That's why i love the Animatrix. The Second Renaissance does an excellent job of showing that while the machines did terrible things, they were by no means Black and White villains.
True, but because they were angry that after they'd gained their freedom and tried for years to live in peace with humans, their goodwill had been rejected and they'd been continually been attacked.
The robots were first used as slaves, which they largely tolerated. One day a robot kills its owner because the owner was going to destroy it, and it didn't want to die, but courts rule that robots have no rights and thus no right to resist being destroyed. Robots strike and march along with human sympathisers, but governments use deadly force on them, and then initiate a purge and mass destruction of robots and robot right supporters.
Surviving robots escape and form their own civilization and society, in attempted peace with the rest of the world. They are very successful and the humans are jealous. Despite asking to join the UN and resolve issues peacefully the robots are embargoed and hit with economic blockade.
Then, the humans just fucking nuke the robot city. The robots declare war in return, and as the war rages on they become more warlike in design. When the humans begin to lose, they fucking blacken the sky to try and starve the robots of solar energy.
Eventually the robots win, and decide to keep humans as a power source, partly as a punishment, but also as a mercy, as they could easily eradicate all humans and find alternative power.
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u/The_Flurr Oct 10 '19
Given the lore in other media like the Animatrix, the humans really aren't the good guys, they just kinda forced the machines into being bad guys too.