a little spaced out

I mean there’s the obvious reason.

Molly and Forge, at the very least, are gonna be in such deep denial. Molly because that’s her son who would surely never do this willingly and Forge because he’s more likely to continue to think the worst of Steel than anything else. I mean, how could Max possibly be expected to resist an Ultralink?

(Especially one insidious enough to run such a long con. Forge can’t believe he let that thing play the amnesia card for this long! Even after it started using Jim’s memories to string Max along. Convince him of something impossible to yank him around with. He should’ve seen it for the manipulation tactic it was rather than lie outright to keep Max from prying for answers. Maybe if he’d told Max what Steel really was from the start…)

The other three are also close enough to be biased but they probably paid a little more attention to Max’s spiral before those two fully went rogue. Not to mention Berto pointing out that Max is smart enough to have sent them some obvious signals that he’s under duress if he was really being used entirely against his will.

And that got me thinking.

What if Max has been sending NTek distress signals?

But not because of Steel.

I started thinking about why any villain would be willing to work with these two when Max has such strict lines that would get in the way of their biggest ambitions. Then it hit me.

Max Steel isn’t the one fucking up their plans by dragging his feet or arguing about morals. NTek is putting a stop to the worst of this shit.

Because Max is tipping them off. (With Steel’s approval, usually. Some of these plans are just destructive for the sake of it.)

If a villain wants to cash in a favor with them to set up something really bad, they’ll follow through. They’ve got a reputation to keep up.

But that damned NTek always swoops in just in time to foil their plans! Of course it’s occurred to people that Max Steel could be ratting on them, but NTek’s hostility towards Steel and the fact they target him so heavily muddies the waters there.

And they’re usually owing these favors because Max needs a villain’s help to save Steel from Ntek, sooooo. It evens out.

I’m thinking about what these villains must think of Max Steel’s alleged plummet from grace.

The Ultralinks think Steel’s finally got his processors on straight. He fed them some bullshit that felt disgusting to say about how his systems malfunctioned upon contact with Mk’rah’s Turbo energy. But after all this time he’s managed to adapt and overcome the interference. It’s more difficult to suppress this host than it should be, sure, so please ignore his vessel’s insignificant yapping. Rest assured that Steel is the one calling all the shots now and they’re free to clear the way for Makino’s glorious conquest! Or whatever.

Extroyer, who knows it’s possible to suppress an Ultralink instead of the other way around, thinks that’s horseshit. But he can understand wanting more than what your superiors think you’re due. Good on them for breaking free from NTek’s cage. They better not get too comfortable, though. There’s only one apex predator in Copper Canyon, after all. They should know their place on the food chain.

Toxzon is kind of convinced Max had a similar arc as him, actually. His old allies think him mad for colluding with his clear criminal mastermind friend? Bah, good riddance! Toxzon is sure they can make NTek and THI pay for doubting their expertise. Though Max Steel still has a lot to learn in the ways of villainy. Even Fishy agrees they need to work on their ruthlessness.

Dredd knows that these two are fucking lying about going to the dark side because they’re telling him the truth. Wisely. They’re far from the sharpest schemers and if they’re willing to be of use then Dredd is magnanimous enough to work their goal into his own designs. Isn’t he so generous, helping save his old friend like this? Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside doesn’t it? Or maybe that’s the Turbo energy he’s also getting from this deal. Ha.

I JUST

KATIE TRIED TO SEND US COOKIES OUTTA THE GOODNESS OF HER HEART AND JUST

“OHHHH THESE COOKIES WERE SUPPOSED TO GO TO NEW JERSEY, PHIL? I THOUGHT YOU SAID

THE COOKIES ARE FINALLY ON THEIR WAY TO NEW JERSEY

GO COOKIES GO

@phantomrose96 @cupcakecreeper​ @homebeccer GET READY

@phantomrose96 @homebeccer @cupcakecreeper

holy fuCK HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS

THE THRILLING CONCLUSION

also as a bonus visual here’s a rough approximation of these cookies’ journey

AND 

IT’S

IT’S

IT’S NOT AN OPTION IT’S NOT AN OPTION I CAN’T I-

No one said “hey let’s stop missending things to Nepal” they just said “let’s make a stamp for this” and called it a day.

They get paid a small stipend by the Heroes Council for this, and they live off that.

No crime fighting, no obvious heroics, and they only took a Super Identity because it's technically hero's council policy. Nobody's ever seen them in a cape.

Like, they regularly act like they're getting away with something. They joke about how they get to earn money in their sleep. They show up to their hospital visits in deliberately ridiculous disguises, on the excuse that they need to 'protect their identity'.

———

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 things—

Are the tactile warping algorithms just meant to change the texture of Max’s “clothes” 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 it’s 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 suit’s gloves and wondering if that’s highlighted for aesthetic purposes or functional ones.

(I also have logistics questions that kinda don’t matter if I just choose to ignore them. Which I will be doing because I don’t think it really matters how showering works with this. I have more important questions.)

Like, can Steel dye Max’s hair??? I’d need to look into how temporary hair dye works (and regular dyes, for that matter) but they’re working with light refraction here so I don’t think pigments would come into play at all. Failing that, wig??

…

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 they’re rebels, Max! Nobody understands them or their mission! It’s them against the world! They gotta go black and red stripes!! Spiky! No wait, bangs so long they—

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 he’s going to cause a blackout so massive that NTek will be able to look in this general direction and know they’re here.

Steel just kinda floats there for a second. Then pitches, “platinum with black tips?”

“…that would look cool.”

these are my "serious" ones based on how it seems to work in the show

the suit (and therefore camo's influence) stops at max's neck (perhaps bc since steel stopped himself from suppressing max). as a result, steel can't control anything related to max's mind/face

this incomplete link is why steel can speak in max's mind but max can't return the favor.

steel can 'listen' through the suit while in range

the helmet is something either of them can toggle in base mode (and ig stealth mode too), and is just a preprogrammed command to reconfigure some of the hexes into the helmet. (like you pointed out, the helmet is being properly summoned/dismissed)

while max doesn't feel the weight of the suit, how much tactile feedback he receives depends on the mode/section. ie, in camo mode, its basically what you'd expect based on what you're seeing (skin is skin, clothes feel like clothes to max, and affect his sense of touch accordingly). in base mode, the vents (especially those on the hands) feel like touching something normally, the black lining is slightly dulled, and the silver armor is very dulled. other modes are probably similar with a similar pattern but different calibrations.

and now, my more "self indulgent" hcs (aka hcs that i use in my writing that have no evidence from the show)

I need you to know I read these and felt most of them just kinda slot into my head like CDs onto one of those CDs towers. Like yeah, mhm, yes. These make hella sense.

You have cooked!!! You are so cool!!!

I love the backpack so much, genuinely. I’m a big fan of Having Space To Put My Things and I would’ve stapled that to Max as a hc if it wasn’t already so prevalent.

I’m good with denying him good pockets, though. They could even get away with just making them overtly look like the fashion pockets that are evil and fake. Nobody’s gonna notice or care so they probably won’t, but they could!

I did consider the Distress duo putting pockets on Turbo Stealth so that Steel can have an easier time with the shoplifting. Then I realized Steel can just kinda disguise them camo-style with a motorcycle helmet on or something and steal more boldly if they need a lot more food. Or rob a bank about it.

(There’s a reason they freak the fuck out when Turbo Stealth’s usefulness gets compromised by Berto. It’s how they were getting most of their supplies, one way or another.)

Edit: I start to ramble imma hit a read more.

No YOURE COOKING and YOURE SO COOL!!!

Then I realized Steel can just kinda disguise them camo-style with a motorcycle helmet on or something and steal more boldly if they need a lot more food. Or rob a bank about it.

Mannnn, would hate to be Max if he got confronted during a bolder robbery.

Turbo Warp.

Honestly this mode sounds really cool! Can others follow them through or is it just them? If it's just them, it sounds perfect for quick escapes

Portal size depends on energy input, so they unfortunately still can’t bring the Alphalink through.

Oh no, I know what Distressed!Max and Steel would do if they found Jim's spaceship

PHANTOM CONTACT!!! PHANTOM CONTACT RULES!!!

YES YOU GET IT!!! NOT ONLY IS IT GREAT IN A FIGHT IT IS ALSO FANTASTIC FOR COMFORT!!!

I wonder if Max and Steel ever fuck around to see how complex of an outfit Steel can render. Like those videos of people putting on twenty shirts at once.

oh they totally did. or at least steel did to max's chagrin.

Can Steel affect the temperature of the outfit? Make clothes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer?

CONSIDER IT CONSIDERED!! I've mostly left it at "the suit is thermoregulated" BUT YOURE RIGHT HE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE PARTS OF IT COOLER AND WARMER

Please consider this. It has possessed me. All I’m thinking about now is these two nursing each other’s hurts after getting sent home from a battle.

you cannot comprehend the amount of horrors i have put these guys through. it is a passion of mine. (i'm just shy about sharing them--which i'm working on!)

i love your proposals for specifically steel pain! i'm noticing on reflection that i rarely do solo physical pain for steel. in general i'm biased towards emotional/mental anguish over physical pain (ie yea i'll mention the physical pain of jim and max having a turbo detonation when jim puts his hand on max's shoulder, but i'm way more interested in the emotional devastation of max going to give his dad a hug only for jim to pull back bc he's not adequately discharged). if i do do physical hurt/comfort, the hurt's prolly coming from a fight, in which case both max and steel are prollu getting hurt.

but this is a failing on my part. i must tear this ultralink apart. put him in a ven-ghan capsule and shake it around 'til something interesting falls out.

(btw i like making steel a bit clingy after a proper near-death experience. like staying on max's chest during school and managing processes that he usually does automatically. self-soothing by leaning into your instincts or w/e)

EDIT BC I FORGOT STH!!

The hc about Max trying to put the helmet on when he’s flustered or worse is giving major “SecUnit wishing for armor” vibes

i did have that thought as i was typing up these hcs. funnily enough though, i came up w that before reading tmbd. iirr i thiiink i was inspired by this quote from tony weinstock on when to have the helmet on/off in promo materials:

"It's become a guiding principle that when Steel is attached to the suit, he's in superhero mode with the helmet on, but when Steel is floating separately next to him, the helmet is off and he's not in facing danger."

I like to imagine Distress!Max and his Steel are getting each other into messes so often that there’s this unspoken promise of “you started it, we finish it.” It’s meant to help push the blame game off until they’re not getting shot at, but also a reassurance that no matter how fucked things get they’ll always help each other out in the end. How sweet. And codependent as fuck of them—

Others can, in fact, follow those portals through at their own risk. Because as long as Max Steel is in Turbo Warp mode, they can close those things at will! Those portals have trashed many a Cytro.

Thankfully they take a couple days to deliberate on the question of whether it’s more worth it to use the Turbo Chamber now to bring the Alphalink closer sooner or later to ensure they’ll be able to kick Makino’s ass. They ultimately decide that potentially wasting their only guaranteed stockpile of Turbo energy to shoot a portal larger than their planet to roughly where Makino’s fleet is without a way to get more accurate about it is just stupid. Having a guarantee that Makino’s fleet will be here in a couple months will have to do.

They do start getting more serious about having Max contribute to the stockpile in their downtime, though. They know better than to ever have him empty his tank into it all at once, but every little bit squirreled away will help. Eventually.

They need so much more comfort. Like, so much more. In every universe.

Knowing Steel doesn’t need Max’s input or permission to alter camo mode’s look haunts me in a silly way. At any time he can just give Max a funny hat when no one’s looking and take it away before anyone sees. A classic.

Steel said like one or two lines about keeping the suit nice and cool during a fire or whatever and it never left me. Steel, Steel have you just been letting him be cold in the snow or is heating the suit truly beyond you? Steel, answer me!! If you don’t I’m gonna make you capable of it. Take that!!!

Thank you very much for sharing!! I appreciate getting to torment the little guys in the sandbox with you in fun and interesting ways. You are, indeed, really fucking good at it. The passion shows.

*eats the offered slice* Oh that’s so fucking tasty. Little bite-sized angst <3 Trade you!!

——

If the very first thing Jim McGrath ever fucking does to Distress!Max and Distress!Steel is flinch away?

Oh. Ohoho no.

Max probably knew this was a thing before they even met, but it still hurts him so much he cracks the ground with how tightly he grips it to keep from reaching out to his dad again. To keep from feeling this rejection again. He doesn’t know what to do. Steel’s trying to up their dampeners in case that will help and his dad’s trying to explain it’s not Max’s fault but- but—

Then Makino appears. What a lovely way to drain his Turbo energy reserves and lash out about this justifiably in one fell swoop!! Steel pulls up their entire roster of modes, including a few they cooked up solely to bring Makino pain. They get to work.

What an impression Max must be making on his father, he can’t help but think. It’s fine. It’s fine. They’re so close. They just have to finish it!! Then- then they can explain and someone will believe them. Everyone will have to believe them now!

…and having Jim step up to help them finish off Makino feels like validation. Like a real victory, after so so long. Seeing his father look at them afterwards with wonder, with relief, with pride!

It’s everything they wanted, for real. And it’s theirs!

And no one is going to take it from them ever again.

——

(Or, in other words, Jim unknowingly making them a lot better and a lot worse right off the bat. I like to spin about how the reunion must go when Max Steel pulls up to the busted Daedalus Platform with Jim McGrath in his arms. Vindicated and deeply insecure all at once.)

I feel like a part of it is also that we never see Steel retain physical injury. Like, we hear him scream or groan, but it’s difficult to map what that’s doing to him. We know what Max’s hurt must look like even if they never show us blood or bruises. We have a point of comparison.

The best we got for Steel is those flashes of his code from his pov or Berto’s screens and his glitchy ramblings. We can do better. We can do more. I believe in us!!!

Steel probably being a lot chattier while he’s clinging too. We’ve seen him backseat drive in conversations so often it’d feel strange to not have him cut in as much if he’s feeling out of sorts.

…unless that’s the point. Unless he is inclined to do that and clamps down on the impulse when he doesn’t want Max to know he’s still hurting. Thus becoming way too quiet. But, well, he’d say something if he needed anything, right? Steel knows he can count on Max. It’s probably fine.

And codependent as fuck of them—

Your honor, they’re codependent in every universe. But I love that they figured out to postpone the blame game until after the disaster resolves. The world is a lot more dangerous when you have no backup.

(Though that makes me wonder—would Max and Steel agree to a spontaneous team-up with N-Tek or Molly to tackle a threat, only to have to run for the hills when the fighting wraps up? Yknow, before those weapons turn onto them? Or, worse, before they try persuading them to come back?)

Others can, in fact, follow those portals through at their own risk. Because as long as Max Steel is in Turbo Warp mode, they can close those things at will! Those portals have trashed many a Cytro.

Yikes, that can get ugly real fast if, lets say, Forge himself tries hopping through those portals.

They need so much more comfort. Like, so much more. In every universe.

They dooo. Even canon loves hitting the cast with 'hurt/minimal comfort', especially in season two. (I say 'the cast' cuz yea there's a lot of this with Max and Steel, but goddamn, when I was watching the show the first time I was not expecting Toxzon to become severely depressed following Fishy's death.)

Steel have you just been letting him be cold in the snow or is heating the suit truly beyond you

i assume he can heat the suit as well since max never complains about the cold, even when they go to antarctica.

I feel like a part of it is also that we never see Steel retain physical injury.

Not only that, but he's often the first to recover between the two. Like there's quite a few scenes where Max is really struggling for consciousness and Steel's like "cmon bro now's not the time." it paints him as a lot more physically resilient... at least until you start fucking with his code. (Or he gets thrown like a boomerang.)

...Now I'm thinking about the one time we see Steel pass out in a fight before Max (or at least the one I remember): end of episode 1, the fight versus Fire. Makes me wonder if Steel turned down the amount of physical feedback he gets from the suit after that (can he even do that???).

(If you want steel hurt btw, while the s4 movies aren't good and in fact lose the core of the show in an attempt to cash in on the 'hero team' trend, steel loses an arm in the second one (which is a zombie flick) and max has to put him back together)

(also the "s4 movies" introduce berto's younger sister, rayne martinez, who is so much fun as a character. her existence is the only thing i keep as canon from that duology (if you see them you'll understand why))

Steel probably being a lot chattier while he’s clinging too. We’ve seen him backseat drive in conversations so often it’d feel strange to not have him cut in as much if he’s feeling out of sorts. …unless that’s the point. Unless he is inclined to do that and clamps down on the impulse when he doesn’t want Max to know he’s still hurting.

i spin around in little dizzy circles thinking about this. i feel like if he's enough out of sorts he just doesn't have the energy or focus to be a chatterbox.

aside from though i can kinda see him doing either depending on the specific circumstances? on the one hand, if he's focusing on their surroundings, him being chattier makes sense, either cuz he's understimulated (story of steel's life tbh), or he's trying to put on a brave face/act like things are normal (for either his own or max's benefit). but i can also see him finding a project to work on, causing him to be quiet just cuz he's not paying enough attention to backseat drive. (ie, between s2e13 and s2e14, i hc him as trying to figure out if he can 'see through max's eyes', bc being blinded by the virus really freaked him out. it doesn't go well, but that's his 'project')

———

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 things—

Are the tactile warping algorithms just meant to change the texture of Max’s “clothes” 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 it’s 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 suit’s gloves and wondering if that’s highlighted for aesthetic purposes or functional ones.

(I also have logistics questions that kinda don’t matter if I just choose to ignore them. Which I will be doing because I don’t think it really matters how showering works with this. I have more important questions.)

Like, can Steel dye Max’s hair??? I’d need to look into how temporary hair dye works (and regular dyes, for that matter) but they’re working with light refraction here so I don’t think pigments would come into play at all. Failing that, wig??

…

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 they’re rebels, Max! Nobody understands them or their mission! It’s them against the world! They gotta go black and red stripes!! Spiky! No wait, bangs so long they—

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 he’s going to cause a blackout so massive that NTek will be able to look in this general direction and know they’re here.

Steel just kinda floats there for a second. Then pitches, “platinum with black tips?”

“…that would look cool.”

these are my "serious" ones based on how it seems to work in the show

the suit (and therefore camo's influence) stops at max's neck (perhaps bc since steel stopped himself from suppressing max). as a result, steel can't control anything related to max's mind/face

this incomplete link is why steel can speak in max's mind but max can't return the favor.

steel can 'listen' through the suit while in range

the helmet is something either of them can toggle in base mode (and ig stealth mode too), and is just a preprogrammed command to reconfigure some of the hexes into the helmet. (like you pointed out, the helmet is being properly summoned/dismissed)

while max doesn't feel the weight of the suit, how much tactile feedback he receives depends on the mode/section. ie, in camo mode, its basically what you'd expect based on what you're seeing (skin is skin, clothes feel like clothes to max, and affect his sense of touch accordingly). in base mode, the vents (especially those on the hands) feel like touching something normally, the black lining is slightly dulled, and the silver armor is very dulled. other modes are probably similar with a similar pattern but different calibrations.

and now, my more "self indulgent" hcs (aka hcs that i use in my writing that have no evidence from the show)

I need you to know I read these and felt most of them just kinda slot into my head like CDs onto one of those CDs towers. Like yeah, mhm, yes. These make hella sense.

You have cooked!!! You are so cool!!!

I love the backpack so much, genuinely. I’m a big fan of Having Space To Put My Things and I would’ve stapled that to Max as a hc if it wasn’t already so prevalent.

I’m good with denying him good pockets, though. They could even get away with just making them overtly look like the fashion pockets that are evil and fake. Nobody’s gonna notice or care so they probably won’t, but they could!

I did consider the Distress duo putting pockets on Turbo Stealth so that Steel can have an easier time with the shoplifting. Then I realized Steel can just kinda disguise them camo-style with a motorcycle helmet on or something and steal more boldly if they need a lot more food. Or rob a bank about it.

(There’s a reason they freak the fuck out when Turbo Stealth’s usefulness gets compromised by Berto. It’s how they were getting most of their supplies, one way or another.)

Edit: I start to ramble imma hit a read more.

No YOURE COOKING and YOURE SO COOL!!!

Then I realized Steel can just kinda disguise them camo-style with a motorcycle helmet on or something and steal more boldly if they need a lot more food. Or rob a bank about it.

Mannnn, would hate to be Max if he got confronted during a bolder robbery.

Turbo Warp.

Honestly this mode sounds really cool! Can others follow them through or is it just them? If it's just them, it sounds perfect for quick escapes

Portal size depends on energy input, so they unfortunately still can’t bring the Alphalink through.

Oh no, I know what Distressed!Max and Steel would do if they found Jim's spaceship

PHANTOM CONTACT!!! PHANTOM CONTACT RULES!!!

YES YOU GET IT!!! NOT ONLY IS IT GREAT IN A FIGHT IT IS ALSO FANTASTIC FOR COMFORT!!!

I wonder if Max and Steel ever fuck around to see how complex of an outfit Steel can render. Like those videos of people putting on twenty shirts at once.

oh they totally did. or at least steel did to max's chagrin.

Can Steel affect the temperature of the outfit? Make clothes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer?

CONSIDER IT CONSIDERED!! I've mostly left it at "the suit is thermoregulated" BUT YOURE RIGHT HE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE PARTS OF IT COOLER AND WARMER

Please consider this. It has possessed me. All I’m thinking about now is these two nursing each other’s hurts after getting sent home from a battle.

you cannot comprehend the amount of horrors i have put these guys through. it is a passion of mine. (i'm just shy about sharing them--which i'm working on!)

i love your proposals for specifically steel pain! i'm noticing on reflection that i rarely do solo physical pain for steel. in general i'm biased towards emotional/mental anguish over physical pain (ie yea i'll mention the physical pain of jim and max having a turbo detonation when jim puts his hand on max's shoulder, but i'm way more interested in the emotional devastation of max going to give his dad a hug only for jim to pull back bc he's not adequately discharged). if i do do physical hurt/comfort, the hurt's prolly coming from a fight, in which case both max and steel are prollu getting hurt.

but this is a failing on my part. i must tear this ultralink apart. put him in a ven-ghan capsule and shake it around 'til something interesting falls out.

(btw i like making steel a bit clingy after a proper near-death experience. like staying on max's chest during school and managing processes that he usually does automatically. self-soothing by leaning into your instincts or w/e)

EDIT BC I FORGOT STH!!

The hc about Max trying to put the helmet on when he’s flustered or worse is giving major “SecUnit wishing for armor” vibes

i did have that thought as i was typing up these hcs. funnily enough though, i came up w that before reading tmbd. iirr i thiiink i was inspired by this quote from tony weinstock on when to have the helmet on/off in promo materials:

"It's become a guiding principle that when Steel is attached to the suit, he's in superhero mode with the helmet on, but when Steel is floating separately next to him, the helmet is off and he's not in facing danger."

———

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 things—

Are the tactile warping algorithms just meant to change the texture of Max’s “clothes” 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 it’s 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 suit’s gloves and wondering if that’s highlighted for aesthetic purposes or functional ones.

(I also have logistics questions that kinda don’t matter if I just choose to ignore them. Which I will be doing because I don’t think it really matters how showering works with this. I have more important questions.)

Like, can Steel dye Max’s hair??? I’d need to look into how temporary hair dye works (and regular dyes, for that matter) but they’re working with light refraction here so I don’t think pigments would come into play at all. Failing that, wig??

…

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 they’re rebels, Max! Nobody understands them or their mission! It’s them against the world! They gotta go black and red stripes!! Spiky! No wait, bangs so long they—

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 he’s going to cause a blackout so massive that NTek will be able to look in this general direction and know they’re here.

Steel just kinda floats there for a second. Then pitches, “platinum with black tips?”

“…that would look cool.”

these are my "serious" ones based on how it seems to work in the show

the suit (and therefore camo's influence) stops at max's neck (perhaps bc since steel stopped himself from suppressing max). as a result, steel can't control anything related to max's mind/face

this incomplete link is why steel can speak in max's mind but max can't return the favor.

steel can 'listen' through the suit while in range

the helmet is something either of them can toggle in base mode (and ig stealth mode too), and is just a preprogrammed command to reconfigure some of the hexes into the helmet. (like you pointed out, the helmet is being properly summoned/dismissed)

while max doesn't feel the weight of the suit, how much tactile feedback he receives depends on the mode/section. ie, in camo mode, its basically what you'd expect based on what you're seeing (skin is skin, clothes feel like clothes to max, and affect his sense of touch accordingly). in base mode, the vents (especially those on the hands) feel like touching something normally, the black lining is slightly dulled, and the silver armor is very dulled. other modes are probably similar with a similar pattern but different calibrations.

and now, my more "self indulgent" hcs (aka hcs that i use in my writing that have no evidence from the show)

robins been holding down gotham alone for a week and shes HAD IT.

comic writen and drawn by me, colored by @cannibalgremlin

The short version is as it sounds: rather than the TS-12 Incident occurring because Dredd chose that experiment to betray N-Tek, the point of that experiment was to test if Dredd's TURBO siphon (TS) could collect and store enough TURBO energy to power the Turbostar (also abbreviatable as TS). During this experiment, a previously unknown fault in the Turbostar causes a feedback loop, aka The Accident.

Notable information in favor of this hc is that:

N-Tek in episode 1 has TURBO siphons. Just like Dredd. This is the only TURBO tech they have in common aside from the turbostar. (N-Tek and Naught independently develop TURBO-shielding later)

The room with the TURBO siphons? It's the same room Dredd was standing in during The Incident.

Additionally, we see the storage in that room in specific fail in a catastrophic way when exposed to large amounts of TURBO energy: when Max went critical in episode 1. Do I think that Max was about to cause another Incident? No, there's a couple comments in late S2 that makes me attribute the Turbostar specifically to why The Accident played out the way it did. I think Max prolly would've just blown himself up again and ripped the room asunder.

Dredd is in sight of Molly and Forge during the experiment. He swings open the panel right behind Jim's head, and its entirely in view of where Forge and Molly are observing from.

The extended version below the Read More is the ramblings of a madwoman, aka an analysis of Dredd's character that I use as further evidence. It contains cited spoilers for events that occur in late season 2 and the season 3 movies.

That’s an incredible meal. It’s like five courses. I’m sitting down but I need to sit down. I have thoughts that are mostly disintegrating like cotton candy. Some are still intact though.

I raise you Jim not being involved in making the siphon being part of the problem, potentially. Like, please consider Miles Dredd walking up with the solution to a problem he’s about to point out already in his hands. Easier to get people to agree to let you try it that way.

No, yeah though. Dredd’s total faith that the Turbo Star was gonna work kinda confused me until they hyped it up enough that I knew it was gonna work, at least. Dredd just trusting Jim’s work that fucking much does patch the hole for me, though.

Because, when you think about it, Max and Steel are both also kinda Jim’s work— (/j)

Trueeee. Honestly I could go any which way on the details of how they make the siphon! I just like the idea of them working on it together because it lets Jim haunt Miles some more. Just imagine: the last thing you worked on with your bestie is now a part of you, forever. You've literally been scarred and irreparably changed by their death.

That said, if Dredd made it himself... oof. Your bestie trusted you, trusted your work, so much that it killed them. Goddamn.

(Also I can totally see him dramatically walking up and explaining the problem, and then all coyly revealing the invention.)

Dredd just trusting Jim’s work that fucking much does patch the hole for me, though.

I'm just using this as more of an excuse to gush about their friendship. Obviously in the present day there's a lot of tension between them, but Jim still respects him enough to call Dredd "Miles"! (And he's the only character to do so!) He doesn't reject Dredd's assertion that they were "old and dear friends"! It's brief, but the tension between them momentarily eases while Dredd is explaining his plan and Jim is thoughtfully responding/finishing Dredd's sentences. And Dredd's excited during this exchange, but not in his usual smug or cocky way.

YOUR HONOR THEY WERE BESTIES

The man who’s everything and yet exists for like maybe two hours total in screentime

Jim was so robbed by Mattel forcing S3 to be just three movies instead of a proper season. He is such an interesting change to the status quo and I need a Jim-Forge-Miles episode on my desk stat. Make their asses work together! Make them snidely talk about all their petty drama! We deserve it!

Even aside from those three, there's still:

Jim and Molly: are they having a lot of date nights? Does he encourage the morning chores that Molly put onto Max in S2? Do their parenting styles clash?

Jim and Berto: Does Berto feel like his job's at risk of getting stolen? Do they work well together or does the age gap make their interactions awkward?

Jim and Kat/Jefferson: What even was their dynamic?

Jim and Steel: How long does it take for Jim to stop treating Steel like he's the same Ultralink from 16 years ago? Jefferson plants the insidious seed that Jim and Steel might team up together, but do they even want to? (TBC I don't mean on a permanent basis. Just like. Would they ever link up unless they had to (ie to save Max)?)

I’m still thinking about Dredd putting an arm around Jim’s shoulder and Jim shooting him point blank.

*picks up Steel and yeets him at Jim* ASK HIM THE MOST ASANINE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOURSELF AND MARVEL WHEN MOST OF THEM GET AN ANSWER BECAUSE PAST YOU ALSO OVERSHARED HELLA!!!!

Can we please see Jim being a father?? Please??? Let them go stargazing! Have Max sit his dad down for a movie marathon in an attempt to catch him up with pop culture. Are there even photos of Max’s milestones to show to Jim?

Is Jim Chief Science Officer now or is he just on indefinite leave while he catches up on… everything? Does Berto hound this man for his expertise in working with Turbo energy? Is Berto intimidated by this living legend returning? You’re so fucking right actually I think this one gives me the most to spin about. Berto the character that you are. Jim the good coworker we know you to be.

So real!! For a man that's haunting the narrative, he's kinda absent.

I’m still thinking about Dredd putting an arm around Jim’s shoulder and Jim shooting him point blank.

Oh yea I think about that moment a lot. Yea he says literally "That Max Steel sure is something", but between the delivery, the way he slings his arm around Jim's shoulder, the fact that he specifically says it to Jim, I've always read him as imply "That son of yours sure is something." And thats...

...gah I spin them in my head once again.

ASK HIM THE MOST ASININE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOURSELF

YES!!! STEEL GET YOUR ANSWERS!!! FIND OUR YOUR HISTORY!!

(dont worry im sure max wont dwell at all about how little he was able to help steel with that compared to his dad. im sure he's not comparing himself to his dad. thanks jefferson)

Can we please see Jim being a father?? Please???

PLEAAAASEEEE! itd be healing for everyone involved im sure

Is Jim Chief Science Officer now or is he just on indefinite leave while he catches up on… everything?

Like???

I just have to go for the big guns immediately. I see no other way that wouldn’t involve some mind control or manipulation or blackmail or other extenuating circumstances that remove him from the blame. And I can’t have that for this. I gotta play it straight.

Nods nods nods.

I gotta lay out what about this fucking invasion’s lead up is actually vital and what isn’t, because all these moves and counter moves and contingencies are great for plot but not for what we’re doing here. Occam’s Turbo Pulse!!

Because while they tell each other they’ll stop at nothing to get Jim back, it’s entirely possible the majority of the harm that’s happening is just property damage, with some exceptions.

If they’re doing smash and grabs for the parts they need then at worst they’re knocking some NTek heads or scaring civilians guards into standing down. They’re probably also beating up villains that won’t uphold their ends of deals. That’s definitely happening.

The thing about their goal that’s shakiest to me is that they need Makino to bring Jim to them because they don’t have a ship (until after they’ve their big plans.) So they have to grapple with the risk that if they fail to save Jim, the earth is doomed. It’s a heavy thing and it probably drives them to the brink of abandoning the mission or turning on each other a couple times before they solve it.

Of course, the solution to that is the Turbo Star. And with it their resolve and their bond gets dangerously strong.

Their father believed it would work. Dredd thinks it’ll work. If they can make another one or- or find its pieces, if Dredd is really telling the truth this time, then they can just use that to take down Makino!

The rest of his fleet might be a problem afterwards, but maybe they’ll bail when their leader’s defeated? Or NTek will let them help clean up the mess they’ll have made before arresting them. They’ll cross that bridge when they get there.

In any case, they still need Makino to come here. Preferably in a hurry so he gets here sometime this decade.

Which means a lot more betrayal.

Goodbye global defense network. Hello massive fucking portal over THI! Wait, no, ughhhh NTek killed the portal! What’s plan B? Let Steel do the talking to some Ultralinks and play at a “change of heart?”

…wait.

It occurs to me their biggest threat in this AU isn’t NTek, it’s Ven-Ghan.

Max is gonna be out here negotiating with Toxzon and jail breaking Elementors and even giving Dredd his Turbo energy just to save Steel from this guy who refuses to see the big picture.

You wanna bring in rogue Ultralinks? There’s millions of them on the way, pal! Can you wait like three months?? We got a dad to free!

There’s potential in a lot of their early quid-pro-quos with bad guys being Steel’s ideas and Max getting dragged along. That phase of their villainy ends with Max convincing Steel those team-ups are a waste of time after too many of them go south. How is helping Toxzon gas a building going to help them save his dad?? Why is Extroyer’s feud against Dredd their problem??

And then Max turning around and promising these same people anything if they help him get Steel back. Does Extroyer want a rare bird of prey dna sample? Toxzon needs help getting Fishy back from NTek? Show him where the batteries are, Dredd, and just keep that ship from leaving their atmosphere!!

Max is still putting saving a life before his mission. And that’s absolutely still being exploited.

They can get a lot done if you cut out NTek stuff and heroics, but Villain Team Up IOUs can also get costly.

They can’t even call Ven-Ghan the bad guy because they know what they’re doing looks so bad. But they have no intention of stopping, soooo—

(Steel, angrily shooting some netting scraps eleven times: I might just have to kill this guy, Max!!

Max, who’s at the end of his rope trying to get this man’s life spared: …we could- maybe- Gah! We could try and get Toxzon to make him help us fight Makino?

Steel, imagining it gleefully after spending all night in an orb: I’m listeniiiiing!!)

The gap in their morality is gonna get Max to bend on ten thousand things besides murder. If it’s anything short of murder, Steel can probably get Max on board. He’s getting better at that by the day. (And Max is just kind of getting worse night by night, tbf.)

Joy and whimsy!!

The short version is as it sounds: rather than the TS-12 Incident occurring because Dredd chose that experiment to betray N-Tek, the point of that experiment was to test if Dredd's TURBO siphon (TS) could collect and store enough TURBO energy to power the Turbostar (also abbreviatable as TS). During this experiment, a previously unknown fault in the Turbostar causes a feedback loop, aka The Accident.

Notable information in favor of this hc is that:

N-Tek in episode 1 has TURBO siphons. Just like Dredd. This is the only TURBO tech they have in common aside from the turbostar. (N-Tek and Naught independently develop TURBO-shielding later)

The room with the TURBO siphons? It's the same room Dredd was standing in during The Incident.

Additionally, we see the storage in that room in specific fail in a catastrophic way when exposed to large amounts of TURBO energy: when Max went critical in episode 1. Do I think that Max was about to cause another Incident? No, there's a couple comments in late S2 that makes me attribute the Turbostar specifically to why The Accident played out the way it did. I think Max prolly would've just blown himself up again and ripped the room asunder.

Dredd is in sight of Molly and Forge during the experiment. He swings open the panel right behind Jim's head, and its entirely in view of where Forge and Molly are observing from.

The extended version below the Read More is the ramblings of a madwoman, aka an analysis of Dredd's character that I use as further evidence. It contains cited spoilers for events that occur in late season 2 and the season 3 movies.

That’s an incredible meal. It’s like five courses. I’m sitting down but I need to sit down. I have thoughts that are mostly disintegrating like cotton candy. Some are still intact though.

I raise you Jim not being involved in making the siphon being part of the problem, potentially. Like, please consider Miles Dredd walking up with the solution to a problem he’s about to point out already in his hands. Easier to get people to agree to let you try it that way.

No, yeah though. Dredd’s total faith that the Turbo Star was gonna work kinda confused me until they hyped it up enough that I knew it was gonna work, at least. Dredd just trusting Jim’s work that fucking much does patch the hole for me, though.

Because, when you think about it, Max and Steel are both also kinda Jim’s work— (/j)

Trueeee. Honestly I could go any which way on the details of how they make the siphon! I just like the idea of them working on it together because it lets Jim haunt Miles some more. Just imagine: the last thing you worked on with your bestie is now a part of you, forever. You've literally been scarred and irreparably changed by their death.

That said, if Dredd made it himself... oof. Your bestie trusted you, trusted your work, so much that it killed them. Goddamn.

(Also I can totally see him dramatically walking up and explaining the problem, and then all coyly revealing the invention.)

Dredd just trusting Jim’s work that fucking much does patch the hole for me, though.

I'm just using this as more of an excuse to gush about their friendship. Obviously in the present day there's a lot of tension between them, but Jim still respects him enough to call Dredd "Miles"! (And he's the only character to do so!) He doesn't reject Dredd's assertion that they were "old and dear friends"! It's brief, but the tension between them momentarily eases while Dredd is explaining his plan and Jim is thoughtfully responding/finishing Dredd's sentences. And Dredd's excited during this exchange, but not in his usual smug or cocky way.

YOUR HONOR THEY WERE BESTIES

The man who’s everything and yet exists for like maybe two hours total in screentime

Jim was so robbed by Mattel forcing S3 to be just three movies instead of a proper season. He is such an interesting change to the status quo and I need a Jim-Forge-Miles episode on my desk stat. Make their asses work together! Make them snidely talk about all their petty drama! We deserve it!

Even aside from those three, there's still:

Jim and Molly: are they having a lot of date nights? Does he encourage the morning chores that Molly put onto Max in S2? Do their parenting styles clash?

Jim and Berto: Does Berto feel like his job's at risk of getting stolen? Do they work well together or does the age gap make their interactions awkward?

Jim and Kat/Jefferson: What even was their dynamic?

Jim and Steel: How long does it take for Jim to stop treating Steel like he's the same Ultralink from 16 years ago? Jefferson plants the insidious seed that Jim and Steel might team up together, but do they even want to? (TBC I don't mean on a permanent basis. Just like. Would they ever link up unless they had to (ie to save Max)?)