Benjamin "Ben" Kropotkin (born 1962) is Didi's younger brother, the son of Minka and Boris, the brother-in-law of Stu, and maternal uncle of Tommy and Dil.
Characteristics[]
Ben and Elaine are newlyweds, who's wedding the gang attended. They each make their first appearance in "Let Them Eat Cake." While Tommy and Chuckie are confused by all the commotion, Angelica explains the bride and "gloom" (meaning groom) are getting married. While neither completely understands, Tommy shows some level of comprehension by pointing out his Uncle Ben as a "gloom". Ben is mostly seen as very nervous about getting married. While he loves Elaine, he's still nervous about the changes that will happen. Ben, like many other adults, is happy to see Angelica. He doesn't seem to know about her bad behavior and is overjoyed to have her as his flower girl for the wedding. Also, oddly enough, she behaves very well for him as his flower girl. He's shocked to find out that Elaine has suddenly disappeared and goes in a frantic search all over to find her. Tommy and Chuckie, on the other hand, both sneak away to find Ben and Elaine's wedding cake. While they go through a huge search for it, they stumble upon Elaine.
Although neither baby knows who she is, they see that she looks sad. Elaine confesses to them that she loves Ben, but she finds marriage so final and wishes that Ben wasn't so sure of everything all the time, and wonders if he has any fears or doubts. Ben soon finds her, and after hearing she was scared, quickly admits to his own fears, but decides his love for Elaine is all that matters to him. She happily says she loves him back, and they kiss, much to Chuckie and Tommy's confusion. Ben happily notices them and asks, "Did you guys find my bride for me?" (they were actually looking for the wedding cake they saw earlier, so finding Elaine was coincidental). Ben and Elaine are seen happily dancing as husband and wife.
Oddly enough, though, while it is known that Ben is Didi's younger brother, it's been said twice that they are half-siblings (although it's never mentioned again if they are, and, in addition, it's always been seen that Didi refers to both Minka and Boris as her parents. Another odd thing: Ben is not seen participating in family events such as "Chanukah" or "Passover". For some reason, he calls Stu "Mr. Pickles" instead of "Stu," although Stu is his brother-in-law.
He and Elaine are later seen in "Baby Maybe," when they try to see if they're ready for children by babysitting Tommy and the other babies. However, because Angelica tricked the babies into misbehaving to make herself look good, Ben and Elaine are ultimately a bit skeptical about having children- unless they're like Angelica.
The two of them have also been briefly seen attending Stu and Didi's wedding anniversary party in "The Family Tree".
Trivia[]
- Ben and Elaine aren't seen or mentioned in All Grown Up!.
- Ben is likely named after Benjamin "Ben" Braddock, the protagonist of The Graduate. Elaine is likely named after his love interest, Elaine Robinson.