History YMMV / MaxSteel

* WTHCastingAgency: Andy Garcia doesn't exactly scream sinister BigBad. This might have been the point, given that him being the villain was seemingly meant to be a big [[TheReveal reveal]], but he's pretty underwhelming compared to the Miles Dredd from the cartoon.

* CrossoverShip: Many kids of both genders ship Max Steel with Franchise/{{Barbie}}. The couple was born due to the popularity of both brands (and because both are owned by Mattel), but also because many feel Barbie deserves a better boyfriend than [[CampStraight Ken]], finding Max [[RatedMForManly manlier]] and [[{{Hunk}} more attractive]].

** The 2000's toyline is most fondly remembered in Mexico, thanks to a superb dub, decent animation and the coolness of Max and his enemies, particularly Elementor. Most memes, retrospectives and information on the franchise will thus originate in Mexico and Spanish adults that grew up with ''Max Steel'' as the toy equivalent of Superman and Goku.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The franchise has never made much of an impact in America, with the 2013 reboot and 2016 movie not managing much interest either. But in Latin America, the series is huge and new toys and DTV movies continue even after both the original show and the 2013 reboot finished their American runs. (A case of HistoryRepeats, as Max's father, Big Jim-- Mattel's 1970s-80s action hero-- was bigger in Latin America as well.)

* {{Narm}}: Max [[WhatAnIdiot searching "My fingers emit liquid energy" on Google]], followed by searching "WHAT AM I?!"

* CompleteMonster: Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles sics an Ultralink on the boy, nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]].

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYMR-eKxXMI That kickass theme]].

* CrossoverShip: Many kids of both genders ship Max Steel with Franchise/{{Barbie}}. The couple was born due the popularity of both brands, but also because many fell Barbie deserves a better boyfriend than [[CampStraight Ken]], finding Max [[RatedMForManly manlier]] and [[{{Hunk}} more attractive]].

* SnarkBait: On top of having a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, there's also the fact that it's based on a cartoon that not many people know about, which begs the question of why the movie exists in the first place.

* HilariousInHindsight: Max's catchphrase is [[Disney/WreckItRalph "Going Turbo!"]] Doubly so since Creator/DisneyXD would go on to air [[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 the remake series]].

* CrossoverShip: Many kids of both genders ship Max Steel with Franchise/{{Barbie}}. The couple was born due the popularity of both brands, but also because many fell Barbie deserved a better boyfriend than [[CampStraight Ken]], finding Max [[RatedMForManly manlier]] and [[{{Hunk}} more attractive]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The franchise has never made much of an impact in America, with the 2013 reboot and 2016 movie not managing much interest either. But in Latin America, the series is huge and new toys and DTV movies continue even after both the original show and the 2013 reboot finished their American runs. (A case of HistoryRepeats, as Max's father, Big Jim-- Mattel's 1970s-80s action hero-- was bigger in Latin America as well.)

* CompleteMonster:
** [[BigBad John Dread]] is the leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization DREAD]], a terrorist cell that engages in mass death and destruction in the name of [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]]. Dread runs his organization with icy ruthlessness, and regularly places thousands of innocents in harm's way, with notable instances involving trying to flash-freeze an entire city; hoping to blackout Paris and all of its life support systems; attempting to destroy the United Nations headquarters; and disabling a satellite and leaving it to crash into an entire city, all in order to further his plans. Though at first seeming rather professional about his crimes, Dread decides ItsPersonal with [[TheHero Max Steel]] when, after failing to dissect the teen alive, his own face is scarred by Max, leading Dread to kidnap the boy's best friend while promising to exchange him for a vial of powerful nanoprobes, at which point he tries to [[ILied kill the boy anyway]] just to torture Max. As a final attempted atrocity, Dread tries to obliterate the Swiss city of UsefulNotes/{{Geneva}}, killing its entire population plus the gathered world leaders, then [[FrameUp blame the deaths]] on N-Tek, the spy organization made to thwart Dread's crimes. With no empathy, remorse, or limitations to his ambition and {{greed}}, John Dread personified the very worst of the various terrorists Max Steel encountered throughout his missions.
** The [[PsychoForHire appropriately-named]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Psycho]] is an ever-grinning lunatic who is Max's [[ArchEnemy most personal and hated enemy]]. Psycho first met his nemesis when he splashed deadly nanoprobes all over the boy, hoping for them to excruciatingly kill him, unknowing that it would create his worst enemy, whom he would later go on to attempt to dissect, freeze to death, and drop a satellite onto the hometown of. Serving as John Dread's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] for most of the series, Psycho gleefully commits any and all orders given him, the higher the body count the better, and often goes beyond what his orders entail so as to inflict as much pain and death as possible, such as trying to murder two innocent teens for merely stumbling nearby his base, or by trying to annihilate a small village with an erupting volcano he is only supposed to be mining. His loyalty to Dread being simply a pragmatic partnership, Psycho often enacts his own schemes, normally involving acquiring plagues or nuclear missiles in order to destroy any city he wants then hold others for ransom while attempting to kill anyone in his way, an entire cruise ship of innocents being just one instance of this. His own accomplices fare no better than his enemies, as [[BadBoss Psycho]] tries to silence a captured compatriot, abuses his minions, and brutally murders his partner, Bio-Constrictor, even after the latter assists Psycho in attempting to transform all of humanity into monstrous creatures under his control. Nigh-invulnerable and always seeking to one-up Max Steel, Psycho lives up to his namesake as a truly psychopathic madman who proudly embraces his atrocities as if they were ends unto themselves.

* CompleteMonster: Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles [[WouldHurtAChild sics an Ultralink on the boy]], nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]].

* CompleteMonster: In this film based on [[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 the 2013 series]], Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles [[WouldHurtAChild sics an Ultralink on the boy]], nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]]. Though perhaps not as monstrous as his animated counterpart, Miles Edwards still manages to be a truly wicked individual who would sacrifice the entire Earth in his quest for power.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: While it hasn't aged well, the CGI was impressive for the time; the series moved to Creator/CartoonNetwork because they were willing to continue funding for the third season as-is, whereas the WB wanted to switch it to traditional animation.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Dread's voice actor, Martin Jarvis, would later voice [[VidoeGame/BatmanArkhamSeries Alfred Pennyworth]].