Max Steel

In 1998, Netter Digital was commissioned by Mattel to create and develop a secret agent themed TV series partially based on James Bond's adventures, but aimed to young kids. The series premiered in 2000, but since October 1999, the first toys based on the series hit the shelves. The Max Steel toy line quickly become an instant success, although most of the first toys were completely different from the characters on the series.[6] This may be due to the fact that both, series and toys, were developed simultaneously, but in independent way. Most early Max Steel toys had a notorious military, adventure or sport clothes not related to the series in any way, but surprisingly quite similar to the 70's Mattel's action figure Big Jim. It was also noted that in Latin American market, many Big Jim toys were sold at that time under the name "Kid Acero", which literally translates as "Kid Steel", a different Mattel toy line who also had a similar plot as Max Steel's TV series. Eventually, Mattel cleared those apparent coincidences in a TV episode in which it is revealed that Max Steel is indeed Big Jim's son, and other secondary character named "Jefferson Smith" is actually "Big Jeff" from the same classical Big Jim toy line, just 20 year older, hence making a connection between both toy lines, thus making this one of the first times a toy company makes a continuation of generations of toys, taking in consideration their history, backgrounds and timeline.

After the first year, development of the series went to Foundation Imaging, an animation company which eventually declared a bankruptcy at the end of second series. Mattel then choose Rainmaker Entertainment as the main animation studio, which at the time also was in charge of Transformers: Beast Wars. Following the same formula as Beast Wars, once Mainframe took control of the production, every new toy makes an appearance in the series or the movies, so they finally made a match. After the Endangered Species movie, every new set of toys includes at least a couple of wild animals as companions of Max too. The original run of the original toy series began in 1999 and ended in late 2012, with the reboot of the TV series starting in early 2013. Since the toy line was intended solely for male kids, despite of the constant presence of empowered women in the series as main or supporting characters, no female figures were ever produced.

Max Steel Series 1

• All the initial run of Max Steel action figures were quite different from the TV character, due to the fact the character was in development at the time. Most Max Steel vehicles of this series used to be blue, with yellow or green accents, as the early 80's Big Jim sport and spy series. This particular combination of colors was widely used on all Max Steel toys for waves 1 and 2, despite the fact the main characters in the series wears blue and brown uniforms. It was only until wave 3 when the first Max Steel action figure to be identical as the TV character "Going Turbo!" was released, a year after the initial debut of Max Steel,[7] but in the new Urban Siege sub line instead of the main toy line. Additional to the multiple Max toy versions, only one villain named Psycho was released as the main antagonist, although in the TV series Max had over a dozen different recurrent enemies. Waves 1 and 2 included exactly the same Psycho action figure, with only minor changes in the box. Wave 3 changed Psycho's mechanic arm, for a new spring loaded one, while the rest of the body remained mostly the same. Several large size vehicles, including a jet, a boat and a couple of sport cars were released as part of this initial series.

Series 2: Themed series

• At the end of 2000, Mattel took the decision to divide the Max Steel figures into different sub lines. All sport related toys, for example, would go to "Extreme Sports Adventure," while others would go into "Urban Siege," "Snake Island," etc. Vitriol, a new villain, was produced as the main villain in the sub line Urban Siege, using the same molds used to produce Psycho. Vitriol and Psycho wear the same pants, albeit different colors. The only notorious difference is, while Psycho's right arm is a bionic construction which can be transformed into a claw/laser, Vitriol's arms were green, with light up features. By coincidence, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, all Urban Siege action figures were immediately recalled because they contained "Secret Mission" Cards. Each card contained clues and plots about fictional terrorists attacks on American soil. Children were supposed to use the cards to be "informed of their next mission and stop the terrorists" before they could demolish a building, spread a deadly virus or detonate a nuke bomb, among other tasks. Vitriol and least a couple of cards included the text: "Vitriol is on top of the World Trade Center ready to blast the city with his deadly energy waves! Your Mission: Stop Vitriol before he destroys New York City!".[8] Once any mention of terrorism in New York was eliminated, the toys returned to the shelves, but as part of the main line this time. The Urban Siege series which focused on counter terrorism ended immediately after the recall. Other figures of different lines retained their respective mission cards. Rumors say the real reason of this act of empathy were the low popularity and poor sales of Vitriol, specially because it is the only Max Steel action figure never produced again after its initial release.

Endangered Species

• In 2004, Mattel took the decision to cancel the TV show and create a series of direct to DVD movies instead, to be released in an annual schedule, starting with Endangered Species. This also marked a completely new direction of the toy line. Since then, every new set of Max Steel toys makes an appearance in their respective movie, a formula also used on Barbie, Monster High and other Mattel products. As a result of this decision, several iconic characters and vehicles which were not included on that specific movie were removed from the toyline. The N-Tek minijet and the Sport Coupe which were Max's primary ways of transportation in the TV series didn't make the cut into the movies, so the respective toys were discontinued before the movie's premiere. Many other elements from the series were also removed from the toys, including any mention of Max' secret identity, "Josh McGrath". Although no toys based on Josh were ever released, he was often mentioned in the toy's packages.

World of elements Series

• In the 2005 movie "Forces of Nature" a new villain is introduced in the toy line, an artificial creature named Elementor, who has the ability to emulates 5 different elements (water, fire, air, earth and metal). This allowed Mattel to create several different versions of the same character, as opposite to the previous toy series in which usually only one or two villain figures were produced. At some point, Mattel released 10 different Elementor variations, 2 for each element at the same time. For the second wave, all Max figures were reassigned to a specific "World of...", with arms, equipment and accessories designed to challenge each specific Elementor's version. Thus, in the "World of Water", Max is dressed as a diver or surfer, uses a surf board, a boat and battles Water Elementor only. In "World of Air", he has a parachute, a jet pack, and battles Air Elementor, and so on... The World of elements toy series lasted for 3 years, with a total of 6 waves.

Adrenalink Series

• In 2007 Mattel dropped the Going Turbo! concept which was present from the beginning of the series as Max's battlecry (and was also used to transform into his superhuman form), for the Adrenalink one. The most notorious change in the toy packages it is that the Max Steel logo was changed from yellow to green. The Adrenalink subline includes almost all sport and adventure versions of Max not related to Elementor.

Max Gear

• In mid 2007, Mattel released for the first time "Max gear" to be dressed by kids. The toys included a retractile Ninja Sword, Max's communicator, Max's suit with battle sounds and light, night vision glasses, binoculars and other stuff alike.

Extroyed Series

• This line introduces a new villain in the toy series. The release of the first Extroyer action figure was announced as a special event, released only a couple of weeks before the movie Dark Rival premiered on Cartoon Network Philippines in late 2007. The original package contained both Max and Extroyer action figures, but Extroyer's face and body were mostly covered with the package's artwork, so no one could tell for sure how he looked like. Some time later the same Extroyer was available as a stand-alone figure, this time uncovered. All action figures related to Dark Rival movie and this new villain are often denoted by the word "Extroyed" in front of the package, with new purple or dark logos. The last wave of the Extroyed series also included a Max crime partner for the very first time. Although in all media Max was supported by a large cast of allies, only an android named Cytro, made it to the action figures. Mattel made it a special event, and reused the same mystery double pack used for Extroyer's initial release. Starting from this point, several additional figures of Cytro were also released along the years until the end of the original run of Max Steel.

Turbo Missions

• Released for the first time in 2009, these three different series separated the main toy line into numbered themed missions, in a similar way as the Urban Siege line intended to separate the military-themed figures from the sport ones in 2000. The "Animal Encounter" subset grouped all animal and wildlife related toys with Extroyer as the main villain, while the "High Voltage" subset was mostly focused in water and lightning versions of Elementor. A third subset named "N-Tek Invasion" simply grouped all other items which do not belong to the previous two. The Turbo Missions packages also had large set numbers (1, 2, 3) in reference to their respective mission. In 2010 a second wave of Turbo Missions action figures was released, but this time the themes were "Bio-Threat", "Cyber -Attack" and "Night Strike". Similarly as the previous ones, Bio-Threat grouped all earth pollution related adventures, while Night Strike showcased glow in the dark action figures. Cyber attack was mostly the same as N-tek Invasion, grouping all other enemies focused on causing mayhem inside N-Tek's headquarters.

Battle for the Earth series

• In 2009, Mattel also released an Earth's protection and conservation themed series of toys, whose main villain was a pollution based monster formerly named ToxZon. This included toys with spring water and ooze dropping features, plus a few light and sound toys. This toys mentioned in the packages phrases dedicated to recycling, sustainability and green solutions for the planet. Although focused on ToxZon, later waves of this toys also included new and last versions of Cytro, Extroyer and Elementor, and ended with the final release of a new villain named Makino in late 2012. This was also the end of the original run of Max Steel's Toys.

In 2013 Mattel finished its relationship with Mainframe, and decided to reboot the TV series after 13 years. As part of this decision, Playground Productions, Nerd Corps Entertainment and FremantleMedia Kids & Entertainment created a completely different origin story, and Mattel produced new toys based on the new designs, notoriously different from the original ones. The most notable change was the drop of toy's clothes and wearable accessories. While the original action figures came with fabric made vest and pants and detachable or snap-on accessories, -thus allowing to undress or dress up the figures with additional gear-, the new ones had no clothes at all, and all their features were directly molded onto the figures surface. This also allowed Mattel to cut down the cost of production of the action figures. The new figures also lacked of spring, sound or light features, which were not included until 2015, but in limited figures only.

The new reboot series was also notorious for the release of Max's allies for the first time. In the original toy line, only Cytro was produced as Max's crime fighter companion. In the reboot series, additional to Cytro, Forge Ferrus, Ven-Ghan and La Fiera action figures were released. Also another notorious change it was the New Max Steel figures from 2013–2016 were molded and shaped as a 16-year-old boy, notoriously younger and less muscular than the original ones. But figures made after 2016 were retooled to emulate an 18-year-old boy, making this the very first time Max showed some aged in both, toys and series. The later action figures also changed Max's face, making it more similar to the original from 1999.

When the first Max Steel toys were released in 1999, Mattel distributed a free 12 page comic book titled Take it to the Max to introduce the character to children. The comic was written by Richard Bruning based on the sourcebook by Andy Hartnell, and penciled by Scott Benefiel with Tom McWeeney and Tommy Yune. Inkers were Jasen Rodriguez, Tom McWeeney and Lucian Rizzo. Until now there are four known language versions of this comic: English, Spanish, Italian and Greek. The English version was distributed mostly in America and United Kingdom, the Spanish version was largely distributed on Latin America and Spain, while the Italian one was obviously distributed in Italy and the Greek one in Greece, especially through the Modern Times superhero comics.

The comic consists mostly of two different briefing presentations which are supposed to happen at the same time in DREAD and N-Tek headquarters respectively, in which each CEO explains Max's abilities, powers and capacities from their opposite points of view. While Jefferson Smith presents Max as a great tool to counter terrorism, John Dread considers Max as a Major threat. In the background, while hearing Jefferson's presentation, Josh remembers the accident which transformed him into Max Steel and adds complementary information about his personal life not mentioned by Jefferson or Dread in the briefings. Laura Chen also makes her first public presentation in the comic.

In the last pages, the comic also contains biographies of all main characters: Max, Jefferson, Dread, Psycho, Rachel and 'Berto.

Most of the facts mentioned in the comic are present and developed in the TV series first season. There are some details which are slightly different though. The comic it is supposed to be based on Mattel's Max Steel Sourcebook and since the creative control of the TV series changed three times due to the bankruptcy of the two initial animation studios, it is possible that few of the hints mentioned in the comic never had a chance to be developed in the series, or maybe they were discarded in favor of further development of the characters.

Among the most notorious differences, it is mentioned that N-Tek's founder and original CEO was Jim McGrath, -Max's father-, instead of Marco Nathanson. John Dread does not wear glasses as he always does in the series, and it is mentioned that 'Berto is a traditional die hard computer nerd with no experience with girls or real life at all, (in the series he does has a life, and he is even a regular skilled fighter). The comic also insinuates the possibility that Psycho is Max's biological father, and they may have a relationship similar as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from Star Wars. This plot in particular was never mentioned in the TV series or movies, but the 2004 movie Endangered Species includes a scene in which Psycho defeats Max, and offers him join forces to rule mankind together. This scene is extremely similar as the one represented by Luke and Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.

In 2006 Mattel released a 4 issue series of mini comics, each four pages long. Each comic described an encounter between Max and a specific version of Elementor (Earth, Fire, Water and Air, respectively). The mini comics were used mostly as brochure to introduce Elementor to kids.

In 2013, VIZ Media's all-ages imprint, Perfect Square, released The Parasites, the first in a series of a full length graphic novels featuring a revamped Max Steel universe that tied into the new television series. Edited by former Naruto manga editor, Joel Enos, the first graphic novel was written by The Stuff of Legend co-creator Brian Smith and illustrated by Jan Wijngaard. The next two books in the series, Hero Overload and Haywire were released in 2014 and featured stories by writers B. Clay Moore and Tom Pinchuk, as well as more artwork from Wijngaard and Voltron Force artist, Alfa Robbi.

Netter Digital Entertainment produced a TV series of the same name, based on a 19-year-old college student named Josh McGrath, who has super powers and can transform into the powerful Max Steel.[9] The series starts with the episode "Strangers"; Max and his partner Rachel Leeds are at a UN meeting when Rachel and all attendants disappear — except Max, who was on the roof watching, something Rachel scolded him for. Later, Dr. Roberto Martinez finds out that the floor inside rotated, sending everyone in the room into a hidden chamber under the floor, while a new floor spun into place. The enemy is later revealed to be L'Etranger, and he has taken the UN Representatives as hostages and is escaping on a train with them. Max and 'Berto follow Rachel's tracking signal, hidden in her earring, to the train. Max fights L'Etranger on top of the train, but in the middle of the confrontation, his enemy is knocked off the train.

The first episode doesn't give much background on who Max Steel is or what he does, only that he has a double-identity, works for a secret organization, and is super-powered. Until the third episode, "Shadows," it is revealed through a series of flashbacks how Josh became Max Steel: Josh apparently fell asleep outside of N-Tek while visiting his father. He hears someone break down a back door into N-Tek, so he follows the man down an elevator. Both of them are caught by N-Tek security agents, but the intruder, who is revealed to be "Psycho," Max' future enemy, in human disguise, defeats the agents. Josh then follows Psycho into a room where he sees Psycho stealing N-Tek Nanoprobes. Josh and Psycho battle for a moment, and in the middle of the fight, Josh kicks Psycho in the face, revealing his metal skull-like face. Josh panics, and Psycho fires his laser at Josh, but hits the glass holding the nanoprobes instead, causing the container to burst, sending the probes onto Josh's body. Jefferson finds Josh in an extremely weak condition, infected by the probes. 'Berto tells them that the probes are dying, causing Josh to die with them. They both need transphasic energy to survive, so they put Josh inside the transphasic regenerator (a machine capable of regenerating the nanoprobes). This procedure saves Josh's life, but also gives him powers boosted by the probes, now synchronized with his body. Josh confronts Jefferson to let him work at N-Tek but his stepfather refuses. Then Josh tells him that "Josh McGrath is out of the picture", and transforms into Max Steel.

The first season lasted 13 episodes. After that, Netter Digital had gone bankrupt, so Foundation Imaging took over Season 2. For similar reasons, Season 3 was developed by Mainframe Entertainment. The third season also took a different approach: N-Tek's counter-terrorism section is shut down due to the events present in "Breakout," the 2nd-season finale, so the main characters become extreme sports stars. One could state the plot resembled that of the CGI Action Man series (which was Max Steel's main competition at the time of airing). Season 3 would end up being the final season of Max Steel, ending with the episode, "Truth Be Told."

About two years after the series ended, a movie, titled "Endangered Species," was released direct-to-DVD. A Max Steel movie was released every year from 2004 up until 2012. However, the movies took a different approach; while the series focused on chasing terrorists, secret agents, and super-enhanced humans, the movie's plots were focused on fighting superpowered mutants and monsters. The movies also changed the continuity, and Josh McGrath no longer exists.

A re-imagining of the first series, which has the same title, premiered on Disney XD March 25, 2013. In this re-imagining, Josh McGrath no longer exists, and he is known as Maxwell "Max" McGrath. Also, Max Steel is no longer one person, but two; Maxwell and an Ultralink named "Steel." Maxwell (who is a Tachyon-Human Hybrid) has the ability to generate Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized, or TURBO energy, however, he cannot contain it, as it causes him to become unstable. However Steel, the Ultralink, has the ability to merge with Maxwell, which helps Maxwell stabilize his turbo energy. After the two combine forces, "Max Steel" is created.

The movies offer a different perspective on N-Tek and the creation of Max Steel. Through this, the world has been retconned. Usually, Max Steel movies are offered as bonus gifts with the purchase of other products, and are not available in other ways. In 2003, in the United States, if you selected Max Steel action figures you would get a free Max Steel: Endangered Species DVD. Countdown was included free in the largest playsets of the toy line in the '06 Christmas and as a free gift by buying a Happy Meal during November in Latin America only. In Mexico, Dark Rival was available inside an ActII Popcorn special promo pack at the end of 2007 and early 2008. Bio Crisis premiered with no advertising at all, except a brief announcement to the press in a particular interview in Mattel's regional headquarters. The movie was immediately available as a bonus gift with the purchase of different products, but only at very specific locations, since at the same time, Dark Rival and Forces of Nature were relaunched, as part of the countdown to Max Steel's Tenth Anniversary Celebration.

Several new characters (not present in the original TV series) were introduced in the movies.

• Mattel Interactive made a Max Steel video game Max Steel: Covert Missions for the Dreamcast.[20]
• Each new Max Steel toy released starting in 2007 and until late 2011 contained a "credit card". Depending on the toy's value, the cards contains a specific amount of credits named "Max Points" that can be used to log in and unlock and play different missions in Max Steel online video game. The online video game can be accessed through the Max Steel official website only. In 2012, as part of Max Steel reboot, the credit cards were eliminated and the access to website is now free of purchases.

In the TV show's initial run, Josh McGrath was a white, blond 19-year-old. After the accident in which the N-Tek nanoprobes infected his body, he gained the ability to transform himself into a dark-haired athletic adult, older and stronger than Josh. This grown-up alter ego is Max Steel.[21]

Contrary to most heroes with secret identities, Josh's wasn't an issue except with his personal relations, mostly with his girlfriend and fans from the Extreme Sports Circuit. At different times, both Psycho and Dread witnessed Josh's transformation into Max from a remote location and don't show any surprise about it. In at least one episode, Josh transforms in Psycho's presence. In another episode, Psycho chases Josh, forces him to separate from his friends and obligates him to transform into Max Steel. It is not clear how many of Max's enemies knows about his secret identity. At the end of the first season, it is revealed that one of the most trusted Directors of N-Tek, Jean Mariot, was really a DREAD mole, which explains how their members knew about Max's true identity, but does not explain why Max himself never cares about keeping his identity a secret. In the Season 2 episode "Old Friend, New Enemy," Max personally reveals to Bio-Con his true identity.

In the third series, due to a combination of factors- the change of the creative design team, a change in the animation company, and the lack of market in the US- all companies involved in the production of Max Steel gradually dropped the secret identity concept, but still had them going on "secret missions", with little-to-no help from N-Tek. The movies, released after the TV show ended, took a different approach: Officially, his Josh identity was dropped and Max does not transform at all. This decision wasn't difficult to take, since all Max Steel merchandising and licensed products, promos and advertising campaigns always portrayed him as a brunette and no licensed products were ever produced with his secret identity. The "Josh" as secret identity concept was present only on the TV show and the first movie, Endangered Species, although Josh is also seen in a flashback scene in "Forces of Nature," when Jeff reflects on when the creation of "Max Steel" took event.

By 2006, "Josh McGrath" was almost forgotten, and all references to him and his personal life were removed from the main story. Even in normal situations, the character was still referred to as Max. Apparently, Josh was slowly phased out until he was simply eliminated from the story continuity, which was readjusted to eliminate any trace of him. Any mention of Josh was removed from action figure boxes and all other licensed merchandising. The 2005 movie Forces of Nature shows Josh for the final time in a flashback in which the origin of Max Steel is briefly explained for new audiences. The 2008 movie Bio Crisis recreates the very same scene when Psycho infects Max with the N-Tek's nanoprobes, followed with a brief explanation of the process used to save his life. However, this time, it is stated that Max Steel (not Josh) is the victim. The character in scene is Max Steel indeed, with his exact "Max" appearance. In the movies current continuity, Josh simply never existed.

In the 2013 TV series reboot, the main character is renamed Maxwell MacGrath, "Max" (for short) by family and friends. When in "turbo mode" he is known as Max Steel because he combines with an Ultralink named Steel.

Over the years, Max Steel's logo has varied, while still keeping the same style, the color has varied. The logo represented in the TV series featured the words "Max" in orange. It also had smaller letters within the letters, which also read "Max." These were a burnt orange. However, some toys sported different colors; some had the words "Max" in red on the top, and faded to yellow at the bottom; with black words within reading "Max," while others were a more yellow, with less red, and featured the words "Max" within orange. However, some were just similar to the TV series'. However, for the first movie, the color of "Max" was changed to blue, and stayed that way through "Forces of Nature." After the Adrenalink system was introduced, the color of "Max" was changed to green, and featured a lightning bolt through the words (replacing the original "Max" letters within the word "Max"). The green logo was used until 2013, when Mattel decided to reboot the franchise. For the 2013 reboot, the logo was redesigned. Now, the "Max" is silver (as opposed to the yellow/orange of the original), while the "Steel" is a glowing blue (as opposed to silver).

• Official website
• Video: Max Steel – 2013 New York Toy Fair
• Jouets Max steel france