Max

**Max**, a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing", is one of the two titular characters in the *Sam & Max* franchise.

## Character

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. Since a rabbit is a type of lagomorph, these are not mutually exclusive. He enjoys violence in general and solves any difficulties he encounters with as much force as possible, ignoring all other possible solutions. He slightly dislikes the long stories, anecdotes, and sentences that Sam occasionally rambles, and often asks Sam and not to use words which aren't used in everyday speech, such as 'ensue' and 'acumen'. He shares Sam's enthusiasm in crime fighting and adventuring, possibly more so than Sam. He also has poor hygiene; 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 more than once. Both Sam and Max have also referenced a metal plate in Max's skull. He is apparently ambidextrous as he is shown in the comics holding weapons with his right hand in some occasions while using his left in others. Max tends to eat or bite anything that gets close to his mouth or whatever he's holding if he does not know what to do with it (the card in What's new, Beelzebub?)

Max always carries a Luger around, and when asked where he keeps it usually responds with "None of your damn business." He is quite trigger-happy with it in the early comics, but this is rarely seen elsewhere. Like Sam, he has poor aiming skills and is never seen hitting anyone with his Luger. 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.

He can be somewhat co-dependent when it comes to their relationship - there are several instances of him and Sam getting each other's names mixed up, but Max does this more often than Sam.

His full name is either Maximilian (in Abe Lincoln Must Die!) or Maxwell (Ruth calls him this in Christmas Bloody Christmas).

Although his eyes look the same color as most other characters (black slits), his are actually brown according to Sam.

As of Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Max is President of the United States of America (moving the oval office to his Office). And as of Moai Better Blues, Max is High Priest of the Oceanchimps.

Max's brain is stolen by General Skun-ka'pe in They Stole Max's Brain!, though it is safely preserved and saved by Sam eventually. It should be noted that the fact that Sam became "Noir Sam" (changing his outfit, attitude and style) over this, Sam and Max's Relationship is ultimately quite strong.

At the end of The Devil's Playhouse, Max is killed shortly after performing the first truly unselfish act of his life. After the epilogue, his alternate past self appears by time elevator and for all purposes becomes the "new" Max.

### Psychic powers

Max has at times displayed latent psychic powers, such as resisting hypnotism in Culture Shock, consciousness transference in Bad Day on the Moon, various manifestations in Beast From the Cereal Aisle and a "lagomorphic mind meld" in The Second Show Ever. His psychic powers play an important part in The Devil's Playhouse, where he can use various toy-shaped artifacts to use specific abilities at will. The player controls Max from a first-person perspective to do this.

The promotional Machinima short "Coffee" shows that Max is also capable of using telekinesis on coffee cups.

### Date of birth

According to the episode Chariots of the Dogs, Max was born on July 10th, presumably somewhere in the 1970s. He seems to be roughly the same age as Sam, though rabbits life expectancy is normally less long than dogs'.

### 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. In The Penal Zone he mentions his father's name is Maximus. Another family member is his Great-Grandfather, also named Maximus.

### Likes

* Sam
* The Geek
* Licking and/or Biting things
* Touching things
* The color orange
* Glazed McGuffins
* Girls
* Cartoons
* Shooting stuff
* Burning stuff
* Violence
* The Rubber Pants Commandos
* Cheese
* Gobbling Things
* "Petting" the "unicorn"
* "Lucky Charms" and "Rice Krinkles"
* Buddy Hackett
* Highway Surfing
* Cute babies
* Making farting noises with his armpit
* Wandering aimlessly
* Malfeasance
* Corndogs
* Paper-bag puppets of himself
* Celebrities who use their fame to force their ideals on others

### Dislikes

* Being asked where he stores things
* Cheese from a pressurized can
* Clowns
* Renaissance reenactment participants
* Long tedious explanations or stories
* Being called Hello Kitty or Harvey
* Vampires
* Auntie Alice
* Jack-in-the-Boxes
* Musicals/singing
* Cats/Kittens
* Wimps
* Swiss Cheese
* The Internet Wizard
* Country Music
* Ventriloquist Dummies
* Lorne
* People constantly repeating the word "Banang"

## Other 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. His impulsive behavior is probably a main factor in the dangerous mischief he and young Sam perpetrate, such as setting fire to things. He is always seen with Sam and stands up for him whenever someone truly hurts him.

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 Max'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.

Apparently, a girl named Jennie Tallarico has a crush on him. Max doesn't like her, mostly because she's known to french kiss anyone in school.

Besides being a bit shorter, young Max has a rounder head, is a bit chubbier and has comparatively shorter ears. Interestingly, these last three are also true of the way Max looked in very early comics as compared to later ones.

### Teen Max

Not much is known about Max when he was a teenager. In the Telltale games, 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.

It may have been a reference to a puzzle that was ultimately cut out of the game, in which Max's dislike of girls started during a game of spin the bottle. Max had to kiss Sam's cousin, who resembled Sam, and was so traumatized by the experience that he never developed an interest in girls.

### Old/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, the future 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 faring well in his old age. He is very condescending to the present-day Sam and Max, who he sees as primitive. Future Max wears a Geordi La Forge-style visor. He's mastered vulcanology, 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.

### Zombie Max

Being turned into a zombie in Night of the Raving Dead didn't seem to affect Max's personality at first, until he noticed an unnatural desire to eat Flint Paper's brains. Not getting his soul back as easily as Sam forced him to give a presidential address in zombie form, but the two eventually drove back to Stuttgart to reclaim it.

### Max's soul

When Max's soul gets separated from him in Night of the Raving Dead, it shows an uncharacteristically virtuous and calm personality. It is disdainful towards Max and not at all inclined to reunite, but ultimately doesn't have a choice in the matter.

### Max's brain

When Max's brain is removed and stored in a jar in They Stole Max's Brain!, he retains many of his former traits, despite being physically impossible. Max is shown being able to hold objects like the toys of power given to him by the rebellious Mole People. He also retains his special "hiding spot" since the Toys of Power disappear once they are given to him.

### Psychic Max

Near the end of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls, Yog-Soggoth unlocks Max's full Psychic potential in order to defeat Charlie Ho-Tep. This give Max the ability to use all of his powers without the Toys of Power, and even increase their abilities.

### "Junior" Max

When Max defeats Charlie Ho-Tep at the end of Beyond the Alley of the Dolls,he falls onto Junior, apparently absorbing part or all of him and turns into an Eldritch Monstrosity. "Junior" Max is the main plot point of The City that Dares Not Sleep.

### Spore Max

In The City that Dares Not Sleep "Junior" Max emits spores in the shape of regular Max's head. They fly, are on fire and have all his personality traits. Their purpose is to put people to sleep and give them nightmares, feeding "the host".

## Design

Max's characteristic sawtooth grin has undergone various design changes. In the first comics he had eight teeth in each jaw, but this was gradually diminished until it settled on five on the top and four or six on the bottom (varying per appearance, sometimes even per shot) from Beast from the Cereal Aisle onwards. The change from regular rounded teeth to more angular, almost interlocking teeth transpired on roughly the same schedule.

The relative size of Max's ears varies from slightly longer than the size of his head (at some points in the first comics) to almost twice that (mostly in the animated series). Usually it's somewhere in between.

## Gallery

*Main article: Max/Gallery*
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