The new Transformers animated series on Netflix War for Cybertron Trilogy posed law of war questions in “Siege”: Would reformatting the Autobots into Decepticons with the Allspark be a war crime?
Looking at international law of Earth, codified as law in the United States as 18 U.S.C. § 2441, we can arrive at the following determinations:
The War Crime of Torture (18 U.S.C. § 2441(A)):
The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind.
The process of reformatting an Autobot was admitted to “look painful.” This would meet the requirement inflicting severe physical pain. The reason for causing the severe pain would be racially motivated on the basis of being Autobots. The wildcard here is all of the Autobots on Cybertron being within the custody or control of the Decepticons. Can control be exercised on a planetary scale? If the answer is yes, then this would meet all the elements of torture. If not, this charge would come close but fail.
The War Crime of Cruel or Inhuman Treatment (18 U.S.C. § 2441(B)):
The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act intended to inflict severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions), including serious physical abuse, upon another within his custody or control.
The analysis here is similar to torture. Yes, the reformatting process would cause pain and suffering. The issue here is whether there can be control on a planetary scale.
The War Crime of Performing Biological Experiments (18 U.S.C. § 2441(C)):
The act of a person who subjects, or conspires or attempts to subject, one or more persons within his custody or physical control to biological experiments without a legitimate medical or dental purpose and in so doing endangers the body or health of such person or persons.
The concept of “biological” experiments on living machines is one beyond human science and law. If Transformers have “biology” in a way that can meet our understanding on Earth, what the Decepticons were planning would meet the spirit of the law.
The War Crime of Murder (18 U.S.C. § 2441(D)):
The act of a person who intentionally kills, or conspires or attempts to kill, or kills whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause.
Murder is not applicable, as the Autobots were not being killed in the reformatting process.
The War Crime of Mutilation or Maiming (18 U.S.C. § 2441(E)):
The act of a person who intentionally injures, or conspires or attempts to injure, or injures whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, by disfiguring the person or persons by any mutilation thereof or by permanently disabling any member, limb, or organ of his body, without any legitimate medical or dental purpose.
The Decepticons reformatting all Autobots would be mass mutilation of an entire race, including those not engaged in hostilities.
The War Crime of Intentionally Causing Serious Bodily Injury (18 U.S.C. § 2441(F)):
The act of a person who intentionally causes, or conspires or attempts to cause, serious bodily injury to one or more persons, including lawful combatants, in violation of the law of war.
Reformatting all Autobots would cause serious bodily harm and meet the requirements of this war crime.
There is another war crime hiding in plain sight: Genocide. One normally would think genocide involves death, but with reformatting Transformers, this crime is more than meets the eye. Genocide is “whether in time of peace or in time of war and with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such, kills members of that group.” 18 U.S.C. § 1091(a)(1). The reformatting process would eliminate the Autobot race. Even if the there were still living Transformers after the reformatting, there would be no more Autobots. They would be extinct, their race destroyed by the reformatting. This is genocide without a body count.
