Jake Williams

The name or term Jake refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jake (disambiguation).

Jacob "Jake" Williams is a human in Armada continuity.

Jake is a former trucker. He lived a good life, but with the death of his wife and son, he has no more good years to look forward to. He took to long trips out among the deserts of west Oregon to stare at the stars. It didn't make the hurt any less, but it made him able to go on a little longer.

Jake is a low-level telepath, an ability he's never done anything with, despite his wife's urgings to do something to benefit mankind. When he's upset of excited, those near him can feel his emotions.

Now… Jake lost his wife, his son… his dog has cancer, so he'll lose him too… but mostly, Jake lost his heart. The man is a country song waiting to happen, and then he meets giant robots.

Fiction

Transformers Legends Anthology

Lonesome Diesel
Following the death of his son, Jake heads out to the western desert in the company of his dying dog Yeller. The solitude of the mountains does not cure his pain, but it eases it enough for him to go on a while longer. That and the bourbon, the bourbon helps.

The Mini-Con healer QuickFire is attracted by Jake's psychic distress (and his sexy truck). He re-energizes the aging Jake, curing his eyesight and taking away the little aches and pains that creep in with age. (He also cures Yeller's cancer.) QuickFire's comatose partner RipTide turns into a Mack Truck. Jake agrees to help QuickFire, hauling freight across the country to hide their presence from the Decepticons while QuickFire heals RipTide.

Several pleasant months pass doing this. Jake's return to work, and purpose, heartens him, and he find a friend and kindred spirit in QuickFire, who has renounced the life of war he once led, wanting never to fight again.

When a Decepticon attack threatens to create a massive volcano, they reluctantly break cover to alert the Autobots. Jake saves QuickFire from Megatron by crashing his pickup truck off a cliff into him, following it up with a couple shotgun shells.

After the battle, RipTide and QuickFire return to their peaceful life with Jake rather than rejoin the Autobots.

Associated Characters

Rose Williams

Rose was Jacob Williams first love, (though she had shopped around a bit more.) Slowly dying after many years of blissful marriage, she frets that she has ruined Jake for other women, and urges him to find someone else after she is gone. Rose is aware Jake is telepathic, and has repeatedly encouraged him to do something with it for the good of humanity.

Bobby Williams

Jake and Rose's son, killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq some time after his mother's death, two years prior to the present of Lonesome Diesel's 2004 publication.

Yeller

Yeller is a mangy good-for-nothing (but well-loved) Yellow Labrador Retriever even more ancient and decrepit than Jake (in dog years.) Yeller is riddled with cancer and not long for the world when QuickFire heals and re-energizes him. He likes to chase rabbits and watch his owners have sex.

When Megatron threatens his master, Yeller responds by urinating on him.

Yeller is named for the dog in the movie Old Yeller, not the book. Jake ain't a book-readin' type.

Starheart

a.k.a. Nelly Belle, a.k.a. Bessie.
Nelly Belle is Jake's vintage 57 Ford Pickup. He loves the truck more than his dog, and possibly more than his wife when she was alive, with the kind of eyes for a fine machine only a former trucker can have. He keeps the truck in pristine condition.

QuickFire is overcome by Nelly Belle's beauty. He re-christens her with a Transformer name, Starheart, and wants to cherish her with a kind of undying devotion that can only be described using one of those tongue-twisting latin terms for--

Oh, who are we kidding? QuickFire has sex with Jake's truck.

Jake named Nelly Belle after the jeep in Roy Rogers and Dale Evans shows.