| “ |
What the WHAT? |
” | —Gumball's most famous catchphrase. | ||
Gumball Tristopher Watterson is the titular main protagonist of The Amazing World of Gumball animated series by Cartoon Network.
He is a student that attends Elmore High School along with his adoptive younger brother, Darwin, and his younger sister, Anais. He has a major crush on Penny. She has a crush on him too, but both have trouble expressing their feelings to each other. In "The Shell," they finally express their feelings for each other. At times, he causes trouble, but then later learns from his mistakes. His archenemy is Rob as of "The Nobody."
He is voiced by Nicky Jones in the pilot, Logan Grove in season 1-"The Kids," Jacob Hopkins in season 3-"The Copycats," and Nicolas Cantu in season 5-6 in The Amazing World of Gumball. He is voiced by Duke Cutler in The Gumball Chronicles. In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Junko Takeuchi, who also voiced Naruto Uzumaki in the same name franchise, and Gon Freecss in the Hunter × Hunter 1999 series.
Appearance[]
Early concept[]
Originally, Gumball was meant to be a blue dog. Not much thought was put into this choice as it was more of a placeholder than a final design. As the creators developed the character further, they decided to make him a black cat, as it fit the personality they had in mind for him: unlucky, but optimistic (black cats symbolize bad luck in European culture). The creators found this trait to be too restricting in terms of possible plots and stories. In addition, a silhouette cat would be "hard to read" on the backgrounds planned for the show.
The decision was finally reached to have him blue, a decision that the show creator Ben Bocquelet liked, because he thought blue was not a color usually found on cats, and it had a "70's-80's Japanese mascot" sort of feel.
Final design[]
In Season 1, Gumball is a light blue talking cat. On his oversized head, he has 6 whiskers, but 5 are shown because he is 2D. He wears a tan sweater with brown cuffs and a brown collar found in a sewage outlet by Richard and rolled-up gray trousers. His hips are unusually wide. The inside of his mouth is pink, his tongue is light pink, and his nose is orange. One of his sharp canine teeth can also be seen hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He is the only member of the Wattersons without visible eyelashes, but in some episodes, he does have visible eyelashes.
In Season 2, Gumball's head and whiskers, while his eyes are oval-shaped. His canine teeth are rounder and are no longer visible when his mouth is closed. While wearing his pajamas, he wears a red and white T-shirt and shorts.
In Season 3, his eyes are permanently round just like the rest of his family.
Personality[]
In season 1, Gumball is portrayed as a fun-loving, imaginative, rather optimistic, and mischievous kitten. When his mishaps get him into a mess, he usually attempts to fix things with somewhat dimwitted ideas, which usually gets him into even more trouble than before. No matter how his schemes resolve themselves, Gumball's naïveté stops him from learning his lesson. He often plans his mishaps with Darwin. Like Darwin, Gumball does not appear to notice deception, which may mean that he is too optimistic to notice the most negative things around him. Gumball has a big ego, and it is where he is most sensitive. Otherwise, he is often positive on all matters concerning him.
Gumball is smart, but that doesn't mean he's wise. At times, he acts stupid and goes to great illogical lengths to find something, but he has shown some degree of cleverness in other circumstances. He happens to have a superior vocabulary than that of most of his classmates, using more mature words. Gumball has also displayed extents of observance and operational ingenuity, such as being able to identify small things like the burn markings on Rocky's palms, intellectually arrange escape routes based on his surroundings, and even counter his mother Nicole's hand-based offenses for a great deal of time, shown in both episodes "The Date" and “The Remote”; in which case, even secretly confiscating her car keys from her pocket in the process. His antics have gotten him in dangerous and often life-threatening situations, usually saved by luck or by someone more sensible at the time. He has shown skill in building, when he made a system of chain reactions to launch a bowling ball onto the moon, as seen in “The Car,” though he failed miserably in the last element that held the launching spring up. He is a decent cook, making a very good sandwich for Darwin as mentioned in “The Secret,” and is shown making a good (extremely spicy) meal for him in the same episode. Furthermore, he also got a B in-home ads for his cooking, and Miss Simian called his cooking divine. However, in “The Responsible,” Gumball makes disgusting food for Anais, consisting of a rotten fish between bread slices, and an old shoe. In “The Knights,” Gumball made a cake for Patrick Fitzgerald.
In season 2 and onwards, Gumball's personality does go through a decent change. For example, in season 1, Gumball was cheerful and was pretty dumb at times somewhat like Darwin, but in season 2 and onwards, Gumball is a lot more pessimistic, cynical, and even a bit less naïve, though he still has an ego, and a lot of his other characteristics are still there.
Gumball can also be sarcastic. He can make insults sarcastically ranging from harmless to blunt and rude. These snarky comments can be impulsive to others. He tends to also have an over-protective behavior, he protects his loved ones, especially Darwin and Anais. In "The Parasite," he tries to poison Jodie Mallard when he thinks she is hurting Anais, and in "The Rerun," he attacks Rob out of rage when Gumball sees Darwin is dead.
He has a massive ego, when not tamed properly, he can do jerky things around Elmore. His ego explains his relationship with Alan Keane; the fact that Alan is so effortlessly loved drives Gumball to expose him for being scummier than he lets on. His ego also causes him to be sensitive or even an emotional wreck.
He also has arachnophobia, as seen in "The Date" when he destroys a picture of Mr. Cuddles when Polly is holding it. He may also have thalassophobia and claustrophobia.
Abilities[]
Gumball, like a cartoon character, can manipulate reality on a vast scale. This concept is commonly known as Toon Force. However, Gumball's Toon Force seems to be very erratic and is an "On and Off” type of ability. Sometimes Gumball can be durable enough to withstand the explosion of the Big Bang itself, transform into an actual Super Saiyan, and withstand being hit in the head with multiple bowling balls thrown at him from Tina Rex (a Tyrannosaurus Rex many times his size), yet, other times, he can't even withstand a kick from his adopted brother, Darwin.
Gumball, despite being considered very unwise, can be very manipulative and can easily deceive other characters (even ones considered much more intelligent than himself). He is also an expert liar, this ability, going along with his manipulation skills, makes Gumball a very tricky and deceptive adversary.
Gumball has combat skills, like punching. Along with his unnatural durability, Gumball is very adept at surviving near-death experiences. Gumball also can move all parts of his body in any way that he desires. He has also survived to be in "The Void," a space-like place where the world keeps all of its mistakes. In “The Sorcerer,” he also has a supernatural ability, like he defeats the giant Troll by using his supernatural annoyance.
Defeated or Killed Enemies[]
- Tina: When Gumball and Darwin eat all the protein supplements and During School Gym, Miss Simian announces that they're going to play dodgeball, which Gumball can't stand. Tina comes over to Gumball and remarks that he's going to get pummeled, which he does, unfortunately. After almost being hit with a bowling ball, Gumball decides he has had enough, as his arms begin to grow to massive proportions, his body becomes ripped, and the mustaches grow back. He throws a dodgeball with terrifying strength, which hits Tina and causes her to crash through the wall. ("The Mustache")
- Tobias: In the episode "The Knights," he kicks Tobias' belly to save Penny from her father's car. In “The Mothers,” he and his mom, Jackie, were disqualified from the Mom-Off, after finding out they cheated. In “The Test,” he defeats him by vomiting out the venom inside him, making his face burn off.
- Virus: He is killed when Gumball steps on him. ("The Virus")
- Julius Oppenheimmer Jr.: In the episode, "The Lesson," he, Gumball, and Darwin escape to the rooftop from an air conditioning vent, but find themselves stuck, as the rooftop vent is stuck and can't be opened. Gumball then angers Julius, causing his fuse to go off without him knowing, and they escape in time for Julius to go off and blow open the vent. His words are: “Well played.”. After the pair use a poorly-made zip line, they finally escape the school.
- William: In the episode "The Voice," Gumball hits William with a tennis racket, knocking him out of a window.
- Ant-One: At the pool, Ant-One corners Gumball and Anton, stating that he will replace Anton and become friends with Gumball, whom he calls "father". Gumball then climbs up the diving board with Anton, explaining that Ant-One is not the original. This drives Ant-One to charge Anton, stating that if he “can't be the one, then no one can.” Gumball grabs them both as they dangle off the board. Ant-One, believing that they are too heavy for Gumball, says that he must let them go. Gumball pulls them up easily, but Ant-One scratches Gumball and is dropped into the pool. He sinks to the bottom and is shredded as he is sucked into the drain. (“The Recipe”)
- Zach: Gumball defeats Zach by writing Gumball in the first arcade game in which he wrote his true name, Zach. This causes him to vanish and die. ("The Name")
- Mr. Chanax: Gumball says that it is just a bottle of Rocky's breath and rips Rocky's and all of Soulless Office Workers' contracts. Defeated, Mr. Chanax crumples up into a ball, and Paperball, (free from the control of Mr. Chanax), collapses and every employee regains their spirit, including Rocky. With the deed done, the three hurry to the hospital while the employees hear the news that the goblin assistant of Mr. Chanax has been promoted to CEO by the shareholders, due to Mr. Chanax's "retirement," and told them to get back to work. (“The Boss”)
- Gargaroth: Gumball tossed the last candy in Gargaroth's mouth when he was about to kiss Carrie, and he exploded, thus killing him. ("The Scam")
- The Troll: Gumball used his special annoying ability power about elves, leprechauns, and other little creatures, annoying the troll, forcing him to vomit out the people he ate, and he shrunk, eventually disappearing. ("The Sorcerer")
- Rob: Gumball turned him off with the universal remote during their fight but he was later turned back on. Gumball then ejected him into the Void with the Universal Remote but later rescued him ("The Rerun"). Gumball, with the help of Darwin and Banana Joe, erased him from existence using Banana Barbara's brush, but he was later painted back into the timeline ("The Future").
Overall, Gumball has killed 7 people during the show's run so far. This is not inclusive of various non-permanent deaths for minor unnamed characters.
Quotes[]
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Relationships[]
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Trivia[]
- Gumball is known to be a caricature of a young Ben Bocquelet.
- His Toon Force can arguably make him one of Cartoon Network's most powerful characters.
- In season 1, he has a slightly wobbly outline in certain scenes.
- In "The Club," Nicole reveals that she and Richard agreed to give Gumball the middle name "Christopher," but Richard confused it for "Tristopher" on Gumball's birth certificate.
- In "The Treasure," Gumball used to be an ugly baby, this may have been contradicted in "The Choices," so the ugly baby pictures may have been photoshopped.
- In the canon and fanon, many people speculated that Gumball is bisexual or pansexual. Ben Bocquelet states on Twitter that Gumball loves who he loves. It's unknown if it's true in the series as it progresses.
- "The Singing" is the only episode where Gumball does not physically appear or does not make a cameo or a reference here.
- Gumball makes a cameo in OK K.O. Let's Be Heroes Crossover Nexus as one of the Cartoon Network heroes Strike summoned & defeated, he also appeared again as one of Ben's Cartoon Network transformations to defeat Strike.
- It can be heavily implied that Gumball went back to his universe.