Max: The Coolest Kid in The LEGO Club

Before there was Max, there was Zack.

All was quiet in the early decades of LEGO marketing until a maniac came onto the scene. Zack the LEGO Maniac was the face of much of The LEGO Group’s marketing in the 80s and 90s, namely the face of the US’s club publication: LEGO Mania Magazine.

Zack was a human character that was, well, a maniac for LEGO. Zack was the mascot of LEGO Mania Magazine until its rebrand in 2002 as the global LEGO Magazine. For roughly five years there was no representative of the LEGO Club worldwide. However, that would change with one super cool minifigure: Max!

Today we’ll be looking at the history of LEGO Max (not to be confused with BrickNerd’s own April Fools initiative) in the LEGO Club magazines, his limited appearances as a physical minifigure, and his long-running series of brickfilms made for LEGO Club TV to see why this cool kid has been with the Club for so long.

Secret Origins: Where Did Max Come From?

Contrary to what online biographies of the character might say or assume, Max’s origins and first appearances are not well documented or preserved on the internet, and much of the information on the web is inaccurate and very incomplete.

The best public information on Max is found in DK’s first edition of The LEGO Book. But this brief caption about Max’s initial appearances in European issues of the Club magazine was not sufficient. In my hunt for any accurate information on Max, I was able to connect with Jeremy Brazeal, former Global Group Creative Director for The LEGO Group (TLG) and the creator of Max, who provided me with more than I could have asked for about Max.

BrickNerd: What inspired the creation of Max in the magazine?

Jeremy Brazeal

Jeremy: My colleagues from the European Club markets Benie Jewels (UK Club Manager) and Helga Coulon (CE Club Manager) wanted a minifigure-based mascot for the European Club. Even though the Club in Europe and the US had merged a few years earlier, they only shared a part of each magazine globally. Benie and Helga and the other European Club managers were free to publish “localized” content on their pages and they wanted a mascot to be a part of it... Max was only found in the mail section, Cool Creations, and other “non-theme” based content. After a while, though, Max started popping up everywhere, especially in the comics.

Before the Club magazine became the global “LEGO Magazine” it was “Mania Magazine,” which used Zack the LEGO Maniac as the mascot. We wanted to do something different with Max. First, we wanted him to be a kid that was so obsessed with everything about LEGO building he took the form of a minifigure… we wanted him to have an inside view on all things TLG so he could provide “scoops” for LEGO fans. Up to the point when we created Max, there was never an official, non-theme-related LEGO minifigure mascot (Zack was a human character) - at least not one with a backstory and personality.

BrickNerd: What design influences did the early version(s) of Max have? 

Jeremy: I do not recall the original brief but they did reference Justin Bieber (haha). That was the main influence for his hairstyle. Yes, Max had Bieber hair. Since I came from a heavy skateboarding, snowboarding, and hip-hop background this stuff also influenced his style including his beanie and signature, which was my handwriting.

For the first two years Max was hand drawn by me. As we started to include Max in more content we created a “toon shaded” 3D file that we could easily pose to help speed up production. Max went through a few more “style changes” over the years, but from that point on he was always computer generated, of course until we had physical models of him made in different outfits for “The Adventures of Max.” Fun fact: I originally created Max with camo pants, but was asked to change them. So, I redrew him with tan cargo pants. To this day I wish we left him in camo.

Source: miniland.nl

Max made his debut in the Aug-Sept 2006 issue of LEGO Magazine alongside promotion for the newly released Toa Inika from Bionicle, asserting himself as the guy to go to with any questions about the Club: “I’m Max, your new Club friend! From now on I will welcome you to every LEGO Magazine. I know all the LEGO facts, so if you have a question, you can always send me a letter.” 

Jeremy’s original artwork for Max is pretty cool. He definitely looks like he’s a kid of the 2000s (and who wouldn’t want to be?). Jeremy’s style makes the anime/manga eyes that helped define Max’s look work. The same cannot be said for the toon-shaded model that would be used next and then very quickly replaced with a better toon-shaded model. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the first toon-shaded Max looks a little spaced out.

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While Jeremy’s original art for Max is exclusive to early issues of LEGO Magazine, it wasn’t long before Max’s presence moved beyond the European club into the US market.

Source: lcdr

Jeremy: We had a friend on the My LEGO Network (MLN) team who “snuck” Max into their content to help us win over the US market. We then used his success in the UK and European markets to pitch the character to the US market. This took a while, but we eventually got the US Brand Marketing team to agree to include Max in the US magazines, too. I believe the first issue in the US was January 2008. 

The LEGO Club team sent out a tremendous amount of surveys, more so than any other team at TLG. We always wanted to be very close to the Club members so we could create the most engaging content possible. This is what helped us convince the US Brand Team to approve the use of Max in their market. They were initially quite resistant, but a combination of the survey data and examples of kids reaching out to the call center asking to talk to Max and sending him letters helped us get Max into the US magazine, solidifying him as a true global mascot for the LEGO Club.

Max Has an Animated Series - But He’s in Zero Sets!?

In spite of Max’s success as the mascot for the global LEGO Club magazine, there have only ever been three physical iterations of the character, and none of them particularly easy to come by.

Jeremy: We originally wanted to produce Max as a physical minifigure to give to Club members, but the quantities were not that to get the approval. At the time I was also the Global Creative Director for LEGO Shop At Home, so I worked with my connections there to get him produced as a minifigure keychain. Once that keychain was produced, it was easier for us to get the minifigure created.

After the keychain figure, Max would receive an official minifigure in 2010 in his own polybag as an exclusive through various outlets including the LEGO Club magazine.

Max’s physical minifigure is a departure from his appearances in the magazine up to that point. He no longer sports his very 2000s beanie, and he now has an equally 2000s two-toned long sleeve shirt instead of his short sleeve tee. Both of these design choices are very reflective of the technical limitations and constraints that existed for one-off promotional figures in the late 2000s. However, Max was the first minifigure to sport side leg printing for his cargo pants pockets.

This figure most notably appears in “The Adventures of Max” shorts produced for The LEGO Club Show!!! Several of the segments were directed and animated by David Pagano and his team at Paganomation. I was able to speak with David about his time working on these segments and some of his influences on the direction of the shorts.

David Pagano

David: The most successful videos we’ve [Paganomation] produced for TLG have been a collaboration, where we are brought on board very early in the production (or ideally, before the production begins). This way, the development of the piece can play to the strengths of the brickfilm medium. TLG always has certain marketing or creative goals they want to accomplish, and we match that with our filmmaking and animation expertise to create the best product possible…

My goal was to have Max be more of an active participant in his own adventures. If you watch from the beginning, you’ll notice that the earlier episodes are more about things happening to Max. As time went on, we helped steer this more in the direction of “Max encounters a problem, and builds something out of LEGO bricks to help solve it!” To me, this established a clearer narrative and made the spots more memorable.

Max and Chase McCain working together to stop crime - Source: YouTube

Hearing his story, Max’s adventures across the numerous in-house themes of The LEGO Group certainly stuck with me growing up, and seeing a plastic version of Max made the desire for a physical figure of him all the more strong.

At some point, a Max costume was designed for LEGO events and conventions based on the key chain and minifigure release. BrickNerd’s very own Sue Ann Barber was able to get a picture with Max in 2015 at Brick Expo in Canberra, Australia.

After the release of his physical minifigure, Max wouldn’t receive any further changes to his design in LEGO Club Magazine until around 2012, when episodes of “The Adventures of Max” featured the titular character wearing a blue jacket, and then a gray one… and several alternative expressions! Where did they come from? Can I get my hands on them?

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David: As far as I know, the only people who have those Max minifigures are myself and Garrett Barati. Spencer Katz also produced a couple of Max episodes for TLG, but his shorts used the 2010 Max minifigure design, not the 2012 version with multiple expressions.

Source: LEGO

Typically, when we produce a commissioned brickfilm, we ask for two of each LEGO product featured. It’s always helpful to have a spare, especially since stop-motion involves a LOT of handling of the physical items! Despite the request, TLG was only able to provide us with a single set of Max expression heads, and three of each body (blue jacket and gray hoodie). I suspect the same thing happened to Garrett. If you look at some of his later Max episodes, you can see that the minifigure’s printing has started to rub off.

If I had to guess, I’d imagine TLG produced a limited, non-retail run of those minifigs for promotional (and animation) purposes. I have never seen the 2014 Max figures anywhere else — apart from one promo polybag with a single facial expression, which was only available at LEGO Kidsfest. Interestingly, the Max in this polybag has a lime torso that was not used in any of the Max shorts, and his hair color appears to have been changed.

The last figure David mentioned that never appeared in the Max shorts was, as BrickLink calls him, “LEGO Club Lime Max.” Lime Max (as I guess I’ll affectionately call him moving forward) is not a figure easily acquired and far more valuable than the 2010 figure. Reflective of the design changes present in the Club magazines, Max looks far less cartoony and more in line with other figures of the 2010s with a more reserved, less wide grin; and he seemingly dyed his hair as he now sports his Bieber cut in dark orange, much like Ron Weasley in the 2010 wave of Harry Potter sets.

The Return of LEGO Max

Despite further changes to the Club magazine, it is now currently published under the name LEGO Magazine—a rebrand that feels like things have come full circle in TLG’s marketing.

Source: LEGO

Max (who now has a pet dog and is rocking several different hoodies) still has a presence promoting the magazine, and old episodes of “The Adventures of Max” are still hosted on LEGO.com and The LEGO Group’s official YouTube channel.

You can sign up for the new LEGO Magazine here. There are two versions, one for younger kids and one for kids 8 and up. The content of each is very similar but some of the activities in the back half of each issue are more appropriately targets, along with more relevant sets and themes in LEGO’s portfolio.

As you can see, Max sports a new outfit in the hand-drawn comic but still maintains his mop of hair and long-sleeved T-shirt. He’s already getting involved and certainly taking the lead in some new adventures, so only time will tell where LEGO Max will end up.

The Staying Power of Max

There are very, very few characters from The LEGO Group that have had the staying power that Max has. Though characters like Emmet from The LEGO Movie or Lloyd or Kai from Ninjago could arguably hold the title of “iconic” or “long-lasting” LEGO mascot, Max has them all beat by several years. And while the height of Max’s prolificity has long since waned, he’s still doing what he does best: promoting the Club and highlighting cool creations of young builders.

Jeremy: I think there are a number of reasons Max has resonated with kids over the years. We know that kids love to think of themselves as a minifigure when they build and play with their LEGO models, so it resonates with them that Max is the embodiment of that and also that Max is their friend - and a cool one at that. 

In addition, Max interacts with all LEGO themes because he is theme agnostic. This is a reflection of true LEGO play patterns. Kids cross themes. Before The LEGO Movie, it was Max and the LEGO Club telling kids that was ok and encouraged them.

Source: LEGO

Personally, Max was, or is, arguably the beginning of the period of The LEGO Group’s history I look back fondly on. He was the result of authentic, grassroots work that highlighted the crux of the company: the value of the brick combined with creative play. This idea was reflected in “The Adventures of Max,” as Max was able to be inserted into all of the worlds that made up The LEGO Group’s product portfolio, all the while building bricks in those worlds to open the gateway for goofy, cool and most importantly, creative play for kids.

Keep on doing what you do, Max.

Do you have any fond memories of LEGO Max? Share them in the comments below.

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