“ All this destruction for glory!? Is the annihilation of innocent lives, is that glory?
—Jim McGrath
Ja'em Mk'rah, also known as Jim McGrath or James McGrath, is a supporting character in Max Steel. He is Maxwell McGrath's father, Molly McGrath's husband and one of N-Tek's co-founders. Ja'em Mk'rah is an alien hailing from planet Takion. During an Ultralink incursion at Ja'em's planet, he bonded to Steel, a pacifist Ultralink who did not believe on Makino's destructive ways, to become the first Max Steel.
After Takion's destruction, Ja'em and Steel went to Earth, where they founded N-Tek along with Miles Dread, Molly McGrath and Forge Ferrus. With their might combined, Ja'em and Steel were responsible for stopping Makino and his Ultralink armada on Earth and various alien worlds. During the test of the Turbo Star, a T.U.R.B.O-powered device made to stop the Ultralinks, Jim suffered a violent betrayal at the hands of Miles Dread, and as a result he was a sent to the vacuum of space where he was found by Makino, who kept him as a prisoner for sixteen years.
In the future, Ja'em is freed by his son, Maxwell McGrath, and his former partner, Steel. After putting an end to Makino's reign of terror, Ja'em teaches Max new powers and techniques to battle villains.
Jim McGrath made his non-speaking debut on Come Together Part One, later on making his full apearance on The Legend of Ja'em Mk'rah, voiced by Trevor Devall.
History[]
Early life[]
Jim and Steel on the battle of Takion.
Ja'em Mk'rah was born on planet Takion during an undetermined period of time.
At some point, planet Takion was invaded by Metallak's army of evil Ultralinks. Ja'em led an army to fight against the invaders, but they were being outpowered by them. Unbeknown to him, a blue Ultralink named as Steel was watching him from afar while he fought the Ultralinks. Intrigued by his courage and resilience, the Ultralink attempted to bond with him, but was stopped. Ja'em tries to reason with Steel, asking him what his people had done to his. Steel states that they were programmed to destroy for Makino's glory, but Ja'em points out that there was no glory in annihilating the lives of innocent people, confusing the Ultralink. A worm-like creature that Ja'em had knocked down earlier gets up and attempts to finish off the Takonian. However, Steel bonds with him, causing a massive explosion that kills the creature and saves Ja'em's life. They properly introduce themselves for each other and proceed to use their powers to combat other Ultralink monsters. However, the Alphalink's linking process had already begun, meaning that it was too late to save Takion. Prior to the planet's destruction, Ja'em used a ship of his to store pure T.U.R.B.O. energy from Takion.[1] They leave and head to Earth, which was Makino's next target.[2]
On Earth, Ja'em adopts a new name: James McGrath, or Jim McGrath. Alongside Miles Dread, Molly McGrath and Forge Ferrus, Jim creates an organization named as N-Tek, with the intent of stopping Makino and his tireless army of Ultralinks. They begun to develop various projects to stop the warlord, such as the Turbo Star, a powerful weapon powered by T.U.R.B.O. energy, and Morphos, a creature with shapeshifting powers. Due to the latter's immense power, they opted to not use it, believing that Morphos could become an even bigger threat than Makino himself. Jim also developed other technologies while operating as a N-Tek scientist, such as the Connect-Tek.[3]
Eventually, the first Ultralink incursion happened at Copper Canyon's mountains. N-Tek used their resources to fight against them, though they were quickly outnumbered. They decided to relase their secret weapon: Ja'em and Steel, who used their Turbo powers to defeat the aliens. During an undetermined period of time, Jim and Steel fought against Makino's forces on other alien worlds.[4] The Black Star Council was aware of their activites, and considered them as the greatest heroes of the galaxy.[5]
At June 07, 1995[6], Maxwell McGrath, Jim's son with Molly McGrath, was born. Shortly before the Turbo Star test, Ja'em saw Max using Steel as a pacifier and states that his son liked him. He kissed Max's forehead and proceeded to test the device.
Unknown to Jim, Miles Dread had created a siphoning device capable of harnessing T.U.R.B.O. energy for his own purposes. After Jim activates the Turbo Star, Dread uses his device to siphon his energy, causing a massive blast that nearly killed the hero and shut down Steel. While N-Tek misled that Ja'em and Dread were dead, he was alive and was sent to vacuum of space and was found by Makino and his armada, who kept him as a prisoner during long sixteen years.[7] At N-Tek's base, they left Steel (on his dormant, pod form) and an hologram as an homage to their late partner. His position as N-Tek's top scientist was later on taken by Berto.
Season 1[]
Come Together Part One[]
While Forge was showing N-Tek to Max, he reveals that he used to work with Jim and that they had founded N-Tek. He later shows an hologram of Jim in one of their halls, and reveals that Jim had discovered one of the rarest, most powerful energy sources in the universe: the T.U.R.B.O. energy. However, an accident happened that killed Jim and Miles Dread, his partner. He shows Steel on his dormant pod form, stating that it was the last thing his father had worked on.
Come Together Part Three[]
With Max captured, Miles Dread explains his side of the story during the accident that took Jim's life. He reveals that he had built a device to siphon the T.U.R.B.O. energy, which he later tested and caused a massive explosion that kiled Jim. Upon revealing that Miles was responsible for Jim's death, Max gets extremely angry and generates large amounts of T.U.R.B.O. energy.
Scrambled[]
After Steel touches Extroyer's Ultralink, he briefly sees one of its memories. He spots Jim McGrath fighting against various Ultralinks at an unknown alien world. He then activates Turbo Stealth Mode.
Season 2[]
Dredd Ascendant[]
Max has a dream about his father. In it, Jim is worried about testing the Turbo Star, but Steel assures him that there is a high chance of the experiment being successful. Molly tells him that she and Forge were there for him and he prepares to test the device. The test is initially a success; however, Miles tests his siphoning device and things go haywire. Jim begins to panic and shouts that the experiment had been compromised. He tells Forge and Molly to leave as he was about to implode.
The Legend of Ja'em Mk'rah[]
Makino Strikes Part Two[]
After Max mentions the code Alpha 837x Omega-4 to Steel, they see a recorded message left by Jim. He explains about Max's alien heritage and why he chose to kept this as a secret and unlocks a new Turbo Mode to deal with Makino, Turbo Rocket Mode.
The Final Countdown Part One[]
After infiltrating Makino's Alphalink, Max finds its power source and realizes that it was powered by his father's energy.
The Final Countdown Part Two[]
Upon seeing that the power source for the Alphalink is his father, Max attempts to approach him, but his prison starts to react against his T.U.R.B.O. Energy. While Steel attempts to shut it down, Makino and Max engages into combat. They eventually opt to use the Turbo Star, but they end up on space after a massive T.U.R.B.O. Energy explosion and are later on rescued by Ven-Ghan.
Max, Steel and Jim reunite.
Thanks to Ven, they infiltrate the Alphalink once again and successfully free Ja'em from his prison, who is confused after seeing Steel and Max, grown up. The former explains that he was gone for sixteen years and asks what happened. Jim explains that he was experimenting with the Turbo Star when an explosion happened, and rather than destroying him, it transported him to space and he was found by Makino and his armada, who kept him as a prisoner and used his T.U.R.B.O. Energy to power up the Alphalink. Their reunion is interrupted by Makino, who shoots Jim with an energy blast and knocks him down. Max and Steel engage Makino into combat, who later on absorbs the floor plates of the Alphalink to augment his size and power and destroy them once for all.
While Makino was about to finish them off, Ja'em appears and uses his energy to assist Max in defeating the villain. With Jim, Max and Steel's might combined, they successfully take down Makino and cause a massive explosion that destroys the Alphalink by inside, causing it to blow up. Max and Steel come back to earth along with Jim, who happily reunites with Molly and the others.
Animated Films[]
The Wrath of Makino[]
Dawn of Morphos[]
Maximum Morphos[]
Team Turbo[]
During the morning, N-Tek's Daedelus Platform is attacked by a mysterious villain named as Mortum. After he shows up, Jim commands the agents to shoot him, though he activates his armor and releases a large shockwave that takes down the soldiers. Jim quickly gets up and uses his Connect-Tek sword to fight against Mortum, who quickly dodges his attacks. He is knocked down by the villain, who says that the ship was about to crash and burn, until Jefferson attacks him with a screwdriver. He tosses him at the wall and Jim gets up and attacks him with the sword once again, though he grabs its blade and breaks it. He grabs Jim by his shoulder and demands the Connect-Tek, but Jim refuses. He throws him at the floor and uses his Transdimensional Energy to teleport him and other agents to his base.
Mortum keeps Jim and other agents as prisoner and tortures them by electrocution. They were eventually rescued by Max and his new Team Turbo.
Abilities[]
- Superhuman Strength: Jim is naturally stronger and faster due to his T.U.R.B.O. energy, which enhancs his physical capabilities. As seen in The Legend of Ja'em Mk'rah, he was able to temporarily knock out a Xenoshok with a powerful T.U.R.B.O-powered punch.
- Superhuman Speed: Due to his T.U.R.B.O. energy, Ja'em is quite agile and fast.
- T.U.R.B.O. Energy Projection: Jim's body is capable of generating T.U.R.B.O. energy, making him stronger and more agile than an average individual. He used this energy to power up his Turbo Modes.
- Turbo Modes: When linked with Steel, Ja'em can use different modes with varied abilities, ranging from super strength, invisibility, flight and others.
Arsenal[]
- Connect-Tek: Prior to the events of the series, Jim created a spherical device named as Connect-Tek based on Steel's abilities. The weapon allows its user to create practically everything that they can imagine and use its technology to configure and reconfigure itself into endless combinations.
- Turbo Star (formerly): Originally created to permanently stop Makino, the Turbo Star was a weapon able to convert its user into a living T.U.R.B.O. energy Weapon. Due to Dread's interference during the device's test, it was split into three pieces sent to various places on Earth.
- Connect-Tek sword (formerly): A sword that Ja'em used to fight against Mortum in Team Turbo. Its T.U.R.B.O-powered blades can split into two swords and can recreate itself it is destroyed due to its Connect-Tek technology. It was later given to Max.
- Ship: A ship that Jim used to come to Earth after Takion was absorbed by Makino's Alphalink. Jim stored the energy of planet Takion on the ship, which would be eventually used to defeat Morphos by Max and Steel.
Skills[]
- Leadership Skills: Jim is a very skilled commander.
- Expert Tactician
- Genius Intellect: Jim has a vast and advanced knowledge about science, being able to develop complex devices such as the Turbo Star or other artificial living creatures as Morphos.
Appearance[]
Jim is a tall and muscular Takonian who has blue eyes and brown chestnut hair.
In his Takonian combat suit, Jim wore a full-body black amor with white plates and blue lines. Unlike other Takion Soldiers, who appeared masked, Jim's head was exposed. After he bonds with Steel, the Ultralink uses his Takonian combat suit as a template for his Turbo Base Mode and makes adjustments to it, notably the link port on his chest. It retains the same colors as Jim's original combat suit and has a more streamlined design.
In his N-Tek agent outfit, Jim uses a dark green suit with a black and green vest with the symbol of the organization embedded on his chest, black shoulder pads, black knee pads, and black and green boots.
Sometimes, Jim also uses day-by-day clothes. He usually wears a white shirt over a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes.
Personality[]
Jim is a kind, knowledgeable and wise person who seeks justice and good for everyone. However, his ingenuity almost led to his death. Sometimes, Jim seems to be a little bossy towards Max and Steel.
Relationships[]
Maxwell McGrath[]
Maxwell McGrath is Ja'em son.
Steel[]
Molly McGrath[]
Forge Ferrus[]
Miles Dread[]
Before the Turbo Star incident, Jim and Dread seemed to be good friends. In Maximum Morphos, Miles discovers that his former friend is alive and Ja'em is aware about his betrayal. As such, he has trust issues and does not like having him around.
Makino[]
Quotes[]
- "I created Connect-Tek to adapt to the user's needs, son. To become an extension of who someone is. And who they want to be. So, who do you want to be Max?" - Team Turbo
Gallery[]
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| Jim McGrath's gallery can be seen here. |
Trivia[]
- After his return, Jim no longer fights, but still helps Max to practice and teaches new techniques and modes. He occasionally helps them in other ways however, as seen in The Wrath of Makino, and can hold on his own during battles against villains, such as Mortum.
- Jim has his own Turbo Modes. Known modes are Turbo Gauntlet Mode, Turbo Sky Stinger Mode and Turbo Sonic Mode. He also has access to Turbo Stealth Mode, Turbo Spike Mode and Turbo Nova Mode.
- Jim retains the same name as his classic incarnation.
- His concept art refers his Ultralinked alter ego as "Jim Steel".[8]
- It is shown on The Legend of Ja'em Mk'rah that Ja'em and Steel went to Earth using a Makino deployer, but this was retconned in Dawn of Morphos, where he has his own ship instead.
- In Come Together Part One, Forge tells Max a different story about Jim's background. He excludes his alien origins and the Turbo Star, instead stating that he had discovered T.U.R.B.O. energy and that an accident took his and Miles Dread's lives. He also implies that the reason why Max is generating T.U.R.B.O. energy is because he was exposed to it at some point. As proven by Forge's actions throughout the series, this was done in order to protect Max and Steel from the truth about their pasts.
References[]
- ↑ Dawn of Morphos
- ↑ The Legend of Ja'em Mk'rah
- ↑ Team Turbo
- ↑ Scrambled
- ↑ Ultralink Invasion Part One
- ↑ As confirmed by Maxwell's driver licence in Driven.
- ↑ The Final Countdown Part Two
- ↑ Jim Steel | Edgar Deguzman