Jack Darby

Jackson "Jack" Darby is a 16 year old teenager who has wanted a motorcycle since he was little.

With Arcee as his guardian and partner, his dream had become more than he had wished for. He is laid back, not really the exciting type, but he is still a valuable member of Team Prime.

Jack is compared to be a younger version of Optimus before he became a Prime.

Bio
Jack's father had left him and his mother for unknown reasons. Jack worked at KO drive burger joint where he was often harassed by bullies. He wished to save his money in order to afford a motorcycle in order for him.

Meeting the Autobots
Until he met the Autobots, Jack was living a normal life in Jasper, Nevada where he worked at a "K.O Burger,"a local burger joint. Jack got picked on by bullies such as "Vince" because of his job and wishes for something more. After he gets off from work, Jack sees a beautiful motorcycle, and expresses an interest in owning one of his own someday, not knowing this "motorcycle" is actually an Autobot. Jack is spotted with the motorcycle by a Vehicon duo, who take him to be an ally of the Autobots. The motorcycle gets Jack to safety before tossing him off in an alley, and telling him he never saw her. Jack runs but the Vehicons split, one after the Autobot, the second after him, forcing Arcee to save him again. As they flee, they are joined by Bumblebee, and they end up fighting the Vehicons in front of another human kid, Raf. Arcee tells them to run and they deal with the Vehicons. The next day, Jack and Raf meet up, Jack saying they should just forget the whole thing happened, only for Bumblebee to show up and Raf goes with him, telling him Arcee will take him. Jack is reluctant to go anywhere with Arcee, who tells him that his life may depend on it when they're spotted by a teenage girl named Miko Nakadai, forcing them to bring her along. Arcee and Bumblebee bring the three kids to the Autobot secret base in an old missile silo and bunker, where they are introduced to the rest of the team, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and their leader, Optimus Prime. Optimus educates the three humans about the Autobots and their sworn enemies, the Decepticons and the war that ravaged their home planet, Cybertron. The Decepticons minions, the Vehicons saw Jack and Raf associating with Arcee and Bumblebee, leading them to believe that the four of them are allies, which makes the humans by default the Decepticons' enemies. Optimus assigns Arcee to Jack, Bumblebee to Raf, and Bulkhead to Miko to act as the kids' protectors, and have them hide when Special Agent William Fowler arrives, not happy about the 'bots and 'cons' activities. Optimus assures Fowler they can handle the threat and the agent leaves. He sends the children home with their protectors and Jack is caught by his mother with Arcee in her vehicle mode, mistaking her for an ordinary motorcycle. Though initially not happy that Jack "bought" a motorcycle without her permission, he managed to cover up his secret and explains himself reasonably well and gets away with it, only for his mother to make him promise to give her a ride on the motorcycle and always wear a helmet at all times. The next morning, Arcee woke him early, though it was a Saturday, as they had to get to the Autobot base promptly. On the way back, Arcee showed off some fancy riding skills. They reached the base at the same time as Bulkhead and Bumblebee, however Optimus immediately left on a mission with Ratchet. Arcee, left in charge, opted to go out on patrol with Bumblebee, leaving the kids with Bulkhead as a carer. When Miko suggested they get a band going, Jack offered the use of his harmonica skills, which Miko didn't seem particularly keen on. After having his ears punished by Miko's electric guitar solo, Jack and the others had to hide behind Bulkhead to avoid being seen by Agent Fowler, but Miko's guitar gave them away. Bulkhead managed to prevent Fowler from taking the three kids into custody, but a short time later they detected a distress call from Fowler's helicopter, suggesting the agent had been captured by the Decepticons. After Bulkhead bridged out to try for a rescue, Jack and Raf realized that Miko had surreptitiously followed the Autobot. Figuring that Bulkhead might not have noticed her, the pair reactivated the ground bridge and followed Bulkhead, only to arrive near the Decepticon ship and accidentally alert the sentries stationed on it.

Bulkhead rescued the pair while they were under fire and dropped them off behind some cover before heading into the ship. Unfortunately the pair were spotted by the Decepticons a short time later, and found themselves being carried to the brig. Arcee and Bumblebee rescued them both, and they all found Bulkhead and Miko, but the kids soon discovered that the middle of a battle is not the healthiest place to be. The Autobots cleared out a room for them to hide in, and Jack immediately told Miko off for getting them involved. Their arguing upset Raf, and the pair tried to console him, before Jack noticed a computer display appeared to be showing important data. They were interrupted by a Decepticon, which led Jack to have to make a daring save to prevent Raf from being shot. Jack got Miko to take a cameraphone picture of the display before they hastily left the room. Luckily the Autobots were returning from having rescued Fowler, and Bulkhead was able to destroy the Decepticon. After returning to base, Jack decided that he no longer wanted to be with the Autobots if he was going to be in danger constantly and wanted to go back to "having a normal life". Arcee paid him a visit as he arrived at his KO Burger job, and managed to persuade him to return with her to the Autobot base. No sooner had they arrived than the Autobots left on a mission into space to stop the Decepticons from using their space bridge. It became apparent that the Decepticons were targeting the bridge using the Giant Sized Array radio telescope in Texas, and Jack suggested the three kids bridge there so Raf could override the system onsite. They did so, but it turned out that Soundwave was also onsite, and the Decepticon dispatched a tentacle to interfere with their attempts to stop him. Jack and Miko were knocked aside by the tentacle, however Jack was not impressed by Miko's attempts to fight back when the tentacle took the axe she was holding. They followed it to the next room to find Soundwave had locked the dishes on Cybertron. The kids returned to base where they kept track of the other Autobots' work in blowing up the space bridge, however they returned with Arcee in a bad way. After she and Jack shared a moment, she seemed much better by Darkness Rising, Part 5.