Max is a character appearing in Pokémon the Series. He is May's younger brother and one of Ash's traveling companions throughout his journey in the Hoenn region.
Due he is too young to be a Pokémon Trainer, Max has befriended Pokémon regularly through his travels.
Quick Answers
What role does Max play in Ash's journey in Hoenn?
How does Max's relationship with Pokémon differ from trainers?
What is Max's connection to May in Pokémon?
Does Max ever become a Pokémon Trainer?
How does Max contribute to the group's adventures in Hoenn?
Appearance
Max is a small young boy. He has short, dark teal hair and brown eyes, much like his father. He wears a money-green-colored T-shirt with a white collar and button, charcoal-colored shorts and green, black and white slip-on shoes without (or no-show) socks. He also wears black, framed half-moon glasses.
Other outfit
When he goes swimming, Max wears a pair of green trunks with no special patterns, while in Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, he wears dark green swim briefs.
Personality
Max is very intelligent. He likes to show off his knowledge of Pokémon to stand out or to present him as superior to May. He decided to travel with May and Ash to see and learn more about Pokémon.[1]
When he was first introduced he came off as a proud know it all and headstrong. He came off as the head of the gym (even though he wasn’t) and said he saw Ash at the Johto League and started what he would have done right.
As he looks up to his father, Max was disappointed when his father, Norman, lost in a Pokémon battle to Ash. Max even went as far as taking the badge and hiding so Ash couldn't get it. After some talking to, Max calmed down and let Ash have the badge.[2]
Max gets along with Pokémon, and he has befriended a handful of them during his journey through Hoenn and Kanto. Max even promised some of the Pokémon that he would see them again once he became old enough to be a Pokémon Trainer.
Max has also been seen maturing as a person and learning about parenting from Brock. Despite acting mature, Max is prone to being childish should it benefit him. Max has also lied before, such as when he claimed to be the Gym Leader of Petalburg City Gym in order to see Ash's Pokémon.[1]
Max loves sweets and once made a wish to Jirachi to fill an entire truck with them.[3]
Skills
Max's using the PokéNav.
Max has a high theoretical knowledge about Pokémon and Pokémon training, although more based on theory than practice. Max is more knowledgable than May, who did not even know the names of the moves used by her first partner Pokémon.
Max is very good at navigating through his PokéNav, even though they sometimes get lost or if the PokéNav is unable to help them out.
Relationships
Family
Caroline and Norman
Max and his parents, Caroline and Norman.
They are his and May's parents. Max cares for them a lot, especially his dad who he looks up to also he wants to be just like him someday. Max was the most upset when his dad lost to Ash in their gym but was calmed down by his friends, May, mother and his father.
May
Max and May.
As siblings, May and Max argue a lot and get on each other's nerves, such as Max always taking the opportunity to tease May. Nevertheless, they are very close and genuinely love and care for one another. Max does care for May and would do anything to try to make her happy. May has been shown to be very protective of Max.
May sometimes gets angry at Max from knowing a lot about Pokémon, despite max not being old enough to be a Pokémon Trainer. Max has also annoyed May for not knowing some of the basics of Pokémon training. As the series progress he was more supportive of his sister at her contests and wanted to travel with her throughout Kanto, May allowed it as long as their parents agreed. Throughout Kanto, max remained supportive of his sister and helped her out whenever he could, even comforting her when she lost at the Kanto Grand Festival. When May decided to do contests in Johto where her rivals Drew and Harley were going, Max wanted to come with her on her next journey. However, even though May was glad that her brother wanted to come with her she decided that he should back home to their parents. Because she believed if they continue traveling together he would always rely on her rather than allow them to grow in their own ways. Afterwards, Max would watch May's contests from home but continued to support her.
Friends
Ash
Max and Ash.
When they first met, Max looked down on Ash like a know it all, got his name wrong and even criticized how bad his Pokemon were. Max had even given the impression that he was the Gym Leader but it was soon revealed that Norman (Max's Father) was the Gym Leader. After getting to know each other better there relationship improved and Max even wanted to travel with them which Ash didn't mind at all. Max sees Ash as a big brother figure due to having a fondness for Pokémon and they are seen doing the most together while May and Brock are shopping in some towns. Max and Ash are also best friends.
Brock
Max pulls Brock away by the ear whenever the latter flirts with ladies
Max gets annoyed when Brock falls in love with girls, but he does respect his knowledge for Pokémon and because of that he sees him as a mentor to help become a really great trainer someday, so Max and Brock really are great friends.
Max makes a habit of pulling Brock's ear when he sees and talks to a pretty girl, halting his romantic advances as Misty did in Kanto and Johto.
Audrey and Kathryn
Max with Audrey and Kathryn.
Max has a close bond and good friends with Audrey and Kathryn. While they didn’t have much interaction, he does apologize the girls for scaring them after wondering if Deoxys could enter the Greenhouse inside through the wall, only for both get into shock when hear a loud crack noise. Nonetheless, all three get along well, while also bonding their Pokémons since they are almost the same age and that both have older siblings travel together. Max even shows his PokéNav to Audrey and Kathryn before they bid farewell.
Misty
Max and Misty.
Max grew a little close to Misty, also he admires the way she pulls Brock away from girls during which he admired so much he did it himself after she went back to Kanto. Max and Misty share of being the youngest sibling, but promised to look out for them no matter what, shown when they got separated from everyone.
Biography
Anime
Both May and Max are the children of Norman, the Gym Leader of Petalburg City and his wife Caroline. From a young age, Max was interested in Pokémon and studied them, becoming very intelligent.
Before May started her journey, Max and his family watched a movie at the science fiction theater, which was about a giant Meowth destroying a city and fighting against a giant Marshtomp air force and the Pichu Brothers, and she states that it is her favorite movie.[4]
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
Max pretending to be the Gym Leader of Petalburg City Gym.
Max was in the Petalburg City Gym when Ash showed up there. Max pretended to be the Gym Leader and asked Ash about his performance in the Silver Conference, which Max apparently saw live on TV weeks ago. He also mocked Ash for losing in the quarter finals of the tournament, triggering a brief argument between the two of them. When May arrived, he asked to see her first partner Pokémon, which was a Torchic, a decision that disappointed Max, who stated that he would have chosen a Treecko if he were a Pokémon Trainer. Max also watched Ash battle the actual Gym Leader, Norman, before the Team Rocket trio arrived and ended the battle prematurely. He and May fell into a pitfall as they chased Team Rocket to recover May's Torchic, whom they tried to lure over Ash's Pikachu. Max and May were later rescued from the pitfall by Ash, and Max rescued Torchic from the cage it was imprisoned within. Max was accidentally hit by Torchic's moves a few times when May used Torchic to battle Team Rocket. After the Team Rocket trio was defeated, Max asked his parents for permission to travel with Ash as well as May, who promised to look after Max. Max not only received permission from his parents but was also gifted a PokéNav to guide Ash's group along their journey. Max was thrilled and thanked everyone before he, Ash, and May made their way to Petalburg Woods.[1]
Max once fed berries to some wild Zigzagoon, but they surrounded him angrily when he ran out.[5]
Max accidentally broke his PokéNav when he spilled orange juice on it, so he brought it to Mr. Stone to have it fixed.[6]
Max envisioning how a Slakoth would be as his Pokémon.
Max was annoyed that May left her Torchic as she focused on training her Beautifly for the upcoming Pokémon Contest in Slateport City. Max believed that May forgot about her Torchic, even when Ash and Brock tried to explain that it was not the case, since Torchic was her first partner Pokémon. When Max thought about what his first Pokémon would be, he imagined receiving a Slakoth from Norman, though Max believed he would not like it very much. Max and Ash later helped Nurse Joy look after each of the Hoenn first partner Pokémon—Mudkip, Treecko, and Torchic—since a girl was going to choose hers that afternoon, while Nurse Joy had to take care of a Wailord. As Max and Ash looked after the Pokémon, the Torchic escaped, and both Max and Ash had difficulty stopping the Torchic, especially when it evolved into a Combusken. Max considered swapping the Combusken for May's Torchic, but they thought that May would notice. By the time the girl, Stephanie, arrived to get her first partner Pokémon, Max and Ash decided to swap out Combusken for May's Torchic temporarily while ensuring that Stephanie would choose only Treecko or Mudkip. Max took the time to distract May, but then she went out to look for Torchic, uncovering Max's deception. In the end, Nurse Joy was not angry at Max and Ash, since Stephanie chose Mudkip, her father chose Treecko, and Combusken stayed to protect the Pokémon Center. Max looked at the sea, shouting that he looked forward to having his first partner Pokémon, regardless of its species.[7]
Jirachi partnered with Max at one point.[3]
Max and the rest of Ash's group once fainted from dehydration while traveling through the desert on their way to Fallarbor Town, but they were saved by The Winstrates. Max fell in love with the family's daughter, Vivi. Ash loaned his Corphish for Max to battle Vivi's Marill, while every other member of Ash's group each battled a different Winstrate family member. Before battling, Max blushed when Vivi told him that they would remain friends no matter what. However, Corphish disobeyed Max's orders and harmed Marill severely, so Vivi got angry and told Max that she hated him, which left Max heartbroken.[8]
Max got into a conflict with a brown-haired lookalike also named Max, but they later worked together to stop the Team Rocket trio from catching a Surskit.[9]
At a haunted mansion, Max was separated from Ash's group after he argued with May over who caused them to end up there. Max later encountered a Shuppet, which he began to play with and even had it prank Ash's group. Max later tried to stop Team Rocket from stealing May's Torchic. Both Max and May later reconciled.[10]
Before the Pokémon Contest of Izabe Island, May and Ash's group were concerned since they did not know where Max was, until Max showed up and told them that he was with Harley, who had bought him some ice cream. Max later told Harley about one of May's most embarrassing moments, but Max was unaware that Harley was recording him for the audience to hear. May was very embarrassed and said that she hated Max. Max later apologized to May, who then forgave him.[11]
Max and the Ralts whom he befriended.
Max once rescued an injured Ralts at a lake and befriended it. He showed it to Ash's group. Max's glasses were briefly frozen by Ash's Snorunt before being returned on his face, as a way to cheer up Ralts. When Brock saw that Ralts had a high fever, Max took the responsibility of taking it to the nearest Pokémon Center. The Team Rocket trio tried to take Ralts from Max by disguising themselves and claiming it was theirs, but Max refused he saw Ralts was scared of them. Max continued to resist Team Rocket, who had dropped their disguises. When Max saw that Ralts was becoming more ill, he tried to feed it some Berries to make it feel better, to no avail. He later encountered Ralts' friends Gardevoir and Kirlia, who had been looking for Ralts. Kirlia was defensive at first and attacked Max, whom Ralts protected with Safeguard, only to feel worse than before. Kirlia and Gardevoir noticed that Max was trying to help Ralts, so they teleported away. Max finally arrived at the Pokémon Center, where Ralts was put into emergency care. Max cried and thought that Ralts would not survive, but Nurse Joy arrived to announce that Ralts has fully recovered. Max returned Ralts to Kirlia and Gardevoir, even though Ralts appeared to want to stay with Max. Max was sad and said goodbye to Ralts, and he promised to pick it up again one day when he became a Pokémon Trainer.[12]
Max, Brock, and Ash once tried to cheer up May, who was very upset that she lost to Solidad at the Kanto Grand Festival. Max told May that she was the best sister ever.[13]
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
Max was mentioned by May on her travel to Sinnoh to compete in the Wallace Cup and said to Ash, Dawn, and Brock that Max was helping out at the Petalburg City Gym and helped take care of his parents' Pokémon, which they were proud of him for. A flashback was shown of Max cleaning Norman's Slaking while his parents watched was shown.[14]
Max was mentioned by May at the Wallace Cup after Brock's Croagunk used Poison Jab on Brock for flirting with a female, as she stated that Croagunk took Max's role.[15]
Max later told his parents to watch the Wallace Cup on TV, where May was seen performing with her Wartortle in the exhibition round.[15]
Max watched the final round of Wallace Cup between May and Dawn with Norman, Caroline, and Slaking.[16]
Max was in one of Brock's group photos that showed him with Ash, May, and Brock.[17]
Pokémon Journeys: The Series
Max with May, Serena and Lisia.
Max accompanied May, Serena, and Lisia as they watched the battle between Ash and Leon at the Masters Eight Tournament and would later be concerned when Ash's Pikachu nearly fainted from an attack used by Leon's Charizard.[18]
Other appearances
Pokémon
Befriended
Borrowed
Trivia
- Max is the first major male character to:
- Be from Hoenn.
- Be a Trainer in wanting.
- To not be based on a character from the games.
- Not have a Pokémon, although he has taken care of some of May's.
- Max is very similar to Bonnie from Pokémon the Series: XY and XYZ, as he is a younger sibling. Like Bonnie, Max shares the following:
- Aside from Bonnie, Max is Ash's youngest companion.
- He does his best to help out his older sister May, like Bonnie does with her older brother Clemont.
- He is not old enough to be a Pokémon Trainer, like Bonnie, who is also too young to train Pokémon.
- He is involved in a running gag of pulling Brock away from girls, just like Bonnie who has the running gag of trying to get Clemont to marry a woman.
- He is related to a Gym Leader, that being Norman, like Bonnie is to Clemont, the Gym Leader of the Lumiose City Gym.
- Coincidentally, both are related to the fifth Gym Leaders of their respected region.
- Max is the first younger sibling traveling with Ash who does not have a counterpart from the games, separating him from Bonnie.
- Max is the first younger sibling companion to make only cameo appearance in the Diamond and Pearl series when May was in Sinnoh during the Wallace Cup arc unlike her Kalos counterpart Bonnie in which she made full physical appearance outside its own series.
- Max has used May's Munchlax to be his orienteering partner in the Battle Frontier episodes.
- Max's previous English voice actress, Amy Birnbaum is best known for voicing Charmy Bee, Cosmo, Froggy and Helen in TMS Entertainment's anime series, Sonic X; Kirby and Spikehead in Warpstar Inc.'s anime series, Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Téa Gardner and Bonz in Gallop's anime series, Yu-Gi-Oh!.
- Birnbaum later voices Charmy in the late 2000s of the Sonic video game series until 2010 where she was replaced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey as his current voice in English in later Sonic games.
- Interestingly, Max's accent when speaking is much like Charmy.
- Max is always seen holding a Pokéblock case in his bag or pocket, but May was seen several times getting it out from her bag.
- It has been said that Max is too young to get his first Pokémon, but numerous trainers in the show are shown to have Pokémon while they look younger than 10 years old. It's possible that the age limit to be 10 is mostly just for competitions like Gym Battles, Leagues, Contests, and Grand Festivals. However, if kids younger than 10 do have a Pokémon, it is usually because that Pokémon actually belongs to an older sibling.
- Like Misty, Max drags Brock away whenever he falls in love. Max first starts doing this in "A Different Kind of Misty!", and after meeting Misty in "The Princess and the Togepi", Max includes her style by pulling Brock away by the ear.
- Max looks somewhat similar to Conway. They wear glasses, wear a green shirt, and have the same hairstyle (Although, Max's hair is a little shorter).
- Max, along with his older sister, May, and Cilan are Ash's only few friends who have never met Goh.
- In the Brazilian Portuguese dubbing version, the voice actor of Max (Thiago Keplmair) is the younger brother of the voice actor of May (Tatiane Keplmair) in real life.
Gallery
References
- ^ a b c RS003: There's No Place Like Hoenn
- ^ RS070: Balance of Power
- ^ a b MS006: Pokémon: Jirachi, Wish Maker
- ^ RS086: Lights, Camerupt, Action!
- ^ RS005: In the Knicker of Time!
- ^ RS017: Stairway to Devon
- ^ RS034: Having a Wailord of a Time!
- ^ RS046: Candid Camerupt!
- ^ RS049: Maxxed Out!
- ^ RS081: Take This House and Shuppet
- ^ RS104: A Cacturne for the Worse
- ^ RS110: Do I Hear a Ralts?
- ^ RS183: Channeling the Battle Zone!
- ^ DP076: A Full Course Tag Battle!
- ^ a b DP077: Staging a Heroes' Welcome!
- ^ DP079: Strategy with a Smile!
- ^ DP193: Nibi Gym-Shijō Saidai no Kiki!
- ^ PJ132: Partners in Time!
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