Tino Tonitini

Tino Tonitini^[3] is the de facto lead character of The Weekenders. He frequently begins each episode by breaking the fourth wall, introducing himself, and describing the situation at hand. As conflict develops during the episode, he usually asks his mother for advice. Tino usually wraps up the episode by stopping after his friends have walked off, turning the camera, and stating the moral of the story. His trademark catchphrase, often delivered as his last line bidding farewell, is "Later days!" Sometimes the other three kids are featured in his place.

Background[]

Physical Appearance[]

Tino is Italian-American and 12 years old and of average height and slender build for his age, with a blonde bowl cut that is parted in the middle and slightly tanned skin. As seen and mentioned in "Secret Admirer", Tino's head resembles a pumpkin, so Carver sometimes calls Tino "pumpkin pie," much to his annoyance.

Clothing[]

His iconic outfit is a short sleeved cornflower blue t-shirt with a navy blue stripe, light khaki pants, and navy blue canvas sneakers.

Different outfits - A short sleeved red t-shirt with a blue side stripe, blue jeans, blue shoes.
A short sleeved green t-shirt with a diamond emblem in the center, blue athletic shorts, blue shoes.
A short sleeved navy blue t-shirt, denim shorts, red flip-flops. He would wear these flip flops indoors as well.
A long sleeved shirt with white and blue horizontal stripes, blue athletic shorts, and his usual blue shoes.
A short sleeved blue buttoned-down shirt, khaki shorts, and his usual blue shoes.
A short sleeved blue t-shirt with red sleeves and a T on the front worn over a long-sleeved white shirt, blue jeans, and his usual blue shoes.
Blue-striped pajamas for when he goes to sleep.

Personality[]

Tino is very sarcastic, slightly paranoid on a variety of subjects, witty, and sometimes immature. He gets through his days and situations by cutting smart, sarcastic, and witty remarks whenever annoyed, insulted, or offended. When threatened, he can appear to be a bit of a coward and try to back out of something, but despite his neurotic and flighty personality, he has proven on many occasions to be resourceful, and brave.

He gets annoyed easily and will often push people into doing things with a lot of pressure. Tino is generally the most tolerant, patient, and accepting of his friends, although he does have a slight peeve for the stereotypical nerd. On the whole, he is well-rounded, open-minded, and more than willing to accompany or help his friends through their many hardships and adventures. Tino is considered by his friends to be the most neurotic and weird, making his behavior the butt of many jokes. Though he often does things that are considered dorky, such as playing air guitar or laughing maniacally, he has the capacity for intelligent wit and will make remarks that are subtly sarcastic.

Hobbies and interests[]

Tino has a high degree of interest in comic books, his favorite being the fictional Captain Dreadnought series of which he possesses almost every edition ever published. When not with his friends, he can usually be found in his room reading a Captain Dreadnought comic book or listening to music by his favorite band, Chum Bukkit.

Tino is known for being the neurotic and paranoid member of the group, having irrational fears of a variety of things, including clowns, danger, sports, insects, injuries, accidents, and more. However, Tino has managed to face his fears on several occasions, proving to others that he is not easily discouraged, although easily frightened. For example, he once successfully endures clown camp, courtesy of his friends, in order for him to "increase his tolerance" of clowns.

Trivia[]

Tino is the only character in the group to have only one parent living with him. Tino's father only appears in the series finale "Tino's Dad".
Tino is afraid of clowns; his fear originated on his 5th birthday, when his uncle Geo gifted him a clown jack-in-the-box followed by his aunt Coco giving him careless kisses while wearing clownish makeup. At the end of "Clown," Tino acknowledges that while he hasn't conquered his fear of them, he has developed a higher tolerance after being in clown school.
His head is occasionally likened to a pumpkin, as seen in "To Tish" and "Secret Admirer."
In "Secret Admirer," Tino reveals his favorite color is blue.
Tino was voted Most Sarcastic by his peers in "Best."
On his aptitude test in "Careers," Tino received announcer as a career choice.
In "The Worst Holiday Ever," Ms. Tonitini tells Dixon she put a homing device in Tino's skull shortly after being born so she'd know where is. Although Dixon at first believes his girlfriend is joking, he then states "You're not laughing." Her silent reaction would indicate she was being serious.
Tino's parents being divorced was based off of series' creator's own childhood, the son of divorced parents who lived with a single mother.^[4]
After his parents divorced, he and Ms. Tonitini began celebrating the Winter Solstice.^[5]
When asked what Tino would be doing as an adult, Doug Langdale replied "Tino is basically me, writing cartoons."^[4]