The Touch

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The Transformers: The Movie insert song
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"The Touch" is a song by Stan Bush, featured on the 1986 album The Transformers: The Movie - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It is possibly the pinnacle of human achievement fondly remembered by many fans for being featured in two climactic battles in The Transformers: The Movie.

"The Touch" is first featured in The Transformers: The Movie when Optimus Prime, having just arrived at Autobot City, takes on several of the Decepticon forces by himself. It plays again, near the end of the feature, as Hot Rod opens the Matrix. The song was used again during the climactic scene of the cartoon episode "The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2".

Fiction

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The Transformers cartoon

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At an undetermined time period following the creation of the Headmasters and Targetmasters and the seeming defeat of Galvatron and Scorponok, Powermaster Optimus Prime spent a good deal of time relating Transformers stories to the human schoolboy Tommy Kennedy.

After a series of stories wherein he described the events of the battle with Unicron, Optimus Prime had to depart to attend an interstellar peace conference in the midst of a barrage of questions from Tommy. As he was blasting off, Prime declared "But until I return, I leave you with 'The Touch'!"

Following this, the music video for "The Touch" began, although how Tommy was able to view it in the barren wasteland where his meetings with Prime typically took place is unknown. Season 5: Movie, Day Five

As Stan Bush could not have written the song for the 1986 theatrical The Transformers: The Movie within the context of the cartoon timeline (as the events of the movie had not happened at that point in continuity), it is possible that the song was simply a general release that Prime was personally fond of. Another possibility is that a fictionalized film account of the events surrounding the battle with Unicron was created sometime after the year 2005, and that Stan Bush's music video was produced to accompany that feature. This theory is not out of the realm of plausibility; in the UK comics, resident letter answerer Grimlock reviewed a Transformers film in an article entitled Film 2006 With Grimlock. The movie was also mentioned as being a product of the Autobots in the S.T.A.R.S. continuity flyer The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:.

Prime cartoon

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While riding in his car on the way to a military base, Agent Fowler passed the time by listening to an instrumental version of "The Touch" and humming along to it. Nemesis Prime

Bumblebee film

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Bumblebee played a snippet of "The Touch" to encourage Charlie Watson to accept Tripp Summers' challenge and dive from a high cliff. She declined. Bumblebee

EarthSpark cartoon

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When Robby and Mo Malto attempted to use the Emberstone to create more Terrans, their father encouraged them, saying "[they've] got the touch." A few notes from the song could be heard as he did so. Age of Evolution, Part 1

Games

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War for Cybertron

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Before the war spread to Earth, and seemingly millions of years before Stan Bush would have even been born, the Decepticons were fighting the Autobots on Cybertron. Shockwave asked Soundwave to transform into his stationary music-playing mode and play a recording of "The Touch". The inspirational anthem emboldened Shockwave in battle, but annoyed Starscream. Shockwave informed Starscream that the Air Commander could select the music when his hit percentage exceeded Shockwave's. GameStop's commercial for their Shockwave multiplayer exclusive

Fall of Cybertron

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After the battles are fought and the credits roll, "The Touch (Power Mix)" is played until it abruptly ends and is replaced by the 2007 version. During which, the Autobots and Decepticons alike begin breakdancing and a forever alone Metroplex plays with his Transformers toys. Fall of Cybertron

EarthSpark - Expedition

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When Bumblebee completed a mission for Twitch, she remarked that he had the Touch. Bee confirmed he was at his best when the going got rough. Transformers: EarthSpark - Expedition

Single releases

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7" single
  1. "The Touch"
  2. "Dare to Be Stupid"

Release date: August, 1986
Labels: Scotti Bros. Records (US/Canada), Epic Records (UK)
Prod. codes: 7464-06207-7 (US), ZS4-06207 (Canada), A-7318 (UK)

12" picture disc
  1. "The Touch"
  2. "Dare to Be Stupid"
  3. "The Transformers (Theme)"

Release date:
Labels: Scotti Bros. Records (Germany), Epic Records (UK)
Prod. codes: Int127.311 (Germany), WA-7318 (UK)

"The Touch" - Sam's Theme
  1. "The Touch" - Sam's Theme

Release date: 2009
Labels:
Prod. codes: Unknown (digital release via iTunes)

"The Touch" (Power Mix) Single
  1. "The Touch" (Power Mix)
  2. "The Touch" (Epic Guitar Remix)

Release date: September 15, 2012
Labels: self-released
Prod. codes: Unknown (digital release via iTunes)

Note that although the Transformers franchise is not mentioned by name, the cover artwork is an early promotional image for the Fall of Cybertron game.


Album releases

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Merchandise

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  • 2009 — Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — Bumblebee Plasma Cannon
A role-playing toy based on live-action movie Bumblebee's fist, transforming into a plasma cannon. When the Autobot insignia on the side of the cannon is pressed while the blaster is in its "Try Me" setting, the toy plays various sounds, including short clips from "The Touch".

Notes

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As [Prime] battles his way through the Decepticons, we HEAR an inspiring anthem of courage, strength and triumph, like "Eye of the Tiger". This theme will reprise during the film when the Autobots are battling at impossible odds.{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:The original movie script's request for the song that would be "The Touch".|The original movie script's request for the song that would be "The Touch".{{#if:|, {{{3}}}|}}|}}
  • "The Touch" was originally inspired by a line from Louis Gossett Jr. in [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Iron Eagle|{{#if:||Iron Eagle}}]], and written for the 1986 Sylvester Stallone movie [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Cobra (1986 film)|{{#if:Cobra|Cobra|Cobra (1986 film)}}]], but the record company decided to switch it to the Transformers movie instead.<ref>https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/transformers-song-history-the-touch-stan-bush-mark-wahlberg-boogie-nights.html</ref>
  • In 2007, Bush recorded a new, updated version of "The Touch" together with "Till All Are One" in a bid to get them onto the live-action movie's soundtrack. It didn't work, but Bush released them both as bonus tracks on his own album In This Life.
  • In 2008, Bush launched a campaign to have the song included on one of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band games.<ref>http://kotaku.com/5059337/stan-bush-wants-the-touch-in-guitar-hero-rock-band</ref> It wasn't long before he announced the campaign's success, with the 2007 version of "The Touch" hitting [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Guitar Hero: World Tour|{{#if:||Guitar Hero: World Tour}}]] as free downloadable content and Stan put the song into Rock Band himself through [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Rock Band Network|{{#if:||Rock Band Network}}]] in 2010.<ref>http://kotaku.com/5173693/stan-bush-thanks-kotaku-readers-for-their-support</ref>
  • As part of the media hype building up to the release of Revenge of the Fallen, Bush released another reworked version of the song, this time with a more contemporary Linkin Park-inspired sound, renamed "The Touch: Sam's Theme". This is notable because, while completely unsanctioned or unrequested by Hasbro or DreamWorks, it is totally hilarious.
  • In 2010, Bush released his 11th album, 'Dream the Dream', which featured the song "Sam's Theme (The Touch)", a rap-less version of "The Touch: Sam's Theme".
  • The showrunners of Transformers: Cyberverse had hoped to license the song for use in the episode "The Alliance", with Hot Rod even alluding to the song in his dialogue. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so, and the intended segment had to use a generic rock instrumental in its place.
  • According to storyboard artist India Swift, the last scene of the Transformers: EarthSpark episode "The Last Hope, Part 2" was timed to "The Touch" on the off chance they could license its use. Sadly, this similarly didn't come to pass.<ref>https://www.tumblr.com/oldswifty/725026399658885120/here-is-pt3-of-the-earthspark-finale-big-spoilers</ref>
  • "The Touch" has reappeared in numerous non-Transformers productions over the years, including the film [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Boogie Nights|{{#if:||Boogie Nights}}]] (with the film's star Mark Wahlberg singing), the television series Chuck, [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}The Goldbergs (TV series)|{{#if:The Goldbergs|The Goldbergs|The Goldbergs (TV series)}}]], [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}American Dad!|{{#if:||American Dad!}}]] and [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Regular Show|{{#if:||Regular Show}}]], the video games [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Shadow Warrior (2013 video game)|{{#if:Shadow Warrior|Shadow Warrior|Shadow Warrior (2013 video game)}}]], [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Saints Row IV|{{#if:||Saints Row IV}}]], and [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Mixtape (video game)|{{#if:Mixtape|Mixtape|Mixtape (video game)}}]] (the latter two of which feature direct The Transformers: The Movie references during its use), and even [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}WWE Raw|{{#if:WWE Monday Night Raw|WWE Monday Night Raw|WWE Raw}}]].

Foreign names

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Japanese: ザ・タッチ ("The Touch")

References

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<references/>

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