Franklin Clinton

Unreleased

"So, you're givin' me a lecture about not being a good enough gangbanger?"

- Franklin

Franklin is one of the main protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V.

Background
Franklin was born in South Los Santos, but he never had a family, money or an education to rely on. At some point in his young life, he began the life of a gang banger and dope dealer, but was arrested for it soon afterwards. He decided to give up his old life in the ghetto after he was released from prison.

Events of GTA V
During some point in his life Franklin moved beyond the role of ghetto-based street dealer when he began working for Armenian gangster Simeon Yetarian. Yetarian owns a car dealership which acts as a front for a loansharking and extortion business. Yetarian's dealership sells cars to people who can't afford them and when they default on the payments Franklin acts in the role of repo man and repossesses the cars. As a result of this, he is frequently seen driving around the city in many seized sports cars.

Franklin is an ambitious man with a desire to move beyond petty crime and rise higher in the criminal underworld. Franklin presumably branches out, whether on his own or with someone else's guidance, and meets Michael. Both men did a job together and afterwards, Michael saw potential in Franklin and introduces him to Trevor around the time the game begins.

His personal story is he’s stuck between the world to which he was born and the world to which he aspires; Franklin wants to rise in the criminal underworld but his friends want him to resume the gang-banging lifestyle that originally landed him in prison.

Personality
Franklin is described as ambitious but perhaps to a fault and very eager to take on new illegal challenges by Dan Houser's description. He is also described as a logical way of showing a young man with a lot of hope, with Dan Houser claiming that this would be a nice contrast from Michael. He also is a person that, even though is being mentored by Michael in crime, mentors Michael in life. This helps build up the Father-Son relationship between the two.

Dan Houser's Way of Describing Franklin
''“Franklin was the idea of this street hustler in the modern world where the glory days – if there ever were glory days of gang banging – had long since passed. When some of the illusions of this life have been shattered, what do you do now having been in that world? That seemed like an interesting character; a guy in his mid-to-late 20s who wants to move forward but doesn't really know how and is being held back by some of his more idiotic and dangerous friends."''

"The idea with Franklin was someone stepping outside their comfort zone and their normal way of doing things, because that way, even though they're still in their mid-20s or whatever, that hasn't worked. That world that they thought they'd be in and be able to make a success of has, thanks to the modern world or the changes in the economy or whatever it is, just failed. It doesn't really exist. They're now looking for something new. A new opportunity. They've gotten their qualifications and gotten all their experience and all they're good at is driving and robbing. How do actually go forward and who do you get to a kind of mentor you? That was a good contrast. The gang-banger in the post-gang-banging world."

Relationships With Other Characters

 * Michael - After meeting Michael and completing a job with him, both men grew a father-son relationship for one another. This was mostly because Franklin never really had a family of his own and saw Michael as a person with more professional skill and as a real criminal that could mentor him in the life of crime. It seems that Michael has a better relationship with Franklin than with his own son.
 * Trevor - Trevor and Franklin's first meeting was nowhere near perfect, as he was cautious of the new recruit and even insulted him and Michael for their father-son like relationship. He was eventually able to put his trust into Michael's judgement of Franklin and the two were finally able to get along.
 * Lamar - As stated above, Franklin's relationship with Lamar is a bit unsettled, as Lamar is seen as a funny yet dangerous maniac, and is also known to be one of the main people holding Franklin back to the criminal life.
 * Simeon Yetarian - Simeon is an Armenian luxury car salesman, who uses the business as a front for his repo activity. He employs Franklin as his repo-man. It is unknown how is the relationship between them, so far.

Mission Appearances

 * Since Franklin is one of the three playable characters in GTA V, he will appear in almost every mission.
 * Since Franklin is a luxury vehicle repossessor, there may be a few storyline or side missions that include Franklin repossessing luxury vehicles along with Lamar.
 * Another Side Mission may be Dirt Bike Racing which he is evidenced doing in the second GTA V Trailer.
 * The Extraction where Franklin provides sniper support to Michael in a nearby building.

Skills and Attributes
Franklin is a very smart young man and is capable of tackling challenging tasks that Michael and Trevor can't do and has a level of physical prowess that both Michael and Trevor lack. As being a repo man he is a skilled person behind the wheel of any car. He is also a deadly shot when it comes to killing people with firearms. As during the GI demo, he was described as being able to make short work of the agents that were interagating the target.

Like Michael and Trevor, Franklin has a special ability where he can slow down time while driving.

Appearance
Franklin has been described as fit and fashion conscious. He is mostly seen wearing a blue and white button-up shirt, dark blue jeans or black pants with white stripes and a pair of brown or dark yellow boots. In the "Michael, Trevor and Franklin" artwork, he is seen wearing a light yellow plaid button-up shirt and stonewashed blue jeans. He also sported the same outfit in "The Trunk" artwork. He is seen in the "Franklin and Chop" artwork wearing a tank-top, khaki shorts along with a bracelet on his right wrist and a black watch on his right wrist. His body appearance is somewhat chubby, but that's because he wears some clothes that are big for him, (As shown in the second GTA V trailer, where he can be seen in a dirtbike race, with the other racers).

Reception
Just like Michael and Trevor, Franklin has gotten a very positive response from critics and fans of the series. Many saw him as being like one of the old protagonists, such as Carl Johnson or Luis Lopez, but at the same time, different in a way.

Trivia

 * Franklin is the only protagonist in the GTA series that does not have any really serious criminal past life and who is just starting in being a real professional criminal in the events of GTA V.
 * Franklin's "beta appearance" can be seen in the first trailer of GTA V. He is thinner, less muscular and has many tattoos.
 * Tommy Vercetti, Niko Bellic and Franklin are among the protagonists in the series known to have served a prison sentence.
 * Also, Franklin is the second African-American protagonist in the entire GTA Series, with the first being Carl Johnson.
 * In the artwork "Franklin and Chop ", many fans claimed that Franklin was a Mexican thug, but it was later confirmed by Dan Houser in the GTA V edition of the Game Informer magazine that he is actually an African-American protagonist in the game.
 * Franklin is seen wearing a black letterman jacket, very simillar to the one worn by Luis Lopez in Grand Theft Auto IV and its DLCs.
 * The song that was played in Franklin's trailer was "Jay Rock - Hood Gone Love It Ft. Kendrick Lamar".

Source

 * GameInformer December issue.
 * - Info From Polygon
 * - Info from a translated interview with Dan Houser
 * - Info from an other translated interview with Dan Houser

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