Franklin "Frankie" Watterson is a minor character in the animated show The Amazing World of Gumball. He is an antagonist in the episodes "The Signature" and "The Outside", but redeems himself in "The Father". He is the father of Richard, and the ex-husband of Granny Jojo.
He was voiced by Rich Fulcher.
Appearence[]
Frankie is a beige-gray rat that wears a Hawaiian shirt, a leather coat, and an olive green hat.
Personality[]
Frankie is a con man, a figurative rat, and a scam artist. It is revealed that in "The Outside", he was a criminal who stole pieces of the moon from elderly people. He is very sneaky and steals anything.
Roles in the show[]
Frankie first appeared in "The Signature", where he is kicked out of his apartment due to his overdue rent. He reads a newspaper and sees an ad for the home of the Wattersons. Frankie arrives at the house of the Wattersons, and Richard is reunited with him, which Granny Jojo didn’t look too happy about. Frankie scams the whole family into buying their house, but the Wattersons must stop Frankie before he takes over. The family rushes to the city hall to stop Frankie. Then Frankie realized he had hurt his son in the past, and decides to sign the signature, reuniting with the Wattersons.
In "The Outside", the Wattersons visit Frankie in his dump. Nicole doesn’t trust Frankie because he is going to scam and rob them of their house again like last time. The Wattersons plan a jailhouse operation to torture Frankie. Frankie, thinking that the family is mistreating them, escapes and kidnaps Gumball, with the Doughnut Sheriff in pursuit of them. The Wattersons pursue Frankie and try to catch him. Then Richard offers his dad to join the Wattersons, but Frankie denies his offer, and is arrested by Doughnut Sheriff and was presumably sent to jail.
He returned in #The Father#, where Richard tries to bond with his criminal father, Frankie, but ends up stealing everything everywhere they go, until Richard gets fed up with it. Frankie apologizes and the two forgive each other.
Trivia[]
- Long before his appearance, many fans thought that Richard's father was dead because Nicole's mention that Gumball's grandfather lived until he was 102 years old (yet Nicole didn't specify whether she was referring to Gumball's paternal or maternal grandfather). With the revelation that Frankie left Richard when he was young, fans went to assume that Nicole referred to her father (though this statement was ultimately retconned after Mr. Senicourt was revealed to still be alive alongside his wife).
- However, it may be possible that Granny Jojo lied to Richard and told him that Frankie died at 102 years old to not tell him the truth back during his childhood, and thus Nicole possibly believed that Frankie was dead before his first appearance.