Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.

Remind you of anyone?

I was reading this post by Adam Finley claiming that a 1948 Startling Comics cover was the inspiration for Bender in the wonderful Futurama cartoon, and it brought to mind a children's toy my wife keeps in her jewelry box... she picked this up in a packet of Fritos somewhere around 1968 give or take a year. About the same time that Matt Groening would be in his formative years, given that he's about the same age as us. I think it's much more likely that the youthful Groening had a penchant for potato chips than a collection of 1940's comics!

The robot's carrying a spanner, fer gossake! How much more Bender-like can you get? Don't you think it's a stronger resemblance than the more he-man-ly robot from Startling #49..?

I can easily imagine that the image stuck in Groening's mind without him explicitly remembering that he'd seen it elsewhere.

It's a cool toy. Fifty bucks and it's yours, Matt, or I'll trade you for a signed Bender drawing ;-)

G