Summary
Futuramaseason 12 has brought back a recurring joke that dates back to the animated sitcom’s very first episode, and it does it in a very sneaky and humorous way. A member of theFuturamacastfrom the pilot,John DiMaggio has voiced Bender throughout the show’s various runsthrough the years. In that time, the foul-mouthed robot has acquired many catchphrases, but the canon surrounding his design has also slowly built up. InFuturamaseason 12, episode 4, “Beauty and the Bug,” one of those compelling pieces of Bender lore resurfaces.
Bender is easily one of thebest non-human characters onFuturama. His endless wise-cracking can sometimes fall on deaf ears, but he does often come out with some of the funniest lines in an episode.One particular outburst from “Beauty and the Bug” isn’t just funny on the surface, but it’s also a bit of a deep cut from the show’s distant past. It passes by very quickly, but it’s actually a reference to the sitcom’s storied archives.
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Futurama Season 12’s “You Scared Me Brickless” Comment References Bender’s Literal Fear Response
Bender once more claims to sh*t a literal brick in Futurama season 12
When he’s caught off-guard by Amy Wong in “Beauty and the Bug,“Bender declares, “Amy! You scared me brickless!“The outburst may seem like a confusing spin on the metaphor of being scared sh*tless, but there’s a specific reason for Bender’s choice of words. As far back asFuturama’s 1999 pilot episode, Bender has been shown to pass literal bricks when he’s afraid. It doesn’t happen all too often, but the visual gag is easy to work out when it does take place.
ThisFuturamaseason 12 moment is a strangely artful coming together of the idioms, “Shtting bricks” and, “Being scared shtless.”
ThisFuturamaseason 12 moment is a strangely artful coming together of the idioms, “Shtting bricks” and, “Being scared shtless.” Of course, both relate to being afraid, but to Bender, his declaration in “Beauty and the Bug” probably doesn’t sound like an amalgamation at all.It’s not confirmed in the episode whether Bender actually poops out a brickin this specific instance. However, no sound is heard, so it could be assumed that he’s being dramatic.
Futurama Largely Forgot About Bender’s “Brick” Joke After The Pilot
Bender hasn’t often revisited his strange reaction to being afraid
Bender’s extreme fear response only ever rears its head incredibly occasionally inFuturama. While it’s an established piece of lore, and Bender has been terrified far more times than he’s produced bricks from his shiny metal ass, it’s perhaps a gag that would lose its potency if revisited too often.“Beauty and the Bug” is the joke’s first resurgence in a while, so it may not return until long intoFuturama’s future on Hulu.
Futurama
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Futurama is an animated science fiction series that follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from late-20th-century New York City. He is accidentally cryogenically frozen for a thousand years and becomes an employee at Planet Express, a delivery service in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
