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popculturebuffet · 9 months

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Sam and Max: Bad Day on the Moon Review (Comic and Cartoon, Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy freelance police. 54 years today a bunch of brave explorers took one small step for man one giant leap for mankind. And sometime in the 90's a dog and a lagomorph decided to take another step and also do some bloodshed on the side. Today we honor these brave men and whatever max is with a look at Bad Day on the Moon. Yes folks it's time for the moment i've been waiting for since this project began: a look at the comics that spawned the games and tv show. Sam and Max started as a comics trip Purcell did in high school and then college. Years later when a friend needed a second title for his comics imprint, he asked Steve for help and thus sam and max lept to the page, eventaully leaping to screen as Purcell started working at LucasArts. He made a total of four issues which were collected in "Surfin the Highway", a 90's collection that now goes for around 150 dollars.. as does the reprint from 2008 which Kev has, but unlike other times he's sent me stuff to review, he had.. shall we say ENTIRLEY VALID reasons for not sending me this. Why Skunkape hasn't tried to do a reprint yet I do'nt know, but i'm hoping they do and i'll be first in line. Thankfully the internet exists, so I could still get my greasy mits on these stories.

As for why this story in paticular out of all the comiic stories there's a few reasons: the first is later today (or tommorow if all dosen't go well) we'll be looking at "Bright side of the Moon" the duo's second trip to the moon, and it only felt right to do the first. The second is that it's the ONLY story out of the four (All of which I intend to cover at some point, don't fret), that got adapted for the cartoon. Yeah weirdly despite being an adaptation they only did this one story. Are the others too inapproriate or did they just have too much fun making up their own stories? did they just not fit?

Having only read this story I can't answer that. What I can tell you is that i'll also be looking at the adaptation, hence the comic and cartoon in the title. Since the plots are near identical with simply a few little tweaks in presentation here and there i'll primarly be following the comics version, for the nifty and easily accesiable visuals, while pointing out what the cartoon changes or how it presents certain scenes. Finally this story is notable for being the only one from any other medium refrenced in the telltale games, so to hearld the end of the first of that trilogy , it only felt right to get the story behind that picture in the office. Though honestly continuity wise.. I just consider all three versions in the same canon. There's nothing really contradicting it other than this adaptation and since bad day goes about the same way, we can just say the comic happened and the animation is just a pared down version of the actual events.

And yes Darla's absent, but she likely jsut went to college, is doing some goverment work or got tired of her adopted fathers weird shenanigans and while still sending them a postcard and a father's day card now and again, moved to michigan to work in peace. Maybe something for me to pick up on someday. For now let's see why this day's so bad and maybe if we laugh at it it'll go away.

The opening of BDOTM is the biggest change between mediums. In the cartoon it's a pretty simple but fun cold open: Sam and Max are chasing a perp, the perp turn out to be a rat named Sticky who stole a popsicle and this being sam and max they naturally come at him with a tank.

The Comics version is a tad more complicated, with them taking Sticky back to the ice cream man they stole some. Tragically it's not clint howard so when the rats show up instead of ending up in ice cream treats and woefully outclassed, the guy is HEAVILY implied t be dead. OUr heroes decide to nope out of this by threatning the rats with horrible experiments. The experiment gag is a little chuckle, but I really loved their pitch black interactions with the ice cream man afterwords.

I will NEVER get tired of these two bloodthirsty weirdos. NEVER. Point and click gameplay yes, this no. I can see why the intro was cut down as it's just not as funny without the corpse, much like Weekend and Bernies: The Animated Series, and honestly.. I prefer the shorter version. The Ice Cream Man jokes are funny.. but their only two panels. The protection racket rats, while neatly wearing various garbage (and my faviorite wearing a whole tomato), as their disguises , are just kinda there. And as much as the cartoon got away with including gay marriage, tones of pretty horrifying subtext and max really being just as deranged as ever, a dead body is asking a LOT. And the tank gag is simply punchier, quicker and acomplishes the same stuff. A nice extra the comic does have though is Flint Paper, the duo's neo noir roomate. It's essentially if Dirty Harry had an office next to IMP.. which given how he lived his life is not only probable but entirely canon now in my head. We get our ususual phone call shenanigans with Sam just.. standing on max this time, hilaroiusly, and we also get my second faviorite gag of the comics version

It's simple. Flint Paper also casually stabs a mailman. Geee I can't imagine why he never showed up in the cartoon.

From here the plot and MOST of the jokes become the same for both versions: Sam and max gather some junk food and assorted doodads, then take the desoto to the moon somehow.

And on the moon their protected by some really fun looking penny concious moon gear

Though eventually Max, being max just takes his off, Sam ends up following suit, and they can just breathe on the moon, likely because Purcell either didn't want to draw the penny concious moon gear the whole comic.. or he just thought it'd be hilarious to set up them needing it.. only for max to just take the bag off and be fine

We also get Max's brilliant theory as to WHY no one found this out sooner

Our heroes soon get picked up by a lunar lander driven by two mysterious greasers wearing a gorilla mask and a zebra mask

They appricate the lift but not so much the two punks holdling up a convience store.. said hold up does reveal something of vital importance

My sentiments exactly fellas. As you can see just from what bits i'm showing, the humor here is every bit as good, and it honestly surprises me: mostly indy comics take a second or two to really become what the franchise is known for, and while I can't vouch for the first story, this one still seems pretty early on yet is just as fully formed as the cartoon or telltale series. It's telling that the only changes needed to make this an episode.. were simply toning it down slightly. It's also my biggest guess as to why they didn't do more: it's not tha thtey couldn't it was just more fun to do weird shit that fit into the cartoons structure better than reuse the comics and have to deal with all the rigamorle needed to compress it into 11 minutes.

There's a minor joke change here or there, but like I said the plot is mostly the same. Since our heroes succesfuly foiled the robery, the shopkeep figures they might be able to help them and takes these two strange spacemen to their leader. We also get what is EASILY not only the best joke of both versions of this story, but one of my personal faviorites across all three versions of sam and max

It's a nice simple visual gag, puncuated perfectly by Max not letting go of it expsite it not affecting him in any way, that helps move the exposion along.. and honestly ends up overshadowing it. I also love how both versions have a great take on it. Here max never lets up about it but ti's done more casually till the explosion. In the cartoon the gag is longer, but every bit as good as they go through some beauitful moon vistas in the city this time including a people mover.. while max asks every few mintues for him to put his arms down. The ending is also diffrent in both versions: in contrast to the above the cartoon has max's shouting back the guy into a fountain.. where he Still dosen't put them down. I honestly prefer the cartoons version for it's pacing and ending, but the comic's is still plenty funny.

So as it turns out rat people have gone missing, so their big floating head in charge tasks our heroes with solving this crisis, but to do so they'll have to head to the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON!

With that our heroes head to the dark side.. and find something truly horrifying

Yeah i'm not fond of roaches on a good day. I will give the comic credit though for making them both bigger and more realistic and thus more horrifying. As for what their doing...

Again the cartoon tones it down.. it also left out the horrifying mouse bran muffin. Me I think the horror adds to the black humor of them just, lik ea human, casually using these poor beings, while still keeping the horror aspect. Naturally max gets them chased, but our heroes manage to escape.. oh wait no for once only SAM does, max gets vaporized but someone managed to latch his soul onto sam who makes him into a nifty handpuppet.

Yeah that's the trouble with reviewing sam and max.. sometimes all ic an say is that's funny or in this case

One of the only diffrences left between the two narratives is that the big head comes to pick sam up in a limo in the cartoon and they simply go back to the castle he's at in the original. The rats are able to reconstitute max, who we find out is also considred more of a mineral, and Sam already has a solutoin to the roach problem.

So cut to... the roaches being celebrated with a parade on earth as they'll help with earth's garbage, in echange for leaving those rats behind, still getting their creature comforts. We also find out it wawasn't flint who stabbed the mailman but a roach who didn't want them going to the moon because he's a xenophobic little shit. Our heroes thwart him, Sam sings a horrible tune and max either joins in or merficully ends our suffering depending on the medium. Happy day. Bad Day on the Moon is a pretty good sam and max tale. The only real place it lacks polish is the ending which just kinda.. happens and in the comic loops the roach in because. It has probablyt he thinest plot of any of these. What makes it work so well though is the barrage of great jokes. THe plots one of the weaker sam and max plots i've seen but jokewise this comic has so many bangers i'ts hard to keep track and easy to forgive the weak third act when you have greatness like "You can put your hands down now". All in all a solid recommendation Next Time on Sam and Max: I'll be wrapping up save the world as our heroes have ot head back to the moon, alice, to save the world from Hugh Bliss and his space cult. Stay tuned and thanks for reading

#sam and max #sam x max #bad day on the moon #sam and max freelance police #rats #the moon #roaches #comics

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heloflor · 2 years

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My headcanons for a Sam and Max timeline after seeing every entry of the franchise :

- Order in which the events take place, from oldest to most recent : Most of the comics, with “The Adventurers” being the oldest events – Hit the Road – This time it’s Virtual – “The Big Sleep” Comic – The Telltale trilogy + Poker Night – “Night of the Gilded Heron-Shark” Comic – “Beast From the Cereal Aisle” Comic – The Cartoon – “The Damned Don’t Dance” Comic (the Christmas one with the duo having a house and inviting both their families)

- From a chronological standpoint :

The comics take place in the spawn of almost a decade (more like 8 years of so)

Hit the Road happens around 1-2 years after the last comic (and takes place in the spawn of one day)

“This time it’s Virtual” takes place a few months after “Hit the Road” (like 7-8 months later) and its events take one day

“The Big Sleep” happens 3 years after the vr game, and the Telltale games one year after “The Big Sleep” (so there’s 4 years between vr and Telltale)

There’s a 3 months gap maximum between the ending the “The Devil’s Playhouse” and the Poker Night games

Both Poker Night games happen around the same time (only a few weeks apart maximum)

The Mack Salmon and Cereal Aisle comics take place very close to the cartoon. You could also imagine the comics taking place during the cartoon, in-between two episodes (the second comic at least). The Christmas comic tho might take place a few years after the cartoon, since the way they celebrate Christmas is different from what we see in the cartoon and feels more logical to happen afterwards since the duo have a house

There’s a time gap of around 9 years between the Poker Night games and the cartoon

Not sure how long it would take for the events of the cartoon to take place. In a way, I kinda see it as a “timeless/happily ever after” sort of thing where it doesn’t really matter how long it lasts, since “there’s nothing afterwards” so to speak (the vibe of the last episode especially doesn’t help with this feeling)

- From a “time period” standpoint (note that this part is very much flawed and yes I know there’s no way Granny Ruth would be alive and kicking in the cartoon with this timeline, especially considering that Sameth, her theorized-to-be dad here, died in 1901, meaning she was born maximum in 1902. But tbh her being in such good shape in canon can also be questioned) :

The comics happen from the mid-to-late 80s to the mid 90s, with Sam and Max going from being in their mid-to-late-20s to their mid-30s

“Hit the Road” and “This time it’s Virtual” take place in the late 90s, with Sam and Max in their mid-to-late-30s

Telltale takes place in the early 2000s, with Sam and Max in their late-30s/early-40s

The Cartoon takes place in the early 2010s, with Sam and Max in their late-40s/early-50s

- Sam and Max’s relationship status : Start off as friends for most of the comics, start dating in the last few – get engaged before “Hit the Road” and are still fiancés in “This time it’s Virtual” – Get married during the gap between the vr game and “The Big Sleep” – are a married couple for Telltale and the Cartoon + the last few comics

Now obviously this is a very flawed timeline overall and not everything perfectly fits together, but then again IIRC Purcell once said he didn’t care about continuity and just puts the duo in situations he finds funny (I think it’s from an interview on the official Sam and Max site ?). So doing a perfect timeline is pretty much impossible anyways.

A few more details under the cut, most notably an explanation of the comics’ order + an explanation of the choice to have the Cartoon as last and the vr game before Telltale (long post ahead).

- The order of the comics (note that I am only including the comics from the “Surfin’ the Highway” compilation, the comic “The big Sleep” and the unfinished “Max gets shot” comic, which I assume to end with Max being brought back somehow) :

The Adventurers are the first events due to Sam and Max not feeling as close as they do in other comics + that one Atlantis comic with Sam saying “I never dated within my gender” (or something along those lines). And while those comics are mostly AUs, you could still imagine that at some point in their career, they went onto crazy adventures that were pretty similar to those. Them being the first adventures could also work with the idea of them being younger, in their “prime”, or at a time when they enjoyed the adventure and the violence that came with it more than the detective work.

A few comics like the unnamed Wester and Pirate ones would also happen around the time of The Adventurers. Same for “Fair Wind to Java”. Basically every comic that involves the duo travelling outside of New-York/a town-like environment.

“Kids Take Over” could be their last adventure before they focus more on detective work in New York itself, since in that comic they were apparently resting after a big event, which feels more related to crazy events from The Adventurers (yes I know every adventure they have is crazy, but you still get my point).

Btw the events of all those comics would take the most time. Like, taking the idea of the comics happening in the span of 8 years, all those events would take a good 5-6 years out of them.

All of the few “oneshot” comics (“Our Bewildering Universe”, “Terror on the Tanbark”, “Pondering of the Ages”, “Skeptical Investigators”, the unnamed animals TV show comics, the unnamed “the duo dies and temporarily goes to heaven” comic, etc) could take place sometime after those previous stories

The unfinished comic with Max getting shot is next on the list and is the moment Sam realizes his feelings for Max, leading the duo to start dating once Max is brought back (yes “Sam realizes how much Max means to him after seeing him get shot” is 100% taken from that one post theorizing that the comics, cartoon and games take place in a different universe/timeline and how each have a different version of their relationship. While not following the theory, I’m shamelessly taking the idea of what this death led Sam to realize about himself)

The remaining early comics (“Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple”, “Night of the Cringing Wildebeest”, “On the Road” trilogy, “Bad Day on the Moon”) all take place afterwards and during the 2-3 remaining years, with Sam and Max being boyfriends. This is due to them being closer in those comics, especially regarding Sam being extra touchy towards Max

While “Bad Day on the Moon” also happens in the cartoon, the fact that it keeps getting referenced in each entry of the franchise leads me to believe that, if only one version of those events happened, it would be the comic version (basically the cartoon version is “non-canon” to this timeline)

As said previously, “The Big Sleep” takes place a year before the Telltale games due to the comic apparently being made in relation to those games (you can kinda see it form the way Max is drawn, looking a lot more like his 3D model)

“Night of the Gilded Heron-Shark”, “Beast From the Cereal Aisle”, “The Damned don’t Dance” and an unnamed Halloween comic all take place around the time of the cartoon.

“Beast From the Cereal Aisle” is due to the shop being from the cartoon on top of Max having some powers with his ability to talk to the dead. Plus you can see Max help a kid at the end of the comic, showing the baby fever he displays in Telltale and the cartoon.

The Christmas and Halloween comics are due to the duo living in a house. Special mention to the Christmas one for having them celebrate the holidays with their families together, giving off one of the biggest “married couple” moments of the franchise.

“Night of the Gilded Heron-Shark” is due to having Mack Salmond and the Rubber Pants Commandos, which we only see again in the cartoon. Although, this comic also has Flint Paper mentioned at the beginning despite him being absent from the cartoon, but I’m choosing to disregard it. Thing is, keeping the theory of the cartoon being last, it’s weird for Mack Salmond to take his first revenge in this comic and then wait years only to do a second and third one barely a few months apart. There’s also the question of the Rubber Pants Commando ageing, but I can see them being different babies in the cartoon. So yeah, overall, I’m choosing to disregard the Flint “cameo” to make Mack Salmond feel more consistent.

- Why the Cartoon is in last : This is a pretty popular theory from what I’ve seen so you won’t learn anything new here. Basically, it’s due to how drastically different things are in the cartoon compared to the rest.

The office feels like a completely new building, from the spinning Max outside to the basement of Solitude to even small things like Max missing his desk. Also the episode “Big Trouble at the Earth’s Core” starts with them inspecting something that’s been at the back of their fridge “since we moved in” which makes it sound like they haven’t been in their office or house for that long (I’d say house since it’s something they found behind a fridge)

Flint Paper, a staple of the franchise, is missing in this entry and isn’t even mentioned once, which really gives off that vibe of “they moved to a different building”

The Geek is a character that never shows up or is even mentioned in other entries. And since she’s young, you can imagine she was either unborn or a younger child during the rest of the franchise, instead of growing up and just never having any contact with the duo if you imagine the cartoon taking place earlier

The Telltale characters being missing could again be due to them moving (obviously the true reason is that they didn’t exist back then, but since Flint did and doesn’t show up here, the excuse works)

Sam and Max feel more mature and “mellowed out”, making them feel older thus making the cartoon look like it takes place later. You especially get Sam who’s really good with kids compared to his Telltale version, and Max being a lot more emotional/open to his emotions as if previous events led him to open up

“That Darn Gator” and “The Glazed McGuffin Affair” show Sam and Max living in a house (the gator episode especially), while every other entry imply that they live in some kind of apartment adjacent to their office (or in the office itself). Them living in a house feels like a “step up”, making it seem like it happened after the rest

Likewise, while the nature of their relationship is often debated, most people tend to agree that Sam and Max are a canon couple in the cartoon, so it’s yet another “step up”

The Statue of Liberty having her head back makes sense given how it’s such an important monument, so of course it would be fixed. It especially works with the idea of the cartoon taking place almost a decade after Telltale

Some moments are better/angstier if you imagine them taking place after Telltale, like Max freaking out about the wooden puppet in “It’s Dangly Deever Time”, and especially Sam losing his shit in “Max’s Big Day” when thinking Max’s brain was tampered with

The “break-up” as they literally call it that we see in the last episode could take place around the time of the comics or even between the comics and “Hit the Road”. Notice how, in this scene, they seemingly live in the office instead of their house, they celebrate Christmas in NY instead of Ruth’s place, and we don’t get to see the giant spinning Max outside. Plus the whole episode is about counting past events

While the cartoon very obviously takes place in the 90s, we know that Sam and Max aren’t the biggest when it comes to technology, so it works for them to live a life in the 2010s without using cellphones, computers or internet despite those existing. Heck the vr game confirms this

- Why have “This time it’s Virtual” before Telltale :

The dynamic between Sam and Max is more akin to how they act in the Comics and “Hit the Road” (basically they have a more platonic vibe, while the Cartoon and Telltale have a much more romantic vibe to them, tho “Hit the Road” definitely feels in-between platonic and romantic especially in regards to a few dialogues related to the tunnel of love)

From what I’ve seen, most references are related to the comics or “Hit the Road”. Then again I didn’t play it myself and the youtube playthroughs don’t have all the dialogues or get stuck in that situation of “making a specific action moves the dialogue along before the previous one was over” (which is an issue the game seems to heavily suffer from). So I might have missed some obvious references

One of the cartoon references is them having Glazed McGuffins in their office, which could be read as “this food has existed for years and they’ve always been fond of it” so it works

Likewise, the use of some Telltale music, most notably the one from Jurgen’s party, could be seen as “this song already existed before the events of S2”. That being said Jurgen is apparently all about trends but then again the “emo gothic” style he went with in S2 could have a preference for older music (you can tell I’m trying to bullshit my way through here)

One Telltale reference is apparently a mention of a giant devil Max attacking the city 11 years ago. I’m going to be an asshole here and go “well we’ve seen Max as a devil a handful of times in Purcell’s art, like in Poker Night 1 with the Poker table, so who’s to say that devil Max = Cthulhu Max ?” Same for the lines about Max being possessed “again” or becoming a giant “again”, Telltale is probably not the first and only time

There’s also a reference with Max saying that the dead versions from the escape room are here due to events related to cloning and time travel. That one is actually something that can’t be rebutted since it directly implies that the events of the Telltale trilogy happened. But I’m still choosing to disregard it because fuck it, I want this game to take place before Telltale and it’s not like I’m trying to make a perfectly flawless timeline anyways since that’s an impossible task ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That being said, if you really want an excuse as to why invalidate this reference, there’s the fact that this reference implies it’s possible for Max to clone himself, which kinda defeats the whole point of the 305 ending and why it’s such a tragic ending

Another reference is Bosco’s, which is a place we see in both “Hit the Road” and Telltale, and the placement of the shop is the same in all three versions. Though, while the version we see here is very much based on the Telltale version, I’m again going to turn a blind eye to it. Heck, given how the street is kinda cheap according to 302, you could always imagine that Bosco moved away at some point in hopes to find a better place but then struggled to make money so he came back. Note that I have this theory due to how at first I thought Bosco’s was a bit further away down the street in Telltale compared to the other two versions, meaning the idea of him leaving and coming back renting a different building worked. Buuut in reality Bosco’s right next to Sam and Max’s place in Telltale so that doesn’t work as well. Still a theory I could go with tho

On that note, Bosco’s is the only building from Telltale that we see (again from what I’ve seen, I could be wrong). As a result, and despite the Telltale inspiration for how its outside looks, it feels more like a “Hit the Road” reference. Although “Hit the Road” does have some beta version of Stinky’s Dinner in the background as well that we don’t get to see here

Obviously the game is said to take place in 2021 but in case you haven’t noticed yet I decided to completely disregard the time period each entry was made in for the sake of my timeline so that’s no concern here X)

I like to headcanon that the office was either partly or completely destroyed after “The Devil’s Playhouse” leading to Sam and Max moving to the office we see in the cartoon. With that in mind, it doesn’t make sense for the vr office to be the same as the Telltale one if “Virtual” takes place after Telltale.

Likewise, Sam and Max are known to collect stuff from each mission and their Telltale office is littered with trinkets. The office in “This time it’s Virtual” is completely devoid of those items, as if taking place before Telltale (regarding the cartoon, them changing offices explains why the stuff isn’t here anymore, plus they have a house now to store things)

Regarding Sam dating around quite a lot in this game, I tend to headcanon both Sam and Max as polyamorous and in an open relationship with hierarchical polyamory (the headcanon comes from noticing how much of a flirt Telltale Max is, and more specifically the fact that he seems to be in love with Sam, Flint Paper and Hugh Bliss all at the same time; also the “Mr.S” dialogue with Flint in 301 fits perfectly with the open relationship headcanon). So with them being engaged in my headcanons, you could imagine that either A. Sam is getting nervous about settling down and Max is fine with him dating around despite the wedding coming or B. They’re currently having a break for one reason or another and Sam is dealing with it by seeing other people (notice how every single dialogue about Sam’s love life is brought up by Max, as if it bothered him).

Tbh I don’t really like either option due to both feeling like a pretty unhealthy way to navigate an open relationship. And that’s coming from someone who do like the idea of them struggling with their polyamory due to some jealousy they can’t quite get rid of (Max looking bothered in this game and Sam being jealous of Max’s crush on Hugh Bliss), but also the fact that a polycule would be best suited for them (taking the headcanon of them both liking Flint, there's no jealousy here) but the people they’re into are either not both their types (especially if you imagine Sam bringing women home) or those people wouldn’t fall in love or wish to fall in love with both. But despite liking this idea, what I’m describing here for “Virtual” feels too shitty of a thing to do, including Max not speaking up about his feelings.

(Regarding the jealousy, note that I don’t view Sam and Max as “too close” or even codependent. Sam was shown to be able to go on without Max, he’s just very unhappy which makes sense given he loves Max. As for Max, he’s hinted to be depressive and Sam may or may not be his only support system, so of course he would shut down without him. That can also explain why alternate!Max in S3 was able to go on, since in Telltale they have a few friends who saw what happened + Sam’s family likely showed up after hearing Sam died, so Max had people to support him. Then again I’m aroace so take what I say about relationships with a grain of salt)

In regards to that last point : Honestly, were it not for the huge “Hit the Road” references, I would have placed the vr game right after the comics in my timeline, before “Hit the Road”. Seriously the only reason why I headcanon them as engaged in “Virtual” is due to their romantic connotation in “Hit the Road” making me view them as an engaged couple in that game. So if “Virtual” takes place afterwards, then they need to be a couple in it

(“Virtual” in general is a bit of a black sheep in my eyes. Like, just the idea of Sam and Max recruiting someone and training them feels very off coming from them, not helped by that one interview Purcell did about the cartoon in which he says he wanted the Geek to have as little presence as possible because the heart of the show was the main duo. Also the fact that the writers are being cowards about Sam and Max being so explicitly queer in past entries annoys me a lot, especially since most people who never knew the franchise before will likely assume Sam is straight instead of bi/pan/omni with how the game only mentions women’s names when talking about his dates. As for Max, while you have the corndog joke hinting at his attraction for men, I’ve seen a bunch of gameplays of the office on youtube and most people miss that line by talking over it or not paying attention…)

- About the longevity chosen for some entries + time in-between :

First of all, note that I’m trying to make a timeline that includes most of the time-periods they had adventures in (late 80s, all of the 90s, early 2000s) hence why some parts might drag for a while, especially in regards to their relationship

“The Adventurers” take so many years due to them traveling all around the world

The fact that the gap between the comics and “Hit the Road”, then between that game and “Virtual” are rather short is due to the duo’s personalities being rather close in those three entries, though they feel a bit “softer” in “Virtual” (tbh they don’t get to do much in that game so it’s a bit hard to get a full reading of them, but it’s worth noticing they use weapons a lot and Max tries to blow us up when we first show up at the office)

It does feel like they take a long time before getting married considering they’ve known each other their whole lives, but between them being a gay couple (same-sex marriage being illegal in the 90s) and not having that much money, the idea of them dating for several years and having a long engagement does kinda works, since they have a lot to figure out

There’s a larger gap between “Virtual” and Telltale due to the personalities changing a bit and the street being different. Plus they’re not all lovey-dovey in Telltale so it works better with the thought of them being married for a few years instead of newlyweds, unlike “Hit the Road” in which the dialogues related to the tunnel of love + the 8-ball one sell the idea of them being fiancés (and them being mushier in the cartoon works with them getting older and settling down)

The gap between “The Big Sleep” and Telltale is due to the feeling that they need some time to settle down back home after this comic, on top of Sam still having brain damage from what happened to him and needing time to recover

The reason why so little time is put between Telltale and Poker night is due to my headcanon that alternate!Max has psychic powers but also has the brain tumor. And after a few months messing around with his powers, Mama Bosco reminds him that his life is on the line, so Max gets operated to remove the tumor, making him lose the ability to use his powers without an external/summoning source (if anybody’s curious you can send me an ask and I’ll explain how I view his psychic powers in better detail). And since Max has his powers in Poker Night, it needs to happen rather soon after the trilogy. Plus, Max in Poker Night 2 is only here because Sam is worried about the “chosen one” situations, the Gift being one of those situations

The almost-decade long gap between Telltale and the cartoon is mostly due to how different the cartoon is compared to this game, both in setting and characters, including Sam and Max being more mature and open emotionally. I feel like the transition works better if you imagine a long time has passed. Plus they feel in their 50s in the cartoon and I need an excuse for them to go from early 40s in Telltale to early 50s here

- A word about their relationship : I’m going with the headcanon/theory that the two got engaged, had an official ceremony but Sam got shot while waiting at the altar. And after the injury was healed, they decided to have a second more private wedding and afterwards decided to keep their relationship on the low in fear of what their enemies would try, hence why they keep insisting in Telltale that they’re just friends.

And regarding the two ceremonies, the first one used the costumes from “Hit the Road” which are pretty formal, while for the second wedding, which we see in the cartoon, they went with something more comfortable and practical, hence Sam’s dress seemingly not having several layers (unlike Max’s dress) and Max not wearing pants.

As for who knows about their relationship (outside of their respective families), Flint Paper would be the only one to be explicitly told since he knew the duo before the failed ceremony (and was likely Sam’s best man in said first ceremony). For other characters, either they would deduce it at some point (Geek, Bosco according to the Machinima shorts, Sybil in S1, Superball given he works with Max, Hugh Bliss after realizing Max had a thing for him which might be why Sam hated him, Skun-ka’pe after having readings of Max’s brain in 303 + Max possibly letting it slip accidentally, Papierwaite after seeing how Sam acted during the week leading up to 305, Mama Bosco eventually) or they wouldn’t realize it/don’t care enough about the duo to figure it out (most other villains, Harry Moleman, pretty much every character from “Hit the Road” etc)

Little fun fact : at first I pictured them getting married in Canada “because it’s legal here”. But after thinking more about trans headcanons, especially the idea of Max being transmasc and how it could work (I absolutely adore the idea of both being trans but for Sam there’s one little thing about dog anatomy that makes me want to make him cis), I ended up going with “Max completely forgot to change his gender on his ID so technically speaking a marriage between them would be considered as straight”. That being said, having Max’s gender be changed afterwards would be a mess, and tbh I kinda like the idea of him eventually making himself a fake ID because the law wasn’t going to allow him to change his gender and remain married.

And if you’re asking about him legally changing his name : since humans can’t tell the gender of most domestic animals right after birth, I like to imagine it’s the same for the animals themselves. As a result, both Sam and Max have a “man” and “woman” names that the adults in their lives would use interchangeably for the first few months of their lives (in my headcanon, Samuel/Samantha for Sam and Maxwell/Madeline for Max. Yeah I’m not the most original person when it comes to names…). And for legal documents, it works the same as someone having a second or even third name. It’s a name written on their ID that they just never use, tho I could see Max requesting for his “man” name to come first when having to renew it at some point (possibly as a teen depending how it works in the US)

Note that some animals could have a more gender-neutral name, either as a “boy/girl” name or their parents wanted the kid to have a third name. Also, a trans and/or NB animal can very well choose to have another name that has nothing to do with their birth names.

EDIT : Turns out I have more shit to say about this timeline

- The order of the entries can explain the slight shift in personality the duo has. In the comics and “Hit the Road”, they’re young so act more recklessly, endangering whoever’s on their way without a care in the world. In Telltale they’re middle aged so they’re starting to calm down, using their words instead to be douchebags. And in the Cartoon they’re older and wiser/calmer.

Don’t get me wrong, in all versions the duo loves random violence and are very much dangerous, but there’s definitely a slight difference in how each version approaches those character traits.

This could also explain Sam starting to get insecure about his weight in “Virtual” and especially in Telltale, as he’s nearing his 40s and is starting to feel old, on top of weight starting to get harder to drop. But by the time of the Cartoon he grew more secure of his looks, hence why he doesn’t hold back on food.

- By the logic of this timeline, Sam and Max were born in the early 60s, most likely between 1961 and 1965. And I think those dates might fit with the Telltale continuity ? (in 301 Sam is said to be “pushing 40 in dog years” and in 204 we learn the 60s was 40 years ago)

- The Machinima shorts take place during the events of Telltale, though not all of them might take place during S1. For example, the one with Max using telekinesis to levitate a cup could take place during the year between S2 and S3 (again, I have some headcanons about Max’s psychic powers in relation to this). Same for all the presidential ones that could happen throughout the first two seasons.

- Given that the adventuring ending of “Devil’s Playhouse” is seemingly the canon ending based on Poker Night 2, here’s a few theories as to what might’ve happened to the time-travelling elevator between Telltale and the Cartoon :

1. They lost it while back at their time-period to rest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ After all, it only takes someone getting inside it or hitting it a bit too hard for the elevator to leave its current position. And we know Sam and Max aren’t the most cautious people.

2. They fucked up time very badly so they decided to retire using it. Could also explain why they talk about being cautious in “A Glitch in Time”, tho they barely respect what they’re saying in this episode.

3. The Mariachi found them and took the elevator back.

4. They went through many adventures, possibly to the same scope as the ones they lived back in the “Adventurers” comics (it does fit with them being in their 40s, basically having a mid-life crisis and wanting to feel young again), before eventually deciding to settle down in their original time-period and let go of those adventures. Basically that whole “they went on crazy adventures before deciding to stay in town solving crimes” from when I was describing the comics, but happening a second time 20 years later.

5. They don’t actually go that often through time, and in the few years between Telltale and the Cartoon spent most missions in their own time period. As a result, they still have the elevator lying around somewhere in the basement of Solitude. Or they did go through many adventures but somehow hadn’t fucked up to the point of having to give up the elevator so they still have it. I’d be more inclined to go with that theory out of the five due to the Cartoon episode “The Tell Tale Tail” which takes place in the past, so you could imagine they used the elevator to go there.

Another thing that’s worth pointing out, tho I’m not the biggest fan of the idea, is that the Cartoon very much takes place in the 90s. So one could imagine that they traveled back to this time-period and either lost the elevator or decided to settle down here. This could also explain why nobody they know from Telltale is around, including Flint Paper if you imagine the duo trying to make sure not to walk onto their past selves. That last part could also be why they only met the Geek at that point in time.

But again, I’m not a big fan of this idea and would rather go with them having “old” technology because they don’t want to bother adapting to new tech, as we see in “Virtual”.

- Last minute addition : So I can’t help but headcanon Sam and Max as being born in 1963 for some reason and one thing led to another so here’s my timeline with actual precise years :

1981 : Sam and Max become adults, with Sam going to college and both trying to find a detective job (could also be the time when Max was a sex worker) ; end up getting hired by the Commissioner in 1987

1987 – 1992 : the Adventurers comics

End of 1992 – 1995 : the rest of the comics, with Sam and Max starting to date in 1993 ; the breakup flashback we see in the last episode of the cartoon is set during winter 1993

1996 : Hit the Road ; got engaged a few months before this game

1997 : This Time it’s Virtual ; also the year they get married

(basically they get engaged early-96, Hit the Road is mid-96, Virtual is 7-8 months later so early-97, and the marriage is mid-97)

2000 : The Big Sleep comic

2001 – 2002 : Save the World (in 106, the page of their calendar is on February, so the game takes place accross two years)

2003 : Beyond Time and Space (they keep saying it’s been a year and their calendar in 201 is on February again, so this checks out, even though the date of 201 is weird af what with the whole Christmas thing)

2004 : The Devil’s Playhouse (Sybil is 13 months pregnant, so it’s been minimum a year)

2013 : The events of the Cartoon start

Btw something I keep forgetting to do so I’m mostly writing this in case I lose the dates and have to refer to this post for it : Sam and Max get one year older in 204 due to them being stuck in the past and having to re-live S1.

#Sam and Max #SamandMax #Sam and Max Freelance Police #Freelance Husbands #headcanons #not gonna tag all the games 'cause I'm too lazy and doesn't want to clutter the tags #Flor talks #long post #VERY long post #that post was actually a lot of fun to do !#yeah the timeline is incredibly imperfect but I like having stuff from a same franchise in order #and it was the most cohesive timeline considering my headcanons #Imma post this now because if I keep it for too long I'm just gonna keep changing stuff and never post it...#hoping putting the ideas as a list make it easier to read...

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