It’s one of those classic, iconic sounds in geek culture, along with the Star Wars “lightsaber turning on” noise and the phaser beams from Star Trek. We’re talking about the transformation noise that the Autobots and Decepticons make in the Transformers franchise, both in the classic animated series and in all the movies. If you were a kid creating giant battles on Cybertron with your toys back in the day, you simply had no choice but to make those noises while turning Optimus Prime from a truck into a robot. But did the cast of Bumblebee feel similarly compelled to make the attempt?

Danielle Radford interviewed the cast of Bumblebee, including Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Angela Bassett, and director Travis Knight, and then asked them if they had tried their luck at replicating the famous noise, now that they were all officially a part of the Transformers universe. It seems everyone hears the same sounds, but when they try to replicate them with their inferior human vocal cords, it sounds more like an old dial-up modem from 1999 than Megatron transforming. But hey, everyone gets points for trying (and actually, Jorge Lendeborg Jr? You came pretty darn close).

Only Hailee Steinfeld really opted out of attempting the noise, but we’re not judging. We agree with her, actually; maybe that’s something you want to practice when you’re alone in the shower, and not in front of any cameras. Luckily for us, no one gave that advice to the rest of the cast.

Images: Paramount Pictures