Bender Bending Rodríguez

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Primary character
Bender Bending Rodríguez
Bender.jpg
Age12 plus unknown thousands of years due to continuous time travel; head is 1055 years older than body, see age section for details
Date of birth2998
SpeciesRobot (Bending Unit)
Planet of originEarth (Hecho en Mexico)
ProfessionAssistant Manager of Sales at Planet Express
RelativesSee family section.
First appearance"Space Pilot 3000" (1ACV01)
Episode
Voiced byJohn DiMaggio

Bender Bending Rodríguez (Model: Bending Unit 22) is a bending unit, who works at Planet Express as Assistant Manager of Sales, formerly chef of the company. He is one of the primary characters and is known for his "in-your-face interface".

Contents

[edit] Biography

Bender when he was only a month old

[edit] Early years

Bender Bending Rodríguez was built in Tijuana, Mexico in 2998 by Mom's Friendly Robot Company. There is some speculation about what happened in the following two years, except few things are certain, he briefly studied Bending at Bending State University, though he also graduated from the facility he was built in.

He soon got a job bending girders, but after realizing that the purpose of the girders he bent were for suicide booths, he figured that his purpose was meaningless and thus decided to kill himself in one of the suicide booths he had helped construct.

[edit] You really want a robot for a friend?

Further information: Season 1

While waiting in line to kill himself on December 31st, 2999, Fry, who was clearly not familiar with suicide booths, stood in front of him, thinking it was a phone booth. Bender helped him along. But they managed to get out of the suicide booth alive. Bender soon learns that Fry is from the 20th Century and had been frozen for a thousand years.

But since Fry refused to get assigned to his job, Leela was on his tail. Bender helped them escape through the Head Museum and soon down to Old New York below New New York. Here Leela finally caught up with them. Bender decided to stay with them and they headed over to Fry's nephew, Professor Farnsworth. Farnsworth soon accepted their offer, and luckily for them, he had the proper career chips.

[edit] Farnworth's asset

As an employee at Planet Express he continued his kleptomania, drinking and smoking. He convinced Fry to move in with him and soon Hermes Conrad forced him to actually do something around the company. He got assigned as chef of the company, one of his dreams was apparently to cook, but having no sense of taste made vile meals for the staff.

Bender got into trouble when he began abusing electricity (jacking on), and his friends were not in favor of it. Saddened by their discontent, he sought new opportunities in religion. He joined Robotology, but this just made him a lot more annoying to his friends. So they decided to make him sin to become his regular self again, and during a visit to Robot Hell and the Robot Devil, Fry and Leela managed to save him.

Bender himself never found true love, and one of the few close fembots he knew got sucked into a black hole after Zapp Brannigan had crashed the Titanic into it. But his personality continued to be a problem for his friends, and Leela became very upset with him when he flushed Nibbler down the toilet. The Professor "carefully" implanted an empathy chip in Bender, which forced him to feel Leela's every emotion for a short while.

Bender Bending Rodríguez

[edit] The lesser of two evils

Further information: Season 2

During a visit to Past-O-Rama they bumped into Flexo, another Bending Unit, possibly also of the same model number (22). Flexo and Bender became good friends, but Fry feared that Flexo is evil, and in a mix up at the Miss Universe contest Flexo was arrested for Bender's attempt to steal the tiara.

Bender briefly joined the Robot Mafia and fought in the Ultimate Robot Fighting League until his popularity slipped and he was rigged out of the league. Together with his fellow robots he rebelled against humanity.

[edit] Well - I'm rich

Bender's Uncle Vladimir died and Bender was to inherit his castle. He asked the crew to stay there for one night and they agreed to it. Bender was not at all comfortable in his new castle and the start up sound of Windows 98 was not helping either.

While being chased by several hologram ghosts, he fled out in the yard where he was run over by a were-car. The collision caused a virus to be beamed into him and he became a were-car. Bender did not realize this until later, but the Gypsy told them the only way to get rid of the virus would be destroy the original were-car. So through a long journey they found the original were-car and destroyed it, and thus Bender was free of the virus.

Whether he kept the castle or not is unknown.

[edit] When I'm found in a thousand years, they will know what the score was

Further information: Season 3

Bender continued his life with many adventures together with Fry and Leela. He temporarily worked for Calculon as his water heater. He met up with Flexo again, but this time he was not happy to see him, because Bender figured that his second true love was still in love with Flexo. Bender screwed it up and the divorcees got back together.

He was briefly sent to an institute for insane robots, got to tour around with Beck and fulfil his dream of becoming a folk-singer, became Pharaoh of an entire planet and beat Elzar on the television show Iron Cook.

During a battle with Space Pirates Bender got shot out through the torpedo slot and was forced to drift through space. He for some time became the God of the Shrimpkins which was a life form that had grown on his stomach. But after they all died out, Bender met up with the Galactic Entity who he believes is God. And the Entity sent Bender back to Earth.

[edit] [I] should not be allowed on TV!

Further information: Season 4

Bender was still wanting his fame, he found interest in becoming the new Antonio on All My Circuits. He got the job. But Calculon was hardly impressed by Bender's performance, however the Network executives disagreed. So Bender got to continue on the show, but in his true nature.

But when Bender realized that his behaviour on TV causes Dwight and Cubert to steal his stuff, he called off the show.

Bender joined Fry and Leela briefly as they gained super powers in the New Justice Team, he has had an affair with the Planet Express Ship, he got modeled into a fembot and had a relationship shortly with Calculon and helped Robot Santa as a replacement.

[edit] Dumb dumb away!

Further information: Bender's Big Score

But the company got into trouble when the Box Network canceled its license, and for two years they were not able to deliver packages. Luckily though, their license was renewed and they went back in business.

Bender became the centre of attention as the new masters of the company lead by Nudar infected him with an iObey virus and they forced him to go back in time and steal all of Earth's valuables. But when Fry managed to escape back into the past, they send him after Fry to kill him, and after 12 years tireless hunting, he managed to do so.

But he soon learnt that the Fry he killed was doomed anyway because he was a time paradox duplicate. But after being stranded on Neptune for a while, humanity and he decided to fight back, and after with the help of Hermes the war was won, he revealed that he himself had kept the Spheroboom that the scammers had told him to keep safe, thus saving the day.

However, while on a trip back in time to make sense out of everything that had happened that year, a mishap led to him accidentally tearing the universe open.

[edit] Death to humans...

Further information: The Beast with a Billion Backs

After becoming an official stalker for Calculon by Calculon, Bender fell into a deep depression after Calculon informed him that there was no such thing as the League of Robots, a society of robots which came to the aid of robots abused by humans, and which Bender had worshipped for his entire life. He contemplated commiting suicide until he was approached by the League led by Calculon himself; he lied about its non-existence to ensure its secrecy.

Bender became the newest member of the League and began to personally enforce the no-humans policy of the organization, becoming very famous within it. However, Bender was caught helping his human friends and his bluffs were called by Calculon, whom Bender challenged to a duel. Bender broke the rules of the duel, severely injuring Calculon and nearly exposing the League, but instead of being kicked out of the League, Calculon resigned his position as President and gave it to Bender.

Bender organized the Army of the Damned (trading his firstborn son to the Robot Devil for it) to take over the world, only to discover that its entire population was already leaving to live on the body of a giant tentacled monster named Yivo. Bender soon received a letter from Fry describing how wonderful life was there, but Bender ended up interfering by attacking Yivo and attempting to bring humanity back. Soon, for personal reasons, Yivo unwittingly complied with Bender and had everybody return to Earth.

[edit] I know not of this Bender

Further information: Bender's Game

Bender finds himself attempting to catch up with a game of Dungeons and Dragons, played by Cubert Farnsworth and his friends. He soon hits the obstacle of realising he has no imagination. But the more he tries, he eventually believes he is Titanius Anglesmith, Fancy Man of Cornwood.

Unfortunately, his imagination grows wild, and he is sent to HAL Institute to be cured. The therapy is unsuccessful and they decide to put him down. But while he is about to be put down, the dark matter crystals becomes close enough, allowing Bender's imagination to become real.

In his fantasy, he is the owner of a castle. When he hears of Black Knights approaching, he sets out with his friends, Leegola and Frydo. Discovering the Die of Power, he sets off to Greyfarn, where they learn of the story behind the Die. Titanius is slightly against the quest, but decides to tag along. On several occasions, he refers to going back, such as when they have just passed through the Cave of Hopelessness.

On the other side, the Fellowship decides to seek Wipe Castle for help. Unfortunately, the king is a loon, and the entire royal army is gone. As Momon's forces arrive, they have a large, unwinnable, battle, at hand. But as things seems darkest, Leegola and her centaur army saves Wipe Castle. Knowing of Frydo's quest, the Fellowship decides to go help him. But they are too late, and Momon wins the battle, causing the imagination finally to stop.

[edit] I'm...so...GREAT!!

Further information: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Bender takes a trip to Mars Vegas with the rest of the crew. There, he falls in love with Fanny, a burlesque dancer, who is the Don Bot's wife. He enters the Universal Poker Championship Tournament for her and wins against Fry with five kings.

After returning to Earth, Bender feels upset that the Feministas are committing more felonies than him. He gets hired by Zapp Brannigan to help him capture the Feministas. By getting Bender to wire tap Fry's "cellphone-telephone" Zapp finds out where the Feministas are hiding and chases them aboard the Nimbus, along with Bender and Kif. After an exciting space chase, Bender captures the Feministas and goes against them in court. They are found guilty and sent to Maxi-Padlock Prison.

Bender then breaks into the women's prison and helps the Feministas escape, because by doing so, he would have committed way more felonies than the women. He bends a brick wall and calls Farnsworth, who pilots the Planet Express Ship down to rescue them from the prison's forces. They crash a demolition ceremony, and in the end, Bender is sent through a wormhole with the rest of the Planet Express Crew.

[edit] Character description

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[edit] Composition

Bender routinely claims to be made of thirty to forty percent of various metals, typically following his claims up by knocking on his own chassis. Unfortunately, his credibility on this matter is thrown into question by the fact that they add up to well over one hundred percent:

Total: (greater than) 230%.

Additionally, he has a 0.04% nickel impurity, which doesn't increase total percentage, but slightly decreases the percentages of everything else. This is apparently not a standard impurity, and is cited as making him unique.

There's also a mention that robots are made from recycled beer cans (and beer cans are made from recycled robots), so depending on the year 3000 composition of beer cans, he may have a certain percentage of aluminum in his alloy.

As a side note, "Dolemite" is also the name of a movie from 1974. The main character, Dolemite, is a pimp who leads an army of Kung Fu hookers. IMDB - Dolemite Bender has been been a pimp many times throughout the series.

[edit] Family

Bender's Mommy

[edit] Age

Bender was originally constructed in 2998, making him 1-2 years old when Fry met him in 2999. The events in "Roswell that Ends Well" make his head 1055 years older than the rest of his body. The incident in "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" does largely not count as an ageing or the opposite, and fans largely regard his age to remain intact. In Bender's Big Score, Bender travels back in time several times, though the amount of times is unknown, the amount of Benders that appear at the end, may suggest at least a couple of thousand times. Given how many of these travels seems to be between 1000 to 5000 years in the past (from about 3007), an educated guess would make him at least a million years old, but probably more. An alternative theory could suggest when the time duplicates explode at the end of the first film, Bender is the same age he was at the end of the original run plus 995 years, as the Bender that went back 995 years in time to kill Fry is presumed to be the orginal and therefore wouldn't expire like the rest of them.

In the comic, "Rust in Peace", it is revealed that Bender, due to too much time travelling, must be inserted into a renewed unit. Farnsworth determines his age to be 27 203 before moving him to his new body. But 27 203 seems a lot less than what would be a quick educated guess. 27 203 would require Bender to have gone at least about a thousand years back each time and only gone 27 times, or instead gone more years back and done fewer than 27 times. But regardless of the ordeal, the amount of Benders appearing at the end of Bender's Big Score seems to contradict this fact. The event in the comic is thus not necessarily considered canon.

[edit] Additional Info

Giant Bender as seen in a "What If?" scenario, about to get attacked by giant Zoidberg.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Voice

Of all the voices on the show, Bender's voice was the most difficult to cast. This is because none of the creators and crew were sure what a robot should sound like yet. So they had every voice actor who auditioned also audition for the role of Bender. Even David X. Cohen was suggested for the role.

John DiMaggio originally auditioned with Bender's voice for Professor Farnsworth. Among the bases for the voice were the character of Taggart from Blazing Saddles and DiMaggio's original character "Charlie the Sausage Lover". In the audio commentary of Spanish Fry, David X. Cohen joked about it also being "90 parts John DiMaggio."

[edit] Catchphrases

Bender's basic catchphrase is "Bite my shiny metal ass".

Variations on this include the following:

Other common catchphrases are:

Bender also has a tendency to call humans "meatbag" when he is displeased or annoyed with them. Additionally, Bender regularly says "Kill all humans", although, in Leela's dream he claims to whisper "except one", referring to Fry, every time too.

As stated in "War Is the H-Word", the top ten words that Bender uses more than any others is as follows:

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

It is by no means impossible that the second word in the list is not "metal" considering all the variations of his catchphrase. In reference to his use of the word "daffodil", he said the sentence "Hot-diggidy-daffodil" in this episode and again in The Beast with a Billion Backs. "Chumpette" is only uttered once though. "Pimpmobile" was also spoken by Bender in the game. However, in all likelihood, Bender's real most spoken words would most likely be along the lines of any other speaker of the English language: the, and, I, a, so; etc.

[edit] Assets and Titles

Bender has, over the years gained many assets and ranks in various organizations and a large amount of wealth. Some of these include:

[edit] Alternate Appearances

Bender as a were-car
Human Bender, with floozies

[edit] Bender's Functions, Attachments, and Accessories

As we can see during the episodes, Bender has a lot of different functions. Here is a list of them:

Bender as Lighthouse

[edit] Quotes

[edit] Appearances

While Bender appears in every episode, film or comic. The following categories may be of interest;

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