"Well I don't feel as bad as you look! [Laughs] Nah, I'm just messing with you, kid. You're alright. That's some face you got, though. I think they got a cream for that. [Laughs again] Nah, you're great. "

A Bending Unit similar to Bender but not as evil, Flexo is a robot designed to bend objects such as girders (serial #3370318), better known as Flexo, is a minor character on Futurama. He is very similar to Bender and is voiced by the same actor. His and Bender's serial numbers gave both robots much amusement, as both their serial codes are expressible as the sum of two cubes. Flexo has a habit of speaking contrary to how he actually feels, before correcting himself: this is seen most often when he slanders or insults an individual only to address, "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya; you're all right." When Bender shoves Flexo, the latter says "Thanks, I appreciate that," laughing but then adding, "Nah, I'm joshing you. That was quite annoying".

Flexo looks and sounds exactly like Bender with the exception of having a small triangular metal goatee on his chin. Fry accidentally runs him over with a 20th century gasoline-fueled car, a 1992 Latoura, as well as gives him "ass-whiplash". He becomes good friends with Bender, inspiring jealousy and suspicion from Fry, especially as Flexo often plays cruel jokes on him such as shooting a jet of poisonous chlorine in Fry's face for no reason. Fry originally believes that Flexo is an evil twin of Bender and suspects that he will try to steal the crown from the Miss Universe pageant. However, it turns out that Bender is the one attempting to steal the crown and Flexo is actually trying to stop him, therefore making Bender the evil twin. The confusion surrounding whether Flexo is good or evil is also not helped by his rather sinister laughter. When the police arrive at the scene, they mistake Flexo for Bender and at the behest of Bob Barker's Head, arrest him instead, sending him to a South American-Turkish prison.

More proof that Bender is Flexo's evil twin: Bender says that "there must be robots worse than I!", only to have the Robot Devil say that he "checked around, there really aren't". Therefore, if Bender is the evil robot, Flexo is less evil than Bender.

In a deleted scene, Bender is shown scratching out his serial code so the robot mafia will not find him, however the code scratched out is Flexo's, not Bender's. This scene was cut as it was thought to be too confusing and would infuriate fans: the implication seems to be that it was Bender and not Flexo, who was arrested previously, meaning the Planet Express crew, if not police, had identified the wrong robot.

Bender briefly dates Flexo's ex-wife Angleyne. Once Bender discovers that Angleyne used to be married to Flexo, Bender impersonates Flexo and for the second time, Flexo is punished for Bender's behavior when the Robot Mafia drops a large, unbendable metal beam onto Flexo, crushing him. This could have killed him had he been trapped under it for an entire year, but Bender rescues him. Flexo then gets back together with Angleyne and the two have sexual intercourse "right there on the factory floor", apparently with Bender still in the room.

Bender later discovers Flexo in a dumpster behind CitiHall during a community recycling event. Bender asked why he's in a hazardous waste dump and Flexo stated that bending units like him are heavily outdated, because they overheat, are radioactive, as well as other reasons unknown because Bender quickly shut the door.

Allusions[edit | edit source]

Flexo's goatee is a reference to the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", in which Spock's more aggressive alternate in the parallel Mirror Universe wore facial hair while the original did not. That the goatee-wearing Flexo is a "good" version (relatively speaking) of Bender is an inversion of the natures of our universe and the Mirror Universe on Star Trek.

Flexo may be considered Bender's brother since in the scene when Bender is built his head is in the mix of heads Flexo's was selected from, therefore they are built by the same robot.

Appearances[edit | edit source]

Episodes[edit | edit source]

Films[edit | edit source]
