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Max Gamble is a character that appears in the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions. Max is a greedy businessman and gangster who owns Casino Night Zone and runs the local casino, though he also sometimes tries to make money by running other crooked businesses or working as a henchman for Dr. Robotnik. His illegal schemes often bring him into conflict with Tails, as well as other heroes.
Appearance[]
Max is a tall, slim, anthropomorphic lizard with a bald head, sharp teeth, a long tail, and light green skin, with dark green spots scattered around his body. In his first appearance, Max appears more muscular and realistic, with a forked tongue and yellow eyes with black, slit-shaped pupils. In Sonic the Comic #121, however, Max appears slightly shorter than Sonic. For attire, Max wears a suit and shoes. He wears many different suits and shoes in various colors. Around his neck, he either wears a bow tie, necktie, or ascot. He also sometimes wears a hat.
History[]
Ruled by Robotnik[]
Shock Tactics![]
When Tails was defending Casino Night Zone from being overrun by Commander Brutus’ Badniks, Max complained to the fox that he was not destroying the Badniks fast enough and his customers were staying home to avoid being attacked. Max threatened to send a couple of goons to attack Tails if he did not destroy the other Badniks quickly, so people would go to his casino again. Tails destroyed the remains Badniks in the zone with the help of two electricians named Mark and Sparks, but they also caused a power outage. An ungrateful Max then yelled at the three for causing his casino to lose power and costing him money, but the citizens of Casino Night Zone defended Tails and the electricians, and told Max to leave Tails alone or they would never visit his casino again. Max begrudgingly complied and left, though once he was alone, he swore revenge on Tails for humiliating him.[2]
Scream Theme Park[]
Max would then begin working for Robotnik and set up the Thrillworld Theme Park, with a Pit Plunge Roller Coaster which would deliver customers underground to be turned into Badniks. However, Shortfuse the Cybernik would ride his roller coaster wearing a hooded robe for a disguise and save the customers while destroying Robotnik’s Troopers and Badnik-making machine. Shortfuse then confronted Max, who feigned innocence, claiming he only managed the coaster. Shortfuse could not prove Max was lying and had to let him go, though he did wreck the roller coaster, much to Max’s irritation.[1]
Furtual Reality[]
Max would later make a plan to kill Tails as revenge for humiliating him. Max opened a fake arcade game in Casino Night Zone where he gave players virtual reality headsets and laser-tag guns. Max told the gamers to score points by zapping Badniks. However, he did not tell the gamers that the laser-tag guns fired real lasers and the headsets would cause them to see everyone as a Badnik. Max then left a few signs in a forest saying that Tails had a fan club in Casino Night Zone that wanted to meet him. Tails saw the signs and went to Casino Night Zone, where he ran into the gamers, who mistook him for a Badnik and attacked him, while Max gleefully watched from the balcony of a building. After removing one of the gamer’s headsets, Tails learned that Max had set up the death-trap. Tails then flew up to Max’s balcony, grabbed Max, flew him down, and dropped him on the ground in front of the gamers. The gamers then saw Max and, thanks to their headsets, mistook him for a Badnik. The gamers then chased Max, firing lasers at him until the batteries for their gear died.[3]
Post-Ruled by Robotnik[]
The Unbrushables[]
After Robotnik was overthrown, Max organized a mob of thuggish gangsters and started making all the citizens of Casino Night Zone pay him protection. Max was secretly planning to send the protection money to Robotnik so he could use the money to build a Badnik army and return to power, with Robotnik promising Max that he would be rewarded when he ruled the world again. However, Tails once again came to Casino Night Zone and rallied the citizens against Max’s henchmen. Tails then snuck into Max’s building and overheard Max talking with Robotnik about their deal, recording their conversation on a video camera. Max’s goons then burst in and grabbed Tails, only for Tails to show them the tape he just recorded. The gangsters did not want Robotnik to rule the world again, as he would turn them into Badniks, so they turned on Max and forced him to return all the money they extorted to the people of Casino Night Zone.[4]
Bee Prepared[]
Later, when some wealthy businessmen visited Casino Night Zone, Max would show them a super-efficient robot builder he invented, called Metal Mate, and attempt to convince the businessmen to invest in his business, so he could build more Metal Mates, planning to sell them to construction companies as workers, which would put all the organic construction workers out of a job. Unbeknownst to the investors, Max had secretly done a shoddy job building Metal Mate, and the robots were planned to begin malfunctioning after he had sold them. However, Metal Mate went haywire earlier than Max had expected and went on a rampage while Max was giving his demonstration. Sonic the Hedgehog and Charmy Bee, who were also visiting Casino Night Zone, would put a stop to the rampaging robot. Max hid while the two heroes were fighting Metal Mate, but Charmy drew him out of hiding by babbling in an annoying way until Max could not stand listening to him anymore, ran up to Sonic, and begged him to take him to jail.[5]
Sun-Trap[]
After getting out of jail, Max would later pull another con where he would sell boat rides to Flickies' Island, which had formerly been used as one of Robotnik’s bases. Max assured his customers that with Robotnik gone, the island was safe and an ideal vacation spot. However, the island was still filled with Badniks and death-traps, and Max hoped that his customers would die and not return to demand their money back. However, Sonic got wind of Max’s scheme and knew that the island would still be dangerous, so he traveled to the island with Tails and saved Max’s customers. Sonic and Tails then traveled back to Casino Night Zone with Max’s dissatisfied customers, and Sonic demanded that Max give them all a refund. However, Max claimed that he had gotten the money fair-and-square and legally did not have to give refunds if he did not want to. Sonic then ran past Max, creating a gust of wind which blew all of Max’s money back to his customers, leaving Max with nothing to show for his latest get-rich-quick scheme.[6]
Gangster Trap and Full Circle[]
Later, while on the run from the police, Max would hide out in Snowcap Mountain Zone, where he witnessed Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary enter the Eternity Ring. Figuring that wherever it sent him would be safer than Mobius, Max entered the ring and ended up on Wish World, a planet shaped by people's thoughts. Discovering he could create anything he could imagine, Max created a black-and-white, 1930’s-style city resembling a gangster film, filled with black-and-white gangsters and civilians. Able to control the people in his imaginary city, Max spent the next few months having the gangsters rob and terrorize the civilians to entertain him, before Amy and Tekno appeared on Wish World. Max soon confronted the girls with his minions, and had his gangsters put the girls in barrels full of cement and take them to a dock to throw them into the water. However, just as they were about to be tossed in, the girls then made the barrels of cement disappear and figured out that they could control the planet with their imagination. The girls then made Max’s gangster army disappear, though Max simply recreated his gangsters with a thought. The girls countered this by imagining a team of superheroes. Max and the girls then had their creations fight each other until Max got a headache and could not think anymore. With Max defeated, his city disappeared, though he gloated to the girls that as soon as they left, he would imagine an intergalactic army to conquer the universe. However, Tekno then imagined a portal back to Mobius and she and Amy went through it, forcibly taking Max with them.[7][8]
Upon returning to Mobius, Tekno told Max that they would turn him in to the police. However, upon taking a look at their surroundings, the three noticed that the Eternity Ring had been moved from Snowcap Mountain Zone to Blueberry Hill Zone. The rock singer, Fabian Vane, then greeted them with a group of people, claiming that the people were his fans and they brought the Eternity Ring to Blueberry Hill Zone so he could go through it and share his music with other planets. However, Fabian’s “fans” secretly hated his terrible singing and were hoping Fabian would end up on a dangerous planet and they would be rid of him. Amy and Tekno then warned Fabian and got into a fight with his fake fans. While the girls were distracted, Max tried to sneak away through the Eternity Ring. However, one of the thugs noticed him and mistakenly believed that Max was with Amy and Tekno, despite Max’s protests. The thug tried to punch Max, but Max dodged, causing the thug to punch the Eternity Ring instead, which fell down the hill and shattered to pieces. With the ring destroyed, the thugs gave up and left. Amy and Tekno then convinced Max to help them and Fabian rebuild the Eternity Ring by promising him a reduced prison sentence.[9]
Personality[]
Max is a greedy, heartless sociopath, not caring about anything except money and perfectly willing to break the law or even endanger people’s lives to get rich, with Tails describing him as “the meanest dude next to Robotnik”[4] and Max even calling himself a dishonest villain.[9] Max is very clever and deceitful, often attempting to make money by lying and scamming people. Max is also vindictive, as seen when he attempted to kill Tails as revenge for embarrassing him the first time they met. However, he can also be silly and hammy, such as when he tried to come up with a catchphrase for himself.[3]
Powers and abilities[]
Max Gamble is very cunning and skilled in manipulation, often using his wit to swindle people and make get-rich-quick schemes which usually only fail due to the Freedom Fighters' interference. Max also has some mechanical skills, able to create laser guns, headsets which cause the wearers to see people as badniks, and a robot, albeit a poorly-made one.
Relationships[]
Friends/allies[]
Enemies[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sonic the Comic #85, "Scream Theme Park"
- ↑ Sonic the Comic #81, "Shock Tactics!"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sonic the Comic #96, "Furtual Reality"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sonic the Comic #110, "The Unbrushables"
- ↑ Sonic the Comic #121, "Bee Prepared"
- ↑ Sonic the Comic #133, "Sun-Trap"
- ↑ Sonic the Comic #154, "Gangster Trap, Part One"
- ↑ Sonic the Comic #155, "Gangster Trap, Part Two"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Sonic the Comic #156, "Full Circle"
External links[]
- Max Gamble at the Sonic the Comic Wiki.