Max Steel

Mattel introduced the Max Steel action-figure line in October 1999, ahead of the animated series's 2000 premiere; the earliest figures bore little resemblance to the show's character.^[1][2] The figures recalled Hasbro's 12-inch G.I. Joe line, with most sets pairing versions of Max Steel with one or two villains and vehicles.^[3] Mattel pitched the 12-inch figure against Hasbro's Action Man in a bid to revive the market for "realistic" boys' action figures; the lines were priced from $9.99 to $30, and in a best-case year each was projected to generate $100–150 million in sales.^[4] After the September 11 attacks, Mattel scaled back its U.S. promotion of the line, whose espionage- and terrorism-themed play patterns it considered too dark for children; the brand faded in the United States but became a blockbuster in South America, where, according to Mattel, it outsold the company's Hot Wheels and Barbie lines.^[5][6]

The original line ran until 2012. Mattel relaunched the dormant brand in 2013 as a multimedia-first franchise modeled on its Monster High line, leading with a website, an animated series, and graphic novels before redesigned toys returned to stores, with molded-in detail replacing the originals' cloth clothing and snap-on accessories.^[6] The line was discontinued in 2022.

Netter Digital Entertainment produced the first animated series, built around Josh McGrath, a 19-year-old who gains super-powers and can transform into Max Steel.^[7] Kids' WB! ordered 13 episodes of the 3D CGI series for a January 2000 debut,^[8] and it premiered at number one in its time slot, scoring a 7.6 rating and 24 share among boys aged 6 to 11.^[9] Josh works as an agent of the secret organization N-Tek against the rival group DREAD; his origin, shown in flashback, has him accidentally infected by experimental nanoprobes that N-Tek stabilizes with "transphasic energy," giving him the ability to transform into the stronger Max Steel.

The series ran for three seasons from 2000 to 2002, with production passing from Netter Digital to Foundation Imaging and then Mainframe Entertainment.^[2] A re-imagining with the same title premiered on Disney XD on March 25, 2013.^{[2][10][11][12]} Mattel co-produced the 26-episode series with FremantleMedia Enterprises, which handled its rollout across more than 100 territories.^[13] In the reboot, the lead is renamed Maxwell "Max" McGrath, who generates unstable "Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized" (TURBO) energy and stabilizes it by merging with an alien Ultralink named Steel to become Max Steel.

When the line launched in 1999, Mattel distributed a promotional comic, Take it to the Max, to introduce the character. In 2013, VIZ Media's Perfect Square imprint began a graphic-novel series set in the rebooted continuity with The Parasites, written by The Stuff of Legend co-creator Brian Smith and illustrated by Jan Wijngaard;^[32] two further volumes, Hero Overload^[33] and Haywire, written by Tom Pinchuk,^[34] followed in 2014.

Mattel Interactive published the video game Max Steel: Covert Missions, developed by Treyarch, for the Dreamcast in December 2000.^[35][36] An online game tied to the toy line later ran on the official Max Steel website, with codes packaged with figures from 2007 to 2011 unlocking in-game missions.