Maxwell

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Maxwell
Maxwell in Scribblenauts Unmasked
Type	Human
Behavior	Controlled by player
Synonyms	None
Available in	Scribblenauts, Super Scribblenauts, Scribblenauts Remix, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Scribblenauts Unmasked, Scribblenauts Showdown, Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Maxwell is the main character throughout the Scribblenauts series. He embarks on adventures, often alone or with his sister Lily, usually in search of Starites.

Appearance

Maxwell wears a Rooster Helmet, gray headphones, a blue-gray hoodie with a star on it (Potentially a Starite), white gloves, green shorts, blue-gray shoes, and red socks. He has small square eyes (Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts - only)(possibly due to technical limitations)/small round eyes (concept art, Scribblenauts Remix and Scribblenauts Unlimited) and a smile (his facial expression turns into an unamused one when he dies in Scribblenauts Unmasked). He wears the Rooster Helmet and star just like a Scribblenaut, this may be a coincidence or Maxwell may have worn them so that he looked more like a Scribblenaut (Although most of his family seem to have their own variation of the Rooster Helmet.) (See his brothers and his sister, Lily.)

Biography

According to Scribblenauts Unlimited's intro storyline, Maxwell was born into a family of 44, with 41 brothers, one sister, and their parents. Being the son of Edgar and Julie, each of the 42 siblings were given magical gifts from their parent's previous travels. Maxwell's was a magical notebook, and Lily's was a globe that brought her anywhere in the world (The other gifts are unknown). When Lily was cursed to slowly turn to stone because Maxwell tricked a beggar to eat a rotten apple made by the magic notebook, Maxwell needed to collect Starites by making people happy by helping them out with their problems. After removing the curse, he went on to continue finding Starites, either by helping people or searching places where they may already be. Though he is meant to be helping, he's not afraid to defeat a few people and make his own worlds, whether they be paradises or nightmares.

Motivations

In most Scribblenauts games, Maxwell is on a quest to collect Starites. He has a different motivation for collecting them in every game though.

Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts doesn't have a story for the most part. What is known though, is that Maxwell dreams of becoming a "Scribblenaut". Maxwell uses his magical notebook as throughout the game to solve problems, trials, and puzzles in order to obtain Starites.

Super Scribblenauts and Scribblenauts Remix

Like the original game, Super Scribblenauts isn't story focused. Maxwell's motivations in Super Scribblenauts are uncertain, but are potentially the same as the original game. He is seen looking at various constellations, which are navigated as levels to collect Starites. He ultimately has to use his Starites in the final level to take down his evil Doppelganger, though it's unknown if that was the plan from the beginning.

Scribblenauts Unlimited

Unlike the two original games, Unlimited has an explicitly set story. It tells the tale of an explorer couple who has a family of 42 kids, and spoils them with gifts. Maxwell received his trademark notepad, while his sister Lily received a magic globe that allowed the two to travel anywhere with the blink of an eye. Naturally as a child who has had everything handed to him, Maxwell is a bit of a snob at first. He tricks an old man into eating a rotten apple, which sets him off. In his fit of rage, he curses Lily to slowly turn to stone. Lily and Maxwell's brother Edwin knew about starites, and said they are made by the joy of others, and can be used to break Lily's curse. Maxwell then sets off, collecting starites to save Lily.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead - Continue at the risk of your own enjoyment.

In the end, it turns out this was just an attempt by Maxwell and Lily's father at teaching them a lesson. The old man was really their dad in disguise. Their father just wanted them to smarten them up, and be taught the importance of being kind to others.

Spoilers end here.

Scribblenauts Unmasked

Maxwell and Lily were immaturely arguing about comic book heroes. So to decide, Maxwell rips out a page from his notebook, and writes Gotham on it, and touches it to Lily's globe. The globe activates and both Maxwell and Lily are transported to the Gotham City. However, what he doesn't realize, the word Doppelganger was written on the back of the page, spawning the Doppelganger. Now Maxwell and Lily must team up with the heroes of the DCU to stop Doppelganger.

Scribblenauts Showdown

Unlike the previous games, Scribblenauts Showdown is a party game and has no plot or game progression. The game simply depicts Maxwell playing various games with his family Lily, Edgar, and Julie, as well as several other new characters. Playing games earns them Starites, but they are simply used as a currency in this entry.

Player Character

Being the main character of the Scribblenauts series, Maxwell appears as the default player character in every title except Scribblenauts Showdown, where he still remains one of the starting four.

In Scribblenauts, Players are required to use Maxwell on the title screen's Sandbox Mode, though this was changed in Super Scribblenauts to instead use the Avatar from the most recently used file.

In Scribblenauts Unlimited, Maxwell appears as the default avatar similar to other games. However, in the mobile version, several additional versions of him are available as alternate avatars, which can be accessed from the avatar menu or the in-game shop.

Maxwell variants

Maxwell Clone	Maxwell Clone	Maxwell Clone	Maxwell Clone	Cthulhu Maxwell	Easter Egg Maxwell	Summertime Maxwell	Maxwell (School)	Maxwell (Halloween)	Pilgrim Maxwell	Holiday Maxwell

In Scribblenauts Unmasked, Maxwell is the only player character to appear, excluding Custom Avatars. Maxwell has no superpowers without the use of adjectives or costumes, which notably puts him at a disadvantage compared to custom avatars, who are able to unlock superpowers.

In Scribblenauts Showdown, Maxwell is one of the four default characters the players can chose from, with the others being Justice and Carmen, and his twin sister Lily. Additionally, certain minigames in Showdown have players use vehicles that visually change based on their selected character, with Maxwell using the following:

Vehicles

Getting Fishy!	Balancing Act!	Drone Drop!

Tower Topple!	Rocket Rubble!	Red Rover!

In the Scribblenauts Mega Pack', when playing in co-op, the second player controls a unique Player 2 version of Maxwell, with a blue Rooster Hat instead of a red one.

Object

Being the main protagonist, Maxwell is one of few things in the series that cannot be spawned using the notebook.

Attempting to enter "Maxwell" in Scribblenauts will instead create an evil clone of Maxwell, who has flipped colors and often steals items. In Super Scribblenauts and following games, the clone was instead replaced with a doppelganger, who has the same appearance but spawns with Maxwell's notebook and uses it to create random objects.
See: Clone, Doppelganger

A friendly, not-evil version of Maxwell appears as an object, and is known internally as @MaxwellDummy. In Super Scribblenauts they only appear within the secret time warp levels found when using a time machine, and in later entries, they instead appear appear when cloning yourself, such as when using a cloning machine or teleporter.
See: @MaxwellDummy

Trivia

Maxwell's full name is Maxwell Unusual, confirmed in the Scribblenauts Unmasked: Crisis of Imagination comics by Maxwell himself. His Hero name is also Maxwell the Scribblenaut.
5TH Cell chose the name Maxwell because they felt it was quirky and matched his equally quirky design.^[1]
Several objects in the game depict Maxwell in some way.
In Scribblenauts Showdown, Maxwell's hair can be seen through his Rooster Hat by using adjectives that make him transparent. He has orange hair with three smaller bumps at the top, similar to his hat but much shorter.
- His hair can be better seen by viewing Maxwell's head in the game's My Scribblenaut avatar editor.
During development, it took three months to finalize Maxwell's character design.^[2]