This Is What Bender's Apartment Number Really Means In Futurama
"Futurama" is a brilliant animated classic that managed to successfully satirize and pay homage to the entire science fiction genre during its run from 1999 to 2013. Created by Matt Groening ("The Simpsons"), "Futurama" placed pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry into the year 3000 and followed him and the Planet Express crew on their comedic misadventures throughout a futuristic Earth and surrounding universe. The series often produced laughs, especially as characters found themselves in situations that could cause something as catastrophic as destroying the Earth.
"Futurama" is also a series that especially loves obscure Easter Eggs and clever details. The show's opening sequence alone is a haven for hidden gags and even homages to classic animation. The love for hidden details isn't limited to just the main show, either. The "Futurama" PS2 video game, released in 2003, had a hidden Easter Egg that went undiscovered until 2019. After 16 years, gamers finally unearthed it, being treated to a very on-the-nose joke that feels in line with the series (via Shaztopia, on YouTube). So with the series' love for hidden details, it's no surprise that even Bender's apartment number explicitly fits the character.
Bender's apartment number points to his greed
In the series' third episode, "I, Roommate," Fry is forced to finally find a new home after using the Planet Express headquarters, much to his co-workers' chagrin. Bender invites Fry to stay at his place at Robot Arms Apts. Fans may have noticed that Bender's apartment number is shown as 00100100. While it might come off as a random assortment of numbers, it translates into a significant symbol through the ASCII encoding language. Via Binary Hex Converter, the sequence is ASCII binary for the dollar sign symbol.
Fans familiar with Bender may find this a fitting apartment number, given the character's greed. We are talking about a character that once sold his body for money and enjoyed a bit of the rich life as a result (via SyFy). Holiday cheer won't deter his greedy ways either, as in "Xmas Story," in which he went to a robot soup kitchen and disguised himself as a down-on-his-luck robot for free booze. And throughout much of the series, we hardly encounter an episode where Bender isn't trying or thinking of stealing from someone. It looks like the show's writers were trying to warn us of Bender's behavior from the very beginning.