“You got the power!”

February 6, 2019 7:56 AM

The Cybertronic Spree: a cosplaying Transformers band. Here they are playing Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" [YouTube], the "Pokemon Theme" [YouTube], the "Ghostbusters Theme" [YouTube], and of course "The Touch" [YouTube] from the 1986 The Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack.
posted by Fizz (18 comments total)

Nice pipes. Literally.

I'll see myself out.
posted by gwint at 8:07 AM on February 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

I usually hate this kind of thing but they took it so far and executed it so well that I love it
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:14 AM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

And I'm suddenly reminded of the "Knights of Unicron" special set that got put out a few years back.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:25 AM on February 6, 2019

This is the kind of thing I would certainly have never come across if Metafilter did not exist.
posted by wittgenstein at 9:55 AM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

I think I reached peak nerd this morning when someone was gleefully describing a "Transformers Cosplay cover band" and I interrupted them to ask if it was The Cybertronic Spree....
posted by Paladin1138 at 10:00 AM on February 6, 2019 [8 favorites]

In semi-related news, this seems like a good venue to drop an idea that's been taking over my head: that if not for the Cybertron Civil War, Soundwave and Blaster would have been the nucleus of a hell of a rap crew. Blaster as the primary MC, Soundwave doing hype man stuff with his vocoder voice, both taking turns DJing from their tape decks, their cassette bot flunkies rounding out the crew, the mind just weeps at the culture we lost to that damned war
posted by the phlegmatic king at 10:20 AM on February 6, 2019 [15 favorites]

#AlternateHeadCanonConfirmed
posted by Paladin1138 at 10:21 AM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

(psst. Bumblebee is at least two orders of magnitude better than the Michael Bay Transformers movies)
posted by straight at 10:33 AM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Does anyone else think/wish that could be Karen Gillan in the pink suit? Kind of sounds like her...
posted by Snowishberlin at 12:46 PM on February 6, 2019

I was a kid when I saw the Transformers movie, and "The Touch" is definitely one of the highlights. I think it shaped my musical interests growing up.

Thank you for this post!
posted by cynical pinnacle at 12:58 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Vaaalhaaaalah. It hurts the ears a bit.
posted by humboldt32 at 1:10 PM on February 6, 2019

This GWAR reboot sux
posted by stevil at 5:25 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Well actually, I'm disappointed that Shockwave isn't drumming one-handed, plus dressing up as Unicron seems like severe overcompensation for something and... nah, I can't do the snarky internet thing. This is excellent, accomplished, unabashed nostalgia bait and brought a massive smile to my face. Love the crowd reactions too!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:27 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Holy shit, is one of them a Quintesson? THAT is a Transformer deep cut! Also, I legit got emotional when I heard their cover of Dare from the 86 movie.
posted by KingEdRa at 6:09 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

That’s Rumble on the drums, appropriately enough. It does look like Soundwave has some sort of groupie/roadie/cowbell role. My favorite costume is actually the Quintesson when its face bobs in and out to the beat.

I’ve been aware of this band prior to this post, but have never stopped and watched one of their videos. So, thank you for posting this! The ‘86 Transformers is near the top of my list of movies I’ve seen the most number of times. I introduced my daughter to it when she was about four years old and she used to go around saying “Not today, Galvatron,” which I loved. The band was actually more musically skilled than I expected. While I like “The Touch” and “Dare,” the rest of the Vince DiCola movie soundtrack is... not for me. In fact, I’ve often thought that some day I’d like to pull a Topher Grace and make my own fan edit of ‘86 Transformers with a Gary Numan soundtrack, or something.
posted by Slothrop at 6:15 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

I don't know how I feel about this. I love these songs and love Transformers, but I just don't know.
posted by seth9341 at 7:43 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have no idea how I was never aware of this before. I wake every night, shivering, thinking that I might never have become aware of it at all.
posted by running order squabble fest at 4:59 PM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

I think I reached peak nerd this morning when someone was gleefully describing a "Transformers Cosplay cover band" and I interrupted them to ask if it was The Cybertronic Spree....

Well? Was it? Or was it another Transformers cosplay cover band?
posted by adamrice at 5:16 PM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]