Maximilian “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 the 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 in Fathers Are People.
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!"
Appearances
Goof Troop
Max as he appeared on Goof Troop.
The modern iteration of Max Goof first appeared in Goof Troop, where he is 11½ years old.[16][17] 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
Max as he appears in 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, seen in a dream-turned-nightmare where he mutates into Goofy like a werewolf, terrifying Roxanne. He seems to be especially ashamed of his laugh, which is exactly like Goofy's, possibly a family trademark.
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 in front of the student body. 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 pop 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, while stranded in the woods due to Bigfoot, 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, and a final chance for Max to prove faithful to Goofy's hope they will head to Lake Destiny is shattered when Max, in panic, chooses the path to Los Angeles at the highway junction. 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, allowing them to perform with him and his backup dancers/singers during "I2I".
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. Roxanne soon looks over to watch with Max as 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 children, 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
Max in 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 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
Max as he appears in 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 due to empty nest syndrome thinking about Max 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 as he appears in House of Mouse.
Max features regularly in House of Mouse, where he is employed as the club's parking valet whilst still a teenager.[18] 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 in 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 to anger 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 applauds 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 is 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.
DuckTales (2017)
After a sixteen year absence, Max made a cameo appearance in the DuckTales episode "Quack Pack!". While Max does not appear in-person, he is described by Goofy to Donald and shown in many photographs that Goofy keeps inside his wallet.
While showing the photos to Donald, Goofy recalls a time when he and Max once rode a roller coaster together at an amusement park, where Goofy had gotten stuck at the top of a loop-de-loop and had to be caught by Max, who swung him into a cotton candy stand to give him a soft landing. Despite the embarrassment, Goofy and Max were given free admission to the park for life and all the cotton candy they could eat.
In other photos, Max is shown as a baby being held in Goofy's arms, as a teenager carrying a jack-o-lantern bucket full of candy while dressed as Powerline for Halloween (albeit, with his suit colored red instead of yellow), and dressed in formal wear while nervously standing next to Roxanne, as though the two were going to a formal school dance together, with Max hesitant to put his arm around her.
Later, at a point when Goofy is spun around and passes out from dizziness, three little Maxes appear skateboarding around Goofy's head. These three Maxes are depicted in his Goof Troop design, whereas the teenage Max seen in Goofy's photos are based on his design from A Goofy Movie but with his Goof Troop purple pants.
Printed media
Books
Junior with Goofy and Goofy's wife in Goofy Minds the House.
Prior to 1992, Goofy's son Junior made only a few book appearances, most notably in the 1977 book Goofy Minds the House. In that story, Junior suggests that Goofy and his wife trade jobs with each other for a day to see who really works the hardest between the two. So, while Goofy's wife goes out to work in the fields and do Goofy's farm work, Goofy stays home with Junior to do the housework. Junior proceeds to both watch and assist his father as Goofy finds new ways to struggle in keeping up with his wife's daily load of chores.
With the onset of Goof Troop in 1992, Goofy's son Max rose to greater prominence, making far more appearances in book form. The first was in the 1992 Little Golden Book Goof Troop: Great Egg-Spectations, adapted from the episode of the same name. Like in the episode, Max finds and brings home a large egg that hatches into a dinosaur, which he names Bubbles. Bubbles soon grows too big and begins to cause trouble for Pete, who chases Bubbles through town. Max, Goofy, and P.J. set out to rescue Bubbles from Pete, with help from Bubbles's Mama. Max and Goofy then say goodbye to Bubbles and Mama as the two go back home to the lake.
Max next appeared in the Little Golden Book Goof Troop: Goin' Gold-Fishing, adapted from the episode "Slightly Dinghy". As in the episode, Max hears about a sunken treasure out at sea that he wants to find, and has Pete, Goofy, and P.J. accompany him to the ocean. But, a stubborn little fish named Tiny Tuna gets in his way and uses a "Sharkmarine" to attack Pete's boat. Max manages to find the treasure chest, but it turns out to be worthless pistoosas.
Max also appeared in the two stories featured in the 1993 Goof Troop: Junior Graphic Novel, adapted from the first two Goof Troop comic strips ever published in Disney Adventures (see below), "The Power of Positive Goofing" and "Pavlov's Goof". In the first story, Max is worried about his father and himself embarrassing themselves at the local Fitness Fun Day event and works to improve both his and his father's athletic prowess. When the big day arrives, Goofy and Max wind up impressing the whole town as they dance together on the very difficult Tilting Tile Floor. In the second story, Max's role is much smaller since the story is mainly about Pete. Max and P.J. trick Pistol into thinking that she has hypnotized them with a new toy of hers before revealing their joke. The three then leave to go shopping with Peg while Pete and Goofy stay home to do yard work.
With the release of A Goofy Movie in 1995, Max continued to appear in books based on his appearance in that movie. The 1994 Mouse Works book Me and My Dad saw Max take a trip to the beach with his dad, Goofy, where the two have a fun time together swimming, collecting seashells, and building a sandcastle. Max even successfully teaches Goofy how to ride a surfboard. Additionally, another 1994 Mouse Works book, Goofy Gets Goofy, is an adaptation of the Powerline concert scene from A Goofy Movie, in which Goofy helps Max to sneak into the concert and get on stage with Powerline and dance with him, which is watched on TV by Roxanne and others.
A Goofy Movie also spawned a number of other book adaptations, all of which Max appeared in, including the 1995 novelization of the film published by Scholastic, the 1996 French novelization of the film (titled Dingo et Max)[19] published by Disney Hachette, at least three different 1996 French Dingo et Max storybook adaptations also published by Disney Hachette, a Danish storybook adaptation (titled Fedtmule og Søn)[20] published by Egmont Books in 1996, a German storybook adaptation (titled Der Goofy Film)[21] published by Franz Schneider Verlag GmbH in 1996, and more.
Comics
Disney Adventures
Max in theGoof Troop comic story "A Fishy Tale".
From 1992 to 1997, Disney Adventures magazine published a total of thirty comic strips based on the Goof Troop animated series. Of these thirty, Max appeared in an impressive twenty-six comics, more than any other Goof Troop character. Like in the TV series, Max's main role in the comics was mostly to have fun and live life to its full extent. He would occasionally feel embarrassed by his father, but still loved him in the end.
In these comic stories, Max impresses the whole town with his father at Fitness Fun Day ("The Power of Positive Goofing"), befriends a dancing pig ("Hamming It Up!"), inadvertently impresses everyone with some unplanned dance moves at a school dance ("Dorky Dancing"), survives a miserable school day on April 1 ("Everybody Makes Mistakes"), meets the popular TV superhero character Rad Rat ("Automania, Part 1" and "Automania, Part 2"), gives a speech to his class about the founding of Spoonerville ("Losted Founder's Day"), gets to meet teen sensation Taffy 2 Sweet ("Max's Makeover, Part One" and "Max's Make Over, Part Two"), acquires his own pet goldfish ("A Fishy Tale"), and more.
Max and Roxanne in "My Hero".
Two Goof Troop comics created specifically to tie into A Goofy Movie also explored Max's relationship with Roxanne at points set after the movie's events. In "My Hero", Max overhears Roxanne wishing to herself that she could meet a dashing hero to romantically save her from some perilous danger. This inspires Max into wanting to be Roxanne's hero and, with help from P.J. and Bobby, he stages some fake dangers from which he instead ends up saving first Stacey and then Bobby. On his last attempt, it is Roxanne who ends up saving Max.
In "Gorilla in Our Midst", Max and Goofy get a new neighbor in the form of a gorilla named Mr. Kong. While Max and P.J. find him intimidating and fearsome, Mr. Kong is actually a nice guy who just likes to watch noisy horror movies and snores loudly at night. This snoring of his keeps Max up at night and makes the boy forget his movie date with Roxanne one afternoon. Fed up with Max's tardiness, Roxanne takes him over to Mr. Kong's house to set things straight with the man, much to Max's horror. After Roxanne confronts Mr. Kong about his snoring, Mr. Kong apologizes and shows Max that he isn't scary at all. He then invites Max and Roxanne inside for a snack.
The Disney Afternoon
Max also appeared in three of the five Goof Troop comic strips published in The Disney Afternoon. In "Dog Days", Max and P.J. are inspired to bury a time capsule whose contents they hope will be worth a lot of money in ten years. However, when digging in the back yard to bury their time capsule, they find an old statue of an Egyptian dog buried in the ground. Believing the statue to be ancient, they try to sell it to an antique store, but accidentally damage some items and are kicked out of the store.
They then decide to hold an auction for the statue at Goofy's house, where they nearly earn four million and ten dollars for the statue before Goofy suddenly reveals that the statue actually isn't an ancient artifact. Rather, it's a sign prop from an old hot dog restaurant. Max is dismayed over the loss of over four million dollars before an old couple offers to buy the statue from them for a healthy sum. Max and P.J. use the money to pay back the antique store and buy themselves a couple of fancy new remote-controlled toy cars.
In "The Toys of Summer", Goofy takes a second job assembling toy knights and dragons to make some extra money so that he can take Max on a surprise vacation. However, Goofy misassembles the toys and is fired, having earned no money in the process. When Max hears about what Goofy tried to do for him, Max takes it upon himself to sell the misassembled "Dragon Knights" to other kids at the park, using their unique mixed-and-matched assembly as their main selling point. Max earns enough money to buy two new fishing poles and treats his dad to a day of fishing out at a creek.
In "Woolly Bully", Max, P.J., and Pistol are taken out west to the Woolly Bully Dude Ranch by Pete and Goofy. While Max and P.J. run around pretending to be a cowboy and a bull, respectively, Pistol wants to ride the ranch's main attraction, El Loco the bull. When Goofy tries to stop her, he accidentally set El Loco free of his pen. El Loco runs wild and Max accidentally ropes him by the horns. Holding onto the rope, Max and P.J. are sent flying by El Loco and crash-land at the feet of Pete. The boys later see Pistol befriend El Loco and ride him successfully.
Le Journal de Mickey
From 1993 to 1995, Max appeared in all nine La Bande à Dingo[22] comic strips published in Le Journal de Mickey. Since most of these comics focused more on Pete and/or Goofy, Max played a more supporting role in each one. In three stories, Goofy would tell Max and P.J. about the adventurous exploits of some of his ancestors, much like the TV show's five "Goof History" episodes.
On February 12, 1997, Issue #2330 published a special Dingo & Max[19] comic that featured characters from A Goofy Movie. In this story, Max hears that Roxanne's birthday is the next day and wants to buy her a bouquet of roses as a present. However, he and P.J. then see Roxanne across the street kissing another guy. When Max investigates, he is horrified to hear Roxanne seemingly accept this guy's offer for her to become his girlfriend. Following the pair, he is further mortified to see them having their picture taken together by none other than his own father, Goofy. That night, Max has a nightmare in which Roxanne runs past him into the arms of the other guy, "Jimmy".
The next day at school, P.J. tells the heartbroken Max that what they saw the other day was all just an act. Roxanne and "Jimmy" (whose real name is Hubert) are to be the lead couple of a school play that was kept secret from everyone by the theater workshop, and the two were just rehearsing when Max saw them together. Overjoyed that Roxanne hasn't fallen for another guy, Max then sees her crying. Hubert suddenly got sick, which means the play will have to be canceled. Wanting to cheer Roxanne up, Max volunteers to take Hubert's place in the play. Later, during the play, Max and Roxanne perform onstage before the whole school. In the play's final scene, the two go off-script by using their real names instead of "Jimmy" and "Laetitia", and Roxanne kisses Max before he can finish his final line of "I love you", which Roxanne finishes for him by saying "Me too, Max."
La Bande à Dingo: Le Visiteur De L'Extra-Temps
In this 44-page French-original graphic novel (whose title translates to "The Visitor From Another Time") published in May 1993 by Dargaud as #10 in the Disney Club collection, Max plays a key role in this story. Max is first seen playing a video game on his computer, but is interrupted when an earthquake hits Spoonerville. Max and Goofy see a news report on TV that reveals the quake to have been caused by a landslide that occurred at a local quarry in the Bellevue area of town. Wanting a closer look, Max and P.J. sneak out and head over to the quarry on their skateboard and bike, respectively. When they are spotted by a police officer, they are forced to return home but Max's skateboard goes missing. As he looks for it, he soon spots somebody riding on it going downhill. Max and P.J. give chase on P.J.'s bike and are shocked to find that Max's skateboard was rode by a baby dinosaur!
The next morning, Max tries to hide "Baby Dino" in his bedroom closet and coyly asks his father if he, perhaps, could keep a baby dinosaur if he were to have ever found one. Thinking Max is just using his imagination, Goofy tells Max that dinosaurs don't belong in the streets and that such a creature could draw unwanted attention from scientists. Max then sneaks Baby Dino over to P.J.'s house, hiding him inside Pete's garage. Wishing that Dino could speak and tell them about itself, the boys get an answer when Baby Dino suddenly knocks over some potted plants and uses their dirt to sculpt a scale model of the Dragon's Bay located west of town. Deducing that Baby Dino needs to go there, Max and P.J. devise a plan to get themselves over there.
Preparing a makeshift ramp, Max and Dino board P.J.'s giant skateboard and dash out of the garage just as Pete and Goofy open its door. At that same moment, a U.S. Army contingent led by General Boxer and General Terrier pulls up to Pete's house and sees Max take off with the baby dinosaur. They had come looking for dinosaurs after a footprint had been found at the site of the landslide the previous night. Spotting Max with the dinosaur, the Army gives chase and pursues Max through the downtown area of Spoonerville. P.J., Chainsaw, Pete, Goofy, Peg, Pistol, and others also follow after Max.
At Dragon's Bay, Max and Dino are soon met by all of their pursuers, as well as a surprise appearance by a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex emerging from the waters of the bay. But then, from out of the T-Rex's head pops out movie director Steve Splitscreen, revealing that both dinosaurs are actually animatronic. The next morning, Max and everyone involved in the previous day's ordeal meet with the mayor at City Hall. Steve Splitscreen explains that he allowed Max and P.J. to find Baby Dino in order to test the realism of his new technology, and apologizes for the panic caused by his carelessness. Max speaks up and also takes some of the responsibility.
A week later, an evening newspaper announces the possibility of Max's getting to be the star of Steve Splitscreen's newest film The Dinosaur and the Child. That same night, Max and P.J. watch as Goofy makes dinosaur shadow puppets outside of Pete's house.
Other comics
Max in Dingo et Max, the French graphic novel adaptation of A Goofy Movie (Finnish version pictured)
In 1996, A Goofy Movie was adapted into a 44-page graphic novel published in France by Dargaud as part of the Disney Club collection, in which Max appeared in the same role that he played in the movie. The first 14 pages of this Dingo et Max[19] graphic novel were later translated into English and released in pocket size as A Goofy Movie Mini-Comic, which was included as a pack-in bundle with the movie's UK VHS release on June 2, 1997. In these first 14 pages, Max goes through the same events of the movie up to when he asks Roxanne to go with him to Stacey's party, ending on a cliffhanger to get people to watch the movie to find out what happens next.
On March 7, 2003, Max (sporting his design from A Goofy Movie) appeared alongside his father in a short two-page Dutch comic strip belonging to a series called "Goofy geeft les over..." (meaning "Goofy Teaches About..."). This particular story, titled "Goofy geeft les over... Koken" ("Goofy Teaches About... Cooking"), sees Goofy telling Max a history lesson about cooking food while they wait to be served dinner when over at Clarabelle's place. The story was originally published in the pages of Donald Duck #10/2003, and was later translated into English under the new title of "A Goofy Look at Cooking" and published in the pages of Mickey Mouse #20 (329) by IDW Publishing on May 24, 2017.
In November of 2004, a graphic novel adaptation of Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas was published by Gemstone Publishing. Max appeared in the same role as he had in the special, but also in a new scene added at the very end. While the special was an anthology consisting of five unrelated Christmas stories, the comic version created new wraparound scenes at the beginning and end set right after the events of "Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas", in which everyone is still gathered at Mickey's house spend Christmas with him and Pluto. During this new ending scene, when everyone opens their gifts, Max gives Goofy a new popcorn maker to replace the one that went haywire in "Christmas Maximus".
In July of 2011, Max (in his Goof Troop design), P.J., and Pistol all made a cameo appearance in the pages of Darkwing Duck issue #14 "Cat-Tastrophe" published by Boom! Studios as part of the story arc Campaign Carnage. In this story, Max, P.J., and Pistol are all seen in the background as fellow classmates of Gosalyn Mallard at her prep school in St. Canard. The three are shown in a flashback describing the backstory of Cat-Tankerous, Darkwing Duck's latest new adversary. However, when this story was later reprinted by Joe Books as part of Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition in 2015, Cat-Tankerous's backstory was rewritten and the cameo appearance of Max, P.J., and Pistol was omitted and replaced by completely new story content.
Video games
Goof Troop
Max is one of two playable characters (the other being Goofy) in the 1993 Goof Troop video game for the Super Nintendo. Where Goofy is strong but slow, Max is fast but weak. Goofy can knock away larger enemies with a single hit, while Max takes two hits to knock away large enemies.
While out at sea on a fishing trip one day, Max and Goofy spot Pete and P.J. being kidnapped by a crew of pirates. Goofy and Max give chase, but cannot keep up with the pirate ship. They follow the pirates over to Spoonerville Island and fight their way across the island's beach, through a village, inside the pirate's fortress, through a series of caves underneath a volcano, and aboard the pirate's ship. Along the way, they learn that Pete was taken because the pirates had mistaken for their long lost king, Keelhaul Pete. But when the real Pirate King returns and exposes Pete as an impostor, Max and Goofy fight and defeat Keelhaul Pete to rescue Pete and P.J. from being eaten by an alligator.
Other games
Max in Disney Sports Skateboarding.
Max is also a playable character in other such video games as the Goof Troop LCD game made by Tiger Electronics (in which he and P.J. skateboard to collect recyclables to raise enough money to buy tickets for a concert, based on the episode "Maximum Insecurity"), the Goof Troop/An Extremely Goofy Movie-inspired PC game Disney's Extremely Goofy Skateboarding, and such sports-based console games as Disney Golf, Disney Sports Skateboarding, Disney Sports Basketball, and Disney Sports Football.
In the 2001 PlayStation game Goofy's Fun House, while Max does not appear in person, he is mentioned by name by Goofy and his bedroom is one of the many rooms Goofy can explore in the game. Max's room is heavily inspired by its appearance in A Goofy Movie, with the walls adorned by several posters of Powerline and the very same bodybuilder poster seen in the movie hung on the same side of the bed. Likewise, the bedspread of Max's bed sports a similar white and red checkered design to the one seen on Max's bed in the movie. Two portraits of Max can be found in the house, a small one hanging on the wall over the stairs on the first floor, and another of him with his dad hanging over Goofy's bed in the master bedroom upstairs. Both portraits are actually just recycled pieces of promotional artwork for Goof Troop.
Max was also the main player character in the online flash game House of Mouse: Pack the House. During "Level 3: Parking Packers", the player would have Max drive and park all of the cars belonging to each of the club's guests, and then drive the parked cars over to the exit area for the guests to pick up when they were ready to leave, within a certain time limit that got more and more difficult with each round.
Disney Parks
Max, posing for a photo at one of the 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 regardless of the voice and age change.
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 "I2I" 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 "I2I" in the lobby.
Filmography
Gallery
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.
References
- ↑ Since Goofy was known as both "George Geef" and "G.G. Geef" in the 1950s shorts, and his son was known as just "Junior" in these same shorts (along with his father calling him "George" at one point in "Father's Day Off"), it stands to reason that the full name of Goofy Junior in the world of the 1950s "George Geef" Goofy shorts would be "George G. Geef Jr."
- ↑ Whether she is his paternal or maternal grandmother is not known, as she was mentioned, but not seen, in "Fathers Are People".
- ↑ Mentioned in the episode "Mrs. Spoonerville"
- ↑ Goofy identified Dr. Frankengoof as his "great grand-uncle", an alternate description for a "great-great-uncle", thereby making Dr. Frankengoof Max's "great-great-great-uncle".
- ↑ The Goof Troop episode "Hallow-Weenies" features a "Gooferamus T. Goofy", while the episode "Calling All Goofs" instead has Max refer to a "Gooferamus G. Goof". It is entirely possible that these are two separate men and thus are listed here as such, even if their names are admittedly quite similar and both are said to be Goofy's "great-great-granddaddy"/Max's "great-great-great-grandpappy".
- ↑ As no official word has ever been given either way, it is not known if the Sherlock Dingo featured in the French Goof Troop (or La Bande à Dingo) comic strip "L'Oncle Sherlock" ("Uncle Sherlock") is meant to be the same or a different person from the Sherlock Goof featured in the Goof Troop cartoon episode of the same name. Both are parodies of Sherlock Holmes, and the comic's title suggests Sherlock Dingo to be an uncle of some kind to Goofy and Max (like how Sherlock Goof is Max's great-great-great uncle), but the two Sherlocks are portrayed quite differently from each other: Whereas Sherlock Goof was a rat-catcher who just happened to stumble into the detective business, Sherlock Dingo was a legitimate detective. It is entirely possible that Sherlock Goof may have simply become more capable as a detective over time, but such rationalization is only speculative.
- ↑ Alternately: Lord Dingochotte de La Mancha
- ↑ Some speculate this name to be that of Goofy's father (and, in turn, Max's paternal grandfather) in the Goof Troop universe, but this has never been confirmed or denied.
- ↑ In the Goof Troop episode "Great Egg-Spectations", Max briefly attempted to make a raccoon his pet before Goofy told him to take it back to the woods. The raccoon itself did not like the idea of being a pet anyway.
- ↑ In the storybook adaptation of the same episode, it was a duck instead of a raccoon that Max had wanted to be his pet.
- ↑ Sparky only appears as Max's pet in the episode "Sherlock Goof". It is not known if he is still around in any other episode or if he remained as Max's pet afterward.
- ↑ Max receives this saltwater fish as a pet in the June 1994 Disney Adventures magazine's Goof Troop comic strip "A Fishy Tale". By the story's end, he gives the goolup to the circus, who rename it "Goolupinator the Mighty"
- ↑ After giving the goolup to the circus in "A Fishy Tale", Max gets this goldfish as a replacement pet at very the end of the story. Coincidentally, a pet goldfish is seen in a fish bowl inside the Goofs' house in the episode "Goof Under My Roof".
- ↑ Goof Troop: "Everybody Makes Mistakes", Disney Adventures Volume 3 Number 6, April 1993; Muscles Hamanegger is large muscular bully who beats up Max for his accidentally sitting in Muscles's cafeteria seat during lunch at school in that comic story.
- ↑ Goof Troop: "Hamming It Up!", Disney Adventures Volume 3 Number 1, November 1992; Not to be confused with the same-named older boy who briefly teases Max in the episode "Queasy Rider", Butch is the name of a selfish young boy who is a member of the youth group S.L.O.P. (Spoonerville Leaders Of Pig-farming) and who is an overall jerk to Max and everyone else in that comic story.
- ↑ "You Camp Take It With You"
- ↑ "Midnight Movie Madness"
- ↑ "Max's New Car"
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Meaning "Goofy & Max", with "Dingo" being Goofy's French name.
- ↑ Meaning "Goofy & Son", with "Fedtmule" being Goofy's Danish name.
- ↑ Meaning "The Goofy Film".
- ↑ The French title of Goof Troop, meaning, "The Dingo Band"
External links
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|