Bender Bending Rodriguez

Bender Bending Rodriguez (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".

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.

You really want a robot for a friend?
While waiting in line on December 31st, 2999, Fry stood in front of him, who was clearly not familiar with suicide booths. 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.

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.



The less of two evils
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.

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.

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

But 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.

[I] should not be allowed on TV!
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.

Dumb dumb away!
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.

Death to humans...
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.

I know not of this Bender
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 imaginary 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 tackle 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.

Family

 * Professor Farnsworth, creator of the sports utility robot on which Bender and all/most other modern robots are based.
 * Flexo, another Bending unit of the same model.
 * Mom, owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Co.
 * His mother, a robotic arm who sends him Xmas cards.
 * His father, who was killed by a giant can opener (2ACV01).
 * Uncle Vladimir, who lived in Thermostadt, capital of the Robo-Hungarian Empire, and died at the ripe old age of 211.
 * Tandy, Uncle Vladimir's son and hence Bender's cousin.
 * Screwy Aunt Rita, who is a screw. (Note that Bender stated that he had an Aunt Rita during Leela's coma fantasy in the episode The Sting, so this may not be true.)
 * Albert, Bethany, Sally, Nina & 8 other orphans, briefly adopted from the Cookieville Minimum-Security Orphanarium
 * Three penguin "children" (3ACV05)
 * Junior, a child born to The Crushinator (US#009)
 * Bender's First Born Son, Bender exchanges him for an Army of the Damned.
 * Bender's grandmother, who is a bulldozer.

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.

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.

But a more important obstacle than mathematics to the comic, is the last Direct-to-DVD film, Into the Wild Green Yonder, on the commentary of Bender's Big Score, the crew discusses the nature of the rapidly ageing Bender to become of a plot significance. Which would make the comic a direct contradiction of the film, and by definition, the episodes and films always prevails in canon.



Trivia

 * Bender's apartment number is 00100100. This is a binary representation of the ASCII character '$' or 36 in decimal.
 * Bender's serial number is 2716057. This can be expressed as the sum of 2 cubes. Specifically, 9523 + (-951)3
 * Additionally, he seems to be the 1729th unit produced by his "mommy".
 * The word "bender" can refer to a drinking spree, hinting at Bender's heavy alcohol use.
 * Bender is powered by a 6502 Microprocessor.
 * Bender dies at the end of both of his what-if scenarios in each Anthology of Interest.
 * His self-destruct code is 1A2B3.
 * Bender cannot be around magnets, or it will screw up his inhibition unit, thus causing him to sing folk songs.
 * Apparently stole the Prime Minister of Norway's arm.
 * Is able to simultaneously reattach each of his severed arms with the other.
 * He cannot get up when he is knocked on his back. At least not until he learns how to from the majestic turtle.
 * His antenna interferes with satelite televisions, along with some cellphones.
 * He, along with Fry and Leela, appears in all episodes of the series.
 * No one can say he doesn't own John Laraquette's Spine
 * Bender has Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, fear of the number 666.
 * May be one of the most evil robots in the series, as acknowledged by Robot Santa and the Robot Devil.
 * Bender's favorite cause of death is being crushed to death by a big rig driven by The Incerdible Hulk

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."

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

Sound:BenderBitesAss.mp3

Variations on this include the following:
 * Bite my red-hot glowing ass! (1ACV12)
 * Lick my frozen metal ass! (2ACV04)
 * Bite my colossal metal ass! (2ACV16)
 * The modern world can bite my splintery wooden ass! (4ACV14)
 * Bite my glorious golden ass! (4ACV15)
 * Bite my shiny metal face!! (Bender's Game)

Another common catchphrase of his is whenever he says "me", he usually follows it by "Bender", thus producing the sentence "me, Bender." Thus making him the most said character name on the show. A third common catchphrase Bender says is "Well, we're boned.", said in situations where he, or a group of people including him, are in a large amount of trouble. "Boned" in American English is a euphemism for intercourse, and thus "We're boned!" could be interpreted as a less vulgar way of saying another common phrase. A fourth catchphrase is "I'm back, baby!" whenever he makes an intriguing appearance on the scene; Bender had also said the phrase "We're back, baby!" on numerous occasions, particularly in reference to the series' revival. One phrase that Bender uses less commonly is "Cheese it!" whenever he encourages other characters to run away from trouble. Another slightly less common catchphrase is used whenever Bender describes amusement, he describes it as "fun on the bun!" Bender also tends to occasionally pull out a purple camera during certain moments, snap a picture, and say "Neat!"

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

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

Composition
Bender routinely claims to be made of thirty to forty percent of various metals. 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) 150%.
 * 40% Zinc (1ACV13)
 * 40% Titanium (2ACV02)
 * 30% Iron (3ACV22)
 * 40% Dolemite (4ACV07)
 * An unknown quantity of osmium (3ACV17)

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.

Alternate Appearances

 * Giant Bender: In Anthology of Interest I, Bender asks what it would be like if he were 500 feet tall. During the episode, he claims to weigh 7 million tons.
 * Cowboy Bender: The only apparent differences being that the Bender of the alternate universe (the only alternate universe at the time) is that he wears a cowboy hat and a vest.
 * iObey Bender: Bender under the iObey obedience virus. He is forced to do anything the naked scammers tell him, and his pupils become red pixel swirls.
 * Were-Car Bender: In The Honking, Bender is transformed each night at midnight into a malicious were-car, determined to kill his closest friend.
 * Human Bender: In Anthology of Interest II, Bender asks what it would be like if he were human.
 * Flying Saucer Bender: After crashing to the New Mexico desert, the US military mistakenly reassembles Bender's body to resemble a small (functional) flying saucer.
 * Young Bender: Bender takes several reverted forms in Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles, including a software disc and a set of "Bending unit blueprints". Modifications include braces and dish-antenna-like ears.
 * Fembot Bender: Bender undergoes a sex-change operation in order to win five olympic gold medals. Faked his(her) own death with a fictional disease called "African Hydraulic Fever" because he(she) did not want to marry Calculon.
 * Wooden Bender: Bender downgrades to a wooden, steam-powered version in Obsoletely Fabulous.
 * Golden Bender: In Universe 1, Bender's coin flip resulted in his choosing the gold finish instead of the foghat grey that we're used to.
 * Go-Kart Bender: After being murdered by Leela in Anthology of Interest I, she reassembles his parts into a sporty go-kart.
 * Santa Bender: In A Tale of Two Santas Bender becomes a good Santa. This appearance basically has Bender's body painted red.
 * Bender the Offender/Gender Bender In Raging Bender, Bender joins the Ultimate Robot Fighting League, and became 'Bender the Offender', but after he became less popular, Abner Doubledeal, the Commissioner of the URFL, changed his persona to 'The Gender Bender'
 * Pirate Bender: He dressed as a pirate in honor of Fry in his attempt to retrieve him from Yivo's body in.
 * Titanius Anglesmith: While playing Dungeons & Dragons in Bender's Game, Bender convinces himself that he is a knight and goes insane.

Bender's Functions, Attachments, and Accessories
As we can see during the episodes, Bender has a lot of differents functions. Here is a list of them:


 * Trash Can : Bender's own cavity can be used as a trash can. First seen Space Pilot 3000 as he throws a bottle of beer inside him.
 * Extenso-matic Eyes : His eyes can zoom out of his normal layer, so he can get a better view on things; they tend to fall out when he zooms too far. First seen also in Space Pilot 3000.
 * Subway Car : His legs can extend onto rail tracks and his feet work like wheels, allowing Fry, Leela, and a random bum transportation in Old New York. Seen only in The Luck of the Fryrish.
 * Extenso-matic arms : Bender's arms and legs are capable of extending to many times their normal length. First seen in The Series Has Landed.
 * GayDar: Bender pulls out a small radar device to prove to  Amy and Leela that a man they are interested in is gay.  It surprisingly works, seen in Love's Labours Lost in Space.
 * Camera : Each of Bender's eyes can be used as a camera, either to take pictures or to film things. Both are first seen in When Aliens Attack. He also has one more camera, located "below the equator" which does not always "perform".  The camera is never seen, but it can be heard extending.
 * Cowcatcher Bender: In A Taste of Freedom, Bender has a 19th century style cowcatcher installed to his front to clear a path through the crowd outside the Decapodian Embassy.
 * Barbecue : Bender's cavity is used the same way as a barbecue. He used it to cook some burgers. First seen in When Aliens Attack.
 * Oven : His cavity can be used as an oven, to cook things. The real function name is "E-z Bake", and is used to cook a cake for Nibbler, in the episode I Second that Emotion.
 * Refrigerator : His cavity can also be used to refrigerate, as seen also in I Second that Emotion
 * Projector : A light can come out of his cavity. He used it for the first time in When Aliens Attack
 * AC Power generator: Bender plugs a television power cord into him in Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV.
 * Pop-Corn maker : Bender can make some pop-corn in his cavity. First seen in Fear of a Bot Planet.
 * Beer maker : Bender can also serve some beers within is cavity. First seen in Hell Is Other Robots­.
 * Toilet : Bender's cavity is used as a toilet in the episode The Cyber House Rules. He pushes his antenna to flush.
 * Recorder : Bender can record things with is head. First seen in A Head in the Polls, to record Richard Nixon's head's words.
 * Oxygen Supplier : In the episode The Deep South, Bender is used as an Oxygen Supplier, that comes via some masks.
 * Exhaust Port: Bender's exhaust port is present in his ass, as seen in Crimes of the Hot.
 * Floatation Device : In The Deep South, Bender refer his ass as a Floatation Device.
 * Pepper Grinder : In The 30% Iron Chef, Bender inserts peppercorns in his mouth and shakes ground pepper out of his ass.
 * Beer Tub : Bender fermentates some beer in his chest, in the episode The Route of All Evil.
 * Pager: Antenna glows and vibrates to notify the New Justice Team of a call from the mayor in Less than Hero.
 * Oil Sprayer : Bender sprays oil on a comsetic saleswoman in A Fishful of Dollars.
 * Mail Box: Bender's antenna indicates when he is receiving mail. First seen in Crimes of the Hot.
 * Circular Saw : Bender can use his hands as a circular saw and lower a matching eyeshade to protect his eyes. First seen in Less than Hero.
 * Laser Show : In Jurassic Bark, Bender projects an expensive-looking laser show with his head.
 * Flamethrower : Bender boils some water using flames coming out of his mouth in Anthology of Interest I.
 * Stadium air horn : In The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, the Robot Devil installs a stadium air horn under Bender's nose.
 * Voice Modifier : In Bender Gets Made, Bender changed his voice via a control panel. Two voices are available : Robot, and King.
 * Bug Zapper: In Spanish Fry, Bender shows that he is apparently capable of charging his surface with electricity and using his head to electrocute bugs.
 * Lighthouse: In Obsoletely Fabulous, Bender's revolving head and luminous eyes acted as a fully functional lighthouse.
 * Cheating Unit: In A Flight to Remember, Bender speaks of his "cheating unit" which predicts (inaccurately) the coming roll of the dice at craps.
 * Water Boiler: Boils and produces hot water for Calculon in That's Lobstertainment!.
 * Safe: In Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Bender is stores money in his cavity, combination lock dial can be seen on his door.
 * Pen: Finger can turn into a pen. Used to write down an address in Xmas Time Is Fear and to write down a joke in Who's Dying To Be A Gazillionaire?, and to write a "A Plea For Attention" in The 30% Iron Chef.
 * Cigar Lighter: His finger also flips up to reveal a cigar lighter. He uses this throughout the series to light his cigars.
 * Paper Shredder: Paper is inserted into his mouth, shredded and comes out of his chest. Used to shred the menu in Hell Is Other Robots.
 * Food Processor: Bender purées fish and regurgitates it to his surrogate penguin children in The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz.
 * Answering Machine: In Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch, Amy apparently uses him as an answering machine. He isn't a very good one, though, as he doesn't alert people to new messages, and then deletes them anyway.
 * CD Player: Bender can open his mouth panel to insert and play music CDs, as revealed in Obsoletely Fabulous.
 * Projector: A deleted scene from the opening of The Beast with a Billion Backs shows Bender projecting the Futurama logo, and the blue beams displayed behind it, from the top of his head, possibly from his antenna.

Appearances
While Bender appears in every episode, film or comic. The following categories may be of interest;
 * A plots focusing on Bender
 * B plots focusing on Bender