Nibbles "Tuffy" Mouse is a 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. Nibbles was later featured in the 1949 award-winning short The Little Orphan. The reason why Nibbles wears a diaper is due to the fact that he is portrayed as a young baby mouse.
Contents
Characteristics
Personality
Origin and Development
Nibbles' 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 Nibbles Mouse from the start. In the comics, Nibbles remained a peer of Jerry with no relatives. But in 1953, the animation writers decided to change his on-screen relationship to Jerry. He became Jerry's nephew in Life with Tom.
Nibbles always seems to deliver the final blow. In The Little Orphan, Nibbles shoots a wine bottle at Tom. in Touche, Pussy Cat! he cuts open a barrel with champagne in it and washes Tom away (he gets drunk in the process) and in The Two Mouseketeers, Nibbles fills a cannon with food and shoots it at Tom.
Nibbles was more often a speaking character than Jerry. In the "Mouseketeer" subseries, he spoke mostly in French, resorting to English whenever a slapstick humor depended on it. The only exception to this was Robin Hoodwinked where he talked purely in Saxon English and had a different, rougher voice. Nibbles looked somewhat more mature in Robin Hoodwinked as well, despite the fact that he still wore his diaper. The Mouseketeer shorts almost always featured sequences in which Nibbles 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 feminine French accent in the non-mouseketeer Tales shorts Cat Show Catastrophe and Cat of Prey. In Babysitting Blues, Nibbles was actually portrayed as a real baby who was at an age where a human baby couldn't crawl, though it is unknown if this was really Nibbles or another nephew of Jerry.
Weaknesses
Appearances
Original Shorts
- The Milky Waif
- The Little Orphan
- Safety Second
- The Two Mouseketeers
- Two Little Indians
- Life with Tom (flashback)
- Little School Mouse
- Mice Follies
- Touché, Pussy Cat!
- Tom and Chérie
- Feedin' the Kiddie
- Royal Cat Nap
- Robin Hoodwinked
Films
- Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring
- Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale
- Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes
- Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz
- Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure
- Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show
Tom and Jerry Tales
Season 1
Season 2
The Tom and Jerry Show (2014)
Season 1
- Haunted Mouse
- What a Pain!
- Turn About
- Tuffy Love
- Domestic Kingdom
- Just Plane Nuts
- Pets Not Welcome
- Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
- Road Trippin'
- Bone Dry
- Hunger Strikes
- Say Cheese
Season 2
- Picture Imperfect
- Slinging in the Rain
- The Paper Airplane Chase
- Say Uncle
- Here Comes the Bribe
- Tuffy's Big Adventure
- Dandy Do-Gooders
- Tom-Fu
- Tom and Jerry-Geddon
- Cat Match Fever
Season 3
- When You Leash Expect It
- Home Away From Home
- Lame Duck
- Lost Marbles
- Tuff Shooting
- Vampire State (as German Mice)
- Costume Party Smarty
- Stolen Heart
- The Invisible Cat
- Catching Some Z's (as German Mice)
- Frenemies
- A Head For Science (as German Mice)
- Hockey Jockeys
- Hyde and Shriek
- All Cat Jazz
- Wrap Star
- Charm School Dropouts
- Driven Crazy
- Tom's Tangled Web (as German Mice)
- Cuckoo Clock
- Plant Food
- Game Changer
- Kiss and Makeup
- Suitable For Framing
- Knighty Knight Knight
- Phan-Tom Of The Oompah (as German Mice)
- Ballad Of The Catnip Kid
- Mirror Image
Season 4
- Gym Rat
- Loch Ness Mess (as German Mice)
- Werewolf of Catsylvania (as German Mice)
- Yeti, Set, Go (as German Mice)
- Ghouls Gold (as German Mice)
- What About Blob? (as German Mice)
- Mouse Party
- Maust (as German Mice)
- Tom Prix (as German Mice)
- Cat-A-Combs (as German Mice)
- The Devil You Know
- Counting Sheep
- Balloonatics
- Jabberwock (as German Mice)
- A Clown Without Pity (as German Mice)
- Three Heads Are Better Than One (as German Mice)
- My Buddy Guard
- Hangin' Tough
- Shadow of a Doubt
- It's the Little Things (as German Mice)
- Into the Woods
- Something to Crow About (as German Mice)
Tom and Jerry in New York
"Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers" Video Game
Nibbles appears as a Challenger. He is the weakest of the eleven characters.
Trivia
- The character has been depicted in various classic cartoons and TV episodes as more talkative than Jerry.
- Nibbles is the only "popular" animal minor character in the Tom and Jerry series that is depicted in clothing (a cloth diaper).
Gallery
Main article: Nibbles Mouse/Gallery
