Under the hooks and lasers, Bebop is a son trying to save his mom.

Built, not bought

Bebop was made by Shelly Fisher, a widowed junkyard attendant everyone calls Miss Shelly. She built him through craftsmanship, willpower and sacrifice, to help with her work and to be the son she could never have. She named him after the style of jazz.

By day he worked with her in the iron yard, and by night they listened to jazz together. He was raised to be polite, speaks French, bakes biscuits, and apparently smells like cinnamon.

Miss Shelly also did something most golem makers wouldn't: she put no ethical binding on him. He has free will. McGinnis found that hard to believe.

The bear pit

When Miss Shelly fell ill, Bebop started fighting in the bear pit, an underground venue where people bet on prize fights, to pay for her medicine. She doesn't know. He believes she wouldn't approve, and he doesn't seem too troubled by that. He calls humans organics and doesn't put much value on their lives, but he refuses to become an assassin because Miss Shelly would have disapproved. Wraith has tried to hire him, and Bebop's answer is that he'll take the job if it's honest.

Lash

His great rival in the pit is Lash. Bebop beat him once; Lash has won since. They hate each other and neither has ever explained why. The patrons keep putting them on the same team anyway.

Lash has agreed to help him save Miss Shelly, though he can't get her name right.

The wish

Bebop's wish is simple: cure Miss Shelly. Her condition is getting worse, and he joined the ritual so the patrons can save her. They don't let him forget it.

  • Mo and Krill bet on him in the pit, and aren't thrilled that he plans to retire once she's cured.
  • Dave tried to help Miss Shelly as well.
  • Seven thinks Bebop's love for her makes him weak, and has threatened to go through her to get to him. Bebop's answer is that she gives him something to fight for.
  • Solomon is a friend of hers and has promised not to tell her Bebop is in the ritual. Even when he has to fight Bebop, he's gentle about it.
  • Baba is friends with Miss Shelly and hates having to break a masterpiece like him.

The short version

Built from scratch, raised on jazz, earning medicine money one punch at a time, and fighting gods for the only person who ever treated him like family.