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Bender (Futurama)

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Template:Futurama character

Bender, also known as Bender Bending Rodriguez or Bending Unit 22, is a fictional character in the animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by actor John DiMaggio. In the series, Bender plays the role of a comic anti-hero, and is described by Leela as an "alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking gambler."

In the Show

Template:Spoiler Bender was built at the Mom's Friendly Robot Company plant in "America's heartland", Tijuana, Mexico, circa AD 2998. He is a Bending-Unit 22, serial number 2716057, chassis number 1729. As his name indicates, he was created for the task of bending metal girders. In fact, without his personality (which can be downloaded out of his actual body onto a disk), his responses and actions are limited to saying "I am Bender. Please insert girder." He curses, fights, argues, smokes cigars, and drinks. A kleptomaniac, Bender steals other characters' wallets, watches and other valuables at every opportunity. It is often stated that he has no emotions, referring instead to his dependence on his, "superior/mighty robo-logic", though this is quite clearly not true. On December 31, 2999, Bender was waiting in line to use one of New New York City's public suicide booths, having lost the will to live after learning that the girders he bent were used to make those very booths. There, he met Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from the 20th century who'd just been revived from cryogenic stasis earlier that day. Fry believed the booth was a phone booth, completely oblivious to the fact that no one was exiting the booth or the large advertisement on its side. After a somewhat rocky introduction, Bender gets impatient and pushes Fry into the booth along with himself, hoping to cheat the machine into killing them simultaneously. He even uses a quarter tied to a string to get out of paying the 25-cent charge. Fry's interference foils Bender's attempt to kill himself and, having nothing better to do, Bender decides to go drinking with Fry. After Leela is convinced by Fry to quit her own job, during which an electrical surge alters Bender's programming, thus allowing him to bend deconstructively, the three end up being hired at Planet Express, an intergalactic package delivery business. Despite what would seem like enough reason to live, Bender does in fact try to kill himself again in a fit of boredom. In an ironic turn of events, this attempt occurs at a Past-O-Rama exhibit, where he mistakes a regular phone booth for a suicide booth.

Despite his vices and macho posturing, Bender has several tender traits, such as his semi-secret aspirations to be a famous cook and/or folk singer. If magnets are placed close to his head, they interfere with his inhibition unit, which causes him to act out his desire to be a folk singer by performing folk staples. He sometimes improvises variations on the songs' lyrics, such as "I'll be blasting all the humans in the world" in "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" or "Froggy went a-courtin' and Bender is great, uh-huh!." Bender has a soft spot for turtles. As he described it, they both have hard outer shells but lead rich inner lives. Also like a turtle, Bender has great difficulty getting back on his feet after he has been knocked onto his back. After a short stint as a penguin, he became their ruler and encouraged them to attack humans, only to be attacked himself after removing the tuxedo he had used to imitate them. He has also shown affection toward orphans, adopting twelve at one point and re-donating them after learning they were costing him money. Bender desperately wants to be a part of the Harlem Globetrotters, but was turned down.

Bender has periodically stated a desire to kill all humans, and has made several remarks (asleep or otherwise) indicating a repressed bloodlust. It should be noted that in the episode "The Sting", in which Fry is thought to be dead, Bender reveals that every time he stated that he wished to kill all humans, he would then whisper "except one," the one being Fry. This may not be canon, as this scene is part of a realistic dream Leela had while she was in a coma. Bender's bloodlust is likely a reference to the many movies set in the future in which robots turn against their creators. At one point, on a planet controlled by human hating robots, he became a celebrity after claiming to have killed "a million-billion" humans. In "The Farnsworth Parabox", Bender claims to have once "pounded a guy into the ground like a stake with a shovel". In the episode "I, Roommate" (playing on Asimov's classic book of short stories I, Robot), Bender contradicts his misanthropic personality with a positive description of "human stuff" ("He laughs, he learns, he loves"), to which Fry responds, "Boring." At the time, Bender had been describing a human on the robot show "All My Circuits", so he may have simply been describing the character, not his species.

Hardware

There is very little consistency in Bender's hardware from episode to episode, and his internal workings vary as required for the story or for comic effect.

Bender's serial number is 2716057, which is expressible as the sum of two cube numbers ((952)³ + (-951)³). He shares this trait with another Bending Unit he meets called Flexo, whose serial number is 3370318 ((119)³ + (119)³). (This is one of several joke references to obscure mathematical facts; see Hardy-Ramanujan number.)

Bender's CPU is interestingly enough, a MOS Technology 6502 ("Fry and the Slurm Factory").

Bender's habit of hard drinking is a result of his design; like many robots on Futurama, he uses alcohol as fuel and produces greenhouse gases as a result. Bender seems capable of expelling a much larger amount of greenhouse gases than other robots, as he was capable of emitting a large blue flame visible within the combined emissions of every other robot on the planet. Ironically, Bender only suffers symptoms of intoxication when he stops drinking, becoming disoriented and developing a kind of stubble which is actually "five o'clock rust" around his mouth, as his systems break down. While alcohol is his primary fuel source, he is also capable of processing mineral oil and dark matter. He is also equipped with a nuclear pile, the effectiveness of which is unknown, although it did keep his robot brain operational for over 1000 years when he was buried in "Roswell That Ends Well." He is also water-resistant and can operate in a vacuum. When in the former situation, Bender can open his chest to reveal breathing masks, like in a plane that loses cabin pressure. He also notes that "in the event of an emergency, [his] ass can be used as a floatation device." (This is likely a reference to the same capacity noted by Data in Star Trek: Insurrection: "In the event of a water landing, I have been designed to act as a flotation device").

His "extend-o-matic" limbs are extendable, detachable, and capable of functioning independently of his body. The seam below his right armpit, however, seems to give him trouble, as he is seen welding it or asking someone to weld it at various times throughout the series. In most cases, his eyes are shown to be extending cylinders with rounded ends, but in at least two episodes ("Anthology of Interest I" and "A Flight To Remember"), his eyes fall out and are shown to be spheres (in "A Flight To Remember", they are more like cylinders). Additionally, in the episode "The Farnsworth Parabox", Bender replaces his normal, cylindrical eyes with a set that feature a 90-degree bend, like a periscope. These were then used to check the surroundings from his location in the steam vent, to make sure Leela was not around. This feat, however, is impossible because two periscopes, positioned next to each other, cannot rotate together without one of them obstructing the other.

Bender's chest cavity appears to some as using the fictional idea of hammerspace, as Bender frequently pulls and stores objects within it that are far bigger than the laws of physics would normally allow. This access seems to be situational, as his chest cavity has been filled a number of times. It is large enough to hold a person, which he demonstrates on two occasions, the first being in "The Honking." The interior of Bender's chest cavity is actually seen in Futurama: The Game, wherein there are a variety of cogs, wheels, gyros, and various other mechanical components, some of which are outdated even by today's standards. The interior is indeed shown to be larger than it should be. As with most spin-off material for television shows, the videogame might not be considered canon. In "Insane in the Mainframe", an X-ray like "Gamma Scan" reveals a variety of axles and cogs, as well as a small bat. The bat could apparently survive the deadly radiation. A different scan using "f-rays" shows something similar, but without the bat. In one episode, Bender ferments about 30 bottles worth of malt liquor in his chest cavity, carrying it as though he were pregnant. A frequently used item in his chest is his purple camera. On different occasions, he will say the word "Neat!" and take a picture with the camera. No explanation has been given on why he does this or where he puts the pictures. Bender had a bomb in his chest at one point said to be capable of destroying a planet, placed in him by Zapp Brannigan in "War is the H-Word". Though Professor couldn't remove it, claiming it was "stuck in there with glue or something," Bender apparently detonated it at the end of the episode (despite Zapp's claims, it was apparently a dud).

Bender congratulating himself for bending iron bars in "Space Pilot 3000".

Like his limbs, Bender's head is detachable, and can continue to function when not attached to his body. Like his chest cavity, Bender's head seems capable of various functions depending on the situation. It has been seen functioning as an audio tape recorder, answering machine, CD player, film projector, camera (still and video, both of which can be recorded or transmitted on demand), martini shaker, credit card terminal, and a spray can. The camera aspect of his head is a consistent feature, which he uses in a few episodes. He also has a third camera somewhere on his torso. It's implied to be located on his crotch. In the comics, he claims he can't always get it to work, referencing impotence. On top of his head is an antenna, which is multi-functional and can work as a radio transmitter, a remote control receiver, or a toilet flusher, to name a few. Bender is quite sensitive about it, seemingly equating it with a human penis. In "I, Roommate", Bender responds to Leela's suggestion of removing his antenna with "You're not a robot or a man, so you wouldn't understand." Despite this assertion, he can unscrew it, but this is probably not as bad as cutting it off.

Bender claims to have a total of eight senses, four of which are regular human senses. He also has something called "smission", but lacks the regular sense of taste, much to his own dismay. Aside from his own faculties, Bender has several external devices which he uses in the series. One such device is his "gaydar", which is shown as a black box with a radar array attached. The antenna on the array is pink. Another device are his X-ray glasses, though he admits to stealing these. Bender has a built-in, but unreliable, "Cheating Unit" for predicting the outcome of his own dice rolls. Bender makes mention of a Hilarity Unit (an opening subtitle for one episode of the show claims this unit may be powered by "Microsoft Joke"). One can assume he has other units devoted to displaying certain emotional states. Bender's computational abilities are self-admittedly poor, which he reveals in the episode "The Cyber House Rules". He also seems to have four different buttons for deleting information: one on his shoulder, one on his chest, his antenna, and one where his rear end would be. Bender also has a 'Patriotism Circuit' which compels him, when signaled, to fight and possibly give his life in times of crisis. Zapp Brannigan has a device that can trigger Bender's 'Patriotism Circuit', (as shown in "When Aliens Attack") and uses it to draft him into Earth's defense force. When triggered, Bender's antenna blinks and beeps, and Bender stands to attention and shouts a response phrase such as "It is every robot's duty to give his life for the good of humanity!"

According to information from various episodes, Bender is composed of 30% iron ("30% Iron Chef"), 40% zinc ("Fry and the Slurm Factory") , 40% titanium ("A Head in the Polls"), 40% dolomite ("Jurassic Bark") and an unknown quantity of osmium (in alloy with the iron) with a 0.04% nickel impurity ("A Pharaoh to Remember"). No explanation for the total of over 150.04% was offered in the series, though it is pointed out in the DVD commentary. David X. Cohen at one point suggests that the various substances may overlap as compounds. Bender's aforementioned calculation skills, or lack thereof, may also be a factor. In "Raging Bender", he is announced as weighing 525 lb (238 kg), but in "A Flight to Remember" his and his then current girlfriend Countess De La Roca's weight was two metric tons (4409 lb). Unless Countess De La Roca weighed 3884 lb (which she well may have done as she was a class three yacht) Bender can't weigh 525 lb.

Despite his incredible weight, in "300 Big Boys" Fry was easily able to lift him onto a cart, despite Fry's characteristic muscular weakness. Fry and Leela also roll Bender up after he is flattened in a fight and carry him away without any problem. Additionally, Dwight Conrad was able to carry both Bender and the safe he was sleeping in easily.

The series provides contradictory information about Bender's origin. In several episodes, he is portrayed having been assembled in a factory in his current form only a few years prior to the start of the series, as an ordinary machine would be. However, in "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" he is shown as going through growth and development like an animal and said to have "robo- or RNA", a DNA equivalent. In the DVD commentaries, David X. Cohen states that the viewer only sees a full-sized Bender emerge from the machine that built him, while what happened inside the machine was not revealed. He also claims to have been assembled in a plant in Mexico, hence his surname of "Rodriguez". The episodes "Raging Bender" and "Bendless Love" confirm this, as his origins are announced as "America's heartland - Tijuana, Mexico." Despite his Mexican origin and possible childhood, he displays a startlingly poor ability to pronounce Spanish words or imitate Mexican-accented English in "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV". His full name is revealed to be Bender Bending Rodriguez in "The Luck of the Fryrish". This is also confirmed in "The Cyber House Rules" when the "Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium" is renamed the "Bender B. Rodriguez Orphanarium" in light of Bender's generous donation of twelve orphans and a government check for $1200 ($100 per orphan donated).

Software

Bender initially couldn't act against his programming. In the first episode, Bender was deprogrammed after being electrocuted by a hanging light bulb. As mentioned above, when his personality is removed (by downloading) his vocabulary reverts to "I am Bender. Please insert girder." When he comes in contact with a magnet, it disrupts his inhibition unit and he sings various folk songs, including "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain." He is unaffected by magnetism in his shoulder/'neck' area, as he is sometimes shown sticking a magnetic bow tie on there.

When Bender is reactivated, he automatically takes on the traits of the first organism he encounters. In "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz", Bender reboots as a penguin after being mauled by a killer whale. His primary tasks in "Penguin Mode" are to acquire food and frolic. When he reboots back to "Human Mode" after being shot by Leela, his two primary tasks are to bend and "Cheese it!"

Appearances outside of Futurama

File:GABF12.jpg
Bender makes a cameo appearance in The Simpsons episode "Future-Drama".

Trivia

  • Bender is Flexo's evil twin, which was revealed in the first episode ("Lesser of Two Evils"). Flexo has a goatee, which is a reference to the goateed Mirror Universe Spock from the "Mirror, Mirror" episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. A similar storyline was used in a Halloween episode of The Simpsons ("Treehouse of Horror VII") and also a South Park halloween special ("Spookyfish").
  • Bender's apartment number is 00100100, which when translated into ASCII, is the $ symbol.
  • Although Bender is five years old at the end of the fourth season, if one takes into account the episode "Roswell That Ends Well", his head could be considered 1060 years old. In that episode, Bender's head was dropped from the Planet Express ship just outside Roswell Air Force Base in the year 1947, where it stayed buried in the sand until the crew dug his head up 1056 years later in the year 3002. This is widely seen as a reference to the "Time's Arrow" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Data's head is left in the past in a similar way. This can also be seen as a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which the manically-depressed robot Marvin is left on a planet for billions of years before finally being rediscovered by his friends, and professes to be several times older than the universe itself by the time he finally gets deactivated.
  • In "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV", Bender is shown to have a plug on his rear plate, which he uses to power a television. However in the episode "Obsoletely Fabulous" he does not have means to power a blender to make alcoholic beverages even though he should be able to plug the blender into himself to power it.
  • Although more aptly named after his primary function his name may also be inspired by the character "John Bender" for the 80's movie The Breakfast Club or for a slang term for a binge drinking spree.

Top 10 most used words

In the episode "War Is the H-Word", Bender's 10 most uttered words are shown on a list. Though Bender rarely uses six of the 10 words on-screen, it should be noted that in the aforementioned episode each word was spoken at least once. The words are:

  • 10. Chump
  • 9. Chumpette
  • 8. Yours
  • 7. Up
  • 6. Pimpmobile
  • 5. Bite
  • 4. My
  • 3. Shiny
  • 2. Daffodil
  • 1. Ass

Also revealed in that episode, some of the least likely words Bender will say are:

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