Solving Transformers 3's Biggest Plot Hole 

This is a PRIME example of why we shouldn't look too deeply into some movies

This brilliantly explains why Sentinel cut off Prime’s right arm. He knew Prime would be weaker if his index arm was severed. Outstanding analysis Theory!!

Bro if michael bay ever plans on bringing back the bayverse you should be a producer for the plot or something, you seriously are insanely good at making stories and fixing things in movies

I think Prime would have the knuckle spikes on him at all times, so maybe he didn’t pull them out for two reasons: 1. Most of the cables were out of reach 2. He was sorta panicking, as any person/robot would act while tangled up while your allies were being attacked

I always thought he didn't want to move or force the cables cause it will do damage to his gadgets or his jetpack or even worse gets stuck inside and it would be impossible to remove it. A perfect example is Dropkick in bumblebee movie when he transforms after bee throws a chain on his helicopter mode, the chain gets stuck in many parts of his body and when bee pulls the chain... you saw what happened to dropkick. So maybe it could've happen to prime too or his weapons. Nice video tho

Is it weird that I never heard of this "plothole"? I never even knew that this was something that people pointed out. I always thought that the time it took for Prime to get free with the Wreckers' help was a result of things going by naturally off screen and the movie just cut back to Prime and the Wreckers at the time it did was just the movie getting its audience caught up with what was happening while the action was still going on. But hearing about Prime using his weapons to free himself, I would have thought that he was either too discombobulated from being tied up and/or the cables wrapping around where they did would made it difficult for Prime to try and free himself. But, that's just me.

Another reason why Optimus couldn't have use his Energon Sword because he was upside plus their was a bunch of cables making stuck so I think that is the reason why he couldn't get himself up and free himself earlier

I honestly never saw this as a plot hole, but thanks for explaining how it was a plot point, and nice use of previously established information on Optimus Prime and assessments of what happened between revenge of the fallen and dark of the moon.

I've never noticed that plot hole in DOTM even though I've watched this movie a hundred times. Also, great job fixing and explaining this plot hole. This is definitely a PRIME example of why Optimus is the best leader ever, He learns from his mistakes.

Despite me watching Dotm many times I never saw this as a plot hole until recently and now after watching this video you've completely changed my mind. Also congrats on 200K subs.

The simple explanation is that with the extra guns covering his hands he couldn't do anything. And while he was freeing himself, the Wreckers showed up right after he was tangled, so there was no reason for him to continue and he just let his companions free him.

Optimus is quite literally right dominant handed as well. In all the shots we see him with the mega striker and when he pulls out his ion blaster, he always chooses his right arm to use/fire them. Which means he's right dominant.

I've watched transformers 3 so many times didn't know there was a plot hole keep up the great videos

As a kid i always thought it was because he had the cannons on his arms and couldn't eject them because they would be damaged.

I mean Transformers as a whole has a ton of plot points so this one isnt even that big. Optimus getting tangled in metal wires always made sense to me as a kid cuz i used did have knowledge abt how dangerous coils could b from a bridge building book I had, so I just assumed Prime was afraid of snapping himself in half due to sudden movements like transforming. There r bigger plotholes than this imo. Like wtf has Megatron been doing sitting on all this info abt the moon landing and sht from late 2000s when he only unfroze himself in 2009. Hell if he coordinated with Starscream properly he couldve just brought the 300 decepticons from the moon for the invasion. They’d probably still lose to the US military if they pulled the nuclear option but by then, Megatron couldve alrdy left w/ his prize

Congratulations on 200k! Great video as always

I clicked faster than Sideswipe rushing to kill Sideways Edit: Top Comment, let Gooo! Second Edit: Damn it

I always assumed he was unable to free himself because he was too tangled up to be able to move. Plus that flight tech wasn't exactly flexible to begin with considering all the heavy weapons in its arsenal.

Man, when I read the video's title, I thought you were going to explain why the Earth wasn't affected by Cybertron's arrival through Sentinel's Space Bridge. Specially since the novelization gives an explanation to this. In fact, I never noticed this detail about Optimus until I've watched the video. Still, I hope you can one day explain that plot hole and mention the novelization (and no, I won't reveal the answer because I don't wanna spoil the surprise to those who didn't read the novel). Still, this video truly deserves a prize, Trans! 👏

You should make an optimus life storyline as im cunfused how he was made by quintesa along side from some of the first transformers ever while somehow still not knowing about the fallen yet still acting like nothing happened when he was an archivist in cybertron

Idk if it's possible but could we get a video on Shockwave's driller worm thing because I've always find it so cool and fascinating, like did they build it? Is it alive or is it an extension of Shockwave? Can it transform? Stuff like that

Optimus actually does has his blades within his arms like before. It is seen in optimus' rage. The reason he couldn't use the sword tho was because he had the jetpack guns equipped. Which blocked his use of the blades.

Biggest problem I had with this and succeeding movies was how it retconned the first two and made it worse for every sequel afterwards...

the miscalculation also allowed prime to now carry a wrist blade (he uses it in TLK)

While I never liked the concept of the weapons becoming detached from the boys completely, this was an excellent way of looking at that scene in particular. Well done.

I was thought the controls for the flight pack was linked to the gun controls, so if he was to let go to cut himself free he might not be able reach back into the controls to flight and would smashed into the floor

Your next video should be about how did Optimus get his arm back in transformers age of extinction.

Optimus only had one energon blade cause he throws his left blade to grindor

In age of extinction I always assumed he had his left arm blade he just didn’t use it so it didn’t get disintegrated like the right one until it got removed by lockdown

Honestly, Optimus going back to fly to his trailer and equip weaponry would explain why it took some time for him to come to the rescue.

id love to see theorymus make some content on other tf media (alined continuity, earthspark, ect)

Or the more likely answer lorewise, he couldn't take them out because of the guns on his forearms with the flight pack

Very interesting I always wonder why Optimus never cut himself down

Wait a minute

I honestly never noticed how detailed that scene was of him hanging. I never notice how he has his arm/hand out of the one gun and it's hanging from the flight tech, nor did I notice the whole one side oof it being detached from his back part neither.

To me I always thought he didn't want to cut himself out because he didn't want to damage his flight tech, so he let the wreckers do it. love the videos as always .

I like when they have their weapons attached to their body. Like a built in feature. Also saw a video saying Age of Extinction, those weapons were different from previous ones bc they came from his body.

Congratulations on 200k subscribers!🎉🎉

Theorymus is back everyone, best transformers theory man😂

I always figured Optimus, when he first equipped the flight tech, left most of his other weapons behind in order to be as light as possible when flying. Considering the circumstances Optimus did not want to prolong his current mission which was to take down the driller beast (minimizing the destruction and chaos was the primary motivator to taking that thing down). He of course would have kept at least one weapon which was his sword/right wrist blade (since we’ve seen enough that he’s more skilled with his right then his left). It makes sense to keep at least one weapon, especially one you can use effectively should you be shot down or enter a confrontation that requires more than just what else you have. Going off of the explanation as to why Optimus couldn’t have used his sword/blade, and changing up the theory that perhaps he left the other stuff at the trailer alongside his other sword, we can assume that once he was untangled from the wire he flew directly to the trailer to equip himself wi the as many weapons he could carry as surmised in the video. The risk of appearing late to the battle was far less than the risk of prolonging or even losing that fight (Prime’s rage) should he have been under equipped. The theory in the video makes hecka lot of sense.

Another successful video on fixing up movies, keep it up!

One thing that I've wondered about is the Human affect on them, like why are they human looking in AOE & TLK but not the other 3 and 2nd how his other weapons were destroyed when Lockdown captured him

"YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TAUGHT ME FREEDOM IS EVERYONE'S RIGHT."

I feel like every game, movie, cartoons and anime needs a book on explaining in between episode, movie, 2nd game forward and also off screen moments to just make a bit of a sense.

There is NO WAY he watched this video during the editing process and thought, "Yeah, this is an important discussion"

those cables hold several tons of weight everyday and are extremely durable. Even if he had the swords he might not have been able to cut the cables due to how strong they are.

Maybe he would’ve told wheeljack to add protocols for this kind of situation if he didn’t get his head shot off…

I know you mainly do bayverse, but since bb movie is no longer canon to it can you make a theory to where megatron could have been during the cybertron scenes?

You have clearly put way more thought into this then Michael Bay or any of the writers of these films. It is simple, the filmmakers needed Optimus to be away for a while and they forgot to make it make perfect sense. I for one have watched this film a couple of times and this never bothered me or have I once found this to be troubling.

Jason, I asked for this theory a while ago, but I'd really like to see it, could you clear up why Dino and Sideswipe didn't detect Soundwave during the scene where Carly left Sam? this confuses me since in RoTF Bumblebee knew Alice was bad news, and in DoTM Optimus knew something was up when they were getting exiled and Sam asked for the plan, please I just want to know. Or maybe a theory on why Sentinel didn't accept the Matrix. Thank you.

Wouldn't it be possible that he had no bladed weapons on him at all when he was tangled up, but retrieved them after he was freed (which could explain the 15 minute gap). 00:36 I agree that he couldn't have possibly been caught up for 15 minutes. So what if it took, say, 3 or 4 minutes and the rest of the time was spent running back to the trailer to retrieve the weapons for the battle. Also, the time it would take for him to locate where the battle has moved to and the time it would take to get to said area should be taken into account. What do you guys think?

Optimus prime is the only Autobot carries the most weapons in the franchise, other autobots carries their signature weapons, even weapons that only seen in one movie and never saw again. Update: Hound from the 4th and 5th had more weapons too. Which proves it in the 4th film, but I don't know many weapons hound has compare to Optimus. I just realize it, because I forgot about the 4th and 5th movie Autobot (Hound, Crosshair, Drift, and Hot Rod), because I liked the first three films a lot better than the last two films.

Bro said give me a second to cook

Maybe it was just for the benefit of the audience and Optimus in reality wasn't tangled for 15 minutes

given how comfortable and proficient prime was with his energon sword, it's *very* unlikely that prime would've chosen to leave it behind when he equipped his blaster. maybe he didn't want to cut through his flight unit at first but after 8 minutes of being strung up, prime definitely would have cut through it to clear out the wires. 8 minutes is an eternity in a battle and he wouldn't let all that time go just to hold onto that one gun. prime also's shown he doesn't really care for that gun anyways, almost instant cutting through it to switch to melee combat mere moments after rencountering the decepticons either prime left his most proficient weapon behind only to go back and get it, betraying the audiences' prebuilt expectations of prime's character, or prime chose not to cut through a gun he didn't really need after being strung up for 8 minutes. either way you slice it, prime was only up there because the writers needed him to. it's still a plot hole

This is a very good theory, but, in RoTF during the forest fight, if you look closely, Optimus can be seen throwing his RIGHT energon blade at grindor, and uses his left blade before pulling out his hooks and killing grindor. In DoTM however, we see Optimus use his energon blade on his right arm again. How this happened, we don’t know, but it’s possible wheeljack did some work on Optimus between the events of RoTF and DoTM, and had his left blade fitted onto his right arm for use on his dominant hand, and that he wasn’t able to pull out his energon sword while he was tangled up

Also from the original animated series the energon weapons did not last very long, so if he used to cut himself down they they would be depleted by the time he got to the fight

U may be correct. But consider this... As he was tangled up in the crane wires, had he sliced the cables overhead, Optimus still would have been bound up in the cables that had wrapped around him and then he would have fallen hundreds of feet to ground, unable to maneuver his wings or reposition his frame. That's why he called for help from the WRECKERS in the first place. They would have the technical skills necessary to release him.

I never considered it a hole, I just assumed he went and got more weapons off screen

Hey uh, I just realized none of the Transformer 1 movie made any sense. So the autobots on Cybertron sent the All Spark to space so that the deceptions couldn’t find it. But then the decepticons decided to continue looking for it anyway so the autobots decided they too must look for it to stop the decepticons from finding it first. But I thought the All Spark was lost far in space… So how did Megatron’s navigation system already have access to the location when he was frozen in the Arctic 8 million years ago? How did Megatron even have coordinates to imprint onto Captain Witwicky’s glasses in 1895? Did Megatron slap a GPS tracker on the All Spark? And then why was the coordinates on the glasses so important if the All Spark already moved? It was found by Sector 7 on the Colorado River and moved to the Hoover Dam, therefore the coordinates on the glasses are inaccurate and doesn’t matter. Also, Captain Lennox is an idiot for suggesting hiding the cube in a heavily populated city.

prime is fighting a lot of decepticons it took 15 minutes to kill all of them

Actuality is they needed a reason to sideline the Chief Murder bot because anytime he's around he's op, not to be confused with OP.

By any chance, how far have you gone with the Loader video? I am asking because you teased that video a few years ago and people have eagerly been waiting since then.

YES Yes a new video from Theorymus!

This channel is my comfort place

I'll just give a more straight answer If you're too tangled in ropes or in this case wires and are hanging like that, it can be too risky to cut them as you can strangle or hang yourself, or even dismantle himself For example, if it was a hanging situation, in Disney's "Tarzan" the main Villian Clayton was tied up in a tree full of vines, when cutting himself lose he didn't realize the ones hanging by his neck and because he wasn't careful he ended up killing himself on accident And for a more transformers reason, if you remember in Bumblebee, when Bee had tossed and tangled up Dropkick in a bunch of chains, it only took a tug to kill him and tear him apart, if this were a similar situation and Optimus wasn't careful, he could have taken into account of being dismantled if he didn't have assistance from these scenarios I don't think it involved much about lacking weapons tbh and this was over thoght of No offense, love your theories still

I have no idea how u be coming up with these explanations, this is seriously some impressive stuff💪💪

he couldnt use his weapons because 1. the striker risks blasting his own limbs off. 2. as we saw in the bumblebee movie, if a bot tries to transform while being tangled up in chains, theres going to be a serious problem. same thing with prime's sword.

His name is QUE! Granted he was suppose to be Wheeljack in an older leaked draft of the movie the name never comes up in the final version of the movie we got. Calling him Wheeljack and referring to Dino as Mirage when they were never actually called by those names on screen is like referring to Blackout, Brawl, and Frenzy as Vortex, Devastator, and Soundwave respectively. Technically it's actually WORSE because in Brawl's cause the change from Devastator to Brawl was so late in the movie's production that the name Devastator still appears on screen in the actual movie. Yet no one refers to him as Devastator knowing that this was a mistake and it was suppose to be Brawl in the final version. Why is it everyone calls the characters in the 2007 film by their correct official names instead of the names they had in a leaked rough draft but everyone insists on using leaked rough draft names for characters in Dark of the Moon rather than their actual official names they were called on screen? Wheeljack and Mirage were never in Dark of the Moon their names are Que and Dino. Also nothing said in this video is even close to being the biggest plot hole in Dark of the Moon. Actually the biggest plot hole is literally everything Sentinel Prime says and does through out the entire movie. Sentinel Prime claims that he only joined the Decepticons because Megatron was too powerful to defeat but in the very next scene he single handedly beats up Megatron in front of his own soldiers showing that Sentinel was actually the one leading the Decepticons and completely destroying the idea behind why he betrayed the Autobots in the first place. He also claims that everything he's doing is for the survival of the Autobots yet he actively takes part in murdering several of his fellow Autobots. How is murdering them ensuring their survival? Everything Sentinel Prime says and does is a completely contradiction to the point where the character has no actual motivation for anything he's doing and is shown to be powerful enough to have ended the war on his own if he really wanted to. He's actually a bigger threat than Megatron. It also makes no sense why he infiltrated the Autobots early in the movie since he doesn't even take advantage of their trust the entire time he's still with them. He even turns down an opportunity to take the Matrix for himself and only takes the portal tech from the N.E.S.T. base after he's already been discovered as a traitor. The entire plot of the movie doesn't make any sense because Sentinel Prime's entire motivation in the movie doesn't make any sense. The entire movie is just a series of say one thing then do the opposite. And a lot of people have said Sentinel was just lying to gain the Autobot's trust but most of this happens AFTER he's already a known traitor so there's no incentive to continue to lie after that point. In fact part of his dialog is said to the Decepticons when the Autobots aren't even around so if his goal was just to make the Autobots trust him why continue the lie when they're not around to witness it?

I love how u did the intro🔥🔥 and yes u are the cook🤯🔥

Only downside to this scene is that they could've honestly given Optimus some humor, but God forbid Prime is anything but stoic or raging

(I know i sound like a geewunner saying this but I have to call this out) G1 Optimus:can ricochet a bullet off rocks and free someone from a speeding vehicle Bayverse prime:…..uuuuh, I got a jet pack? You can’t not laugh at that

There is no reason for Optimus in having to “limit” himself in a full blown alien invasion. In fact, he should have been more prepared the first time when he got his jet pack, guns, other weapons and both energon swords from his trailer during in the invasion. Going back to his trailer a second time just feels like a waste of time.

He’ll probably have to eject one of his arm canons attached in order to use the blade(s) in the first place

Is the mega striker the actual name for that gun optimus had on his prison

Explain the chair that fallen was strapped in revenge of the fallen

Actually Optimus used his left arm blade in the fight against Megatron anf the Fallen. But that is maybe because he threw his right arm blade at Grindors leg during the forest fight and therefore didn't have it in Egypt.

2:52 pls don't tell me optimus went back to pick up his sword after just casually throwing it away💀

“Give me a second to cook” 😂 I love this channel more than I already did, thank you

Not to Criticize, But why is it wrong to turn against The Autobots for the Destruction of Chicago? What were the Humans Thinking. (Not a Video Request)

I wish that Hasbro would continue the Bayverse but in way that mirrored Marvels “What if” but it doesn’t need any storyline. Just a simple animated vs series with all the cool characters from the bayverse we never got to see fight each other… ie. The Fallen vs Sentinel Prime, or even TF1 megatron vs tf3 Optimus… considering my generation grew up with the bayverse, it would be an awesome way to bring back characters that many people find nostalgic and really cool. This also let’s them continue their continuity more true to G1- since I do believe that is important as well!

Video ideas: what if mirage and sideswipe was in aoe and tlk? What if sideways survived? What if Optimus let Sentinal live? What if the wreckers was in aoe and tlk and leadfoot survives in this theory

I simply thought it was the heavy guns he had mounted to his wrist during the time he got tangled, getting in the way of him taking out his sword

I have a question. How do the transformers transform? Do they think if it or does it naturally happen?

I have a question about you saying Optimus is more skilled with his right arm when using a sword If you say he’s more skilled with his right arm, then why did he throw his right sword to grindor during the forest battle?

I like Optimus he is the best autobot . Good video thenks for making us heppy 🙂🙂😃

Holdup… let him cook

Optimus Prime energon blades remind me of Assassin Creed wrist blades!

Can You Do A Why Optimus Surived The Fire Blast From Lockdown Ship Please Please Please Theorymus I Love Your Video Theory In Transformers I Hope Your You Tube Chanel Grow Big And Big Every Day.

Bigger plot hole is Why did Optimus offer the Matrix to Sentinel in DOTM like it belonged to him when the Matrix was left on Earth by the ancients and was here for thousands of years meaning most likely Sentinel was never near it??

No way bro really said "give me a second to cook"

I have an question when. Optimus got his new from in transformer age of extintion he has and big gun when he destroyed ksi lab but when he got the sword of the ship until transformers last knight he has an small gun when he fighted bumblebee

Nice video as always Theorymus.

also a fact you dont know is that optimus always has 2 swords, 2 hooks and his axe on him at all times they are parts of him he simply equiped a spare sword from the trailer at the start but he always has those melee weapons on him also the gastanks and boxes infront of the tanks on his truck mode are his canons and he can combine both into the mega striker

Prime do look like a Beyblade and I wonder why it did take Prime so long but just never thought about it much but that helps explain a lot

Its more on primes worry if he do anything his tech will fall off and break any instant breaking the wires would cost him to fall heavily and tangle up worse with a more broken jet. With the wreckers it in tangle him a lot more properly and fixed what remains of the jet. So he land a lot better.

I thought the biggest plot hole was in the fact that Operation Sentinel wasn't Megatron's first option

I mean, I never considered this a plot hole, but if it has to be explained using stuff that happened between films then it's still a plot hole

You missed the point that the trailer forms the flight suit which means all weapons are equipped. Prime is stuck because the cables prevent transformation so he can eject any parts of the flight suit to use any of the weapons. you can see when he swoops in to go after shockwave he lands spins around ejects the flight suit drops the cannons on his arms and pulls out the right energon blade kills a con then for a second pulls out the left blade and kills another con. Then punches shockwave

Yeah, i always thought he just couldn't move. I mean, he had tons of weapons and the flight tech, an entire big ol trailer hooked up to his back! 😅😆