What kind of man was Max inbetween MM2 and Thunderdome?

[Uncle Entity]

I don't wanna clash with your opinions, Taipan. As simple as that, I just guess that - with THUNDERDOME - Miller smartly chose to retcon the whole background and so "Mad Max 2" became post-nuclear. The movie was perceived as such by 80% of the audience anyway.

In my timeline, I placed 7 years inbetween "Mad Max" and "Mad Max 2", because Max looks older (30), and the in-universe creation/production of places like the Refinery and those costumes and vehicles/Junkmobiles (The Defenders and the Dogs of War) requires a LOT OF TIME to be made, especially if you live in a desert where resources are scarce and there's almost nothing left.
That said, many characters (Gyro, Pappagallo) talk about the "civilization" almost as it was an "ancient past", and Feral Kid's words at the beginning are very ambivalent on this point.

THUNDERDOME clearly retconned that. Captain Walker and the adults departed in 1999, some time after the fall of the 747. Savannah told Max that the nuclear winter occured before the 747 flight.
"Mad Max" is surely placed years before 1999, but not many ones.

It's impossible that Max's world changed so much in a 3 year timespan, I mean inbetween MM1 and MM2, and without a nuclear exchange that truly forced people to escape from the cities to the Wasteland. No way.

[Uncle Entity]

Yeah, now see, I always had the idea that the war (and the bombs) were prior to MM, but Australia didn't get hit, just the unexplained 'Prohibited' area and the skull and bones warning sign at the end of MM (what does that imply? radiation?). A long time ago, in an article about MM and RW, it was mentioned that 'On the Beach' was a partial inspiration for MM.

Granted, On the Beach can still be the main inspiration for the tone and partial aspects of "Mad Max", despite "Mad Max" being a dystopian movie, and not a post-apocalyptic or post-nuclear one. As simple as that.

The "Prohibited Areas" were zones plagued by pollution (a phenomenon which occured long time before the events of "Mad Max"), where very small crime gangs started to loot and (MAYBE) kill someone, if given the chance. Toecutter's gang was the template for that, so don't think about the Humungus' Dogs of War.

For sure, we can claim that, before MM1, people left the rural towns (which look vastly abandoned) in favour of the big costal cities (like Sun City).

Society is still there. There are cities. There are fast food pubs. People talk about mundane things. Max is a Policeman. Everything else seems pretty normal.
There was no conventional war occurring on some other hemisphere. Not yet.

[DetritusMaximus]

Everyone has a different take on this. And usually it has to do with the information you have. I'm well aware of the later explanations and clarifications by Miller and others involved in the movies. As I explained, my original take on the timeline and events that happened or not had to do with only what is in the movies and some stated inspirations in early interviews and articles. It's hard for a fan to develop a fleshed out idea of this 'universe' when at that point (just after RW) the creator of it had not figured all that out yet as much of it was decided as back story for movies that hadn't even been thought of, much less planned for (BT and even later, FR). I can't count the novels at all as we did not have them, except for Thunderdome. I can't change what I thought 30plus years ago based on later material, all I can do is look at what the creator has done/said to date and let that change what I think NOW. the only thing I have a real gripe with is having a character do things that aren't rational as service to fanboys, like the game story about rebuilding a car with rare parts that are basically unobtanium right now, much less so many years after a nuke war (nevermind that what I saw in the comic version was contradicting the mechanic in MM...).

But this is all part of the fun isn't it? Seeing how different we all interpret and filter the same media or how having additional material can cause a complete divergence of thought.

[Uncle Entity]

Everyone has a different take on this. And usually it has to do with the information you have. I'm well aware of the later explanations and clarifications by Miller and others involved in the movies. As I explained, my original take on the timeline and events that happened or not had to do with only what is in the movies and some stated inspirations in early interviews and articles. It's hard for a fan to develop a fleshed out idea of this 'universe' when at that point (just after RW) the creator of it had not figured all that out yet as much of it was decided as back story for movies that hadn't even been thought of, much less planned for (BT and even later, FR). I can't count the novels at all as we did not have them, except for Thunderdome. I can't change what I thought 30plus years ago based on later material, all I can do is look at what the creator has done/said to date and let that change what I think NOW. the only thing I have a real gripe with is having a character do things that aren't rational as service to fanboys, like the game story about rebuilding a car with rare parts that are basically unobtanium right now, much less so many years after a nuke war (nevermind that what I saw in the comic version was contradicting the mechanic in MM...).

But this is all part of the fun isn't it? Seeing how different we all interpret and filter the same media or how having additional material can cause a complete divergence of thought.

Yeah, you nailed it, to me it is a big part of the overall fun, I must confess! I love conceiving movie timelines for the movies I love.

My golden rule: "the creature goes far beyond the creator". What you see on-screen is what you truly get, despite what creators claim on interviews and documentaries. I apply this parameter to the Evil Dead saga too.

I've read the MM1 novelization, and it features a slightly different background from the movie's. It doesn't count. Novelizations are parallel universes to me.

That angle of the FR comic book counterpart, as well as the game, is a HUGE joke. Max rebuilding an Interceptor from nothing? Fantasy.

[Uncle Entity]

I don't think Max was doing a whole lot Road Warrioring in that time. The world was just too messed up to be going around and wasting resources for at least a decade. I guess that's enough time to take on a project like building a new Interceptor. And also it looks like this is why we just skipped 15 years ahead straight to Thunderdome, looking at Max shivering in a cave trying to cobble together a car just doesn't look very eventful.

In Thunderdome, Max was a far better fighter than he was in the Road Warrior Era; more agile and skilled. So he did some works as mercenary, if necessary.
After all, Collector introduced him as "a warrior".

That said, the New Interceptor concept is such an insane idea, concocted for gamers and comic book buffs. No thanks, it's impossible. And stupid.
Max doesn't need an Interceptor to kick ass. He just needs a vehicle, no matter what.

[DetritusMaximus]

It would make sense that as things got worse that fighting moved to more up close personal hand to hand. So, 15 years later, you are better at fighting, hiding, or dead.

Even now, though, there are people that you meet and know nothing about and can tell which side of a fight you want them on.

[Uncle Entity]

It would make sense that as things got worse that fighting moved to more up close personal hand to hand. So, 15 years later, you are better at fighting, hiding, or dead.

Yes, it makes sense. Also, according to my scenario, Max was 44 years old in Thunderdome. Still "young" enough to perform the features we see him doing in the movie.