History and Origin of GI Joe's TUNNEL RAT!

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  • Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
  • Who is Nicky Lee, the G.I. Joe EOD specialist known as Tunnel Rat? Where did he come from and what were some of his greatest stories? It's all in the video!
    *If you enjoy videos like this, feel free to check out my playlists for TONS more GI Joe, comic book, super hero and movie content!
    #GIJoe #TunnelRat #SnakeEyes

КОМЕНТАРІ • 88

  • @saturncrush
    @saturncrush 4 роки тому +11

    People can say the GI Joe was silly, but it drummed so much interest in being in the military and being the best you could be. Swimmer, boxer, computer programming, doctor...man the best of the best of the best.

  • @jvera828
    @jvera828 4 роки тому +15

    Tunnel Rat was my favorite. Growing up, he was the first Asian character on TV that I remember that didn't speak with a comical accent or wasn't some martial arts expert.

  • @tayloralvidrez4342
    @tayloralvidrez4342 Рік тому +9

    I had dozen and dozens of gi Joe's. Maybe 50. I'd line them up on my bed facing each other and have a huge battle. That was my childhood. Tunnel rat and jinx were my favorite characters

  • @paulpizzlewizzle
    @paulpizzlewizzle 4 роки тому +6

    One of the best. His character design was viciously lethal!

  • @MichaelBrown-zj4uw
    @MichaelBrown-zj4uw 2 роки тому +7

    Night Force Tunnel rat is my all time #1. My Dad worked some of the tunnel complexes in Chu Chi. So this character represented my Real American Hero.

  • @GeonBell
    @GeonBell 4 роки тому +7

    As a Trinidadian and lifelong Joe fan, his Trinidadian connection was always cool to me.
    Got a chance to actually ask Larry Hama about it once and he said he knew some Trinidadians, so he threw that into the character concept.

  • @burritoboy2751
    @burritoboy2751 3 роки тому +6

    Tunnel Rat was the only G.I. Joe I had as a kid so he was my favorite.

  • @MadisonCarter
    @MadisonCarter 4 роки тому +5

    In 1986, a 10 year old me wrote a letter to Marvel and their comic adaptation. At the time, the book was printing letters where (mostly) kids came up with all different kinds of potential Joes and Cobras (something they got away from doing due to legalities). Though it was never printed, my letter suggested a Cobra saboteur named Tunnel Rat who would travel through city sewer systems to cause destruction above. About a year later, this guy debuted. I won't ever claim "they stole my character" or that kind of thing, but I've always wondered if that letter at least planted the name subconsciously in someone's brain.

  • @dirus3142
    @dirus3142 4 роки тому +5

    Tunnel Rat was one of my favorite growing up.
    However even then I didn't understand why they gave an EOD, and tunnel scout, a giant machine gun and huge backpack.
    Would have been better to give him a shotgun/SMG, Pistol, hand held flashlight, and TNT pouch. With a small backpack like Recondo's.

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      lol that's a good point. Kinda hard to crawl through a tight space with a big MG

  • @AH-is5yg
    @AH-is5yg 4 роки тому +5

    Tunnel Rat became a huge character after the 1987 movie. He made it on his own and became a well-known Joe.

  • @trence5
    @trence5 4 роки тому +5

    I have a special fondness for this guy as he was the second figure I had.

  • @Dark_Templar28
    @Dark_Templar28 2 роки тому +5

    We need a Tunnel Rat classified figure. Instead we get more cobra troops than we know what to do with them.

  • @jakeproven256
    @jakeproven256 4 роки тому +4

    My favorite version of tunnel rat is from G.I.Joe renegades.

  • @K_EN_Dubu
    @K_EN_Dubu 4 роки тому +2

    Thank you for doing a video on Tunnel Rat!

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      and thank you Chris for watching and enjoying it!

  • @FenrirFire18
    @FenrirFire18 4 роки тому +2

    Nice, all of your Joe bio's are awesome!

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      Thank you, glad you're enjoying them!

  • @jaebee81
    @jaebee81 3 роки тому +6

    Love it! So many JOES went to Ft. Benning. So did I. 121st Signal Battalion.

    • @kagemaru259
      @kagemaru259 3 роки тому +2

      A Company 1/50 Infantry. Ft Benning.

    • @MichaelBrown-zj4uw
      @MichaelBrown-zj4uw 2 роки тому +2

      B 2/58 1996.
      BTW, Benning is where Infantry soldiers go through basic/OSUT. Airborne School, Ranger indoc (RIP when I went through now RASP), 75TH Ranger Regt and 3rd Ranger Battalion, pre-Ranger, start and end of Ranger school (Darby Phase) Warrant Officer school, Pathfinder and Sniper School. So it would stand to reason that many Joe members would have spent time there in some capacity

    • @theallamericanone
      @theallamericanone Рік тому +1

      I didn't have the pleasure of going through Benning, as I was at Fort Lost in the Woods in Missouri in 1996. I did go through Warrant Officer Candidate School and as much as Columbus, Georgia would have rocked compared to Daleville, Enterprise, and Dothan, Alabama....WOCS, as far back as I can remember, has always been at Fort Rucker, Alabama....now renamed Fort Novosel.

  • @jeanemlicar
    @jeanemlicar 10 місяців тому +1

    He was my favorite G.I.Joe action figure as a kid.

  • @pentapox9665
    @pentapox9665 3 роки тому +3

    Tunnel Rat was also a prominent character in GI Joe: Renegades

  • @napoleonwilson6499
    @napoleonwilson6499 3 роки тому +2

    One of my absolute favorites,loved his style...also I wanna say being on Big Lob

  • @kratoscraken5614
    @kratoscraken5614 4 роки тому +3

    I always wondered why Tunnel rat had such a big following he's valued on the same level as snake-eyes. Interesting 👍💪

    • @danielpartida8224
      @danielpartida8224 4 роки тому

      I think it mainly has to do with the 1987 movie (which he was featured prominently in). He came in at a time when Gi Joe was at its highest peak of popularity and thus became a memorable character among the fans. Not to mention he has a badass look but thats just my opinion since I used to dress very much like him when I was in my 20's.

    • @TTH247
      @TTH247 3 роки тому

      It’s his scrappy, wiseass persona. Like how Raphael is the most popular Ninja Turtle.

  • @charleshunterii7157
    @charleshunterii7157 4 роки тому +1

    Bruh that art is fire. I love how someone finally incorporated the flashlight being on in the art. This is second to the marvel cover where him and Roadblock were in the sewer with Tunnel's hand outstretched over his head and the Alley Viper hiding around the corner. That was a sweet cover...

  • @michaelmetler6315
    @michaelmetler6315 4 роки тому +2

    Keep them coming brother
    With all the comic stores shut down we are starving
    And i keep hearing IDW may go out forever that means
    No more GIJoe
    Star Trek
    Transformers
    Predator
    Aliens
    To quote a princess from a galaxy far far away
    Help me OB-1 your my only hope

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      I hear you man, doing these videos helps me get through too lol

  • @MiKeMiDNiTe-77
    @MiKeMiDNiTe-77 4 роки тому +5

    Tunnel Rats legend

  • @jordanaguero2847
    @jordanaguero2847 4 роки тому +10

    My G.I. Joe reboot cast part 1
    Duke: Chris Evans
    Scarlett: Samara Weaving
    Ripcord: Brandon T Jackson
    Roadblock: Terry Crews
    Tunnel Rat: Remy Hii
    Snake Eyes: Henry Golding/Stuntman
    General Hawk: Tom Hanks
    Cobra Commander: Andy Serkis
    Destro: Ewan McGregor
    Baroness: Úrsula Corberó
    Storm Shadow: Andrew Koji
    Major Bludd: Hugh Jackman
    Director(s): The Russo Bros.
    Writers: The Russo Bros, Henry Gilroy, Larry Hama, Chuck Dixon, Rob Liefeld.
    Producers: Stephen Spielberg, Lorenzo DiBonaventura, Denis Villenueve, Russo Bros, Duffer Bros.

    • @grunt-sw8si
      @grunt-sw8si 4 роки тому

      I stopped reading your list when you screwed up Snake Eyes...

    • @jakeproven256
      @jakeproven256 3 роки тому

      Great list.

    • @jordanaguero2847
      @jordanaguero2847 3 роки тому +1

      @@grunt-sw8si I didn’t cast snake eyes it was the people in charge of the snake eyes movie.

    • @liljayjay2146
      @liljayjay2146 3 роки тому

      My cast would've been:
      Duke: Patrick Heusinger
      Snake Eyes: Richard Madden
      Roadblock: Nonso Anozie (CGI)
      Scarlett: Teresa Palmer
      Low-Light: Ryan Phillippe
      Breaker: Philip Winchester
      Airtight: Rob McElhenney
      Gung-Ho: Kevin Durand
      Destro: Adrian Bouchet
      Cobra Commander: Tobias Santelmann
      Zartan: Daniel Bernhardt
      Flint: Theo James
      Storm Shadow: Brian Tee
      Chuckles: Dan Stevens
      Cover Girl: Rebecca Ferguson
      Baroness: Eiza Gonzalez
      Quick Kick: Harry Shum Jr.
      Psyche-Out: Sam Heughan
      Doc: Corey Hawkins
      Stalker: Sterling K. Brown
      Ripcord: Andrew Bachelor
      Barbecue: Ryan Hurst
      Cutter: David Harbour
      Alpine: Amin Joseph
      Heavy-Duty: LaMonica Garrett
      Billy Kessler: Daniel Webber
      Copperhead: Lou Ferrigno Jr.
      Big Boa: Florian Munteanu
      Major Bludd: Matt Nable
      Serpentor: Jason Bateman
      Joe Colton: Neal McDonough
      General Hawk: Greg Kinnear
      Wild Weasel: Brandon Auret
      Venomous Maximus: Daniel Cudmore

    • @jakeproven256
      @jakeproven256 3 роки тому

      @@liljayjay2146 Chris Evans is basically a Shoe-in for Duke.

  • @johnsheetz6639
    @johnsheetz6639 Рік тому +1

    The cards in the back with the most important pieces to me almost. I really like the backstory

  • @lennyalcina4340
    @lennyalcina4340 4 роки тому +1

    Another impressive video about another great character, Tunnel Rat, i had forgotten Larry Hamma created the character using his own face for Tunnel..... it was funny, and yes I remember when he appeared in GiJoe the movie also just a month ago I was watching Resolute and there he was very determined and in Renegades was like the mascot of the group the easy going guy, he was in Retaliation and was played by Eddie Hargitay but i believe his escenes were cut from the final product,still, man keep it up, i am enjoying very much these videos

  • @demgutts
    @demgutts 4 роки тому +4

    One of my favs because I'm jamaican/Chinese

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому

      Awesome, he's a very cool character!

  • @magnificentmarc707
    @magnificentmarc707 2 роки тому +4

    Good stuff here.

  • @MontanaJ21
    @MontanaJ21 4 роки тому +4

    Heavy Duty next?

  • @demo3456
    @demo3456 3 роки тому +5

    Poor sneak peak.. died twice lol what a tragic story that dude had

  • @theronmitchell3073
    @theronmitchell3073 4 роки тому +2

    Wish he could have been in the cartoon more

  • @ronaldowens5025
    @ronaldowens5025 4 роки тому +1

    My boy. Thank you

  • @magnuslauglo5356
    @magnuslauglo5356 4 роки тому

    Nice summary of my favorite Joe of all time!

  • @falconone7230
    @falconone7230 3 роки тому +2

    He was cool,I always liked his head band

  • @robertlong6027
    @robertlong6027 4 роки тому +1

    Do who is road pig next

  • @dragonweyr44
    @dragonweyr44 4 роки тому +4

    It's strange, the term "tunnel rat" in the military is a long discontinued phrase (as far as I know) and referred to a soldier, in the Vietnam War era, who was chosen (because he was the smallest man in the unit) to crawll through the Viet Cong tunnels that were discovered BY that person's unit, to look for Viet Cong insurgents hiding in the tunnels as well as to look for weapons caches and intelligence or whatever else they could find in said tunnels before the rest of them blew up the tunnel
    It WASN"T a specialized occupation in the military, it was JUST the job given to the person who could fit into the tunnel the easiest. AND it really wasn't a job given to a Ranger, as they were a specially trained infantryman rate higher than a regular grunt. sort of like using a shotgun to hunt flies with
    As far as I know, the term was never used again after Vietnam AND , in Vietnam, it wasn't just US Army personnel who became tunnel rats, as I've heard of Marine and even Australian soldiers in Vietnam called tunnel rats who did the same job
    Hell, even Forest Gump became a tunnel rat at one point in his movie and he CERTAINLY wasn't a Ranger
    Being a tunnel rat is probably one of THE most dangerous jobs that an individual soldier in Vietnam can undertake because of the likelihood of fighting a VC in the claustrophobic confines of a VC tunnel

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому

      Great points and you are right I don't hear of this term outside of the Vietnam War and it's got to be one of the most dangerous

  • @jamesmoss3424
    @jamesmoss3424 4 роки тому

    I know him from the movie, sigma 6,renegades, and good history lesson on him. 😀👍🐀

  • @demgutts
    @demgutts 6 місяців тому

    One of my favorite characters, I'm jamaican/Chinese so he's extra special to me 😆

  • @collinsdarkwa281
    @collinsdarkwa281 8 місяців тому +1

    Very interesting

  • @ChartreusianInfusion
    @ChartreusianInfusion 4 роки тому +1

    @2:28 “Really DOVE deep into his bird of prey gimmick.” lol. i c wut u dd thurr XD

  • @patrickwentzell4638
    @patrickwentzell4638 3 роки тому +4

    Rats are used a lot for missions to spy on enemies or have devices on them so they can tunnel along dark places.
    and somehow be able to find all the Ninja Turtles down in the sewers.
    I know Splinter would not allow these fury rodents to attack his students.
    and of course Michaelangelo would make sure they didn't eat his pizza that he ordered from above ground.
    crossover battles what would happen if there was a live action Transformers and GI Joe crossover movie.
    oh Bazooka seems like the kind of guy that would get himself injured or even killed somehow which makes me curious as to why he is with the Joe's.
    someone able to cause deaths to a team is not the kind of soldier you want to have in that group. it's like making some clumsy being like Jar Jar the president of Coruscant. and now we are about to find out why Bazooka is the worst soldier in the Joe's military.

  • @derekbates4316
    @derekbates4316 Рік тому

    He was one of those break away hits from the movie, at least on the animation side.

  • @ReboottoysEllis
    @ReboottoysEllis 4 роки тому

    Loved it thanks

  • @culturewarrior2012
    @culturewarrior2012 Рік тому +1

    my favorite OG joe toy. i hope they dont ruin him in the classified series.

    • @kenrobinson7563
      @kenrobinson7563 11 місяців тому

      U see him he looks good aside from the 50 cal

  • @brianrebmann5398
    @brianrebmann5398 4 роки тому

    Excellent video. I enjoyed learning the character's history and about the various action figure lines; I always enjoy learning new facts.

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      Thanks Brian! I'm glad you're learning and having fun while doing so

  • @dragonweyr44
    @dragonweyr44 4 роки тому +2

    Wasn't Tunnel Rat seen in the live action movie GI Joe: Retaliation? I think though that they renamed him as the character Mouse but he did a tunnel rat duty in the North Korea scene at the beginning of the movie and promptly killed off soon afterwards in the desert scene

    • @toon_cosplay_guy7930
      @toon_cosplay_guy7930 4 роки тому +1

      We dont speak of the second G.I.joe movie it's like the odd number star treks

    • @dragonweyr44
      @dragonweyr44 4 роки тому

      @@toon_cosplay_guy7930 What have you got against the live action movies? I kind of liked them, The first one had some good parts and at least the 2nd one was better than the first
      I believe that if there was a third movie that it would've reached the REAL nostalgia level we wanted
      BTW unless you're the same person as before, you're the second person that's told me that "We dare not speak its name" about the live action movies when I've brought them up

    • @danielpartida8224
      @danielpartida8224 4 роки тому

      I think Mouse is a different character from Tunnel Rat although they do have some similarities. Mouse was meant to be a throwaway character in the second movie which is why he was killed off within the first 10 minutes.

    • @dragonweyr44
      @dragonweyr44 4 роки тому

      @@danielpartida8224 Since Mouse was never in ARAH or anyone similar to him I would have to disagree and say that he was SUPPOSED to be Tunnel Rat but they couldn't use the Tunnel Rat name
      Much like the Dinobot Slag had to be renamed because of English slang haves slag as a woman of "loose morals" whereas we just think of the word as impure metal

  • @isidorebranham5327
    @isidorebranham5327 4 роки тому +1

    GI Joe Anime with Hama as the writer!!!

  • @greygremlin1248
    @greygremlin1248 3 роки тому +2

    I really hope Hasbro make. 6in figure of him

  • @roryaustin9
    @roryaustin9 4 роки тому +3

    when are u gonna do junkyard n mutt????

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      They're coming up soon!

  • @spectorjoy4851
    @spectorjoy4851 4 роки тому +1

    What issue did sneak peak come back to life, and how did it happen?

  • @danielherrin
    @danielherrin 4 роки тому +1

    Did I hear "Costco exclusive"?

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      Yes! It came out in 2004. It's a set called "Battle in a Box"

    • @danielherrin
      @danielherrin 4 роки тому +1

      @@JLSComics thats wild

  • @arkinyte13
    @arkinyte13 4 роки тому +1

    Overkill would be cool.

  • @gonzalosirera7103
    @gonzalosirera7103 4 роки тому

    👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

  • @iceman7763
    @iceman7763 Рік тому +1

    Do big lob

  • @robertlong6027
    @robertlong6027 4 роки тому +1

    I thought tunnel rat was Puerto Rican

  • @TexasRob28
    @TexasRob28 4 роки тому

    Can you do Croc Master?

    • @JLSComics
      @JLSComics  4 роки тому +1

      Great suggestion, he's definitely on my list!

  • @jakeproven256
    @jakeproven256 4 роки тому

    If you’re fighting raptor you’d win easily with one punch given what a loser raptor is.