So I am sick tonight and trying to photograph new t-shirts.  I think I need a break.  I haven't done one of these in a while and need to get back on it.  They are fun to do and help with the search engines, if you know what I mean.

So Bender.  His full name is Bender Bending Rodríguez, AKA Bending Unit 22.  His name was chosen as a tribute to John Bender, the bad boy from the Breakfast Club and the character I most identified with.  Yes, I know.  As an uber nerd I should be more closely associated with Brian Johnson, the brainy nerd, but to be honest I was never a wimpy nerd like him, and was on the wrestling team in high school.  John seemed more real to me than the rest of them, and I always liked him.

The thing I have found about the Breakfast Club is that I can watch it about once every four of five years but more than that and I start getting itchy.  I don't want to get into my own miserable high school experience (again) but if most of the class of '87 were sucked into a sinkhole while I was in the parking lot talking to Ginger (the girl in retrospect I should be married to today) I would not shed a tear.

Anyway, Bender.  Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening has been quoted as saying a good cartoon character needs to be distinguishable by his or her silhouette alone, and I think he has always succeeded.  There isn't much chance of confusing Fry with Leela, or anyone else.  By the way, I know this is weird, but I always found Leela kind of hot, in a one eyed sort of way.

It might interest you to know that I was well aware of cartoonist Matt Groening well before the advent of the Simpsons or Futurama.  You see, he used to draw this amazing cartoon strip called Life in Hell.  If you have ever thought that the Simpsons seemed a little dark and hopeless you don't how deep the rabbit hole goes.  Check a few of them out, but make sure you have been taking your medication.

I suppose it is inevitable that I do this whenever I work on a cartoon character I like, but here are instructions on how to make a Bender costume.  The instructions seemed pretty primitive, but I must say when I saw the photograph of the results I was duly impressed. 

I know, I keep pulling out all the most mundane t-shirt description stuff, but I haven't done a shirt description in a while.  Here is a fairly cool Bender soundboard.  Have fun.

Dave
January 29th, 2012