Max Goof

Max Goof is the son of Goofy. He originated from the 1950s Goofy shorts as Goofy Junior, first appearing in the 1951 short Fathers Are People, and remained a regular in subsequent Goofy shorts of that era. His modern iteration, redesigned and renamed "Max Goof", first appeared in the 1992 animated TV series Goof Troop. Since then, Max has appeared in several features, usually alongside Goofy.

Background
Max is unusual in that he is Goofy's son, as opposed to a nephew akin to Huey, Dewey, and Louie's relationship with Donald, as well as a plethora of famous cartoon characters, Disney or otherwise. Some Goofy cartoons during his Everyman years depicted Goofy as being a father to a red-nosed Goofy Junior. Many fans believe that this character served as the inspiration for Max. In the poster for cartoons with Goofy Junior, Junior would look exactly like Max in his Goof Troop era.

One notable aspect is that Max has appreciatively aged, in a fashion, during the course of his appearances, which is uncommon among most characters in the Mickey Mouse franchise. At the time of his introduction, he was around 11 years old but is usually presented as a teenager/young adult in his later appearances.

One of Max Goof's most notable traits in the Disney franchise is that not only is he an only child in a single-parent family, but that said parent is a single father. The identity and fate of Max's mother have never been divulged, as the very subject of her was never brought up at all in Goof Troop or any of its related media. This distinct lack of official information about her has led to much speculation and debate among fans as to whom she may have been and what might have happened to her.

Furthermore, there is a widespread misconception that Goofy, in an episode of Goof Troop, once declared to Max that his mother is "up there amongst the stars," implying her to be deceased and Goofy himself to be a widower. However, this statement was never actually given in any episode of the show, having been likely born out of fan theories and hearsay. Officially, when asked about Max's mother, Disney Guest Services once declared there to be "no definitive answer" as "who Max's mother is and where "Mrs. Goofy" went", leaving her fate to ultimately remain an unsolved mystery.

Personality
His personality has evolved as the character has aged. As a child, he is shown to be very close to his father. He spent most of his time tagging along with Goofy during his father's shenanigans. However, as he grows, he becomes embarrassed by his father's antics. In the Goof Troop show, there were times he would get suckered in by Pete and his get-rich-quick schemes, only to come around towards the end. It seemed, personality wise, that P.J. was more like Goofy at times, while Max seemed more like Pete. Max has been in love with Roxanne and Mona.

He is often told that he is very much like his father, and his response is always along the lines of "Please don't say that." or "I wish you didn't say that." In spite of the denial, Max's mannerisms echo Goofy's at times including Goofy's laugh and clumsiness.

As a teenager and young adult, Max is portrayed as calm, cool, and struggles to keep his father's goofiness as far away from him as possible. He is often seen trying to impress a love interest, most notably Roxanne.

Goofy Junior
Goofy Junior is a character from a series of Goofy cartoons from the 1950s. He is portrayed in these cartoons as the son of Goofy, and is widely believed to be the inspiration for (or even the same character as) Max Goof. Junior made his debut during Goofy's "Everyman" years. Unlike Max, Junior's mother has been shown, though only from behind. He appears to be a fairly typical boy of the time period and is usually seen spending time with his dad. He is usually referred to by his father simply as "Junior", but at one point was referred to as George by his father in "Father's Day Off".

Junior debuted in the cartoon Fathers Are People. This cartoon shows Junior being born, and Goofy's attempts to cope with fatherhood. In "Father's Lion" Goofy takes his son to the woods to teach Junior the finer points of camping. Unknown to either of them, they are followed by a mountain lion.

In "Father's Day Off", Goofy minds both his son and the household chores while his wife is in town. In "Father's Weekend" Goofy tries to enjoy a relaxing weekend at home. However, this doesn't happen as he as promised to take Junior to the beach. Junior's final classic appearance was in "Aquamania". After buying a boat, Goofy takes Junior onto the ocean to teach him about seamanship, and skiing. Goofy inadvertently enters a water skiing competition, while Junior drives the boat.

Goofy Junior surprisingly made cameo appearances a few decades later in the Mickey Mouse Works cartoons: "How to Be a Baseball Fan" where he pops up a couple of times to snatch the baseball from Goofy's hand and yell out "yoink!"; and "Pit Crew" where he was pedaling by on his bicycle when Pete said, "Ooh, I'm gonna pinch their heads off!"

Goof Troop
The modern iteration of Max Goof first appeared in Goof Troop, where he is 11½ years old. At the beginning of the show, he moves with his father from a trailer park to Goofy's hometown of Spoonerville. He and Goofy live right next door to Pete, and his family. Despite Pete's relationship with Goofy being rather antagonistic, Max almost instantly becomes best friends with Pete's more genial son, P.J.

At school, Max is somewhere in the middle of the popularity scale, becoming something of a Junior High School hustler, with his usual plans being for get-popular-quick schemes. He frequently uses P.J. as his muscle but is just as willing to help a stranger as he is his best friend. He often engineers plans to get things done the easy way, although this often backfires.

Almost as much of the show revolves around Max's antics as well as his relationship with his father Goofy. Though he is sometimes embarrassed by Goofy's antics, he is still very close to his father. In some ways, Max is comparable to Pete, as Max is often involved in cunning schemes to get away with things or do something the easy way.

A Goofy Movie
By the time of A Goofy Movie, Max has grown into a high school-aged teenager who is very embarrassed by Goofy, with his greatest fear being that he will end up becoming like his father. He seems to be especially ashamed of his laugh, which is exactly like Goofy's.

The film features Max's love interest, Roxanne, and his attempts to impress her. Alongside P.J. and another friend, Bobby, he is able to put on a concert in the school auditorium, meant to be a way of shedding his "Goof" image. However, he is caught by the principal. While awaiting punishment, Roxanne comes by to talk to him, and he is able to ask her to the end of school year party. When she says yes, his excited antics lead the principal to call Goofy. The angry principal gives the false impression that Max is a juvenile delinquent. The worried Goofy decides to take Max on a father-son fishing trip, forcing Max to cancel on Roxanne. In order to impress her, he lies and says that he is going to see the rock star Powerline in Los Angeles, and that he will be on stage with him for the final number.

The rest of the film revolves around Goofy's attempts to bond with Max during the trip. At one point, unknown to Goofy, a distraught Max changes the route on the map to lead to California. Coincidentally, Goofy hands over navigating duties to Max. With more freedom, Goofy and Max bond, but their relationship is stunted when Goofy discovers that Max changed the map route. Their arguing leads to their car falling into a river. However, the two begin to make up and have a frank discussion over recent events. Max finally tells Goofy about his crush on Roxanne, and how he lied. Goofy begins to understand that Max is growing up, and admits that it happened so fast that he missed it. Goofy offers to help Max get on stage. Max shrugs off the offer but is unable to elaborate as the car is about to head over a waterfall. Max is able to get to safety, and is able to save Goofy from death using a fishing technique that Goofy taught him, called "The Perfect Cast".

The two somehow manage to make it to Los Angeles and are able to sneak on stage with Powerline where they dance with the latter after he was impressed by their moves.

When they return home, Max goes to Roxanne and apologizes for lying, as he just wanted her to like him. To his shock, Roxanne reveals that she had already liked him, because of his unusual laugh. Roxanne forgives Max's lie as it was in the right place and offers to go out with him that night. However, Max already has plans to spend time with Goofy, to which she is skeptical until he confirms it. Instead, he arranges to go out with her the next day. Roxanne accepts and offers to shake hands to make it a deal, but Max instead kisses her, causing them both to laugh. The car explodes due to the damage sustained from the waterfall, causing Goofy to fall right through Roxanne's roof.

Max then takes the opportunity to introduce Roxanne to Goofy, who at that moment had fallen through the roof as a result of their car exploding.

The Spirit of Mickey
In this 1998 VHS compilation of classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, Max briefly appears during the short segment that comes between the presentation of Mickey and the Seal and Mickey's Trailer. Stock footage from A Goofy Movie is used in this special for Max, with new dialogue (recorded by Jeannie Elias) dubbed over the footage to make him sound younger than he was in A Goofy Movie, likely setting this chronologically before that film but after Max's final appearance in Goof Troop.

While at an event hosted by Mickey Mouse and his friends, at which some of Mickey's favorite cartoons are shown to an audience of Orphans, Goofy and Max have a brief conversation backstage in which Goofy asks, "Hey Maxie, have I told you about, uh, Mickey and me on the open road?" When Max wearily replies "Uh huh, only about a hundred times," Goofy then cheerfully asks, "Well then, how 'bout a hundred and one?!" to introduce the next cartoon (Mickey's Trailer) much Max's dismay: "Aww, Dad."

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
In the direct-to-video film, the traditionally animated Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Max and Goofy feature in the episode "A Very Goofy Christmas". In this segment, he is a young boy and "A Very Goofy Christmas" chronologically precedes other titles Max appears in.

The segment revolves starts out with Goofy and Max preparing to deliver Max's letter to Santa. However, Pete tells Max that there is no Santa. Goofy attempts to prove Pete wrong, by dressing up as Santa but he is discovered. Goofy decides to stay up to wait for Santa, but he grows discouraged after falling off the roof. Max then tries to cheer Goofy up, but he is unsuccessful. However, Santa eventually arrives and presents Max with the present he had asked for: a snowboard.

An Extremely Goofy Movie
In the direct-to-video sequel to A Goofy Movie, An Extremely Goofy Movie, Max is a high school graduate and leaves for college with his best friends P.J. and Bobby Zimuruski. He hopes to start a new life for himself and partake in the College X-Games competition. Upon his arrival to the campus, he and his friends are met by the five-time X-Games champions, the Gamma Mu Mu fraternity. However, because the Gammas invite only Max and not P.J. and Bobby to join them, Max makes a bet against the Gammas' leader, Bradley Uppercrust III, to see who will be towel boy to the other should either win the X-Games.

Meanwhile, Goofy gets fired from his job and must go back to college to get a degree, as it's the only way for him to get a new job. He attends the same college as his son, much to the dismay of Max who had hoped to finally get away from his father's overbearing doting. Eventually, Max manages to distract his father by introducing him Ms. Sylvia Marpole, the college's librarian, who takes a romantic interest in Goofy and vice versa, while Max sneaks off to practice his skateboarding. When Goofy gets a date with Sylvia, he rushes off to tell Max only to interfere with Max's practice, resulting in the onlooking Bradley to misinterpret Goofy's clumsy antics on Max's skateboard for skill, and offers Goofy membership to the Gammas. Max encourages his father to join, viewing it as another distraction to keep Goofy further away from his X-Games practices.

When Goofy inadvertently beats Max at the qualifying rounds for the College X-Games (thanks in part to some sneaky cheating by Bradley), Max ends up blowing up at his father, revealing his desires to get away from his father and disowns him completely by telling him to go away and get his own life, sending Goofy into depression. When Goofy later overhears the Gammas' plan to fix the games, Goofy tries to warn his son, who doesn't believe him. But once it becomes clear to Max (during the X-Games' final round) that the Gammas really have been cheating all along, Max realizes that Goofy was telling the truth and manages to ask him to fill in for the incapacitated P.J., which Goofy happily accepts. During the final stretch of the triathlon, Bradley activates a rocket hidden in Max's skateboard, causing an explosion that ends up trapping fellow Gamma member Tank underneath some fallen fiery debris. Max forgoes heading straight to the finish line to first rescue Tank (with help from Goofy) and ultimately manages to just barely beat Bradley to the finish line. In the end, both father and son make amends at Goofy's graduation and Max gives his father the X-Games championship trophy as the two part ways, with Goofy heading to another date with Sylvia, and finally leaving Max to at last live his own life at the college.

House of Mouse
Max features regularly in House of Mouse, where he is employed as the club's parking valet whilst still a teenager. With him once again dating Roxanne but having not yet acquired a car of his own (at first), the show would seem to take place after the events of at least A Goofy Movie, possibly even not too long after An Extremely Goofy Movie. Max is shown to be fairly level-headed, possibly the most level-headed of the group.

Most of his appearances are minor and show him offering to park the various vehicles that pull up to the club. However, he features heavily in a few episodes. The episode "Max's Embarrassing Date" showed Max trying to prepare for a date with Roxanne at the club. He worries that Goofy will go overboard trying to make them happy, so he goes to Mickey and friends for help. Ironically, Mickey and the gang go overboard, so Goofy steps in and allows the couple to have some privacy.

Another episode, "Max's New Car", had Max trying to convince Goofy to allow him to have his own car. Goofy initially says no, as he believes Max is too irresponsible. Max is able to show Goofy that he was once just as irresponsible with the help of Mickey. This involves Max temporarily taking over hosting duties at the club, where he shows clips from Goofy's past, namely clips from the Goofy cartoon, "Motor Mania". Right before the end of the episode, Goofy gives Max a parking space for now, until a car from a previous situation comes down and lands perfectly on Max's parking space. Max then gives his father a begging look, and Goofy lets him have the car.

Finally, the episode "Goofy for a Day" has Max assuming Goofy's waiter duties, after Goofy finds out that Max thinks that being a waiter is not as important as Mickey's hosting duties or Donald's greeting role.

In Mickey's House of Villains, Max watches several characters enter as the sound of a thunder crash is heard. Max turns to see the Cave of Wonders has appeared in front of the club, having seemingly burst from the ground. Jafar enters and leaves the golden scarab with Max, wishing him a happy Halloween. Max is left dumbfounded as he eyes the scarab as a car alarm chirps.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
Max was in the computer animated Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, the sequel to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. In the segment Christmas Maximus, Max has grown up into a young adult and is prepared to bring his girlfriend, a young lady named Mona, home for Christmas to meet his father, Goofy. Max worries that Goofy will embarrass him, and calls ahead to remind his dad about Mona's coming home with him. He also expresses a dislike in Goofy's referring to him as "Maxie" instead of "Max".

After Goofy picks up the young couple at the train station and brings them back to his house, Goofy shows Mona baby pictures of Max and unintentionally embarrasses Max with all his fatherly love. In the end, as Mona finds Goofy's quirks to be charming, Max decides to forget all about his embarrassment and join in the fun as it should be.

Max later appears (in a non-speaking role) with his father and the other characters in the last segment of the film, Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas, in which they drive around the city in a snowplow to look for Pluto, who had previously run away after his having angering Mickey. After Pluto returns, everyone (Max included) pulls up to Mickey's house in the snowplow, exits the snowplow, and goes inside the house to celebrate Christmas. Max and everyone applaud Mickey and Pluto topping the Christmas tree with the star decoration, and then they all join in singing a short medley of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Deck the Halls" to close out the special.

During the end credits sequence, a pop-up book version of Max and Mona are seen sliding close to each other (presumably to share a kiss) before a pop-up version of Goofy covers them both from view with a picture frame containing credits specific to the Christmas Maximus segment. Later, the closing image of Goofy and Max holding a Christmas caroling book together from the end of Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas is shown again towards the end of the credits.

Disney Parks
Max Goof made his theme park debut in the World According to Goofy parade in 1992. Following the premiere of Goof Troop, Max made regular appearances at the Disney theme parks. In the parks, he appears as his 11 1/2 year old self.

Disneyland Resort
In World of Color: Season of Light, Max appeared in Goofy's segment, in which they overdo it on the Christmas lights and spark a house fire.

Walt Disney World
Max and Goofy co-starred in the former Mickey's Magical TV World stage show at Mickey's Starland from 1992 through 1996. Goofy told C.J. that Max had to do his school science project about electricity. As they finished singing the Goof Troop theme song, Max did not pay attention just as Goofy shuts the door and gets trapped in the house due to his home security system.

Tokyo Disney Resort
Max is most heavily featured in the Japanese parks, both as a walkaround character and in numerous Mickey Mouse related merchandise, holiday events and promotions.

Disneyland Paris
In 2018, Max starred in Max Live!, a temporary stage show that performed during the Disney FanDaze event. In the show, Max—donning his Powerline costume from A Goofy Movie—hosts a concert with special Disney character guests. Goofy also participates, offering to handle the power cords, but his clumsiness nearly ruins the show. Though initially upset, Max quickly overcomes this and invites his dad to perform "Eye to Eye" alongside him.

Disney Cruise Line
Max occasionally makes appearances aboard the ships of the Disney Cruise Line. One notable occasion in 2016 took place on the Disney Wonder, in which Max and Goofy performed to "Eye to Eye" in the lobby.

Trivia

 * Max and his friend P.J. share some unique traits among Disney characters: both debut in the animated shorts with a different look, are sons instead of nephews and we see them grow up and become adults over the course of their appearances.
 * Though Max's actual ages in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, An Extremely Goofy Movie, House of Mouse, and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas were never officially given, best estimates for his ages in An Extremely Goofy Movie and House of Mouse can be extrapolated from how old he is in A Goofy Movie.
 * In The Making of A Goofy Movie, director Kevin Lima describes Max as being 14 years old in that movie. With Max also being a high schooler in A Goofy Movie, which takes place right as he finishes one of his school years, his being 14 would make the school year he completes in the movie most likely be 9th Grade, as 14 is the youngest age student can be while in high school in America (without skipping or repeating any grades, that is). Plus, in the Goof Troop episode "You Camp Take It With You", Max says he's 11½ years old on the first day of summer vacation. If the school he'd just completed the day before had been 6th Grade (as he's a middle school student in that show), that would align with Max being 14 (or specifically 14½) at the end of 9th Grade in A Goofy Movie. So, logically-speaking, if the pattern were to continue, Max would be 15 after finishing 10th Grade, 16 after 11th Grade, 17 after 12 Grade, and 18 after his freshman year of college. Thus, Max's age in An Extremely Goofy Movie (depending on which month his birthday is, which is also officially unknown) can be roughly estimated to be 17-18 (possibly leaning more towards 18-18½ since the movie spans an entire school year from start to finish).
 * Likewise, as Max is old enough in House of Mouse to be employed as the club's parking valet, but is also said by Minnie to still be a teenager in the episode "Max's New Car", his age (at least in that particular episode) would have to be about 18-19 since the youngest legal age for parking valets in the United States is typically 18.
 * Unfortunately, the same age statistics cannot be applied to Max's appearances in either Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas or Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas as there are no such context clues in those Christmas specials to indicate a chronological placement for them that is more precise than their simply occurring at some nebulous point in time, respectively, earlier in Max's childhood and later in Max's young adult life (although, see the Trivia sections of both specials for more info on their respective continuity placements).
 * Footage of both the Goofy Junior and Max Goof versions of the character is used in the Disney Junior mini-series A Poem Is... Footage of Goofy Junior from the Goofy shorts "Father's Day Off", "Fathers Are People" (albeit with one scene mirrored), and "Father's Weekend" is used for the poem Home Sweet Home, while footage of the young Max from Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas is used for A Visit from St. Nicholas.