 This article belongs to the Reboot Continuity
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| “ | When it comes to racing, there are no friends, only family. | ” |
– Vin to Ben.[1] | ||
Vincent "Vin" Ethanol[sb 1] is an illegal racer who appeared in Need for Speed.
Appearance
Vin Ethanol is a man with muscular arms and tattoos all over them. His right arm has a skull with bones and a scorpion, and his left arm has a flower tattoo. He wears a black tank top and a necklace with a skull around his neck. His head is completely bald, and he has no eyebrows or eyelashes. He has a cleft chin and a long pointy nose. He wears blue jeans, and the belt on his jeans is black with a white skull in the middle. He wears shoes that are white on the front and black on the back.
In Forever Road, he wears a green shirt with two white stripes going down on the left with the name "Ethanol" on the shirt.
Personality
Even though Vin is an illegal racer, he doesn't seem to care too much about winning compared to other illegal racers. He will race dirty to win, but if he knows he's out of the race, he won't keep trying, as seen when he just crossed his arms and stayed put when his car was flipping uncontrollably. He doesn't care about not having friends because he has "Family," which is really robotic arms for his vehicle. He also prefers to race in the streets rather than other locations.
As shown in his second appearance, Vin however does think of other racers as part of his "family", at times, as seen when LaGrange manipulates him into getting rid of Ben for him. He also isn't totally devoid of morals, as he disliked causing damage to the people around during his race at the Great Wall of China after finishing community service.
Despite the fact he usually takes his car more seriously than anything else, he isn't beyond sharing some of his knowledge with Ben even if they were previously enemies, going as far as explaining to him how his car works, how to change a tire and even helping him when they attempted to stop LaGrange together.
It's later revealed that he uses racing as a way to make up for his lawyer son's absence, hence why he calls his car "family".[2] It's also what the Forever Knight uses to recruit him to his side, and ultimately what makes him change sides and join the Tennyson family instead.
Relationships
LaGrange
Vin and LaGrange were once very great friends, even closer to being family. Over time, they became more rivals than friends.
Ben Tennyson
Ben sees Vin as a mentor. Vin was all open to sharing his knowledge on cars with Ben; showing him how to change a tire. Ben was highly jealous when Vin started mentoring Kevin, and did whatever he could to get Kevin away from Vin.
History
Background
Vin Ethanol was friends with Lucien LaGrange since childhood. They would race with eachother, and soon lead to becoming illegal racers. Vin soon met other racers such as the Malachi Sisters and Dirty Dobbs.
At some point after getting married and having a son, Vin Ethanol got divorced.
Ben 10
In Need for Speed, Ethanol was one of the illegal racers that attempted to win the race and collect the treasure. Dirty Dobbs burrowed into Vin's car and caused it to flip uncontrollably and break down, putting Ethanol out of the race. Vin Ethanol proceeded to run away from the police when they tried to arrest him, but was caught and arrested.
Vin returns in LaGrange Muraille, preparing his car for a race against LaGrange. Ben discovered that Vin was put into community service instead of jail and, through their shared liking of fast cars, befriended him before learning how to change a car tire. Vin then raced against LaGrange, damaging Glitch as Heatblast pursued them, due to his past friendship and "family" with LaGrange.
After being stopped by Four Arms and some talking, Vin realized the errors of his ways and helped Four Arms stop LaGrange from destroying the Great Wall of China. He later complimented Ben on keeping a cool head and Max for raising a great family, before leaving to drop LaGrange at a police station.
In Forever Road, Vin shows up telling Ben that he isn't winning the race, sponsored by Galahad. During the race, Vin runs into LaGrange, who insults him. Vin ignores him and continues racing. As a narrow path approaches, LaGrange tries to distract Vin with sentimentality. Vin says nothing until LaGrange oils the road. Vin calls it a dirty move while he drives across the mountain to catch up to Lagrange. LaGrange comes close to knocking Vin off a Clift, he tells Vin he could never stay mad at family, but Vin denies LaGrange being family. LaGrange ends up ahead of him but Ben as Slapback stopped LaGrange. LaGrange pleads for Vin's help but he declines, and wins the race.
Vin gets admired by the audience, then someone gives him the prize.
Later that night, Vin travels to an old factory, there he meets Forever Knight. Forever Knight congratulates him but Vin doesn't accept the win, saying it wasn't clean, he claims he doesn't deserve the prize, but the Knight convinced him by calling it a family.
In Vin Diagram, Vin found Kevin trying to steal his engine. Kevin admitted he was trying to steal it, and Vin respects his honesty. Vin then takes Kevin under his wing, and they prepare to do a charity race together.
In Roundabout: Part 1, he formerly joined Forever Knight's team. His job was to monitor XLR8 and Rush's speeds. Then later became a new member of the Tennyson family in Roundabout: Part 2.
As seen in Mock 10, Vin Ethanol is now working at a car repair shop.
Appearances
Ben 10
Season 1
- Need for Speed (first appearance)
Season 3
Season 4
Etymology
His name is a reference to the actor Vin Diesel, with "Diesel" being replaced by "Ethanol", both being petroleum products obtained from fractional distillation of crude oil.
Trivia
- Vin Ethanol is an allusion to Dominic Toretto from the The Fast and the Furious franchise, including his appearance (bald head, dressing style), occupation (illegal street racer), voice, personality ("I don't have friends, I have family"), his car, and even Dominic's actor's stage name (Vin Ethanol instead of Vin Diesel).
- Idzi Dutkiewickz, who is the voice for the Latin American version of the character, is also the voice for Dominic Toretto in The Fast and the Furious franchise since the fourth film.
- Vin is one of Kelly Turnbull's favorite characters to write for the show. She also mentioned how David Sobolov did such a great job voicing him.[KT 1]
- Kelly suspects Vin appeared in more episodes in season 3 than the crew originally planned for because they made Vin as lovable as possible when they brought him back for LaGrange Muraille.
- Kelly really wishes Vin was used more in season 4, beyond his cameo in Mock 10.[KT 1]
