Max Steel: The Wrath of Makino (alternatively named as The Wrath of Makino Part One and The Wrath of Makino Part Two) is the first animated film of the 2015 trilogy and the first film overall of the second iteration of the Max Steel franchise. It aired in June 10, 2015 in the Latin American Cartoon Network. It was directed by Jeremy Brown and Barry Karnowski.
In the first half of 2016, the official Max Steel YouTube channel and the official website released the film in segmented parts, with each having two to three minutes. The uploads were available for a limited time and were released exclusively in Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, and Spanish.
When Makino, the deadly leader of the Ultralinks, returns, he proposes a competition to determine who will be the new commander of the Ultralinks race, but in order to get his place, the competitors must get inside of his mind. Max ends up winning the competition, but things gets out of control when Makino links with him and now plans to tear Earth apart. In order to stop them, Steel and Jim must link once again, save Max and stop Makino once and for all.
Plot[]
The film beings with Jim McGrath narrating the events of his past, such as him stopping Makino and being captured by him, and the events of The Final Countdown Part Two, where Max, Steel and himself stopped Makino.
In the apartment of the McGrath, Jim makesa toast with his son for his heroic acts alongside with his fellow Steel and N-Tek's agents. Berto programs C.Y.T.R.O. to dance, but everything goes wrong. Outside, Jim talks with Steel about their crazy adventures in the past and later on he talks with Max and reveals that he will teach him all about T.U.R.B.O. Energy. Max asks if he is going to link again with Steel, but out of the blue Steel acts weird ands activates a hologram of Makino saying that his energy center was destroyed but can be inheritesd by any Ultralink that proves to be worthy. Alongside with the hologram, Steel gets the coordinates of the place and Max and N-Tek's forces decide head to the place.
Max arrives early and find the Elementors there. Later on, Prism Link, Blast Link and four evil Ultralinks arrive too and attempt obtain Makino's unit, but none managed to do so. After all the competitors were taken down, Metal Elementor, who was hidden, appears and shouts "For the glory of Makino!" and proceeds to touch the core. After doing so, a giant dome is created and the Elementors, the Ultralinks, Blast and Prism enter on it. Max and Steel attempt to do so, but they are stopped by Berto, who reveals that only Makinian technology could pass through the shield. Jim helps the duo by making Steel remember about a new Turbo Mode named Turbo Nova Mode. They manage to enter in the dome and the test starts.
After entering on it, Steel points out that they were essentially on Makino's mind. Out of the blue, an hologram of Makino's head appears and asks if Max and Steel could resist his test and become the new commander of the Ultralinks, but both remain optimistic and decide to continue. The first part of the test consisted in facing Makino clones, which Max and Steel accomplished with ease. However, after realizing that Metallak was about to get Makino's head piece, he decides to split up and commands Steel to find the unity. Instead, Steel ends up finding the memories of Makino, where he realizes it was all a setup by Makino himself in order to get a new host. Meanwhile, Max manages to defeat all clones and prevent the other competitors from getting the unit, including Metallak. Eventually, he finds the head piece and tries to contact Steel, but fails. He touches the unit, which reveals to be Makino himself. He links with Max while he desperately shouts for Steel's help.
The dome disappears and Max reveals to be Makino's new host. In shock, the N-Tek agents simply watched while Makino stated how powerful his new form was, now being capable of even rival Jim's power. He also reveals about Max's fear of not being good enough for Steel and also of not living up for his father's legacy. Makino ultimately escapes and N-Tek's agents goes to the Daedelus Platform, where they discuss what they could do. Meanwhile, Makino was planning to attack Copper Canyon and mentions his dislike towards Earth. Suddenly, Max attempts to take his body back and to do so he starts to punch himself and forces Makino to fly to Copper Canyon. Meanwhile, they confront each other on a mental battle, but Max is eventually restrained and Makino forces him to create a new mode: Turbo Annihilation Mode and starts to attack the city and its citizens. Although that Makino was under Makino's control, he still could speak with Steel due to their strong bond and reveals to be alive.
After realizing that Max was still there, N-Tek sends Jim and Steel to stop Makino and his new form. They link once again and activate few of their modes in order to stop the villain, but they are eventually defeated. However, Jim explains to Steel that his bond with Max was stronger than any Ultralink bond that he had ever seen. Steel helps Max and he manages to freed from Makino's control and links once again with Steel. They leave without knowing that Jim was there and Makino links with him.
To Max's dismay, Makino bonded with Jim in his Turbo Annihilation Mode, boasting that he could always find a host as long as his CPU still intact while catching up with Max and co.. Claiming that he knew what's in his host's mind, Makino provoked Max Steel before swatting the hero aside. Max remarked Makino being twice stronger from bonding with his father. Forges saved the horrified Molly from being stomped by Makino before ordering Team Bravo to engage the evil Ultralink with everything they had, which did little as the evil Ultralink continued his plan to destroy Earth. Recovering from the attack, Max and Steel formed Turbo Titan Mode before engaging the Ultralink once again. Grabbing the villain, Max had Steel attempting to reach Jim to no avail, leaving them no choice but to subdue him instead. Time was running out as Makino maintained an advantage over his foes boasting that they could fight forever yet Earth won't last. Makino blasted Max Steel toward the dock, which ironically llowed the hero to even the ground; disorienting the villain by hurling Steel at him like a boomerang, Max restrained the villain with nearby cranes before ripping the Ultralink from its host's head, seemingly ending the fight and shutting down his machines thus saving the planet.
Reverting to his base mode, Max wasted no time to check on his father only to see Makino still alive and re-bondex with him in the confusion. In his fury however, the evil Ultralink failed to realize he hax weakened enough for Jim to regain control just as he about to stomp his son's head. With Makino now on the losing side, Max and Steel decided to help only for Jim having an other plan against their foe: Holding onto his son, Jim deactivated Steel's T.U.R.B.O. Energy Dampers so he could overload Makino with father and son's overflowing combined T.U.R.B.O. Energy, leading him to self-destruct just like years back albeit on purpose this time around. As Max left dismayed by what just transpired, Steel pointed out Makino survived the blast albeit crippled and still looking for a host, leading him decided to make sure Makino properly destroyed once and for all.
With nothing in theirs nor N-Tek's disposal could truly warrant the evil Ultralink's demise, which didn't help by Jim's risky move to break free prior merely, Max and Steel had no choice but to try to hurl Makino into the Sun. For that, the hero utilized Turbo Nova Mode for the risky endeavor. Makino sent a message to the hero and anyone who could reach him that his core unit process was no longer properly function despite being more than it and that he wAs an ideal, an unimaginable power that someone would heir someday. Of course, Max didn't buy it and carried out the plan regardless. To his relief, the heat from both the Sun's heat and being pulled by its gravitational force prove too much for Makino's resilient body, ending the villain once and for all.
Returning to Daedelus Platform alongside Steel, Max was delighted to see the rest of N-Tek and Molly have found Jim who survived his self-destruct prior while the two were left. Apart from deprived of much of his T.U.R.B.O. Energy and needing a walking stick, Jim was no worse for wear. Forge praised Max for the job well done, though he forgot to do the same to Steel until the latter and Jim reminded him of their own contributions.
The film ended with Jim entering a cave hidden underneath a waterfall somewhere in Copper Canyon, narrating that he's searching for something which can help everyone and change everything.
In the beginning of the film, Jim narrates the past events of the series, such as him being captured by Makino and being held as hostage during sixteen years, and the events of The Final Countdown Part Two, when Max, Steel and himself defeated Makino.
In 2015, Mattel and Turner Broadcasting partnered to air am exclusive lineup of Mattel content on Latin America for Cartoon Network and Boomerang.[3]The Wrath of Makino was confirmed to be under production alongside with other two movies, being The Dawn of Morphos and Maximum Morphos.
Gallery[]
Max Steel: The Wrath of Makino's gallery can be seen here.
Trivia[]
In early 2015, a promotional image featuring Max battling Makino's mental projections was released to promote the trilogy.
The Wrath of Makino was the second movie of the 2015 trilogy to be released, despite being most likely the first chronologically. The film opens with a celebration of Makino's defeat and Jim's return, suggesting it most likely takes place after the events of The Final Countdown Part Two and before Dawn of Morphos.
After Maxwell, under Makino's control, activates Turbo Annihilation Mode, there is a shot of a boy looking at him. The scene comes from Live by the Sword.
DVD copies of The Wrath of Makino were bundled with several toys from the 2016 Latin American Max Steel toy line. The disc also contained two mini episodes: Better Off Dread and Toxic Morphos.
The Wrath of Makino marks the last appearance of Blast and Prism.
Max's helmet features an open section at the mouth region. According to Berto, Max changed his headgear as the citizens thought he was a robot.
Additionally, several early concept arts from the series portray Max's helmet having an open section at the mouth region, meaning that this idea was considered ever since the project's early development.
The working title of this episode was "The Mantle of Makino".
While Makino is intimidating Max and Steel, the latter mentions that he is acting like a "deranged game show host". Ironically, Makino's past incarnation temporarily became a TV show host during the events of "Makino's Revenge".
