Benson

Benson is a main character on Regular Show. He is a gumball machine, as well as The Park's manager. As manager, he is the boss of every park worker. He has a big temper and has a tendency of yelling at Mordecai and Rigby when they slack off. Benson made his debut in J.G. Quintel's animated short ""2 in the AM PM"," where one of the cashiers (being Sam Marin) formed into a prototype version of Benson after being drugged from candy. He then made his first cameo appearance in the "2 in the AM PM". Benson is voiced by Sam Marin. Originally in the short film Naive Man from Lolliland, Pops calls his chauffeur Benson, however in the film Benson appears to be a human not a gumball machine.

Appearance
Benson is a gumball machine (standing at 5'6"/5'9") with pinkish purple/red gumballs enclosed by a glass dome and sunken eyes. The gumballs may act as facial hair for Benson, as noted by story boarder Benton Connor. It is also worth noting that the dispenser slot sits in a rather phallic position. The turn switch on his chest is shaped like a heart symbol, hinting that's probably where his heart is. When his latch is open, it is considered to him being naked, as well as his private area.

Personality
Benson is easily the most short-tempered character of all. Whenever he is greatly upset (usually in the form of Mordecai and Rigby slacking off), Benson loses his temper, turning varying shades of red. Aside from this, Benson is usually calm, and in fact, enjoys being social, even with his two most disliked people. Whenever Benson is in a good mood (which happens more often after the episode "Benson Be Gone"), Benson rewards his employees with time off, usually in the form of nightly entertainment or dining out.

Skills/Habits

 * Short Temper - Benson is characterized by his extreme mood swings. Some notable examples are "Think Positive" when Benson almost killed himself and others because he got so angry, that he went into a freak fireball, and when he finally cracked, he yelled at Mordecai and Rigby so hard that they temporarily became tone-deaf. Also, in "Busted Cart", he got so mad at Mordecai and Rigby for put stopping at an arcade while he was asleep that he actually cried. He is shown to be somewhat psychotic, as he has a tendency to flip out in anger, a running gag in the series. An example is in "Jinx" when Rigby threw trash at him, Benson flipped out by throwing a trash can into the sky and kicking it angrily. Benson has also gotten physical with Mordecai and Rigby in "The Best Burger in the World", when he kicked them onto the ground.


 * Determined - Benson is very single-minded, which only poses as a detriment for himself, as seen in "Peeps", "Fortune Cookie", and several other episodes.


 * Drummer - In "This Is My Jam", it is shown that Benson has a mysterious past where he was formerly a very skilled drummer.


 * Stick Hockey Expert - Benson also has a mysterious past where he was a very skilled stick hockey player, as seen in "Stick Hockey".


 * Archery - In "But I Have a Receipt", Benson uses a bow and arrow to defeat monsters.(Though this may only be due to the effect in the Realm of Darthon)


 * Motorcyclist - In "Busted Cart", Mordecai and Rigby ditch Benson at the arcade, and drive off toward the cart dealership, so Benson asks a guy with a motorcycle how much he wants for the bike. He then takes it, and drives full speed trying to catch up to Mordecai and Rigby


 * Bus Driver - In "Just Set Up the Chairs", Benson has to drive a bus full of kids to the park for a birthday party.


 * Cat Person - Benson seems to be a cat person, due to all the cat portraits inside his apartment, however, this could be incorrect, as in "Out of Commission", Rigby tells Mordecai about a dog they took to Cheezer's, and it ran away. The dog belonged to Benson.


 * Lonely - Benson can possibly be looking for a date. In "Grilled Cheese Deluxe", there is a hidden cameo in which Benson is looking at a page on the Internet with other Gumball machines, but this is only shown for two seconds.
 * Slacker - He has only been seen slacking off in the episode, Benson Be Gone, when he slacks off instead of following Susan's commands.

Mordecai and Rigby
Benson strongly disapproves of Mordecai and Rigby, always screaming at them to stop slacking off. The pair have a talent for setting off Benson's short fuse. In the episode "Cool Bikes", however, he admits that Mordecai and Rigby were cool. Even though they rarely get along, it is shown in "Busted Cart" that Benson does not hate Mordecai and Rigby, he just wishes they would get along and listen to him so Benson doesn't lose his job. It should be noted when they're on their own, Benson seems to treat Mordecai with more respect and trust than Rigby. Anytime when Benson gets angry at them it is either as a duo, or it's just at Rigby. Benson's animosity towards the Duo tends to stem from Rigby's behavior.

Pops
Pops and Benson, the park managers, seem to be very good friends. Still, Pops sometimes reprimands Benson for his yelling and short temper with Mordecai and Rigby, and, rarely, Benson scolds Pops for his childish attitude. Pops once even threatened to fire Benson for his anger issues before realizing it was the wrong thing to do.

Skips
Skips and Benson are very good friends. Due to Skips' knowledge of the unknown, Benson will sometimes go to Skips for help. Since Skips doesn't slack off like Mordecai and Rigby, Benson has a lot of respect for him, never really yelling at him like he does Mordecai and Rigby. Benson considers Skips to be very reliable.

Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost
Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost don't communicate with Benson much, but they usually have his trust and respect. Even though Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost slack off from their work most of the time, Benson doesn't seem to mind, even when he reprimands Mordecai and Rigby for doing the same. But in season 3 he began to get annoyed by them

Family
Benson's Family are the people who encouraged Benson to yell to get what he wants - which is why he yells at Mordecai and Rigby, and has a short temper. In "Think Positive", his family was always arguing, as young Benson just sat and watched. When he wanted salt, his father encouraged him to yell if he wanted it.

Mr. Maellard
Mr. Maellard strongly disproves and disgraces Benson. Just like how Benson threatens to fire Mordecai and Rigby, Mr. Maellard does the same to Benson. Though, in "Busted Cart", it is shown that Mr. Maellard began earning trust from Benson, until Mordecai and Rigby crash the golf cart.

Audrey
In "Weekend at Benson's", a woman named Audrey appears to have an interest in Benson, as well as Benson having an interest for her. When her ex-boyfriend Chuck wanted to see how manly Benson is, he challenges him to a hot food eating contest. When Benson woke up after his injury, he wanted to impress Audrey, so he continued the challenge. At the end of the episode, he finally got her number.

Benson-Themed Content

 * Benson's Apartment (Some episodes)


 * Benson's Drums ("This Is My Jam")


 * Benson's Family ("Think Positive")


 * Benson's House Rules ("House Rules")


 * Benson's Office ("Appreciation Day")


 * Benson's Outfit


 * Benson's station wagon (Some episodes)


 * "Benson Be Gone" (Episode that focuses around Benson and Susan)

Quotes
See Benson/Quotes.

Trivia

 * The name Benson is of English origin. The meaning of Benson is "son of ben."
 * Benson is spoofed in one episode of the TV show, MAD.


 * In ""Rage Against the TV"," it's revealed that he lives in an apartment and not at the park with the others.
 * Benson's apartment number is 1635.


 * Even though Benson has anger issues, he has been shown to also have a sense of humor.


 * Benson is first seen as a boring, regular manager, but then would be extremely loud and bad-tempered if ever angry.


 * In both "Dizzy" and "Benson Be Gone", Mr. Maellard says Benson's name as "Beanbag," "Bean Teen," "Beanton," "Beenson," and "Bean Bucket."


 * He is a skilled drummer, as seen in the episode "This Is My Jam". He says his ways of drumming are a "funny story," but was interrupted by Rigby before he could say anymore.


 * In ""Brain Eraser"," Benson's towel fell off, revealing an open hatch (which is his possible "junkmail"); this may be his equivalent of being naked.
 * On a side note, previously in Latin America, when Benson's towel falls off, the scene is cut.


 * Benson might be a cat person; in ""Rage Against the TV"," a picture with cats on it can be seen in his apartment. Also in "Prank Callers", the same picture of cats appears behind Benson when he is sitting in his chair.


 * In "Grilled Cheese Deluxe", Benson can be seen looking at other gumball machines on the computer, a hidden innuendo that suggests that Benson was possibly looking for a date.


 * The name Benson was taken from J.G Quintel's student film "The Naive Man from Lolliland" because the Lolliland Man's driver is named Benson (who looks nothing like Benson from Regular Show), later used for the gumball machine manager in the series.


 * Benson made his first appearance with Mordecai in "2 in the AM PM". They were both human clerks working at a Gas Station.
 * As well as Mordecai constantly slacking off, Benson may also hate Mordecai so much due to Mordecai continuously pranking him throughout the same episode, although these were prototypes of Mordecai and Benson and were not the real characters.


 * He fired Mordecai and Rigby in "Really Real Wrestling", but after Pops explained everything, he rehired them; this is the first time that Benson actually keeps to his threats, despite it being taken back after Pops explains the truth.


 * After the events of "Benson Be Gone", he loosened up slightly - while he still gets angry if Mordecai and Rigby mess up, he is more willing to accept their apologies, and has even taken them on nights out.
 * He seems much nicer in "Over the Top", due to the fact that Mordecai and Rigby don't play as the main protagonists and are not causing any chaos.


 * In "Karaoke Video", it was revealed that Benson turns red visibly at night.


 * Benson's anger is usually directed at Mordecai and Rigby but there have been times where he has gotten angry only at Rigby; in fact, there hasn't been a time where he was only angry with Mordecai. He has gotten angry at Muscle Man at one occasion and has to of yet been angered by Skips or Hi Five Ghost (though his anger may have been directed to both Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost when Benson got angry with Muscle Man).


 * In a deleted scene from "Mordecai and the Rigbys", it was revealed that Benson once had a girlfriend named Veronica, but she left him for a business man. Due to him being a hippie, it was also implied that he was in a band; however, this has to as of yet become canon (official). The fact that he plays the drums very well (This is My Jam) supports the band idea.


 * There have currently been four occurrences when Benson's gumballs came out of his hatch: twice in Season One and twice in Season Three; the first instance was in "Caffeinated Concert Tickets" when he dropped his gumballs after almost crashing into a speeding lawn mower, the second instance is in "The Unicorns Have Got to Go" when the unicorn punks took two gumballs from Benson while he was tied up to a door, the third and fourth was in "In the House", where he vomited up his gumballs and when he was flushed down the toilet.


 * It is revealed in "Stick Hockey" that Benson once had hair and that he is good at stick hockey and he also has spent most of his life playing it.


 * Benson's family taught him that yelling is a key to life.


 * Benson's face becomes red onscreen in "Prank Callers", "Appreciation Day", "Karaoke Video", "Think Positive", "The Best Burger in the World", "Busted Cart", and "Muscle Mentor". But in "My Mom", "Replaced", and "Busted Cart" (for only 1 time) his face fades from red back to normal.


 * Benson was the most angered in "Think Positive", the second time he was angered the most was in "Jinx" when Rigby threw garbage at him so he can say Rigby's name three times. He was also extremely angry in "Busted Cart" when Mordecai and Rigby stopped to play video games while he was sleeping.


 * Benson's stick hockey nickname is "Death Dragon."


 * In "Weekend at Benson's", it's shown that he has a crush on his neighbor Audrey. At the end, he gets her number, which may lead to her being his girlfriend. Audrey is seen again in ""Fortune Cookie"" where the janitor accidentally sucks Benson's robe off while the two are in the hall, leaving him nude in front of Audrey. Audrey didn't have a speaking line in "Fortune Cookie," though. It is unknown if Benson and Audrey still have a relationship due to the "incident" in Fortune Cookie.


 * In "Think Positive", when he was a child, he used to be the quiet one in his family, until his father told him that yelling is the key to get anything he wants in life.


 * He knew how to break the tie in "First Day", which is possibly due to him breaking a tie when he was young, or he could have had employees before Mordecai and Rigby who had to break a tie. Maybe Benson was in the same predicament as Mordecai and Rigby and was told how to stop it before.


 * Benson has fired employees eight times in the series so far: in Don, he fired Muscle Man and High Five Ghost (but they must have been rehired as they reappeared later in the episode), in "Benson Be Gone", he fired Susan, in "Really Real Wrestling", he almost fired Mordecai and Rigby but Pops came clean for what he did without them knowing at first, in "Under the Hood", he fired Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost, in "Weekend at Benson's", he threatened to fire Mordecai and Rigby again unless they drank the chilli drinks with him, and in "Replaced", he fired Mordecai and Rigby for the third time when Chad and Jeremy came along, in "Muscle Mentor", he fired Rigby until he completed Muscle Man's mentorship program, and in "Terror Tales of the Park II", he fires Rigby after all eight workers are killed in the car crash, although this was a case where you can't fire somebody who died before.
 * Benson is one of five Park Employees to get fired and then rehired. The Other four being Muscle Man, Mordecai, Rigby, and High Five Ghost.


 * Benson usually turns red when he is angry, however, there is one exception at the end of "Karaoke Video" where Benson turns rather a shade of fuchsia pink, But in the episode "Party Pete" his face was red, not fuchsia pink while he's in the car


 * Benson knew about "the coffee girl" in "Yes Dude Yes", even though he hasn't seen Margaret face-to-face, meaning he has overheard Mordecai talk about her.


 * In "Out of Commission", it was revealed that Benson had a dog. He let Mordecai and Rigby watch it, but it ran away when they were at Cheezer's.
 * In "Busted Cart" we see him cry very hard making him lose his voice.
 * Benson can be crabby around kids revealed in "Fuzzy Dice".
 * Benson shares a few similarities to Ren from The Ren & Stimpy Show. Both are psychotic, both tend to insult their friends by calling them "Idiots," and both are leaders.

Gallery


The gallery for Benson can be viewed here.