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Futurama Bender Costume

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16 votes
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Futurama Bender Costume

Hey MEATBAGS!!!

More views: (click to enlarge)
Photo #1 - Hey MEATBAGS!!! Photo #2 - Head and neck Photo #3 - Head dome build Photo #4 - Bender Skeleton Photo #5 - Skinned the body Photo #6 - Dome Skinned Photo #7 - Skinning Finished, Mouth Cut, Visor Complete, Eyes Fit Photo #8 - Resin Complete Photo #9 - finished bodywork Photo #10 - completed body with Arms
Costume type:  Costumes for Men
Categories:Halloween Costumes, Cartoon Costumes

This homemade costume for men entered our 2014 Halloween Costume Contest.

A word from Aaron, the 'Bender Bending Rodriguez from Futurama' costume creator:

Bender Bending Rodriguez started life as a sheet of 1/2 foam board, lots of poster board, wood dowels, tape, and a whole lot of hot glue. Oh and did i mention a lot of hours that my wife will never let me forget about.

So first we need to build the "skeleton" (no welding required). Bender has 2 tapers in his body, one from the neck to the shoulder and from the shoulder to the waist. This requires us to cut 3 different side foam circles: neck 20", shoulders 28" and waist 24" exterior measurements, the interior circle should be cut out 1.5" smaller.

Now using 4 1/4" dowels 24" in length connect the waist to the shoulders. dig out small hols where your dowels will go to create pockets for them. Fill the pockets with hot glue and press the dowels in place. For the neck to shoulders we need to make our pockets to put our 8" dowels into on the side of the neck ring and into the inside side wall of the shoulders. (see images for reference). To make the head just cut 1 20" ring and one disk, use 12" dowels to connect the two. make another 20" disk cut in half and use to create part of the dome (unless you can find a 20" dome...i couldn't). the antenna is the small portion of an automotive funnel with a ping pong ball on top. Inside the ping pong ball is a red blinking led. I ran the wires straight down into the head.

Wrap the body and head in poster board (shiny side in), tape together with painters tape. Once all seams are taped cut out the mouth area (this is where you will look out. Take the body to a well ventilated area to paint on the fiberglass resin (this gives the body the strength).

I used fiber glass mat and resin on the inside of the body to make it even stronger, then used bondo to smooth out any big imperfections. After lots and lots of sanding, painted Bender Krylon steel gray.

The feet are made of a couple candy bowls from a party supply store attached to a pair of old shoes.

Arms, claws and legs are made from grey sweat shirt and pants with iron on black pin striping.

The eyes and antenna light up with the aide of a 12v R/C battery wired up to a switch in the cabinet. The cabinet is made of black hobby foam board and held together with lots of hot glue.

The door is held shut with a magnet latch and the head is held on with magnets embedded in the neck and bottom ring of the head.

I am sure i am forgetting things but pictures are worth 1000 words, so check them out.

Thanks For reading VOTE SMART, VOTE BENDER!!!

Rating: 4.4 of 5. Votes: 16

16 votes

Comments

#1 comment by Ollie October 28, 2014

Fantastic effort and use of materials !
Just an addition idea is use flexi 4" ducting for the shoulder and elbow joints like the tin man in wizard of oz lol
Love the costume dude

#2 comment by Mike Dunbar October 30, 2016

I need to give you tremendous thanks. I came across your instructions and they were exactly the catalyst I needed to make my own costume.

I built mine with interlocking foam mats as the skin, which was my plan from the start but the structural design you used for the skeleton was the crucial part.

The catch is: WE'RE TOTALLY DIFFERENT SIZES! I'm only 5'7 and very lean so when I made a cardboard mockup of the skeleton, my arms and legs didnt fit the proportion and my arms were SO short I couldnt use them. I tinkered with several scales

I reduced the scale of all the dimensions to 75% and it worked perfect for me! Couldn't even describe how perfect! I would guess you're probably above 6 feet, and if I was to pinpoint it you're like 6'2.

I used fleece arms and legs also just like you, but with my foam skin I was able to get a pattern for 12" domes for the feet and a 15" dome for the head(which was my 75% scale)

For the eyes I used 6" clear plastic Christmas balls from a craft shop that I moulded flat to fit inside the "goggles" in the correct proportions. I painted the insides to have "eyebrows" so he'd look angry and lit them from the back. I had a power supply in the head that powered lights in the eyes and antenna(which had a 2" christmas ball from a craft shop on top).

The cabinet is the same foam as the skin, and everything on the torso was coated in 5 coats of regular white glue, to form a plasticky skin that paint wouldn't chip off of. The head I plasti-dipped with plastidip I got on clearance but I didn't have enough for the torso or I would have done that too. Everything was then painted matte grey chalk paint from Rustoleum and it very closely matched the pastel animated color of Bender.

I used aluminum screen for the mouth and installed a rare earth magnet from the back so that the mouth could hold a cigar(which also had a magnet) that I also made from foam. Even while dancing at a nightlcub the cigar stayed on the head and the head stayed on the torso with velcro.

I used more magnets to hold a can of Slurm and a can of Mom's Robot Oil inside on shelves and they held while dancing.

Because I enter competitions at nightclubs and I like to party, I had to be able to dance. So I installed a 1.5" suare brushless electric fan in the back of the torso where the taper is. I used it as an air intake so it blew on my back and it worked fairly well to keep me cool. I know it worked because I bumped the switch and it shut off. I wish I'd used a larger fan, but it runs for about 5 hours on a single 9-volt. The switch for the fan is inside the torso and I moved it since I bumped it and its fine.

This was a really long comment because I'd like to make my own post on this web-site but I feel like I'm ripping you off without permission. Without your dimensions and your instructions I would never have finished as I was new to working with the type of foam I used.

Your instructions are amazing, and I'd also like to show you what I came up with.
I'll add the instagram link for the torso with props below but I'd like your blessing to add my own post here. I'll give you credit and link to your post.

#3 comment by Aaron October 31, 2016

I would love to see your version Mike. I was thinking of doing another build with PVA foam too.

#4 comment by Mike Dunbar November 2, 2016

Aaron: Here is a link to mine:
https://www.costume-works.com/dancing-bender-mascot-suit.html

I'm really not sure how to use this site I guess, I was only able to submit it as part of the costume contest. I Need to go and edit it to explain more of my steps.

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