Impeach Max. No, seriously. Impeach him. The joke's not funny anymore.

[questionthemajority]

I posted this in the Penal Zone sticky, but I'm not sure if it's really getting any serious attention anymore at this point, so I thought I'd say it here as well.

Now then, considering the humor for this season of Sam & Max: For the most part, it is top notch. You get more wry and, well, Sam & Max-ish every season and this is no exception. I'm particularly fond of the fact that Max clearly has a conscience this season. One of the things that make Sam & Max so funny (at least to me) is the fact that they joke about doing awful things, but we know they'd never really do them. Well... They'd never do them to people who didn't deserve it. But the past two seasons heavily implied that, if it wasn't for Sam, Max would do absolutely sick and sadistic things to innocent people and that honestly made me dislike him a lot. This season it's more obvious that Max may be willing to brutalize bad people, but he wouldn't really hurt innocent people. We do have to actually LIKE our heroes, after all.

I do have to say, though, that I really wish you guys would try making each season fresh rather than rehashing old jokes and situations, though. It's fun seeing recurring characters like Stinky and Superball (Man, that guy cracks me up!), but some of the recurring jokes and characters are just annoying or feel alienating to new players. The Sybil/Lincoln thing was funny last season, but I was hoping you'd just let it die this year. Same with the references to Girl Stinky's true identity. For people new to the series, you're sort of giving away a lot of the jokes and plot twists for them if they ever want to play the older games. And, in the case of Girl Stinky, I feel it really hurts the Sam & Max humor of finding out something incredibly bizarre, and then never mentioning it again as though it's not really that interesting anyway.

Oh. And impeach Max. Because the President Max joke isn't funny anymore. It was wearing thin during season 2 and I rolled my eyes in disgust when Sam mentioned Max was still president this season. Again, the Sam & Max series works best when it has that sitcom element of a story can end with the weirdest of situations (like a city being destroyed, for example), but the next episode starts up with that thing having never happened. Or possibly being referred to, but no explanation for how things are different now. I don't want to sound so critical, because you guys are REALLY doing a great job. It's just that I feel that your determination to stick so closely to continuity is hurting the series.

[lombre]

If I remember correctly, the only real reference to Max's presidency is when Skun-ka'pe first arrived. So, this at least seems to show that Telltale's starting to let go of the joke. I do agree that it's starting to get a little old.

As for Girl Stinky, I imagine it's probably a difficult case to manage. Here is a character that is major, but has an absolute ridiculous backstory. You can't just act like the backstory never happened, but mentioning it can really alienate new players. I do think Telltale handled it well by just mentioning that she was created in a baking incident, and not that she was actually a cake. Kinda brings it up in a way that's sorta not quite as ridiculous if you think about it in a Sam & Max way.

[Ignatius]

I agree that the repetition of characters and location its bothering me. I officially hate Harry the Moleman and Superball and wish them a lava death. And that is sad cause they were good characters, but they keep appearing everywhere and im sick of them.

It feels more like a trilogy than separate Sam & Max games. Like if they were stucked with the same characters and locations, simmilar to a play with few actors playing all the roles.
Im hoping, if a 4th game rises, to see all new. Like with Hit the Road or the first season.

And thats all i got to say about that.
(sorry about the long whining but i needed to let it out)

[Kroms]

Harry and Superball barely appear...

[light_rises]

I don't think the way continuity's being handled now is necessarily bad -- I kind of enjoy it myself. But I do think any more than the current level would be detrimental. At least for this version of the Sam & Max universe, the balance achieved between order and chaos chronology-wise has been a pretty good one so far.

Getting back to the main point ... yeah, I'm kinda done with Max being president. In terms of story and puzzles, there's certainly much that comes in handy when one of your main characters is the leader of the free world. And in execution, it's been a fun ride. But it feels like the best aspects of Max being president were exhausted by the end of last season. (Well, sans the scene in 301 where Max says, "Yeah, I'm pretty much the one in charge here!" That was pretty funny). Maybe something that happens later in Season 3 will change my mind, but for right now ... eehhhh.

... And actually, this reminds me of something else that's been bugging me, but didn't really niggle at the back of head until a few days ago. When you have Sam ask Max about his presidency, Max stops short of outright admitting that he's paid off Jimmy Two-Teeth and his family to spread the Bubonic Plague in order to ensure his re-election. Now I totally understand and appreciate the dark humor here, but coming from Max it seems like an awfully ... calculating thing to do, y'know? It doesn't seem to square with his inherent impulsiveness and gnat-like attention span. Am I the only one bothered by this? It's not really a big deal, but it doesn't quite settle right with me -- kind of like how having Leonard locked in Sam & Max's closet for so long became more of a "nervous laughter" type of running gag than something genuinely funny.

[Ignatius]

Originally Posted by Kroms

Harry and Superball barely appear...

From season 1 to now they appear more than enough.

[The Highway]

I reckon Max gets too many awesome things to happen to him. Sam should run against him in the next election! Season 4: The Campaigns!

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by The Highway

I reckon Max gets too many awesome things to happen to him. Sam should run against him in the next election! Season 4: The Campaigns!

Unless he changes the law (which I wouldn't put past him) Max can't run a third time.

[The Highway]

What do laws matter to Sam & Max? Have we ever seen them REALLY care about the law?

[Irishmile]

I would be ok with them never mentioning it again

[Flyingman356]

Maybe when Max turns into a giant monster they have an emergency election and Sam becomes president

[Thriftweed Fancy Pants]

I think running jokes are mentioned to interest new players in the previous games. It also allows them to show how quirky their characters are. I'm not trying to defend it, just explain why they may have used some of the old jokes.

[Rather Dashing]

I like using Max to make political jabs.

[FitzoliverJ]

But if Max were to be impeached, surely be would succeeded by his vice-president, and I can't remember if that's still Mr Spatula or not.....

[questionthemajority]

Originally Posted by FitzoliverJ

But if Max were to be impeached, surely be would succeeded by his vice-president, and I can't remember if that's still Mr Spatula or not.....

Spatula is currently dead. I'm not sure how well that would work. *laughs* Personally, I think it would have been funnier had they gone back to Max not being president and poke a little fun at how many people dislike Barack Obama by having Sam & Max make some statement at some point about hating the current (unnamed) president, but only because he "stole Max's job."

[questionthemajority]

Originally Posted by Ignatius

I agree that the repetition of characters and location its bothering me. I officially hate Harry the Moleman and Superball and wish them a lava death. And that is sad cause they were good characters, but they keep appearing everywhere and im sick of them.

Really? Harry and Superball seem like perfectly natural regular characters in the Sam & Max world. Harry makes for a funny loser character and, honestly, you can't have Sam & Max without molemen. And Superball being a secret agent allows for him to be a humorous hindrance or help depending on the circumstances. I understand they kept Max as President to keep Superball around, but if he's now an agent dealing with the paranormal and Sam & Max are detectives (and I use that term loosely) who deal with the paranormal, it makes sense that they'd continue to run into him regardless of Max's political standing.

For me, it's Lincoln that I'm sick of. The concept of the Lincoln memorial coming to life and being a jackass was funny the first time around, but wasn't really the sort of hysterical humor that warranted constant repetition. At this point, even references to it aren't funny anymore.

I'm on the fence about Momma Bosco. She's funny, but I don't know how long she'll continue to be. Might've been better just to give us a brand new mad scientist character to fill her role for this season.

As for the other characters, I think they all fit pretty well. The Stinkies are hilarious. I just wish they'd have just chalked up Girl Stinky to being Grampa's granddaughter and nothing more. The C.O.P.S. crack me up and make for a funny parallel to Sam & Max's distrust of modern technology. And I've already stated my opinions of Harry and Superball.

[Astro Gnocci]

I don't think they need to impeach him, ie to show or tell us explicitely that he's not the president anymore.
Just stop mentioning it, because i agree, as great as it was in ep104, it's getting old.

But yeah... just stopping milking it would be better than actually have something happen about it...
In that way they could suddenly rehash the joke in season 7 or 8 when no one expects it anymore

[Steve2911]

Originally Posted by light_rises

kind of like how having Leonard locked in Sam & Max's closet for so long became more of a "nervous laughter" type of running gag than something genuinely funny.

Really? I found it funny every time I saw him in there.

[Junaid]

I actually love that Max being president is not a big issue anymore, but more of a normal thing everyone has gotten used to

[Alcoremortis]

Yeah, Max being president doesn't annoy me because all of the characters treat it like a normal occurrence. Sort of the same era of humor of not mentioning an elephant in the room.