How Old Is Sam and Max?

[War Wolves]

I know theyve been out for 20-21 years, but how old are the characters???

[Zonino]

I've been thinking about this myself, if you look at what we can gleam from the games, starting with the spoiler: When you go to the past in Chariots of the Dogs, it's 1980, it's Max's birthday, and I think at this point, although no age is given, I would put them at about 8-12 years old by the way they act and speak. S2E4 came out in 2008, so if you did it logically they'd be in their late 30's to 40's by now. However, consider that the future setting is in 2108, which would make Sam and Max over 140 years old if this were true

Non spoiler related, by the way they act, I'd put them in their mid to late 20's. Games and comics have their own timeline after all, just look at the X-Men for example.

[Maxilyah]

I think this has been brought up before. They probably have no set age. They're as old or as young as you need them to be for a particular story. Someone suggested also that they are as old as whoever is writing about them.

[GinnyN]

The only thing we know for sure is they are roughtly equally old. I imagine them in their early 30's though.

[Falanca]

Whenever this argument pops out, I remind myself the little info about the estimated lifetime of a rabbit-y thing that Max blabbers about when Sam and Max are in the museum of Largest Ball of Twine, in Hit the Road. Makes me kinda sad.

[Shwoo]

I view them as always being in their 30s, from the late 80s comics up to Season 2.

I judged that little Sam and Max were about twelve in Chariots of the Dogs. That would make them about forty in 2008, but they were buried alive for some time in The Big Sleep, so maybe 32?

And in the comics they're reading yearbooks marked 1977 and 1976, implying that they graduated from high school at around those years, putting them in their late 20s/early 30s for the comics.

[Omegabegin]

If you take a look at the last page (http://www.telltalegames.com/community/comics/samandmax/) of the "The Big Sleep" webcomic, Sam mentions that his homecoming dance was in '93. Assuming that he was 14 then, he would be 31 in 2010. And since his birthday's in March according to Chariots, he'd still be 30 right now.

Of course, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

[Hyperkinetic_Martian]

I view them as always being in their 30s, from the late 80s comics up to Season 2.

I judged that little Sam and Max were about twelve in Chariots of the Dogs. That would make them about forty in 2008, but they were buried alive for some time in The Big Sleep, so maybe 32?

And in the comics they're reading yearbooks marked 1977 and 1976, implying that they graduated from high school at around those years, putting them in their late 20s/early 30s for the comics.

Reading this made me wonder: what if there are somehow two separate time lines for the comic and the episodic games? If they graduated from high school in the late 70s, then it wouldn't make sense for them to be middle school aged in 1980 as seen in "Chariot of the Dogs". Parallel universe/different canons perhaps? Or maybe something peculiar happened in "Chariot of the Dogs" that created a whole separate timeline in which they were born earlier as a result of a ripple effect of constant time traveling in the episode?

Or maybe I should just stop pondering such things and continue to see them as in their 30s as I have been doing for as long as I've been playing the games and reading the comic :p

[Emily]

As old as The Simpsons. :D

[Ashton]

As old as The Simpsons. :D

The simpsons have set ages... and by set I mean "set in stone" where they'll never go past them... but that doesnt stop them from celebrating their birthdays... strange...

I think the ocncensus was S+M are in their early 30s in the last 2 threads

[PimPamPet]

I guess the only person who could give a definitive answer is Steve Purcell.

But yeah, like someone said earlier, they're comic book/video game characters. They probably don't have a set age and are as old as a story needs them to be.

[War Wolves]

Well, If they were 8-12 in the 80's (Cuz they are the same age then Sam born in March and Max October so its October in S2E4:COTD So they are both the same age...), then around 14-17/18 in the 90's AND then frozen in time from the big sleep, from when they were considered non-existant for some time, so about 10 years frozen, So they SHOULD be in there late 30's/early 40's but minusing the 10 years frozen they would be in there Late 20's/early 30's.
Ive come up with this assumption from all that Ive read, so I thank you all for these
idea(s) that I have thrown into one big one. SOOO...

In my opinion, I guess the Fans Discision Has Been made. Late 20's/Early 30's.
But, Steve Purcell Will ALWAYS have the Final Discision.

[Sausy Gibbon]

I'd say the reason for the two different timelines is that the comics were made in the late 80's, early 90's and the games were made in the last decade. I think in any incarnation they will be the same age. Everybodys used to them that way, nobody would read a Batman comic if Bruce Wayne was in his seventies.

[Ashton]

Everybodys used to them that way, nobody would read a Batman comic if Bruce Wayne was in his seventies.

Ah, but if Bruce was 70, so would be all his enimies... that might make an amusing comic "Tales of the superSeniors" OF course tehy'd have a hard time fighting crime as they waundered around trying to remember where they left their teeth :D lol!!!

EDIT:
Acctually The Tick covered that with a senior super villian, and it turned out hilarious!

[GinnyN]

Wait. Wasn't Batman Beyond about Bruce Wayne been in his seventies?

[LikaLaruku]

The TellTale games show them as having been kids in the 80s, but the cartoon series shows them as having been teenagers in the 70s.

[LikaLaruku]

Wait. Wasn't Batman Beyond about Bruce Wayne been in his seventies?
No, it was about a replacement Batman. A retired Bruce just happened to be in it. Of course that plausible future will never happen, as Bruce will die in combat before he ever retired, & only a former Robin can ever become a Batman. & Barbara should have been in a wheelchair; she's paralized from the waist down.

[Zonino]

The TellTale games show them as having been kids in the 80s, but the cartoon series shows them as having been teenagers in the 70s.

I'm gonna keep saying this till people get it. COMIC BOOK TIME.

The characters can never age backwards, but they can stop ageing to keep the story going. The X-Men were teenagers in the 60s, now most of them are in their mid to late twenties.

Sam and Max are no different. All that matters is how old they are now.

[LuigiHann]

Not only are they cartoon characters, but they're also animal characters. Sam could be 7, he's a dog.

I would also agree that the games would have a different chronology than the comics, that's just a natural thing that happens when you adapt a series to another medium. Really, "Sam & Max Save the World" and "Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space" are probably the first two separate Sam & Max stories that have such a specific continuity between them.

[LikaLaruku]

I'm gonna keep saying this till people get it. COMIC BOOK TIME.

The characters can never age backwards, but they can stop ageing to keep the story going. The X-Men were teenagers in the 60s, now most of them are in their mid to late teens.

Sam and Max are no different. All that matters is how old they are now.

I think it was Paul Dini who had an interview in which he explained how Batman remains in his early 30s. But my explination would be that DC just makes anything 10-20 years old noncanon, like they did for the 4th time in 94 with "Zero Hour."

[Zonino]

I think it was Paul Dini who had an interview in which he explained how Batman remains in his early 30s. But my explination would be that DC just makes anything 10-20 years old noncanon, like they did for the 4th time in 94 with "Zero Hour."

Retconning is a big thing in comics. Especially when different writers get involved. Eventually things get too much and then you end up getting things like House of M and Crisis on Infinite Earth and then everything gets reset back to a kind of year 0.

Sam and Max doesn't have to worry about this though since their stories don't follow any sort of timeframe. It's just random adventure after random adventure. Plus the comics aren't as frequent as your atypical Marvel or DC one.

[Shwoo]

Not only are they cartoon characters, but they're also animal characters. Sam could be 7, he's a dog.
No he can't, he's explicitly been through school.

[Zonino]

No he can't, he's explicitly been through school.

Yes it's safe to say that while he's a dog, he doesn't age like one. I'd assume they age like people... or like people in comics at least.

[LikaLaruku]

Retconning is a big thing in comics. Especially when different writers get involved. Eventually things get too much and then you end up getting things like House of M and Crisis on Infinite Earth and then everything gets reset back to a kind of year 0.

Sam and Max doesn't have to worry about this though since their stories don't follow any sort of timeframe. It's just random adventure after random adventure. Plus the comics aren't as frequent as your atypical Marvel or DC one.

Ever seen the webtoon spoff on House of M by "Floating Hands Studios?"

[LikaLaruku]

Okey wait, they weren't kids in the 80s in the Telltale games, they were "prom aged." So Telltale would have them being in their 30s. In the 90s cartoon, they were teens in the 70s, so they were in their 30s then too.

[GinnyN]

Okey wait, they weren't kids in the 80s in the Telltale games, they were "prom aged." So Telltale would have them being in their 30s. In the 90s cartoon, they were teens in the 70s, so they were in their 30s then too.

Exactly! Always present time!

[Lena_P]

I like to imagine that they are ageless beings brought into consciousness at the start of any new story, with little memory of what came before that particular story’s cycle, but with definite, core senses of “self” that determine their actions, relations to one another and their world view. Otherwise their existence is regenerated completely with each iteration, meaning they are given complete memories and back histories which are felt as genuinely as any truly experienced incidents. They are vaguely cognizant of this spontaneous recreation, which informs their fatalistic but humorously cynical demeanor. They are caught in a cycle of unending, unstable, fragmentary reality.

Keep in mind that I have described things as being “meta” and meant it to be a positive thing.

[light_rises]

I like to imagine that they are ageless beings brought into consciousness at the start of any new story, with little memory of what came before that particular story’s cycle, but with definite, core senses of “self” that determine their actions, relations to one another and their world view. Otherwise their existence is regenerated completely with each iteration, meaning they are given complete memories and back histories which are felt as genuinely as any truly experienced incidents. They are vaguely cognizant of this spontaneous recreation, which informs their fatalistic but humorously cynical demeanor. They are caught in a cycle of unending, unstable, fragmentary reality.

Now, you see, I want to reply with something like, "The ______ part is this sounds eerily plausible," but I can't decide on what should go in the blank. I should probably take a cue from me kinda loving this theory, and not just because I've liked these mindscrewy story elements elsewhere.

On the other hand, I'm really tired right now. That might be the cue I want to take. Or not. Get back to me on this later.

Keep in mind that I have described things as being “meta” and meant it to be a positive thing.

I'm in the same boat as you. If that ship's going down, at least you won't be alone. *salutes*