"It's unsafe for you to remove the steel suit, yes? But, through the use of sophisticated holographic refraction processes and advanced tactile warping algorithms I can make it seem as though you're wearing your everyday attire." - Steel, S1 E2
āāā
I have. So many questions. Possibly more than I started with.
Does Max ever actually remove the helmet or does it just look like he does? Actually no nvm we see him eat thingsā
Are the tactile warping algorithms just meant to change the texture of Maxās āclothesā for other people or does it affect the way they feel to him? If someone touches what looks like bare skin does Max feel a difference in tactile input? Is it actually bare skin??
If itās not in camo mode does Max have the same sense of touch as if it is? Or is it different? I keep staring at the blue palms of his suitās gloves and wondering if thatās highlighted for aesthetic purposes or functional ones.
(I also have logistics questions that kinda donāt matter if I just choose to ignore them. Which I will be doing because I donāt think it really matters how showering works with this. I have more important questions.)
Like, can Steel dye Maxās hair??? Iād need to look into how temporary hair dye works (and regular dyes, for that matter) but theyāre working with light refraction here so I donāt think pigments would come into play at all. Failing that, wig??
ā¦
God the mental image of Distress!Max and his Steel arguing in a one-person gas station bathroom about what hairstyle he should have.
Steel wants to go with something sooo edgy because theyāre rebels, Max! Nobody understands them or their mission! Itās them against the world! They gotta go black and red stripes!! Spiky! No wait, bangs so long theyā
Max, who is on his second gas station coffee this hour, grips the sink and says that if Steel makes him look as ridiculous as he did last week heās going to cause a blackout so massive that NTek will be able to look in this general direction and know theyāre here.
Steel just kinda floats there for a second. Then pitches, āplatinum with black tips?ā
āā¦that would look cool.ā
They finally get to leave the bathroom. And Steel shoplifts some snacks on their way out.
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I keep thinking about that scene in āSecret Identity Crisisā where Max couldāve been outed for sure if Dredd had just siphoned from him on that bus. Like, thereās no coming back from that, holo bots or not. Itās wraps for anyoneās plausible deniability.
AU where Max Steelās secret identity doesnāt last a week. And all the many, many consequences that entails.
Has anybody cooked an AU where Max was leaking Turbo energy as a kid or nah? I feel like it must exist already, given we know what tiny Max looks like. He was already in an NTek onesie.
Iād be excited to āholy shit, two cakesā about it if it does already exist several times over. And I will be getting into the kitchen regardless. But Iām waiting until Iāve eaten at least this whole playlist before I start tag hopping soooo. I asks politely.
OH THANK FUCK HEāS NOT HUMAN!! That just fixed a fucking plot hole for the egg-parasite fic concept that refuses to remain idle in my brain. Namely why it was only reaching out to Max. Iām so stupidly happy about that. And about a couple other things besides, but thatās for later spinning.
On another note, good to see Steel was always capable of good and inclined to question shitty authority. Stay true to you, buddy!! Save that guyās life after he asked you some hard questions and you chose your own answers!!
Also for a hot second there are the very start of the episode I thought the blast was meant to infect Max with something.
Which isā¦ a pretty fun concept, in light of these revelations. Itād be fun to flip the script a little and have Max blowing out the power for half a city block when he sneezes too hard.
ā¦I wanna know how to spell literally any of the fucking buzzwords from this episode but Iām scared to look it up when Iām close to halfway through this playlist already without spoiling myself in any major way. We just power through ig!!!
It says a lot about the strength of Maxās convictions and moral backbone in canon that my first and only plan for how to follow through on making him a supervillain without throwing away his entire character about it is beaming him with visions of his fatherās plight way too fucking early for him to do anything about it.
Like???
I just have to go for the big guns immediately. I see no other way that wouldnāt involve some mind control or manipulation or blackmail or other extenuating circumstances that remove him from the blame. And I canāt have that for this. I gotta play it straight.
So I take a Max. I give him scattered visions of his fatherās past in his dreams as his bond with Steel grows stronger. Something about their link, the way itā¦ resonates? Unimportant. Somehow this bond between them is letting him access his fatherās memories when he and Steel fall asleep linked. Though it is tanking the actual quality of Maxās sleep. Which does matter. Later.
The other thing that matters is getting Max attached to the fact he gets to see and connect with his father this way. He sees things not just from when his father knew Steel but before. He sees NTek, yes, but also Takion.
Whichā¦ raises some questions. A lot of them. But finally learning how to not explode after eight hours is nice.
At some point Max gets tired of nobody believing his visions (read: people in his life are trying to gaslight him into not asking these questions anymore) except Steel, who became convinced when they found out Max can beam his own memories of the dreams at him with Turbo energy. (Or whatever the fuck Jim did to Steel that one time.)
I need this to be in peak Steel Wants Answers times. Maybe even before Extroyer. Because Max being uncertain of his humanity at the same time as Steel learning the Elementors are also Ultralinks has some incredible potential. Shake them both without either being in a position to truly reassure the other about who they are.
Then we can start to trickle in dreams that areā¦ different.
Dreams of pain. Dreams of being hollowed out.
Max would think of these as nightmares about whatās gonna happen to him when Dredd catches him. Except. He knows how this works now. He has these nightmares only on nights when he and Steel agree to see more of his fatherās memories.
Did someone do this to his father? How?? When??
Itās difficult to see the room his fatherās in because of how weird the lighting situation is. And, you know, the pain is a bit distracting. But eventually thereās a lucky break. They get Steel to recognize the ship or maybe the ominous figure who comes to taunt Jaāem Mkārah from time to time.
This is Makinoās doing. Makino is a world-eater, a powerhouse thatās hellbent on consuming all that he comes across. He has at last triumphed over the one warrior to defy him more than once, and now heāll use this power against the planet he holds so dearā¦
(Max: Does he mean Takion?
Makino: Earth.
Max: What???? No. No!
NO!!)
There is a planet-eater coming to earth and Max is not thinking rationally about what to do about it because heās getting maybe two good nights of sleep a week. Steel, who has only recently learned he left Makinoās army to save Jimās life, is absolutely down to enable whatever bullshit plans Max comes up with on how to save the guy. Steel owes his father everything!
Cue some bullshit that makes the hunt for the Turbo Star look so tame.
These two donāt care about collateral or witnesses or permission. They want results. They want one result. And they donāt care what they have to do to get it.
Theyāll run away, steal, collaborate with criminals. They donāt care what the public thinks. They donāt care what NTek thinks. This isnāt about them. They had their chance to help!! Now stop getting in the way!!
They probably learn of Jimās spaceship at some point and move in there to have an easier time avoiding NTek, though they decide to save the Turbo Chamber for when they have to kick Makinoās ass with the Turbo Star. Which is honestly their most solid plan.
They might even risk teaming with Dredd to have him build it. They can always double cross him later before he gets the chance to do it to them first! Because theyāre not going to risk letting the man who claimed to have betrayed their father once go anywhere near him after heās been saved, so heās gotta go.
Yeah yeah yeah yeah!!! It has to be a spiral. Itās gotta start somewhere sweet and end in a downright rabid desperation. A yearning so deep itās going to implode into a black hole. Theyāve sunk so much of their hope into this. It has to work. It has to.
What was it all for if they fail? They canāt stop. They have to see this through! They will! They will!
The entire premise can really just be boiled down to this:
Max Steel is going to bring James McGrath home alive. Whatever it takes.
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Mmmmmmm. I donāt like the emphasis on the power source. Something Dredd said about the Turbo Star like a dozen episodes back has been kind of haunting me-
āHeās coming back! And heās gonna destroy everything! Including us!ā
āAnd there is only one person with the power to stop him. We need Max Steel.ā
āā
HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
Oooooh baby, weāre so fucking back!!!!! We got a tangible fucking cause for our bullshit!
(Max Steel already fights so hard for guardians that use and neglect him, keep him in the dark enough that he keeps scuffling with Dredd over crumbs to lead him to the truths he seeks. How far would he be willing to go for a real mentor?)
I am spinning so hard I might need to get up and pace. Goddamn.
