Vinnie "VJ" Patterson Jnr - Felix Dean & Matt Little

[FunkyMonkey]

18 hours ago, dee123 said:

I'm getting Ruby vibes.

Same. I liked Ruby intill she started causing trouble.

[Angelica]

I just want this Billie pregnancy storyline to be done with so that we can move on. On the other hand, VJ has proven himself to be the most genuinely sweet guy who is left on the show (other than Zac). I still feel they missed an opportunity for a Skye/VJ/Billie love triangle!

[project90]

Wow, didn't think VJ would be so many pages back. I'm a little disappointed with the way they've gone with VJ, it just feels like they've back-pedalled with making him go back to school and giving up Luc. Once Billie died the show should have had him doing TAFE or a night course. I think he would have made a great single dad character, with Ash and Irene for support. Kinda like what they did with Declan in Neighbours back in the day. He could have had cute moments with  Justin when he has Ava visits. They even took away his marriage to Billie which seemed unnecessary and like they'd undone a full year of character growth.

Edited July 29, 2017 by project90

[dave899]

Agreed they seem to be regressing him back to the naïve, diffident boy he was Pre-Billie.

 

I also disappointed he gave up on Luc considering how much build-up that story had.  

[CaptainTed84]

I am absolutely lost for words over VJ going. VJ was my favourite current character in the cast, and really I wasn't ready for him to go. I am honestly quite emotional that he is gone, because unlike my previous favourite in Matt Page, we almost had no idea that he was going. I was able to deal with Matt leaving when he did because you could actually see this coming. But in this case, it was a sudden switch of events and I am just sad that he is gone.

I don't care what you all think, because I know that people have been very critical. But in my opinion, every Home and Away cast needs a character like VJ. VJ started off as somebody born on the show, who grew up into the man he is today, first of all just thinking about that type of character. It is an extremely rare thing to watch someone's essentially entire life on screen. I mean, the closest that we ever had to it was Sally and Duncan, but I guess what separates them from him is that Sally arrived as a young kid and Duncan was born on the show but his time got cut short during high school before making sporadic guest appearances which tarnished the uniqueness of his type of character. But VJ, we got to see grow from start to finish. We saw him from Day 1 to finishing his HSC which I just find really cool. Now, when VJ was recast and promoted to a regular cast member it had to be one of the happiest days for me as a Home and Away fan because finally after 13 years, he could get the regular character screentime that he deserved after so long and finally some storylines and more character development. And I think that's something that a lot of people seemed to forget when this happened, we were about to see this kid really bring it on in Summer Bay instead of just floating around as a regular character. But instead, people were just being overly critical about how Matt Little and Felix Dean look nothing alike and that VJ is a manchild that nobody wanted to take seriously. And in regards to this whole recast, I can defend it. And I will (as quickly as I can)

People have said that VJ was recasted to look way to tall and way too old for his age, I honestly disagree (to a certain extent)
First of all, the new VJ's first appearance was around 6 months after the old VJ's last, and when you are around 15 years of age, puberty is a thing and it's exactly what VJ went through during this time. 6 months is a long, long time and a lot can happen throughout then and it is a realistic time for people to undergo a growth spurt, which is exactly what happened, he grew taller. It happens. People complained that he grew too tall, and should not have been as tall as he was in comparison to his mother Leah. That is where I completely disagree because I think that everyone had forgotten that VJ also has a biological father whose name was Vincent Patterson, and VJ is Vinnie Jr. and Vincent Patterson is taller than Leah, which means that realistically VJ should be able to grow that tall due to his father's genes. Some others also complained about his muscle mass and how he suddenly grew buff, and while I disagree that it was sudden as 6 months is a long time and if you spend a lot of time at the gym you can grow in muscle mass, I do agree that maybe that was a little over-the-top but not as bad as people say. The other thing they said was that VJ looked too old to be hanging around Jett, and that is where I disagree and that is because, as a person who is around the same age as both VJ and Jett's characters that has been completley through high school, I can say from my own experiences that it is not odd for 2 students in a different grade of school to look so different. In fact, I actually feel like Jett looked like he was a bit younger than the age his character is meant to be, so I don't find it too odd that VJ looked older because that is literally the way life is.

All I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with his journey as a regular character, he went from your typical teen to a mature young adult and a young father ready to take on the world. He may have lacked some major storylines early on in comparison to what he got in his last couple of years, but for the most part he was relevant and he didn't need a lot of storylines of his own to still be entertaining because his character was hilarious and a good human being, whose presence was just welcomed at all times.

I guess the main reason why I am sad that VJ is gone is because I feel like he still had some more to offer on the show. I mean, the kid had just left high school and was deciding his future, I think it would have been cool to see him as a Uni/TAFE student on the show. He also had some potential friendships/relationships which would have been cool to see play out in the near future, like with the Astoni's. He had a fun relationship with Ben and a cool friendship with Coco, but not just that, he also appeared to get along well with Ziggy, which is something I thought had cool potential for him to get along well with both Coco and Ziggy. However, what breaks my heart the most, which is something that I deep down really wanted to see happen for the 30th anniversary which I unfortunately doubt ever will now, is for Vinnie to turn out to not be dead and return to Summer Bay where VJ finally meets him. And I'll tell ya what, when Zac left, and Kwanten got interviewed saying that he would return to Home and Away in relation to Leah, I thought that it would be the them of the 30th anniversary for it to be set around VJ meeting his dad. But sadly I can't see that ever happening now because well, he's left the show and Vinnie is dead and buried for now... 

I am extremely hopeful (and I guess optimistic) that this isn't the last we have seen of him, I have no idea how Matt Little left his role, but I assume that it was on fairly good terms. But I can see him returning to the show at some point, just because Matt seemed to really love his role a lot (he would often refer to his character and the show in a lot of social media posts). So I hope that we see VJ again, because it would just be awesome.

[c120701]

His interview on the official site seems to suggest that the show decided not to renew his contract, but he agreed with the decision, there was definitely more to do with the character though, seeing him move on after Billie, maybe becoming a lifeguard like his Dad. 

[j.laur5]

^Sadly that happens more than you think. 

Actually I watch video and I didit think it was he contact was not renewed I think was more he didit know how he was leaving.

Edited November 25, 2017 by j.laur5

[CaptainTed84]

14 hours ago, c120701 said:

His interview on the official site seems to suggest that the show decided not to renew his contract, but he agreed with the decision, there was definitely more to do with the character though, seeing him move on after Billie, maybe becoming a lifeguard like his Dad. 

Yeah I just watched it, I am pretty sure he was written out and didn't decide to leave. I don't have a problem with that, because I don't think he seemed too mad that he was going, if he had reacted bitterly to being written out then I probably would be upset for him just because I feel like it should be some form of mutual agreement. It doesn't sound like right now he will come back, sounds like Matt is pretty keen to venture elsewhere for acting work, and good luck to him. I hope that he makes it elsewhere

I suppose later down the track, VJ can return on another recast. I think people would probably prefer that since there is still criticism still over him being this "manchild" and not the right guy, I personally loved Matt in the role and was not one of those people, so if there is a recast in the future and it was as a result of Matt not wanting to come back, then I have no problem with it

[Blaxland 89]

For a character born into the show at the end of 2001 it's such a shame we didn't gradually grow with him the way we did with Sally and Sam.  I also wished they connected the fact the he was vinnies son a lot more and was saddened to never know him. I really think the writing of VJ has been terrible. 

Edited December 3, 2017 by Blaxland 89

[CaptainTed84]

11 minutes ago, Blaxland 89 said:

For a character born into the show at the end of 2001 it's such a shame we didn't gradually grow with him the way we did with Sally and Sam.  I also wished they connected the fact the he was vinnies son a lot more and was saddened to never know him. I really think the writing of VJ has been terrible. 

Well to be honest, I think that when you go through various transitions in father figures throughout your life (eg. Dan, Elijah, Miles, Zac), you are more than likely to be less saddened over the fact that you have never known your real father, VJ's father also was claimed to be dead as well and not missing unlike other characters, and after a few years (and other father figures surrounding him) that is probably why he wasn't shown to be as saddened

Also, I think that they connected him to Vinnie in their own unique way with the Matt Little version of him seemingly very similar to Vinnie