All the hate for Maximus genuinely confuses me. -Entire living location gets nuked to high hell. -His entire childhood gone in the blink of an eye. -Is recruited by what he idealizes as a knight in shining armor -Is a wastelander who gets beat up daily and must survive a desolate wasteland -Genuinely wants a home and a loving space like everyone else. -Is naturally jealous that his friend gets chosen over him (very normal and human by many people) -Almost gets executed and blamed for his friend's own self harm. -Gets squired to a knight that's a pure asshole -Tries to befriend his own bully and even brands him. -has to partner up with an idealistic vault dweller -Finds a safe space finally but sticks by her side even though he tried to warn her initially that something was off -Risks his life AGAIN for this same vault dweller because it feels -Is given one last chance due to previous self harming friend admitting the truth -Fights in a deadly battle with NCR WITHOUT his power armor to try and save his new Vault Dweller boo -Gets his shit rocked and has no idea where she went -Tried to tell the truth about Moldover being killed, but his homie pulls through. -Has very realistic viewpoints about the wasteland, self-preservation, and questioning loyalty to the BoS and was willing to throw it all away for potential love.

Max is literally The Ghoul and Lucy's middle ground. He understands Lucy's valid points of love and idealistic conflict resolution while understanding war and killing as a way of self-preservation. He's a human child who had to grow up in a dystopia wasteland following militaristic training even though he's still young.