that he is behind Aphrodite's rampage and the one who gave her the formula in the first place, showed that he is still pretty much evil. Worse, Ed also warned the Gang that had Pericles succeeded in his goal, it would mean the end of the world, foreshadowed Pericles's true intentions.

Later on, Pericles managed to haunt Mayor Jones in his home by hacking and taking over the latter's adoptive son Fred Jones Jr.'s traps under the disguise of the Shadowy Figure, and managed to steal the Mayor's piece of the Planispheric Disk, revealed to the Mystery Gang that the Mayor stole it from him years ago. He then flied away while telling the Gang that they would meet him again.

After watching the Mystery Gang using video monitors when the gang was attacked by the Obliteratrix, who is actually Alice May, a minion ordered by Mr. E to attack the Gang, Pericles thought about helping the Gang because he still needed them alive.

Towards the end of season 1, the real mystery of what happened to Pericles along with the rest of the original Mystery Inc. in the past are finally revealed, as it was caused by none other than Pericles himself and Fred Jones, Sr.. Pericles first went to Ed Machine's house and told Ed that he wanted to "deliver a message" to Mr. E, before brutally attacked Ed and presumably killed the latter. He then showed up again when the new Mystery Inc. was down in the Crystal Cove Caves, having used a tracker to see where the Mystery Machine was and said there was nothing to fear, but Mayor Jones, disguised as The Freak of Crystal Cove, suddenly appeared and knocked the parrot to the ground. Despite this, he still managed to steal a piece of the Planispheric Disk from the Mystery Machine after Mayor Jones is unmasked and arrested, as well as mocked Scooby for failing to catch him before flying away once again, and the Season 1 finale ended with Scooby-Doo, in anger, vowed to stop Pericles at all cost.

Season 2
Pericles returned in season 2, this time with bigger plans and his true intentions were fully revealed at last. Throughout the season, he and the rest of the original Mystery Incorporated set up several plans to take all the pieces of the Planispheric Disk from the Mystery Gang to achieve his ultimate goal.

With the mystery of him and his old gang now uncovered, Pericles summoned all the former members of the original Mystery Inc. when the kids gathered the next two pieces tieing with his own amount. Mr. E then invited them into a partnership, though this may be more than a mere partnership as the old gang may miss each other's friendship. After setting up a plan to kills the new Mystery Inc., Pericles told the new gang that he lived for more than 80 years, as he recalled being a friend of Abigail Gluck in the 1930s, and took over her underwater robot factory after her death, used it to achieve what he needs. He then departed as the factory exploded, killed Cassidy Williams in the process.

Pericles eventually created a mutant cattle herd to destroy Crystal Cove and give the gang nowhere to hide the Planispheric Disk, though the Mystery Gang managed to defeat the herd by capturing its queen, much to his anger. To force Mr. E to obey him, Pericles also implanted mutated cobra larvae in Mr. E's spinal column in his sleep to use as a death threat against him, and assumed effective control of the Destroido Corp.

After having recovered the Planispheric Disk after exchanging it from Fred to save Daphne, he returned to Destroido to find and free his master, an ancient evil Annunaki known simply as the Evil Entity. It's revealed that he knew about the cosmological event called Nibiru the entire time. Using slave labor from Crystal Cove, Pericles finally found the underground gate leading to the cursed treasure.

Following behind Mystery Inc., Pericles led his group through the elemental dimensions to the sarcophagus of the Evil Entity, where Pericles freed the Entity when Nibiru was at hand. Pericles offered himself up as the Evil Entity's vessel instead of Scooby-Doo, but instead of gaining the Entity's immense power as he'd hoped, the possession overwhelmed and killed him and transformed his body into the Evil Entity's monstrous vessel.

Post-Nibiru
After the Evil Entity was killed, in the new timeline that created when the Entity's destruction removed its influence from history, Professor Pericles is no longer evil. He is now happy and without a scar, and had become the mascot for a now-married Ricky Owens and Cassidy Williams at the Creationex Corp.

Quotes
"Well, Mystery Incorporated, it appears you made an enemy. Fortunately for you, I still require you alive."

- Pericles to the Mystery Incorporated.

"Is it, Velma? Or is it so brilliant you cannot begin to fathom its true genius?"

- Professor Pericles shows up in The Man in the Mirror.

"Hello, Ed Machine. (Ed: What are you doing here?) I'd like you to deliver a message to Ricky. Or should I call him Mr. E? (Ed: Say what you want to say Pericles, then get out of my house.) Dear Ed, you misunderstand. I don't want to say anything."

- Pericles attacks and presumably kills Ed Machine.

"Don't be afraid, Scooby. I've no reason to hurt you. I have what I came for."

- Pericles in the Season 1 finale.

"And make no mistake, Ricky, I will break any egg that gets in my way: Ed Machine, Cassidy Williams, or perhaps even you. My herd of skull cattle is perfect in every way. I have crossbred cows, piranhas, and bees to create ultimate monsters. And I'm their master. My precious creations exist for one purpose: to devour Crystal Cove. My herd of male drones shall level this city to the ground, leaving nowhere for the Mystery kinder to hide the Planispheric Disk."

- Pericles to Ricky.

"Soon Crystal Cove will cease to exist and the Planispheric Disk shall be mine. THEN no one will ever stand in my way AGAIN."

- Professor Pericles talks about his plans.

"Ah! Lovely. I see you have met what's left of Frau Glück. I met Frau Glück in Bavaria in the 1930s. She discovered the missionaries possessed the fifth and the sixth pieces of the Planispheric Disk. She built this lab and a host of robots to aid her search for the pieces. I finally found this lab and continued the Frau's work, building a legion of her Kriegstaffebots to retrieve the pieces for me. My holographic masquerade as Frau Glück bought my bots all the time they needed. And I would have gotten away with eliminating Cassidy if it weren't for you meddling kids. Now that I have everything I need, I can dispose of this place and all of you at the same time. Farewell, darling kinder. Farewell."

- Pericles about his past.

"Oh, Ricky, Ricky, my loyal Brad and Judy told me of your little mutiny. So, last night while you were asleep, I put mutated cobra larvae in your spine. Every time I press this button, a little venom is released. So, as you can see, or feel, I'm still very much in control. You do as I say. First, we steal the Planispheric Disk from the kinder, then we destroy them. WE DESTROY THEM!"

- Professor Pericles to Mr. E.

"It was I who gave Aphrodite the secret formula. Once that was accomplished, I could go after the real ingredients I needed to find. First, an ancient conquistador's ship manifest. Next, a stone piercing industrial-grade diamond drill bit. And finally, the geological reports from the Darrow Mining Company. Your move, Mr. E."

- Pericles reveals to the Mystery Gang through a recording tape that he is the one that gave Aphrodite her love formula.

"Oh, what can I say? A bird's got to eat. (Fred: It still doesn't explain where my dad is, and why you were haunting him.) Why do you think? I wanted his piece of the Planispheric Disk, of course. I knew he would have it close. I just didn't know where. So I decided to scare it out of him. (Fred: Planispheric Disk? But how did you know he had it in the first place?) Because, dear friend, he stole it from me a long time ago."

- Pericles, unmasked as the "Shadowy Figure", also reveals that Mayor Jones stole the piece of Planispheric Disk from him years ago.

Trivia

 * Pericles is the original Mystery Inc. equivalent of Scooby-Doo.
 * Pericles may be named for the renowned ancient Greek orator (c. 495 – 429 BC), as it fits his intricate schemes and erudite nature.
 * It is implied that, like Scooby, he is a descendant of the Annunaki, which would explain his superhuman strengh and surprising intelligence.
 * Despite the title, Pericles never act like a Professor.
 * Pericles is most likely an African Grey parrot, due to his grey plumage and red tails, along with his sensitive nature.