The War Crimes of Optimus Prime // Flip 

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The idea of a massive truck robot sitting in a human court of law is beyond hilarious

Optimus: Freedom is the right of all sentient beings Also Optimus: *If the eyes are red it’s about to be dead*

Given how often the earth's governments break their own laws, I'm giving Optimus a pass.

Optimus isn't committing war crimes, he's just extremely sigma.

“It’s only a war crime if you lose”

Optimus Prime treats the Geneva Convention as a checklist

In Age of Extinction during the desert gathering scene, Optimus explicitly states that after the humans betrayal after the Battle of Chicago, that he was done playing by human rules, which means he was even more aware of what he was doing

Something you don’t mention though is that the Geneva Conventions only applies when one of the nations at war have signed the treaty. Neither the Autobots nor Decepticons are signatories in this universe, and so they do not apply. Yes the Alien Autobot Cooperation Act was signed, but it doesn’t mean the Autobots are subject to US Law, it simply means there is an agreement on the US books to work with them. Additionally, as mentioned elsewhere, Megatron may have been injured, but he was moving in with the intent to kill. Pretty sure Geneva Conventions don’t protect wounded soldiers still engaged in hostilities. Same goes with shipwrecked combatants. On the shipwrecked part, the Deceptions were not “shipwrecked”. Earth was their target destination, following after their leader. This is different from Sentinel, who’s final destination was probably not Earth’s moon. Additionally, if we’re saying the Autobots are subject to US codes of law, Sentinel Prime falls under the definition of “traitor”. Being part of what is essentially the armed forces of the Autobots, is subject to summary execution (among other punishments). The Geneva Convention only covers enemy combatants, where no other uniform laws apply, but this was an internal issue to what you may call the Autobot Nation/Military. The scientists experiments on fallen Cybertronians, yeah, they’re the ones committing war crimes first by despoiling the corpses of the dead. Given they’re involving themselves in the conflict this way, even though they are civilians, this makes them a valid target for retaliation. This was a good video, but it only went just below the surface of the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements regarding warfare.

I feel like the first law that Optimus broke doesn't really count. Even though Megatron was injured Optimus had his entire arm torn off, which would classify Optimus as injured as well.

*GIVE ME YOUR FACE* -Optimus Prime

Wounded or not, Megatron was still raising the gun with the intent to hurt/kill Optimus, so he was totally in the right for giving him the Thanos treatment. It's not a war crime, it was poetic justice.

5:50 except this rule is muted the moment Megatron raised his weapon towards Optimus. If he was so wounded he couldn't fight anymore then he shouldn't even be able or willing to raise his gun. This applies to human battlefields aswell. If the wounded are on the ground, fine, you aren't allowed to kill them, but if a man with one arm is still aiming his gun at you, you have every right to blow his brains out.

"Geneva Convention? You mean 'Geneva Suggestions', right?"

That title rolls off the tongue so well

Funny thing, the Transformers actually do have their own equivalent to the Geneva Convention in the IDW Comics called the Tyrest Accord. And by those standards, Bayverse Optimus is a war criminal.

Transformers: “We saved the City” The City: *Is destroyed*

You made a good point with Demolisher. He wasn't fighting, he was running. As well as the other decepticons. Though he did cause alot of collateral damage and killed a few people while fleeing. Optimus jumped on him and shot him until he crashed and could no longer even move. And after giving Optimus (and crew) a cryptic warning, Optimus headshots the guy at point blank range. That wasn't a fight, that was basically gang violence.

TFP Optimus is like the Polar opposite of Bayverse Optimus. Maybe that's why I love him. "Strong enough to be gentle." meanwhile, "KILL THEM ALL."

As Garak would say: "Humans have rules in war. Rules that make victory a little harder to achieve, in my opinion."

the first one can't be a war crime. Megatron at this point was ready for war again and had just taken out centiniel prime and got whipped after he attacked a One Armed Optimus who had just been stabbed in the chest... also KSI was a weapons manufacturer and they openly said this when they were building galavatron

Genevacon must be stopped. No matter the cost.

Yeah warcrime prime fits Sentinel prime since he killed ironhide, lied to the world saying they will get peace if they ban the autobots but gives the decepticons a chance to kill the autobots, and participate in the slaughter of thousands of lives in Chicago

Actually, it's ok to kill someone if they committed war crimes themselves, so Optimus is perfectly fine

Megatron was literally about to execute sentinel prime. He also does get his weapon up and fires a shot, meaning he is an active combatant.

I disagree with the wounded Megatron part. If I come across a wounded soldier, and he points a gun at me, is it within every right to kill him. It’s self-defense at that point.

Optimus Prime's War Crimes -This is gonna be a long list.

I always thought that the cool thing about Optimus in the first three films was that he was mostly a swell guy but was actually more brutal in his killing methods than Megatron was if you deserved it. For the most part when he fights it's like he's like level 2-3 out of 5, but then he would come back and absolutely tear apart the bad guys without mercy. I was stunned when I saw Optimus rip Megatron's head and spine out of his body, but then I remembered that in Revenge of the Fallen when he gets his upgrades he says to the Fallen "Give me your face" and proceeds to stick his fist through his back and straight through the other side. Just don't piss him off.

I argue three crimes at most. Your second crime is that Optimus kills, or murders Megatron while wounded. Now under the Geneva Conventions this is a crime, yes. However I argue this. Optimus kills him while also wounded, in the act of self defense. They were both wounded, and as you pointed out Megatron was trying to raise his gun before being flawless beheaded. Therefore; it can’t be a war crime again because they were both actively attempting to bring about the end of each other. I would love to know what others think on this.

"We've been fighting each other for thousands of years safely and happily, and now a random mortal has come to put his war crimes laws on us, I don't even know what war crimes supposed to mean optimus! ". -Megatrons

Sentinel killed Iron Hide with Space Rust which is an EXTREMELY deadly biological weapon in the TF universe. Optimus killing him would be similar treatment to how UN would punish someone for using biological warfare.

Optimus in G1: **fully ready to murder Decepticons without hesitation.** Optimus in every other show and comic: “Nooooooo, he’s too nice!” Optimus in the Bay films: **fully ready to murder Decepticons without hesitation.**

Optimus Prime a war criminal? Only in the strictest interpretations of the Geneva Conventions. However, I would say he is not. Charge 1 - The very first example, where Optimus takes out an injured Megatron (right before the 6-minute mark), shouldn't count as Megatron was still an active combatant at that point. He was literally shooting a gun at Optimus. If someone scrapes their knee in battle, are they now off limits to the opposing force? Megatron was still in the game, even with half a face and one arm. Doesn’t matter if he’s not as strong as he used to be, Megatron was still and active threat and willing combatant. Charge 2 - The shipwrecked examples? It’s weak at best. How are the Decepticons "shipwrecked" if they willingly came to this planet?. Had they been trying to go elsewhere or didn’t want to land, then sure, but they were PURPOSELY COMING HERE! They didn’t “crash land,” they just landed, just really hard. Heck, that’s how the Autobots came to Earth in the first movie. It may look like crashing, but that’s only because we weak flesh creatures would burn up in the atmosphere, and if we miraculously survived that, we’d be smashed to pieces when we landed. Cybertronians are built a bit different. This is a perfectly acceptable way for them to come to a planet, especially one they came to on purpose. No shipwreck here. Charge 3 - This was a close one, but I’ll give Optimus some leeway here. Sentinel was still an active threat, sure not as much as he was, but still a threat. Not to mention Sentinel has proven to use deception in his combat. He doesn’t become a POW just because he realizes he’s about to lose. Of course he’s gonna want Optimus to stop, what else is he going to say, “please kill me?” He was still in combat, still fair game. Charge 4 - This is the closest one, so it at least warrants an investigation. But at what point does a “civilian organization” stop being a civilian organization? There are a lot of terrorist organizations that don’t consider themselves terrorists. If your job is to kill, torture, and/or mutilate…you might not just be a civilian any more. That’s actively hurting others, kinda like a combatant. Even before the CIA came in and took over, they were still doing some pretty shady stuff. They posed a threat to Cybertronians, regardless of how they designated themselves. But still, I’ll give you some credit here, Optimus is really towing the line here, so this one might have some weight to it.

"Ironhide! You know we don't harm humans! What is with you?!" Made me laugh way too hard.

In age of extinction I think Optimus breaks the “No unnecessary destruction” in the factory.

5:57 Does that count tho? Megatron was the soldier of the other side. If a soldier lost one of his eyes in a previous battle, can't he be killed during a war in the present? 8:17 If I remember correctly, both the autobots and the decepticons went to Earth on purpose, to find the Cube. They didn't come here because there wasn't any other option, they came here for treasure hunt.

I’m not too mad about Optimus’ war crimes, I’ll forgive him for giving me awesome robot fights.

I love how when Optimus rips Megatron's head off, it sounds like he's slurring out "not fair!"

I think the first one is invalid, since Megatron was obviously trying to kill Optimus. He has the right to defend himself, whether the enemy is weak or strong. He also has his arm chopped off, and had a beating from Sentinel, so he’s also weak. He’s probably more injured than Megatron. So Megatron almost committed a war crime, not Optimus. That was self defense against a war crime.

I feel like it's worth mentioning that right before Optimus killed Megatron in dark of the moon, Megatron had called for a truce

You are just making him more likeable for me

I just imagine seeing Megatron in court with a suit on trying to defend himself in court lol

Well then the cemetery wind did a war crime because they killed Rachet who is a medic and leadfoot who surrendered right?

The way I see it, people who have never been in the type situations that have been seen in these movies and others can judge all they want but most if put in that type of situation don't know what they would do. That my opinion at least.

Demolisher wasn't hiding if you think abt it and the decepticons weren't without a leader; if you remember in revenge of the fallen starscream told megatron that "someone had to take command" meaning that either he or the fallen were leading the decepticons. I think demolisher was just waiting on orders

"Thanks for saving the planet from an enemy who we barely understand and are hopelessy outgunned by but....you violated our laws by doing all in your power to ensure our safety." I'd be like "fuck humans" like he was in Age of Extinction too..

Wait a minute, didn’t Cemetery wind kill an wounded Ratchet who was asking them to hold their fire and the KSI committed another war crime when they experimented on his body? So in a way they kinda had it coming.

Hello! Navy Reserve JAG here: That first one is for sure NOT a war crime, Megatron literally still brandished a weapon and was planning to get a treaty with prime at gunpoint (this is hit or Miss as a war crime itself). It may be a crime in US law (stretch there too except how picky the gun laws are meaning since he killed him with a blade he’s less protected) it is definitely not internationally! Also, I am not sure Sentinel prime would be protected by international law as he is literally not from here lmao.

demolisher said, "This is not your planet to rule, the fallen shall rise again." *and then he died*

Ok that first one doesn't count because prime was arguably just as fucked as megatron, you know, with his whole arm missing

Personally if the decepticons were at mcu villain level then I could see them being spared but the movie deceptiocons were to ruthless and got a lot of people killed so I could see why Optimus had to take them all out

These movies were bad but holy shit the CGI was so insanely good.

No one talking about how Megatron literally saved Optimus from being executed and tried to make peace and with 0 reason Optimus freaks out like a 14 year old eminem fan with anger issues and kills him lol

Optimus Prime always goes for the head. Bonecrusher, Demolishor, Grindor, Megatron’s face, The Fallen, DOTM Longhaul, Shockwave, Sentinel Prime, Megatron’s entire head this time, and worse... was about to go for Bumblebee in TLK

It's easy for TFP to get away with not committing damage to human property whether intentional or accidental, 99% of the time they fight in the middle of nowhere; Empty deserts, empty arctic, empty space, empty spaceship, maybe an empty parking lot. Not to mention that decepticon servant class wasn't trying to pull out a weapon to fight Ratchet, which all the Decepticons in the Bayverse do, every single time, down to the smallest like the Kitchen bots in ROTF. But honestly, I think Optimus' brutality is justified in context of their situation, that being a dead home planet, a brutal enemy that will stab you in the back if you let your guard down, which Megatron did in ROTF. People criticize Bayverse Optimus as a bloodthirsty monster compared to TFP or G1, but it's not like the Decepticons are innocent victims who did nothing wrong, they're out to kill him and everyone. It's like he said at the end of the 2007 movie to Megatron as he was dying after the All-Spark was shoved into his chest: "You left me no choice, Brother", and it's like that for the rest of them.

Objection! At least for the first but with Megatron. “The wounded” was still giving fight. Megatron may have been injured but he was still fighting back, so OP killing him doesn’t count as a war crime.

I love how in the first movie optimus is only defending himself and others but literally the next movie he becomes a murderer for no reason. Megatron proposed a truce and he just rips his head and spine, brutal. And in revenge of the fallen the decepticons in the beginning of the movie weren't even attacking, they were minding their own business and one gets bisected and the other gets torn apart and shot in the face.

Bayverse Optimus is a definition of "That one nice guy you dont want to piss off" 😅

11:53 “at one point, ratchet almost kills a minor”

I watched a video about a soldier reacting to John Walker, Captain America (Falcon and the Winter Soldier series) killing the terrorist. He stated that it was a justified kill and the terrorist was not actually surrendering but rather just buying some time or delaying the situation. In the Sentinel Prime scenario, somehow, he didn't surrender. If I can remember the scene, Sentinel was merely justifying why he betrayed the autobots and once a gun was pointed against him, he did not state surrender rather just saying "no" or "don't do that" which is in a way also a form of delay tactics. You can take this statement in a grain of salt, since again, I just saw it on another video and also, I just really wanted Sentinel dead after the betrayal Lastly, even though Megatron was severely injured in the 3rd movie, he was still a threat to human and the autobots. Even in the last scene, he was capable enough to help in taking down Sentinel prime plus aiming an armed weapon to a soldier may be a justification to neutralize a threat to your own life.

Honestly if you think about it Megatron was responsible for killing innocent transformers that decided to not work for him, and was responsible for killing a entire race. I don’t think court would really care about Optimus killing a sick Megatron after hearing about that.

Idk, I kinda can’t blame Optimus for killing Megatron in DotM. Megatron has been a raging war criminal for like a million years and was part Y responsible for destroying Cybertron. Not to mention, he worked with Sentinel to invade Earth, killing thousands. Leaving Megatron alive is too dangerous.

Sentinel wasn't really pleading for his life. If you want to see pleading for your life, play the clip just a minute before that when Sentinel is about to kill Optimus who is doing exactly that.

"Optimus, you can't do that, stop, you told us you wouldn't do that!!" Optimus: I lied.

5:52 Murder is the only thing you could argue for and even than it does not stick. Prime (lacking his hand) killed ARMED Megatron in open combat in unfavourable conditions. It was a middle of the fight (where prime was beaten down and almost killed) and optimus could be more clear about his wish to attack megatron only if he stated it directly (as in: "I will kill you"). He could have spared him but he was not obliged to. Megatron seemed to be stunned that Optimus still had that much fight in him, nothing more. 8:21 Aaaand that one ignores quite a lot of things. For one that jet ex-decepticon set a precedence that the decepticons are not incapable of switching sides. They are not programmed to follow the Megatron, it's their choice and Decepticons are the conquest by definition. He get's no pass morally here. Second, he started the violence. Considering the fact that this is a FUCKING HUGE dude his mass alone is a danger and a weapon (not to mention whatever he used to do the explosions around). As he actively attacked soldiers of earth and (considering the mindset of the decepticon believers) he would not fall back if he wasn't outnumbered and outgunned. He was either a combatant or a dangerous criminal. 9:55 Yup. Finally something right. 11:05 He would be breaking the convention IF he was operating as a part of military/country. You can call him many names at this moment, terrorist, outlaw, warrior of justice but not a war criminal.

He's soldier. Soldiers lose what is good or what is bad. He fights to protect. He lost friends in this war. Soldier's emotions change when in combat. They really look bad, but they're trying to protect the good.

Millions of years of knowledge about how the decepticons operate and behave, optimus has a pretty justifiable reason for it. If Autobots were to follow Human war laws it won't do Autobots nor humans any good considering the decepticons will use that against us. So optimus is very smart to let decepticons know; "hey, if you're gonna act like an ass, I'm gonna kill you." He's only a war criminal based on human laws but what about cybertronian laws?

The problem with this is that decepticons and autobots aren't really uniformed combatants, so they're not protected under the Geneva convention

Considering that Bayverse's decepticons are living breathing war crimes on legs, pretty much any and everything Optimus and the Autobots does to them is justifiable.

5:54 but that rule doesn't apply if the sick/wounded individual still participates in combat, which Megatron did by trying to shoot Optimus, before being killed

Just because something is illegal, doesn't mean it is wrong (and vice versa).

Not killing wounded combatants only applies if they aren’t fighting anymore. If a wounded man is still intending on fighting then he’s a valid target until he puts his rifle down.

To be completely fair to Optimus on the conventions; every time he violates the Geneva Conventions it’s against a war criminal: Megatron and Sentinel Prime are easily guilty of several more and worse war crimes while the company heads of Age of Extinction were guilty of experimenting on the corpses of Autobot which violates both the condition of soldiers convention as well as the war crime laws surrounding desecration. A real world example is the death of Mussolini who, rather than being taken to court where he could’ve potentially weaseled himself either into a plea deal or be cleared of charges, was instead hung from a gas station and beaten to death by Italian rebels. Was this a war crime? Yes, Was this done to a FAR greater war criminal? Also yes.

I wouldn't count the one with Sentinel because we all know he was lying and pretending he didn't want to fight to make Optimus put his guard down. He was committing a war crime himself by false surrendering. We all know he was just gonna stab Optimus if he put the gun down. He was breaking the law and had to be punished accordingly.

Optimus did the right thing and you know that,also i really like how they made him such a badass in the movies,unlike the tv shows,he actually kicks some real ass as he rips and tears until it is done

War crimes is only fun when you’re not on the receiving end

I love how people think that live action Optimus prime is how Optimus prime should be

This is how everyone thought of him during The Last Knight

Two things: 1. Optimus Prime doesn't and never will follow HUMAN rules, why should he 2. In TFP the not killing the servent wasn't a human rule but more so a rule he made the Autobots follow.

Just remember that ta robotic alien that has committed multiple war crimes prefers their whopper 'no cheese, no onions, extra pickles' according to a Burger King advertisement

2:25 Criminal charges? Innocent Autobots gets recycled into parts while Decepticons gets a slap on the wrist and imprisoned? yep, that's America alright

Prime is the kind of character nobody would forge an alliance with from past alone

I'm not tryna hate I honestly love the video. But I am proir service military. And a few of these actually aren't war crimes. The part where Optimus kills Megatron in the fight with sentinel prime. If an enemy holds or is attempting to pick up a weapon to cause harm to their aggressor then the aggressor has every right to kill him. I could say that sentinel prime was reaching for a weapon the moment before Optimus shot that first shot into him. But that second shot was fs a war crime. Anyways love the video will be subbing and dropping a like ❤️

War shouldn’t have “rules.” An olden saying goes: “All’s fair in Love and War.” And, Rules or any kind, just make things worse.

Pretty sure sentinel wasn't surrendering? Atleast I thought he was just trying to argue with Optimus about his actions.

And this is the main difference between bayformers and the rest of the transformers mythos.

"Optimus is under law and shouldn't kill Megatron" Optimus before killing Megatron: *Was forced to leave Earth then his ship blew up by the same gov't*

Optimus prime killing megatron while he literally got attacked by megaton and was missing an arm? War crime. Riiiiight...

"So today guys we're going to be working out if optimus prime violated the geeneva convention." I'm sorry, I can't....

Actually Optimus prime is violent because too many of his friends and allies are killed and he wants revenge

I personally favor film version Optimus Prime. I’m glad that he’s vicious because of how ruthless the Decepticons were, and I think his enemies deserves death.

Anakin Skywalker: HA! I can’t even count how many war crimes IVE committed!

BS Optimus Prime is a true honorable warrior. He's the description of what a gentle giant is.

Honestly I definitely have to say the Transformers prime incarnation of Optimus is the truest to the character that I've ever seen. And the fact that that optimist also respected war law makes me appreciate him all the more

"War crimes of Optimus Prime" **grabs popcorn**

>commits war crime by killing a visibly weak Megatron WHILE VISIBLY MISSING AN ARM! XD

If optimus dosen't kill the decepticons they will just keep coming back and killing the same humans trying to lock him up for killing them

In my opinion movie prime is the most realistic due to his mental state changing due to all the fighting

The AOE Warcrime doesnt matter due to the fact Optimus said "Humans have wanted us to play by their rules, well the rules have just changed". So after DOTM he didn't care about the laws. also he should be allowed to kill Sentinel due to the fact he killed Ironhide, Skids, Mudflap and many innocent civillians. What he did was no different to a court execution. If someone has been sentenced to death they would be killed regardless. The shipwrecked cons were illigal on earth and had the means to leave the planet again (proven by how starscream was able to fly to the nemesis while being a F22 Raptor). They also did try run away when they were about to be captured. If a dangerous criminal is on the run and starts killing civillians then the police are allowed to shoot them.

Compared to a human law, established by human lawmakers, Optimus Prime is a 40 foot mechanical god worthy of worship by the entire race of humanity. Their species is by all means, all powerful compared to us. He is absolutely above human law.