| Francis "Frankie" Watterson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Character Information
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Francis "Frankie" Watterson is a recurring character in The Amazing World of Gumball. He is the biological father of Richard and the paternal grandfather of Gumball, Darwin, and Anais. He is also the ex-husband of Richard's mother, Joanna. He was first mentioned in "The Watch" as the ancestor who Richard said gave him the family's heirloom watch.
In "The Man," before he makes his first physical appearance in "The Signature," it is revealed that he left his ex-wife and son thirty-three years ago (forty-two years ago in "The Man"). Richard first appears to be under the impression that he went out to buy milk, but later admits to his mother that he knows the truth.
In "The Outside," it is revealed that Frankie left his ex-wife and son to avoid getting arrested and thrown in jail for selling parcels of the moon to senior citizens. In "The Father," Frankie confesses that he did not take Richard into his custody to prevent him from following in his footsteps.
Appearance[]
Frankie greatly resembles Richard, except that he is an olive-green rat. He is overweight and has large round ears. He also has a black right eye, wrinkles underneath both his eyes, and a long, pink, rat tail. He wears a red Hawaiian shirt, a wrinkled black tie, a pair of baggy light purple trousers, a beige trench coat, and an olive-brown hat.
As of "The Outside," he has a stubble, his whiskers are white instead of black, and he has wrinkles.
In "The Father," he is seen at a young age with slicked-back hair on his head, a pink and purple vertical striped shirt with a white collar and cuffs, a red and pink striped tie, and brown trousers. He also does not yet have his black eye.
Personality[]
Frankie is a sleazy con man and a figurative rat. He scams his own son Richard and Richard’s immediate family into giving him the possession of their house. He has no remorse for his actions until he recalls the day he left Richard and regrets hurting his family. Even so, his selfishness does not deter Richard from asking him to reunite with his family. Frankie also shares some traits with Richard, such as being lazy, sneaky, and incompetent at parenting, but is much worse. Like most of the Wattersons, Frankie deals with stress by being snarky and cynical ("The Outside"), though he is generally slick, talkative, friendly, and outgoing.
In the episodes following "The Signature," Frankie seems to soften up; he becomes more relaxed and genial and tries to be a part of his son's life as well as the rest of the Watterson family but is not very good at it. Being a life-long career criminal whose idea of fun is seeing how many laws he can break in one day, Frankie fails to grasp social norms, revealing that there is very little he and his son can actually connect over. He is also very pessimistic about his three decades of no contact with Richard—arguably one of the few things Frankie feels genuine guilt and remorse for—convinced that he is an irredeemably terrible father and that the bond between him and Richard is severed for good. However, Richard convinces him otherwise at the end of "The Father," showing that in spite of everything else he did, he genuinely does still care about his son.
Episode appearances[]
Season 2[]
- "The Watch" (mentioned)
Season 3[]
- "The Man" (mentioned)
Season 4[]
- "The Signature": His physical debut and first major role. He tries to con the Wattersons into giving him possession of their house, but cannot bring himself to do so, choosing instead to become a part of their family.
Season 5[]
- "The Outside": His second major role. He stays with the Wattersons for a few days while they turn their house into a prison-like facility.
Season 6[]
- "The Father": His third major role. Richard misses him, and Frankie feels guilty about his absence in Richard's life. As a result, the two try to bond through father-and-son activities.
- "The Anybody": He is seen in the movie theater.
- "The Possession": He makes a cameo in one of Richard's flashbacks.
- "The Future": He is depicted in one of Banana Barbara's paintings.
Gallery[]
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia[]
- According to Richard in "Ancestor Act," Frankie's mom is a cockatoo.