John Myers wrote: My issue with Thunderdrome has always been that Mad Max and the Road Warrior combined tell such a complete story that it never feels necessary.
Mad Max is the story of Max's struggle and failure to hold on to his humanity. The Road Warrior tell us how he manages to get just a little bit of his humanity back.
And Thunderdrome doesn't really add anything new to the story the way Fury Road does, which is less a movie about Max than it is a movie set in the same world, that happens to include some bits with the guy from the other three movies.
I like your observations about the first two.
If you switch the focus from Max to the world at large, I think you would see more of a connective tissue between the films, specifically first and third. The first is about the decay of society into anarchy, second is mostly anarchy ending with a little hope, third is society starting to rebuild, with a little bit more hope at the end, fourth, society is rebuilt anew but flawed, and ends with great hope for the future.
Max is the transitioner. He is both the destroyer of the old world and the harbinger of the new.
Games
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
