Max

Max is one of the two titular characters of the Sam & Max franchise.

Max
Max, as depicted in the Telltale Games.

Character Detail

Violent, impulsive and indulgent in the extreme, Max is the source of much of the franchise's unique humor. Max is an active member of the Freelance Police along with his long time partner and friend, Sam.

He often refers to himself as a lagomorph, though he also sometimes refers to himself as a rabbit. A rabbit is a type of lagomorph, so these are not mutually exclusive. He enjoys violence and prefers to solve problems aggressively. He has a slight distaste for the long stories, anecdotes, and sentences that Sam constantly spouts forth, often asking Sam and others not to use various words such as 'ensue' and 'acumen'. He shares Sam's enthusiasm in just about anything, especially if it involves large guns and trouble. He also has very poor hygiene, as he sometimes tastes his own belly button lint, and once had a large "suspicious growth" behind his ear. Sam has commented on his pungent bodily odors on more than one occasion. Both Sam and Max have also commented on the obscure fact that Max has a metal plate in his skull.

Max always carries a Luger around, and when asked where he keeps it usually responds with "None of your damn business.". He is fairly trigger-happy with it in the early comics, but this is rarely seen elsewhere. Like Sam, he's a lousy shot and is never seen actually hitting anyone. Perhaps because of this, he prefers to get up close and simply leap at his foes and hurt them in whatever way he can come up with. This fails miserably about as often as it works; despite his boundless energy and love for violence, Max isn't particularly good at fighting.

His full name is either Maximillian (in Situation: Comedy and Abe Lincoln Must Die!) or Maxwell (Ruth calls him this in Christmas Bloody Christmas).

His eyes typically appear as black slits, like Sam's eyes, however in Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Sam mentions that Max's eyes are actually brown. In some comics and over the duration of Beyond Time And Space, this is shown more clearly.

As of Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Max is President of the United States of America. Between Beyond Time and Space and The Devil's Playhouse, Max was somehow re-elected.

In the end of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls, Max was transformed into a gigantic Elder God and began rampaging across New York. During the next episode, The City That Dares Not Sleep, a new side of Max was shown. He turned out to be capable of self-sacrifice, as shown when he told Sam and Papierwaite to help Sybil out of him so she could give birth rather than saving him. In the end, his Super-Ego removed the tumor causing his behavior while Sam, Sybil and Papierwaite escaped through Max's nose. Unfortunately, a nuclear-armed Maimtron flew into Max's chest. He saved New York by teleporting away. In the end, Momma Bosco attempted to clone Max to life using a sample of his snot, but the DNA was "too weird" for the cloning machines to process it. Fortunately, after the credits, when Sam went to Battery Park to mourn Max, the time-travelling elevator from Chariots of the Dogs appeared behind him with a Max from the past, alive and well, inside it. He explains that his Sam also transformed into a huge monster and had to be blown up. After a moment of awkward silence, Sam and Max, reunited, embark on their new adventures together with a few cases in mind.

An alternate ending has Sam rest his hat on the ledge when suddenly the Time Elevator appears and opens revealing nobody inside. Upon closer inspection inside it, Sam discovers the past Max beside him also inspecting it. Max reprises his role in the first ending explaining that Sam in his time gained powers but had to be destroyed. Max fails to hide his joy at the destruction despite his words, causing the awkwardness to resume. Sam and Max then decide to get to embark on their new adventures and enter the Time Elevator, but not without Sam picking up his hat, signifying that this isn't the end of the Freelance Police after all. (That's gladly for sure.)

Appearance

Max is a fuzzy, white, 3-foot-tall, hyperkinetic rabbity-thing. His appearance is generally cute and cuddly, but contrasted by his enormous sharp-toothed grin, which remains plastered on his melon-like head at almost all times. He has big feet and long ears that always stay upright, as well as a pair of glaring beady dark brown eyes.

Personality

Max is feisty, best, funny, fun-loving, silly, childish, soft, reckless, impatient, annoying at times, dim-witted, destructive, and violent. Purcell describes him as being made up of pure Id, and when it comes to comparing him and Sam, he states that "Sam is the guy we are, while Max is the guy we want to be."

Relationships

Sam

Sam has been Max's best friend ever since their childhood. They attended high school together and later became untrained policemen, though it is unclear precisely when. They are incredibly close and will become tangibly uncomfortable when separated for any reason, both willing to delve into great lengths to protect each other. Max is known for showing his affection towards Sam in the form of violence, but he harbors no ill will towards him. Several examples in the series show that apparently, they are married.

Darla "The Geek" Gugenheek

Max serves the same questionable father-figure role to the Geek as Sam does. They seem to get along fairly well, oftentimes with The Geek being the more responsible of the two. The Geek seems to care about both Sam and Max quite a lot for taking her in, despite having to clean up after them almost constantly.

Bosco

Max and Bosco seem to get along well enough, but it is apparent that Max enjoys pestering Bosco. He and Sam go out of their way on many occasions to increase Bosco's paranoia for their own amusement.

Sybil Pandemik

Much like his relationship with Bosco, Max is a (questionably) friendly acquaintance of Sybil's. He enjoys seeing what her latest career path is, and oftentimes humors her latest career services alongside Sam. Sybil has expressed that Max seems "a bit improbable" and once implied that he was Sam's imaginary friend.

Jimmy Two-Teeth

Much like Sam, Max seems to tolerate Jimmy Two-teeth for the most part. They allow him to share their residence, but aren't afraid to get violent with him when there's a disagreement or they need something from him (i.e. the office phone in Culture Shock, or Coins in Reality 2.0)

Philo Pennyworth

As his short-term co-star on Midtown Cowboys, Max did not seem to get too well acquainted with the overall uptight chicken. Because of Pennyworth's generally standoffish behavior, Max took to poking fun at him instead. He refers to him as "Mr. Featherly" outside of the context of the TV show, purely to bother him.

Momma Bosco

In Chariots of the Dogs, Sam and Max travel to the 1960's and met her. Momma Bosco furiously asks Max if he has a problem with women and he replies that girls are a "huge waste of time". It made Momma Bosco quickly fall in love with Max. Despite not sharing any sort of romantic feelings towards her, he does become good friends with her, and admires her for punching Stinky in the face. To get Momma Bosco to fall out of love with him, they had to go back in time and make Max love women. Later on, after questioning him, he says that it will wear off. (because he could never stop loving Sam)

Flint Paper

Max obviously admires Flint Paper in both the comics and the Telltale series. Max sees Flint's violent nature as something to aspire to be. In some ways, Flint is like Max without Sam, in that he is very unhinged and has nobody to hold him back. Max likes looking over into Flint's office to see what he's doing and is often amazed by what he finds.

Family

Max's family were shown in the comic The Damned Don't Dance, but none were named. Other than in Culture Shock where Max implies that most of his (large) family are criminals or in jail, and in Bright Side of the Moon, where he responds to "It's the Lunar Lander" with "So was my aunt Tillie, but they can't prove anything", he doesn't talk much about them. It is implied that he has a negative relationship with his father due to his response that Bosco is "taking it too far" when the store owner compares Max to his father. In the Season Three episode, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, Max's great-grandfather is shown. His name is Maximus, and he appears to have work with Sam's great-grandfather, Sameth.

Likes:

Sam

The Geek

Agent Superball

The color orange

Glazed McGuffins

Men

Cartoons

Taunting and annoying others (especially bad guys)

Killing Nazis/Klansmen

Armpit farting

The Desoto

"Petting" the "unicorn"

Candy

Cherry pie

Eating non edibles

Beer (but rarely ever drinks it)

Pornographic magazines

Hugh Bliss (formerly)

Momma Bosco

Smiling

Singing in the shower

Pain (of others and himself)

Shooting stuff

Burning stuff

Harassing Sam

Violence

The Rubber Pants Commandos

Lucky Charms

Rice Krinkles

Buddy Hackett

Highway Surfing

Dislikes:

His lack of inventory

Girls (only romantically and sexually so)

Having his brain stolen

Being alone

Being separated from Sam

Frowning

Being called a Bunny or "Hello Kitty"

Cheese from a pressurized can

Chupacabras

Clowns

Nazis/Klansmen

Renaissance reenactment participants

being hugged (Except by Sam)

Sam's lame songs

Vampires

Hugh Bliss

Auntie Alice

Jack-in-the-Boxes

Valentines day

Cats/Kittens

Wimps

Swiss Cheese

Ventriloquist dummies

Country Music (As stated after being hit into the "Dunk the Beast" in Hit the Road)

Romance movies

Lorne

Phrases

"That's none of your business" (in the animated series)

"death from above! death from above!" (in the animated series)

"That's none of your damn business" (in the comics and games)

Versions

Young Max

Young Max has been in all three mediums Sam and Max has been in. He is a precarious, bold, and somewhat self-absorbed child. He is always seen with Sam and stands up for him whenever someone truly hurts him. His appearance remains almost exactly the same, except for the fact that he is smaller overall and has short ears.

Max's impulsive behavior is probably a main factor in the dangerous mischief he and young Sam's perpetrate, such as setting fire to things.

In the Telltale games, Max isn't above name calling and bullying Sam around like the other kids do. Though this may be viewed as taking Sam's friendship for granted, considering Sam's spontaneous nature coupled with the way he will treat Sam as an adult, he doesn't seem to really mean what he says and just wants a reaction from the usually timid Sam.

He's also selfish and addicted to video games. He would rather stay indoors and play them than socialize with anyone except for Sam, because video games are the only things that "really understand" him.

In Moai Better Blues, young Sam reveals that a girl named Jennie Tallarico has a crush on him, yet Max doesn't reciprocate those feelings, due to her willingness to French Kiss anyone in their school.

Teen Max

Not much is known about Max when he was a teenager. In Moai Better Blues, he claimed that Sam begged him to club Sam's opponents in the knees so that Sam would be able to win surfing trophies. Max also was about to go into a story in Chariots of the Dogs about something major that happened to him which turned him off on girls indefinitely. However, he decided not to tell it since there was no flashback.

Old Max/Future Max

Old Max was first seen in the animated series' episode The Dysfunction of the Gods where Sam and Max undergo rapid aging. He suffers from bad back posture, hair loss, and is somewhat overweight, but he still has his destructive tendencies.

In the Telltale episode Chariots of the Dogs, Max looks as if he never aged past his current self. He acts somewhat different, though, almost grown up. This is probably because he has the responsibility of taking care of Sam, who is not doing well in his old age (since dog years are rough). He is very condescending to current Sam and Max, who he sees as primitives.

He's mastered volcanology, a reference to earlier in the game and a hint to a puzzle in the room he's in. He and Sam work for Stinky Corp, but suspects that the company is making its popular super-adhesive out of molemen.

Elder God Max/Giant Max

In the end of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls, the penultimate episode of The Devil's Playhouse, Max accidentally ingested some dark spores, transforming into a giant, Lovecraftian monster and went on a rampage throughout New York. Sam, Papierwaite and Sybil went inside him to return him back to his normal and usual self before The Final Imperative (targeting Max with a nuclear strike) was activated. In the end, they escaped, leaving Max's Super-Ego in charge of removing his brain tumor, which presumably triggered his behavior. Unfortunately, the bomb, built into one more Maimtron, still flew into Max's chest and was activated. In an act of self-sacrifice, Max used his teleportation power to transport to Stinky's cell phone, which was with her on Skun-ka'pe's ship in space. Upon arriving, the bomb detonated, killing that timeline's Max along with Stinky, Skun-ka'pe and the brain of Sammun-Mak.

Young Max in the animated series.

Young Sam and Max in Moai Better Blues.

Teenage Max in action in The Final Episode.

Old Max opening Pandora's Box.

Sam and Max This Time It’s Virtual! Gameplay Presentation - Future Games Show Gamescom

an in game LucasArts sprite of Max

an in game Telltale Games model of Max

Max as an enormous eldritch monster in The City That Dares Not Sleep

Max, as depicted in the Telltale Games

Trivia

• Max's appearance is similar to that of a white rabbit. He calls himself a lagomorph, so whether or not he actually is a rabbit is something only he knows.

• Max's resting expression is a Cheshire Cat-like grin.

• Max's mouth can disappear when he's surprised, confused, or pondering.
• A hat referred to as "Max's Severed Head" was a limited time promotional item in the game Team Fortress 2 and was given to TF2 players as a reward for purchasing The Devil's Playhouse on Steam before April 26th, 2010.
• The weapon "Lugermorph" (based on Max's iconic firearm) and the item "License to Maim" (a badge with the logo of the Freelance Police) were also reward items within Team Fortress 2, and could be earned by defeating Max in Poker Night at the Inventory.
• A crude model of Max appeared as an Easter egg in the Star Wars: Dark Forces video game series.
• Max can play violin.
• There have been a few instances suggesting that Max is a masochist.
• According to Abe Lincoln Must Die! Max knows Pi to the 1000th decimal.
• Max is polytheistic.
• The name "William Kasten" is actually a pseudonym. Even now, the person who voiced Max in the Telltale games is still a complete mystery.
• Max does not know how old he or Sam is.
• [complete with the name of the comic pls]'s disguise o' rama reveals that Max used to be an actor for stag films (aka pornographic movies made for men.)

See Also

Sam