Thompson: The Iconic SMG’s Strange Legacy - Loadout
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ธ.ค. 2023
- Is it a Chicago Typewriter or a GI Trench Sweeper? From Call of Duty and Battlefield to Mafia and Resident Evil 4, these are the two flavors of the Tommy Gun that we’re used to seeing in our games.
With the help of Keeper of Firearms & Artillery, Jonathan Ferguson, we’ve come to the Royal Armouries museum in the UK to learn more about the unique history of the Thompson, and explore the pop culture legacy of this iconic SMG.
In this episode of Loadout, Dave Jewitt visits the Royal Armouries to talk to Keeper of Firearms & Artillery Jonathan Ferguson to chart the unique pop culture legacy of the Thompson SMG.
You can check out more episodes of Loadout right here. - • How Games Are Lying To...
You can check out our Firearms Expert Reacts series here. - • Firearms Expert Reacts...
If you're interested in seeing more of Jonathan's work, you can check out more from the Royal Armouries right here. - / royalarmouries
If you would like to support the Royal Armouries, you can make a charitable donation to the museum here. - royalarmouries.org/support-us... - เกม
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Loadout as we take a deep dive into one of the most historic SMGs.
We at GameSpot want to thank you for your support on the show, and wish you all the happiest of holidays.
Make sure to like, subscribe, and let us know what other episodes you'd like to see in the future, and of course come back next week for another episode!
(Where we may or may not be discussing one of Jonathan's favourite weapons...)
The Tommy Gun BAY! BAY!
Happy holidays to the crew! Loving the new stuff and cant wait for what the new year brings
Wow
The MP5?
You should do a video on the Steyr AUG. Both because I think it is just a neat weapon and, well, bullpup. Do not know why I sent two replies, could have just edited the first.
*”Part sinner and part saint, a gun that spits unbelievable tales and the thing is they’re all true.”*
- Ahoy on the Thompson Submachine gun
Ahoy has an incredible ability to come up with cool lines, that perfectly encapsulate a weapon's sprit.
Exactly what I thought of when Dave started to summarise it.
The only thing Jonathan was missing was a fedora and sharp suit to complete the Gangster look
And being an American
cus Mafia members where known for the US ties right?
@@thomasmolyneaux3700
He's a peaky blinder
Pin Stripe*
Jon would be a very handsome gangster
The picture of Churchill in his pinstripe suit smoking a cigar and holding a tommy gun has to be one of the most iconic ever.
Should be worth noting that New Vegas doesn't just feature the Thompson-inspired Laser RCW, but features an M1A1 Thompson as well in the Honest Hearts DLC as the ".45 Auto Submachine Gun", starring alongside the M1911 and BAR (from Dead Money) as well as the M1 Garand from the Gun Runners DLC
Here’s hoping they do an episode on body armor. I know it’s not a “gun”, but it still fits with the whole “loadout” theme - especially since grenades & attachments were already covered.
They touched on their submachine gun video that pistol caliber firearms have fallen out of favor as primary weapons in recent years thanks to body armor, so it'd be interesting to see how body armor has improved over the years and what affect that's had on the design of guns around it.
It'd also be interesting to hear their insight into how armor is depicted in games versus how it's used in real life.
“Part Sinner, Part Saint, All True and Cool”
Am I the only one irked that the M1 Carbine section for the chart at 10:22 has an M14 for its symbol?
No
Nope. Caught that too.
Little bit
Paused the video as soon as I saw that to look for someone mentioning it
Nope. I was about to point it out but checked the comments first to see if someone else had already spotted it.
15:58 Something that wasn't mentioned is that in COD:AW you can unlock variants for a gun. One of the variants for the ASM1 is named the "Speakeasy," which comes with a permanent drum magazine and permanent rate of fire increase over the base variant, all references to the original Thompson and its prohibition history.
Blending that the Thompson was originally designed for world War 1 trench warfare really makes the design make even more. A heavy stupidly high capacity hard hitting submachine gun it's not as much of a problem in trench warfare as it would be in.
The unreliability would be a huge problem though. If it's prone to jamming under ideal circumstances, I doubt it would handle getting covered in mud very well.
@@screamingcactus1753 I suspect that if it had seen deployment that issue would have been discovered quickly. Making a heavy, high capacity SMG makes sense for trench warfare, but as automatic infantry weapons were in their infancy at the time, they probably hadn't realised the practical problems with drum mags yet. After all, the issue is that drum mags were not a successful idea as a whole, not that there's a specific reason why they aren't on the Thompson.
@@reganator5000 this tbh
@reganator5000 With the notable exception of the PPSH, which actually was issued by the Soviets in WW2 with a 71-round drum, I believe it was only stopped a a cost-saving measure
@@justalurker3489 I believe the PPSh had similar issues with reliability of the magazines as well. I know that common practice with a PPSh was to find a magazine that 'fit' with your gun and would shoot reliably and then hold onto it for dear life. because apparently finding a magazine that fit in your PPSh's magazine well was an issue they had. IIRC, the PPSh was also copied almost verbatim from the Finnish Suomi SMG after Russia's disastrous conquest of Finland.
A truly iconic weapon.
Same, M1928s were also used in WWII, I saw pics of guys in Normandy using them and even those in the PTO with drum mags
10:15
Time travelling M14 alert!
Tom Hanks absolutely put in work when handling his Thompson in SPR
small tad bits that were left out is that depending on the variant of the Thompson model, there’s different rates of fire and it also depends on the box mag or drum mag to determine the rate of fire, forgotten weapons did a whole video about this a while back for a experiment
The drum magazine makes it heavy.
Timesplitters: I'm going to duel wield these!
Isn't it fascinating how changing just one thing can completely shift something's vibe?
Thompson SMG with a drum mag: 1920's gangster.
Thompson with a stick mag: WWII American solder.
Another bonus of the Thompson sub machine-gun, is that it also looks great with a fedora and a striped suit.
"Merry Christmas ya' filthy animal!"
Fun Fact: The Thompson was used alongside the M2 Browning to demonstrate the then-new concept of noise-canceling headphones in a vintage, 1967 BBC video. It seems that those prototype headphones had worked.
For RE4, the original one had a much better reference
As on a usual outfit, the Tommy Gun has the 30 round. But when you wear the mafia outfit, it has the 100 (or maybe 50) rounds mag
I'm glad you addressed Fallout 4. The Silver Shroud is a fictional character of the setting, a noir detective vigilante who uses a unique model of what I would assume was supposed to be the 1928 version. It's fun going around in the costume, though I tend to cheat and swap out the "Silver Shooter" for the 'explodes on impact' Pray N Spray legendary version.
Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect are also very close to my heart, and hark back to an era of shooters that just don't see much life nowadays.
It's funny that you show Ronald Speirs from "Band of Brothers" at 8:44, because in the show, he carries an M1A1 - likely because it was easier to get those for filming - while in real life, he carried an M1928A1.
True in fact M1928 Thompsons were still very common in the Army even during D Day despite M1/M1A1s being adopted in 1942
6:03 The Gusenberg Sweeper is named so due to coming out during the GTA Online valentines update that also included a matching vehicle.
you may be questioning that why does the Thompson has weird sight on the end its because if you open it you have a rectangle circle sight to aim
5:40 That's not simply a "Stylish Pose" it's also a reference to the Michael Jackson music video for the song Smooth Criminal
On your chart displaying the numbers of guns manufactured for ww2 you used the silhouette of the m14 rifle where you said m1 carbines.
My all time WWII favorite SMG, but specifically the Thompson M1A1 with the 30 round magazine.
Got to shoot one of the WW2 variants this year in Vegas. Wow, does the Thompson have serious muzzle climb. I'm sure soldiers who trained on it learned how to compensate for that, but could only shoot it in short bursts.
Yes, the in m1921 Thompson, the Chicago typewriter. The symbol of the prohibition era.
Shoutout to Mafia 1 and 2, The Godfather movies, Scarface 1932, Public Enemies 2009, Road to Perdition, The Untouchables and the list goes on......
Tom Hanks wielded in both Pvt Ryan and Road To Perdition
I was binging old episodes the other day and thought it would be great for yall to cover the Tommy gun, and here it is! great vid! It would be really cool to get a complete operation segment of these videos though where we could watch Jonathan fully operate the weapon.
i love this series, its great to learn about guns
3:24 Jonathan is amazing, but the Thompson’s use in Ireland predates the existence of the Provisional IRA by around 50 years, and was used mostly during the Irish Civil War fought between split factions of the original IRA following the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
My first exposure to the Thompson was in WATCH_DOGS the the Untouchables DLC pack. It gave you an outfit with a fedora and a 1921/28 Tommy Gun. It was so overpowered and fun to use. Probably my favorite iteration of it in any game.
On the multiple playthroughs I've done I'll always bust it out here and there to feel like a gangster.
Great to see Kelly's Heroes getting some love!
I think the silver shroud is the perfect embodiment of the Thompson because he's this mafia dressed superhero
I will say, that without the distinctive drum magazine, many probably don't even realize it's essentially the same gun seen in both Gangster and WW2 settings, to most people that distinctive silhouette would be what distinguishes between the hero and villain weapon.
Not sure if there are any other guns out there with such a defining difference between its uses, though I suppose we see some differences in the accessorization between hero and villain arms today as well.
My favourite smg of all time!
Love each and every varient!
I feel like you could almost make a story about a guy with a history that parallels the Thompson. Like he was a gangster before becoming a soldier, and wound up using a Tommy Gun in both periods of his life.
I love this series
anyone else notice that they used an M-14 to represent the M1 Carbine in one of the graphs?
One thing about American usage of the Thompson, TO&Es don’t always show what the guy actually has in his hands. In movies and shows like Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, both the Rangers and Airborne were allotted more submachine guns than the regular infantry. These guns are usually left in the battalion weapon pool to be used on missions that are required for them.
Another thing to mention is that contrary to what Jonathan said, there were many Marine units that didn’t utilize the Thompson. The 28th Marines (iirc) weren’t even issued the weapon in their TO&E, but you’ll see Thompsons pop up on Iwo Jima, likely requisitioned from other units like tankers or they were veterans of older battles and were transferred, but kept their weapon with them. Marines in the Pacific would usually prefer either the M1 Carbine for it’s lightweight handiness or the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle to punch through the dense foliage.
Learn a good number of things, so thank you!
One of my favorite books is Tommy the gun that changed America
This gun was so much more influential than I thought it lead to a lot of gun laws and of course helped win ww2
This has turned into one of the most informative gun channels on TH-cam. I love GunSpot
I was literally thinking last night ‘huh I think a loadout episode on the Tommy gun would be cool’ my Christmas wish came true I guess!
My VFW member August Caccavone had one when he was fighting in Southern France and later Germany, Thompsons were the weapon of choice for NCOs and squad leaders during WWII alongside paratroopers and tankers
"made the 20s roar" is a bar
@@CrossOfBayonne man I hope this is the hilarious joke I think it is and not an actual misunderstanding of what I meant by "is a bar"
@@_jeromethegreat5119 I see
The Thompson Did see action during the Vietnam War, And in Rising Storm 2 Vietnam the Thompson can be used in the ARVN faction
As much as I love Firearms Expert Reacts, Loadout is just next level content. Grade A effort guys!
King kong and resident evil 4 made me love Thompson's. When i was a kid at the fair you could have a old Western saloon style photo and i begged my mom to let me hold the Thompson for the photo
Jonathan is a total gangster bro haha
The Tommy Gun Bay! Bay!
My fave gun ever. If I was a collector getting this first
“Cigarette?”
My favorite submachine gun in videogames, I just love it. I love it in movies too.
_Part Sinner, Part Saint_
_Known by a hundred names_
_An incredible gun that spits believable tales_
_But the most amazing thing_
_Is that they are all true_
_The Thompson_
*Annihilator*
*Chicago Typewriter*
*Tommy Gun*
-Ahoy 2016
Probably one of my favorite IRL weapons!
That front grip on the Model 1921 always looks like it's hanging on by just a thread.
Love it!
In Girls Frontline Thompson Submachine gun she talks about her rowdy days in the 20s and 30s
Been waiting for this iconic submachine gun to make an appearance on loadout. 2 recognizable profiles in popular culture and entertainment. It was the gun that made the twenties roar with names like Al Capone, John Dillinger, Verne Miller, Baby face Nelson, and Jack Mcgurne. The Chicago police still have the actual Thompson submachine guns used in the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. Though sadly its creator and his son never would live to see it finally receive military purchases for the US military. It has a better niche in entertainment and video games I believe due to it having ties to the era of organized crime/motorized bandits and the US submachine gun for WW2 as opposed to other submachine guns like the German MP40 and British sten as they were more tied to WW2. But it is a very welcome sight to see in video games and movies when given the opportunity.
It'd be interesting (but perhaps beyond the scope of this channel, maybe better for Forgotten Weapons or the Armouries main channel) to talk about the impact the Tommy Gun had on American perceptions of guns and their gun laws.
Nice to see snippet from TimeSplitters 2 in there
Beautiful weapon.
Thompson is basically a gangsta squad support weapon
The Thompson crops up in the oddest and most anachronistic places on film, most notably to me in 1970's "too Late the Hero" starring Michael Caine. It's a British force, found from a Scottish regiment (maybe London Scottish considering there's a cockney in it...) on a Pacific island (?) fighting the Japanese with the aid of an America (just the one mind) and with Tommy guns a couple of years after they'd been withdrawn in favour of the Sten.
There's a clip somewhere of former Fusilier Micklewhite saying how heavy it was compared with the Sten he had in Korea.
Your trench sweeping kit includes the Thompson, the M1897 Trench Gun, the M1 Flamethrower, and molotov's
I like the takeaway. It’s a tool. Inherently it’s neither good nor bad. It’s whoever that’s using it and for what purpose what makes determines that.
I don't often watch spin-off shows from a channel's mainline series, but this is amazing. A combination of my fascination with history and video games. Well done. w
Here's the number of M1 Carbines produced during the war:
* Shows an M14 *
Merry Xmas
Most games also do not insert the drum magazine properly. It's meant to slide in from the side, not up from the bottom like a stick magazine does, but in nearly every depiction, it's popped in from underneath. Even the ones that do do the side-insertion does so without any fiddle or issue, something that is VERY much not the case in reality.
Of course, this is a question of time and balance. Spending 4-5 seconds getting your magazine in the proper way would never fly with the players.
Now you gotta do a video on the MP40! Especially if you think the Thompson is over portrayed in media…
This made me think a video about the old Godfather games would be neat. Specifically the level 4 guns in the 360 remake.
In Destiny 2, there's a weapon I've come to appreciate more during the Solar-centric seasons - Tommy's Matchbook.
It's pretty much a Tommy Gun that fires Destiny's "solar" energy. The fire rate goes up the more it fires, and damages you, but if you build your Guardian right, you can stand in a burst of healing and tank the damage, while dishing it out.
It also has an alternate skin that says it uses .45 ACP Solar ammunition.
All in all, it's a neat little package that tells the Hive they can keep the change. 😎
Dave and Jonathan gets payed to do this. Let that sink in.
Thanks Gamespot, now I gotta spend Christmas watching BoB and Boardwalk Empire!
this gun is literally the "i have 2 sides"-meme
Small mistake at 10:18 where a m14 is used as the graphic for the m1 carbine
Maybe I'm off my hinges, but I believe you.
>sneaky beaky
ayyyyy, a 40k fan
Please do one on the BAR
I mean I'm sure you can make sense of the drum on A1 models in games where you can customize it because I'm sure some time with a saw and some tools you could brute force it to accept drums. Although you may as well just make it belt fed at that point. That'd be fun to see, a belt fed Thompson
The mag catch itself is the same, but it would take significant work and precise measuring to make the slots that allow the drum to slide in from the side. Not impossible, but exceptionally difficult and if you get it wrong, it won't work.
I love the Tommy Gun
Those 100 round drums are wacky and very heavy
There is something about these Loadout videos that often feels like they are finished 2/3rd of the way through and then you look at the timer and see there is still 30% left. Must be that he covers the essentials and then kinda tacks on an after thought to the scripts that makes it feels like that to me.
10:16 Cmon guys, that’s no m1 carbine…
The milled receiver makes this thing obnoxiously heavy for what it is.
I'm really disappointed 😞 that you guys didn't even mention Peter Jackson's King Kong 2005
Could yall make a video on the Mars Pistol? It's not exactly a good pistol, but i'd like to hear yall talk about it.
Mad props to GameSpot for talking about and educating people about history of firearms and its impact on gaming pop culture. Unlike the people at IGN.
Little fun fact,the $200 tax stamp on NFA items is because legislators couldn't outright ban it and because the Thompson was so popular.
do the weopons of decaying winter
Jonathan is a good egg.
@IrregularDave Can you get Johnathan to tell us about the history of the Owen gun? please?
Did they really just call the M14 a M1 Carbine XD I'm pretty sure those are two VERY different bullets XD
they did use the silhouette of the M14 when they meant to use the M1
I really enjoy the video, but at 10:18 that's an M14, no M1 carbine
Is it me, or the silhouette of the M1 carbine at 10:16 is am M14, not an M1?
Yes but it's the wrong symbol
Another futuristic version of the Thompson is Tommy's Matchbook in Destiny 2