Vinnie Terrio

"Two words: Dance-athon."

—Vinnie Terrio, Blythe's Big Adventure Part Two

Vincent^[1] Alfonso^[2] "Vinnie" Terrio is a male gecko with a talent for dancing.

He is not very smart, but he tries his best at whatever he does, even if it ends up going a bit differently than expected. He is a top-notch dancer but he is prone to messing up due to being clumsy. This clumsiness is generally caused by his own tail, though he also regularly trips over things or falls on top of other pets. He is best friends with Sunil.

Personality[]

A somewhat goofy gecko, Vinnie can be a little bit loud and excitable, but he is a good friend to the other pets and tries to play things cool.

Vinnie is portrayed as the least intelligent of the main cast, often unable to understand different situations or know the meaning of certain words or phrases. Despite this, he can give out good advice occasionally and has had several good ideas over the course of the series.

He loves to dance and cannot stop himself from doing so, but he also has a loss of balance usually caused by his tail, and as a result, he often ends up tripping, breaking things, or ruining something else. It is shown in Frenemies that the loss of his tail makes him a better dancer.

In Blythe's Crush, Vinnie is shown to have a jealous side when he was trying to get the better of Esteban.

Vinnie is generally quite mellow despite everything as he commends Esteban for saving the pets, even though he lied to them in Blythe's Crush. This mellowness is also shown in Why Can't We Be Friends?, where he tells Weber the pets are still his friends in spite of them having earlier reprimanded him for recklessly chasing a fly.

Development and design[]

Vinnie Terrio was designed by Hasbro designer Kirsten Ulve in 2011.^[3] One of the original illustrations shows Vinnie had pink irises, less hair on the back of his head, a shorter tail, and wore a golden necklace and an earring.

The bonus "A Look Behind The Pet Shop Doors" featurette from the DVD "Little Pets, Big Adventures" revealed that, prior to January 2012, he was named Tony.^[4]

Original 494966 AVa0LQtieTEEyAZ aZYdp9ux3 — "Tony" Happy Meal toy concept art

A toy concept art for a Happy Meal toy with the name "Tony" was made by Christine Veverka, bearing the description: "loud & proud; sweet; wide-eyed; Think Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Lady gecko's man with a strong Brooklyn accent. Heckuva dancer, knows a ton of moves- but his knowledge really doesn't extend to anything else." Its design had pink irises, eyelashes and the same earring as before, but it lacked the chest hair and featured a brown cap.^[5]

He was eventually named after Deney Terrio, who was the host of Dance Fever.^[6]

His officially released design is a green gecko with a big segment of deep green on his chest and stomach. He has tiny green freckles between his eyes and noticeable hair slicked back on the top of his head. His eyes are a very dull shade of purple-gray.

Outfits[]

During the fashion show, Vinnie dressed in a white shirt with a white hat and a single white glove. This look is reminiscent and most-likely based off of an old look first made known by Michael Jackson.
In Gailbreak!, he wears spy gear.
Mambo dancer.
During an imagination scene in Sweet (Truck) Ride, he wears a Star Trek suit.
In What Did You Say?, he wears a pink dress.
In Mean Isn't Your Color, he wears an outfit that looks like Lord of the Dance: Michael Flatley.
A Scottish outfit during an imagination scene in Helicopter Dad.
Top hat, tuxedo outfit, and tap shoes, a la Fred Astaire or similar, when being the entertainment at Penny Ling's party in Frenemies.

Quotes[]

"NO ONE'S CHANGING THIS CHANNEL!"
"We took that moving box thingy."
"Hey, what did you just call me?"
"I think that giant head of hers got the worst of it..."
"Try not to damage the lizard!"
"Coming here will make you wanna sing and dance!"

Trivia[]

Vinnie is the only cold-blooded pet in the main cast, as well as the only non-mammal.
Vinnie being dim-witted compared to other pets in the main cast is most likely due to the fact that he is a reptile, and reptiles aren't known to be as smart as mammals.
Vinnie also has hair on his head and chest, unlike any other reptile in the series .
He and Pepper are the only main pets not to have any relatives (not including their owners). However, Vinnie's mother is mentioned in two episodes.
Vinnie and Minka are the only main characters not to have their names in an episode.
- Blythe has Blythe's Big Adventure, Blythe's Crush, Blythe's Pet Project, Missing Blythe, and Blythe's Big Idea.
- Sunil has Super Sunil and Sunil's Sick Day.
- Russell has Russell Up Some Fun.
- Zoe has To Paris With Zoe.
- Pepper has Sweet Pepper.
- Penny Ling has Penny For Your Laughs.