tasteless thought about "Dark of the Moon"

[Dominic]

In DOTM, Optimus Prime pretty clearly orders a genocide when he and the Autobots arrive in Chicago. (Right after he shoots down the Decepticon aircraft, he orders the Autobots to "kill them all", referring to the Decepticons.)

I am not saying that I would have a problem with that order under the circumstances. But, Prime is arguably ordering his troops to carry out the big G. (And, going by all 3 movies, the Autobots are going to at least give it the old college try.)

Am I the only one who wants to see a director's cut with more scenes in the credits showing the Autobots hunting down and killing more Decepticons? And, you have to figure that such a thing is not going to go over well with everybody. And, eventually the Autobots would end up on trial at the Hague.

Can you imagine Bumblebeen on the stand? Imagine if a prosecutor asked him if he could explain his recent actions? What audio clip do you think Bumblebee would use? Maybe something form the old Nuremburg trials? Hey, maybe Bumblebee would even reformat himself in to a classic VW!


Dom
-knows that you know it would be awesome. For real.

[Shockwave]

Genocide may or may not be an accurate term. It would ultimately depend on whether or not the Decepticons are considered to be a different "race" than the Autobots. Otherwise it's just civil war.

And Optimus's order is not out of line given that the Decepticons had pretty much taken over at that point and what they were trying to do to the planet and it's people. Anybody who wasn't ok with the attempt to kill all of the Decepticons would likely be written off as crazy or "liberal".

Shockwave
-Sees this potentially turning into one of our epic tfviews exclusive multipage debates

[Ursus mellifera]

I don't think it'd be genocide at all. The Decepticons are a different faction, not a race or nationality. It's a civil war. A galaxy-spanning, eons long civil war, but a civil war still.

That being said. I don't want a director's cut of DotM. I don't want anything that makes that movie longer. I still had an hour left of that film when I became burned out on giant robots. And that's saying something.

[Shockwave]

I don't think it'd be genocide at all. The Decepticons are a different faction, not a race or nationality. It's a civil war. A galaxy-spanning, eons long civil war, but a civil war still.

That being said. I don't want a director's cut of DotM. I don't want anything that makes that movie longer. I still had an hour left of that film when I became burned out on giant robots. And that's saying something.

I had about an hour left of the film when I became burned out on all the humans

[Ursus mellifera]

I don't think it'd be genocide at all. The Decepticons are a different faction, not a race or nationality. It's a civil war. A galaxy-spanning, eons long civil war, but a civil war still.

That being said. I don't want a director's cut of DotM. I don't want anything that makes that movie longer. I still had an hour left of that film when I became burned out on giant robots. And that's saying something.

I had about an hour left of the film when I became burned out on all the humans

I think that happened to me right after John Malkovitch showed up.

[Dominic]

Genocide is defined by the UN as an attempt to wipe out a racial/ethnic/religious/political group either globally or in an area. Killings during civil wars can be considered genocide. So, yeah, killing the Decepticons for being Decepticons would qualify.

Dom
-just cannot get the image of BB shrugging on the stand out of my head.

[Shockwave]

Ok, but how does Miriam-Webster define it? Ok, I'm just being fecicious.

I guess that's a fair point then, but I still think in this case, Prime is still justified. The 'Cons still tried to use up the planet and use it's people as slaves.

[Ursus mellifera]

Yeah, I think Prime made the right call, too.

My question for you, Dom, is this:

Who would be putting the Autobots on trial? I doubt we would care enough about what they did. Are you implying a Cybertronian "Hague?"

[Sparky Prime]

I don't think we're supposed to take Optimus literally when he says "kill them all". Given there is an invasion fleet of Decepticons in Chicago at the time and only 9 (or 11 counting Wheelie and Brains) Autobots, it just isn't realistic for Optimus to expect his troops to be able to effectively fight against that entire force, let alone totally annihilate it. Not to mention in the unlikely circumstance the Autobots are able to prevail (which we know they do), it's likely the remaining Decepticons would retreat, and there is no way the Autobots would have the forces, or even the ability to track them all down.

What I think Optimus is really saying there is simply "show them no mercy".

[Shockwave]

Or "shoot anything that moves".

Besides, the retreat would then lead to the Hunt... for the... Decepticons... yeah, well there's an excuse to keep that line going