Sam & Max's Relationship

edited June 2010 in Sam & Max
There's kind of an interesting dynamic between the two of them.

I'm not saying that Steve was intentionally going for anything deeper than just creating a funny story based on a dog and a rabbit who fight crime; but hardcore fans like myself can't help but obsess over our favourite characters, analyzing their psychological profiles and whatnot. (I like the word whatnot.)

So, discuss and share your insights.
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Comments

  • edited June 2010
    I think they have the same relationship brothers have with each other....
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited June 2010
    Or good lifelong friends. See also: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz. It seems funny and it is, but it's not.
  • edited June 2010
    You must remember though while in the animated series, they were brothers I think(I remember they talked about buring their dads [line]briefcase[/line] beaver and burying it in the back yard.
  • edited June 2010
    sam and Max are not like that and besides, max likes girls(play 204)
  • edited June 2010
    They're just really good friends.
  • edited June 2010
    jaden551 wrote: »
    sam and Max are not like that and besides, max likes girls(play 204)

    Nobody said anything like that yet! Besides that, I always thought of them both as asexual, with an occasional interest in girls.
  • edited June 2010
    jaden551 wrote: »
    sam and Max are not like that and besides, max likes girls(play 204)

    Max's sleazy lothario persona lasted all of the 5 minutes you needed it to advance the plot. Of course he may still like them, but not as much as in 204.

    They both could have an interest in the opposite sex, but they're far too busy having fun solving random puzzles and going on wacky, outlandish adventures.
  • edited June 2010
    I foot they kepi achiever in line let me elaborate sam is kept sane buy max and max is stop buy sam from doing stooped and craze waif in a limit
  • edited June 2010
    Jake wrote: »
    Or good lifelong friends. See also: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz. It seems funny and it is, but it's not.

    Are you talking about "Shaun of the Dead" or Sam and Max? :confused:
    kane wrote: »
    I foot they kepi achiever in line let me elaborate sam is kept sane buy max and max is stop buy sam from doing stooped and craze waif in a limit

    Translation: I feel they keep each other in line. Let me elaborate; Sam is kept sane by Max, and Max is stopped by Sam from doing stupid and crazy stuff without limits. (I think that's about right)

    I think they're just both at the stage where they think girls are "icky". Sam just seems older because he likes pretending he's a growed up detective.
  • edited June 2010
    no i men sam lets max Dow what he Wharton I reason ie max can be crazy if the situation is ecwell but to say friends sam lets max Dow craze and stupid flings beaus if max gets bored he gets crazier and get bored essayer making a it go rand and rand to max tries to destroy all of time and spas
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited June 2010
    Lena_P wrote: »
    Are you talking about "Shaun of the Dead" or Sam and Max? :confused:
    I was referring to extremeness of the friendship between Sam & Max, or the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost characters in either film, as being funny in its intensity, but also real.
  • edited June 2010
    I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm usually fine with most crack parings, but I get really upset when people try to make Sam and Max look like a gay couple outside of gags. It just undermines the bros-for-life relationship that they have and I love. Because bros-for-life are awesome.
  • edited June 2010
    @Kane Oh, I get you now. I never thought of it like that before. Makes Max kind of sound like a volcano god that must be satiated lest he erupt into violence! :p

    @Jake Okay, the "it seems funny and it is, but it's not" thing just totally threw me. I couldn't tell if you meant the film is funny, but the relationship wasn't, or that both couples seem to have a homosexual attraction to one another, but they don't really.
  • edited June 2010
    yap it deeper the relationship between sam and max is to protect the all of time and space episode 3 profess this when sam in-stinks to reignition waif max to save him shelf and the rest of all exist-ons
  • edited June 2010
    All these posts, and I still can't decipher what kane is saying half the time. :(
  • edited June 2010
    sam and max need each ever and time and spas need them to giver
  • edited June 2010
    kane wrote: »
    sam and max need each ever and time and spas need them to giver

    Sam and Max need each other and time and space need them together.

    I see them as having a childhood friends relationship, or a very close friends relationship. I think a lot of people tend to mix "super close friends" and "in a romantic relationship" because ideally your spouse also is a very close friend. But here I only see the "close friends" thing.
    I personally always have some trouble with the "childhood friends who end up together" concept that often pops up either as canon or as fanstuff, because the people I know who actually are childhood friends all consider each other family, often referring to each other as "my cousin" or "my brother/sister" because that's how it feels for them.
    Not saying childhood friends never end up together, just that the idea is overused in my opinion. If two characters are childhood friends, I'll see it as a reason for them NOT to end up together as a couple, unless they had that kind of relationship from the start or something.

    Anyways, I'm not sure what else there is to say. They're friends, they know each other very well and they care about each other a lot.
  • edited June 2010
    302 had at least two gay refrences about them. I'm sure its nothing more then a joke, but it makes you wonder...
  • edited June 2010
    Neelo wrote: »

    Seconded.
  • edited June 2010
    Ophenix wrote: »
    302 had at least two gay refrences about them. I'm sure its nothing more then a joke, but it makes you wonder...
    >:(
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited June 2010
    Ophenix wrote: »
    302 had at least two gay refrences about them. I'm sure its nothing more then a joke, but it makes you wonder...

    Sibyl's dating computer matched them in 105 too, but whatever.
  • edited June 2010
    Jake wrote: »
    Sibyl's dating computer matched them in 105 too, but whatever.

    Well, "that puts an end to the idea of a fair and just universe" (or whatever) made it sound like Sam wasn't thrilled.
    Also, I suspect she cheated and "matched" the only two people who had applied.
  • edited June 2010
    What references? Sam and Max barely show up in 302 :confused:

    And like Avistew said, people who are raised together from a young age are less likely to become sexually attracted to one another. It's called the Westermarck effect. Sam and Max have apparently known each other from the time they were very young, so I'm guessing it's just a bosom buddies kind of a thing. I don't think either of them has nearly enough emotional maturity to have a romantic or sexual relationship.

    I think that's one of the things that makes them so charming, in spite of the wanton violence. They act a lot like kids, and there's this quality that they're just "playing" at being detectives. Max is a psychopath, but he's also naive and super cheerful. Sam is a little more aware of how to deal with people, but he's still pretty self-centered himself. Sort of like how a small child can empathize with others, but not necessarily sympathize. They'll understand from your voice and body language that you're sad, but they might not be able to understand why.
  • edited June 2010
    Yeah, I see Sam and Max as quirky "bros-for-life" in canon. Their relationship isn't straight up brotherly -- though it largely is -- but at its strongest it wanders into "platonic soul mate" territory (or Heterosexual Life Partners, natch). In short, they're awesome, bizarro lifelong friends who embark on awesome, bizarro adventures together. And that is awesome.
    Lena_P wrote: »
    I think they're just both at the stage where they think girls are "icky". Sam just seems older because he likes pretending he's a growed up detective.

    I tend to think Sam is slightly past that point, but only slightly (e.g. he seems to show sporadic interest in girls, but doesn't really care for the most part). But otherwise yeah; mentally, he's a lot closer to those carefree, halcyon days of burning down treehouses and pulling argyle socks over cats' heads than most might suspect at first blush.
    jaden551 wrote: »
    sam and Max are not like that and besides, max likes girls(play 204)
    Zonino wrote: »
    Max's sleazy lothario persona lasted all of the 5 minutes you needed it to advance the plot. Of course he may still like them, but not as much as in 204.

    For the record, there's an optional dialogue you can select right after
    getting Mama Bosco to stop crushing on Max
    where Sam expresses unease with Max's new girl-liking persona. Max replies
    that he's pretty sure it'll wear off in about a month
    .
    Jake wrote: »
    Or good lifelong friends. See also: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz. It seems funny and it is, but it's not.

    I've been meaning to watch Hot Fuzz for ages, so I must thank you for indirectly reminding me to put it on my Netflix queue. :)
  • edited June 2010
    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
  • edited June 2010
    It's a while since I played it, but in 204 Momma Bosco says something along the lines of Sam and Max being romantically involved. The time machine lift starts saying "Timestream alt...", but Sam interrupts with an angry "Shut up! It's not like that!" If the timestream has to be altered for Sam and Max to be romantic partners, then I'd say it's pretty unlikely they're more than best friends.
  • edited June 2010
    Jake wrote: »
    Sibyl's dating computer matched them in 105 too, but whatever.
    That's the most convincing evidence against them being a romantic couple, I think. :D
  • edited June 2010
    ... Jake, did you say 105? 105, you're sure? Not 104?
  • edited June 2010
    It's 104, on 105 she was just a gametester, on 104 she had dating services.
  • edited June 2010
    Am I the only one that wishes that threads like this didn't exist?
  • edited June 2010
    What's sad is that this is one of the more engaging threads on this board right now. I miss the intellectual threads from when Tales was running.
  • edited June 2010
    What's sad is that this is one of the more engaging threads on this board right now. I miss the intellectual threads from when Tales was running.

    I agree. Strongly. That's actually half the reason that I want to see a second season in the near future, because I loved reading and participating in the discussion that went on. Sam & Max really doesn't provide much intelligent discussion.
  • edited June 2010
    You realise this thread is about their relationship, not about whether or not they're in love with each other? A lot of people seem to have not noticed the difference.

    Or do you just have a problem with analysis of fictional characters?
    Gman5852 wrote: »
    You must remember though while in the animated series, they were brothers I think(I remember they talked about buring their dads [line]briefcase[/line] beaver and burying it in the back yard.
    Max just said "dad's". He may have been referring to his dad. Speaking of that episode, the flashback where Max makes eggnog in Sam's grandfather's helmet seemed really out of character to me. I guess they were parodying something, but I thought Sam and Max were closer than that.

    I love Sam and Max's relationship and will probably have more to say later, but I wanted to say this stuff now.
  • edited June 2010
    The thread may have started out about their relationship, but it immediately derailed into the romantic definition of relationship with the second post and never went back, and everyone either didn't realize or was content to go with it until you pointed it out.

    I really like the dynamic they have between them. They sort of balance each other out into something that almost resembles sanity.
  • edited June 2010
    What? The majority of posts have been about how they're not a couple or even likely to ever have a romantic/sexual relationship. Yes we've been discussing how they need each other emotionally, but you do not draw strength and companionship from romantic relationships alone.
  • edited June 2010
    The thread may have started out about their relationship, but it immediately derailed into the romantic definition of relationship with the second post and never went back, and everyone either didn't realize or was content to go with it until you pointed it out.
    If you think that, you really weren't paying attention.

    I think it's kind of funny that most of the people who brought up the romantic definition did that to talk about how wrong that was. Why even mention it?
  • edited June 2010
    Yeah, I just checked back and only one person suggested they could be gay. So ... yeah.

    @Shwoo It seems like whenever two male characters are close and don't have a love interest people immediately assume they're gay. Women can be close friends no problem though. I think it's kind of based on that stereotype that all men are horny idiots who can barely contain their libido, so if they don't chase after chicks there must be something wrong with them. Women, on the other hand, never have sex drives unless they're tongue-tied in front of their "crush" or it's a story made by women for women. At which point they become horny idiots :p
  • edited June 2010
    Okay, apparently I implied that you were implying something and thus read the thread wrong when I went back and re-read it. But really, I'm not sure what other way to take this:
    Shwoo wrote: »
    You realise this thread is about their relationship, not about whether or not they're in love with each other? A lot of people seem to have not noticed the difference.

    So...I dunno. I guess I just missed your point entirely.
  • edited June 2010
    Just Like Bert & Earnie I bet they share the same bed (and fyi theres nothing wrong with being gay), Bugs bunny wasnt afraid to dress in drag .. I think Max should try it out lol
  • edited June 2010
    To be really really really REALLY fair, I cannot and I just cannot think of them as gay. Just as very VERY good friends, maybe because I can somewhat proyect some of my own problems in them, so, I guess I can understand their childish impulses. I like the Gay Jokes, but I like them just like they are: Jokes. Nothing else.

    And I guess Sam and Max fans do have sense of humor
This discussion has been closed.