| Tuffy/Nibbles | |
|---|---|
| Tom and Jerry character | |
Nibbles (as he was called in this short) gobbles the whole turkey and patting in delight in The Little Orphan. |
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| First appearance | Our Gang Comics 1 (in comics, 1942) The Milky Waif (in cartoon, 1946) |
| Last appearance | Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (2011) |
| Created by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Voiced by | See below |
| Information | |
| Species | Mouse |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Jerry Mouse (uncle and/or big brother) |
| Relatives | Uncle: Uncle Pecos, Jerry Cousin: Muscles Cousin: George |
Tuffy (originally known as Nibbles from 1946-1957) is a fictional character from the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. He is the little grey, diaper-wearing orphan mouse whose cartoon debut came in the 1946 short The Milky Waif. Tuffy was later featured in the 1949 Academy Award-winning short The Little Orphan. Tuffy wears a diaper on most of his appearances since he is portrayed as a baby mouse.
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Tuffy's first actual appearance came in the 1942 comic book Our Gang Comics 1, where despite his diaper, he was presented as a peer of Jerry rather than a younger individual. In the comics, the grey mouse's name was given as Tuffy Mouse from the start.
When the smaller Nibbles design was introduced to animation in 1946, the comics' Tuffy was retconned to match, almost immediately shrinking in size and age, although the name Tuffy was retained. In the comics, Tuffy remained a peer of Jerry with no familial relationship to him. But in 1953, the animation writers decided to change his on-screen relationship to Jerry. He became Jerry's nephew in Life with Tom.
Now it was the cartoons' turn to retcon, changing the screen name Nibbles to Tuffy in the 1957 cartoon Feedin' The Kiddie. Tuffy was thus named Tuffy in all English-language media from 1957 through the 1980s.
Tom and Jerry comic books have been out of print in the United States since 1991. Not surprisingly, as time passes, fewer English-speaking staffers working on modern Tom and Jerry products remember the comics and the continuity they introduced. For this reason, Tuffy's name has sometimes changed back to Nibbles in new product: notably the Tom and Jerry movies, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, and the new TV series, Tom and Jerry Tales. The reference books Hanna-Barbera Cartoons by Michael Mallory and The Hanna-Barbera Treasury by Jerry Beck refer to the character only as Nibbles, without mentioning his alternate name at all.
On the other hand, the recent movies Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes and Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz both use the name Tuffy.
The 1952 cartoon "Two Little Indians" further adds to matters by actually using two little grey mice, which hints at the existence of both Nibbles and Tuffy, but this is the only such instance.
Tuffy is more often a speaking character than Jerry. In the "Mouseketeer" sub-series, he spoke mostly in French, resorting to English whenever a gag depended on it. The only exception to this was Robin Hoodwinked where he talked purely in Saxon English and had a different, rougher voice. Tuffy looked somewhat more mature in Hoodwinked as well, despite the fact that he still wore his diaper. The Mouseketeer shorts almost always featured sequences in which Tuffy got drunk. In his last appearance in Robin Hoodwinked, he is also shown to be drunk as the cartoon comes to a close.
In the Tom and Jerry Tales episode "Cat Nebula", Nibbles appeared as Jerry's sidekick and had a younger voice. Strangely, he spoke in a more feminine French accent in the non-Mouseketeer Tales episodes "Cat Show Catastrophe" and "Cat of Prey". In another Tales episode "Babysitting Blues", Tuffy was actually portrayed as a real baby who could not speak, though it is unknown if this was really Tuffy or another nephew of Jerry's. He also spoke in his French accent in A Nutcracker Tale, whereas in Meet Sherlock Holmes he speaks in British cockney.
In his normal appearances, Tuffy is typically hungry and has the ability to eat huge amounts of food in one sitting. He often angers Tom and Jerry when he eats a table full of food or steals theirs just as they're about to bite in. When making his cartoon debut in The Milky Waif, Tuffy's first motion is to point at his mouth, indicating hunger—as a letter announces "P.S. He's always hungry."
Although Jerry cares for Tuffy, he is usually annoyed by Tuffy's antics which often get him in trouble with Tom. Coincidentally in every short except Mice Follies, Jerry gets mad at Tuffy whenever he does something dangerous or reckless.
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