#lets not go down that rabbit hole

[tangents-within-tangents]

Everyone fawning over Abed’s bi flag hoodie and no one’s talking about this epic ace colors panda bear combo

[smokbeast]

just noodles passing through had an urge to draw your fella @greekceltic

[sovamurka]

EKKO REMINISCING ABOUT THE BRIDGE FIGHT!

"Powder." "Jinx." I knew the one, but I'll never understand the other. The old "us" was lost when I woke up half-dead under a blown-up bridge... Can't think about that right now. The Firelights need to get back that gemstone she took.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

thinkin bout magneto's lil list of aliases from that One Shot of his government file or w/e in 97 and how it lists the three main men who've played him (David Hemblen, Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender) and kinda cackling at the idea 1.) if they included All his names 2.) having 'michael' on that list twice

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

One thing I find interesting about Wei Wuxian is that as a young man he was cocky and attention-seeking and annoying, but if you look closely he was only that in ways that would not directly eclipse his siblings in any way.

For example, it's stated that he actually can cook, he just adds an ungodly amount of spice to everything, but if he wanted he could actually cook well. But cooking is Yanli's signature, so he won't.

He is highly skilled with both sword and bow, but Jiang Cheng favors the sword, so Wei Wuxian shows off the most with a bow, even before losing his core, he only ever goes all-out with a sword in front of Lan Wangji.

He doesn't really obey Jiang Cheng, but he also doesn't go out of his way to purposely annoy him like he does with other people.

In his brash, loud way, he is trying to protect and uplift his little brother discreetly, probably because he knows Jiang Cheng would not take it well if he did that directly.

Wei Wuxian won't stop being himself, but he won't let that take attention away from the stuff his siblings are good at.

And that's just so sweet.

[shadowinthetreesbutcooler]

red team are FULLY going feral im so here for it, cellbit vouching for cannibalism and getting excited, baghera wanting to build a dirt shack and everyone wanting to crawl into a cave and chase people through the woods

[wwooyology]

i mean while we’re on the topic of vampy jake… might as well share these yk.

peak vampire jake.

I- um... lord save me now... 🫠🫠

[gottagobackintime]

Music (and movies) and queerness in Ted Lasso. Particularly in relation to Ted (and Trent)

I want to start with a line from the show that contains the word music.

“If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it.” Said by Mae to Ted in a scene where a few moments later Trent walks up to him after leaving his date to go talk to him. It’s a quote from the VERY queer Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night”. The line implies that the speaker wants to be fed more, to the point of it making them sick so that they won’t desire, love in this case, anymore. Because he’s unhappily in love with someone who he can’t have (Michelle?). BUT he falls in love with someone else later. And in the context of Ted Lasso, this line just so happens to be said right before they show us that Trent is there. Ted also answers Mae, not by asking if she’s asking him if he wants more but “If that’s your fancy way of asking if I want another one, you guessed right”.Another love?And according to James Lance, it was when he was on his way to film this scene that he found out that Trent is gay and that he is “with that guy” as he himself puts it. A man who has a moustache very similar to Ted’s and wears similar clothes.

(Also, this happens in season 2 episode 7. In season 3, episode 7 Ted talks about the red string/thread of fate myth while Trent wears a red bracelet and they are connected by red several times and season 3, episodes 7 and 11 are connected via “You’ve got Mail”, the opening scene in episode 7 being a “tribute” to the movie, and there are other smaller references. And the team, and Trent, watching the movie in episode 11. AndTrent also wears the bracelet in episode 11, an episode I’ll bring up later in this post).

Now, let us get to the music.

Bruce Springsteen If you google “Bruce Springsteen queer” you get a lot of results discussing queerness in his songs and so on, so to put him in this post is a must.

Bruce Springsteen is brought up by Dottie in season 3 episode 11. She tells Trent about the time Ted got onstage and danced with Bruce Springsteen (which turns out to be a lie) but the connection to Springsteen is still there, because Ted did get onstage with a Bruce Springsteen cover band and sang with them. So, we’ve established a connection between Ted (and Trent) and Bruce Springsteen.

Let’s connect it to something else that happened in the episode. They watch “You’ve Got Mail” starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (I’ll come back to “You’ve Got Mail” later, the important part here is Tom Hanks). Ted states that the superior Nora Ephron/Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie is “Sleepless in Seattle”,a movie about a reporter falling for a single dad simply because of the way he talks about things and what he talks about. He brings the movie up twice, once to say that it’s superior and once telling someone to watch it. Now what does “Sleepless in Seattle” have to do with Bruce Springsteen? “Sleepless in Seattle” came out in 1993, as did “Philadelphia” a movie about a gay man played by Tom Hanks. Springsteen made a song called “Streets of Philadelphia”, specifically for this movie. A bit farfetched? Eh, perhaps, but I’m including it anyway.

So, in this episode Trent, a gay man, is told by Ted’s mum that Ted once went onstage with Bruce Springsteen and that’s the story he needs to confirm straight away. He practically skips towards Ted’s office to ask about it. Why that story? Surely she told him about other things too. And he heard the stories she told the team. But this was the story he was excited to get confirmed. A story about Ted’s connection to an artist that has several queer connections and who can also be connected to something else that is brought up in the episode.

Queen Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Their lead singer was queer.

And I talked about Fat Bottomed Girls and Queen/Freddie/Brian in THIS post. And I talk a little bit about the connection between Ted and Freddie Mercury in THIS post.

Queen has been used a lot throughout “Ted Lasso”, a lot more than I remembered. When I went back to look at the soundtrack for season 1 and 2, I found quite a few Queen songs. I also discovered that two of the trailers for season 2 had Queen songs in the background. “Under Pressure” (which also features David Bowie, another queer artist) and “We Will Rock You”.

Ted talks about having watched Queen at Live Aid on TV when he was younger, in season 2, episode 8 (that episode is called “Man City”, Ted mentions both Queen and Freddie Mercury. Season 3 episode 11 is called “Mom City” and Freddie Mercury is brought up again and a Queen song plays.) “Tear It Up” plays in season 2, episode 2 “We Are the Champions” plays in season 2, episode 9 “Fat Bottomed Girls” are both mentioned and played in season 3, episode 11 And, while not a Queen song, “Fought & Lost” by Sam Ryder featuring Brian May is also played in season 3, episode 11.

But let’s focus on “Fat Bottomed Girls”. Now, I’ve already talked about it in THIS post, that I also linked above. So, I won’t go over all that again. But a little recap, “Fat Bottomed Girls” is linked to “Bicycle Race” which is sometimes seen as a metaphor for being bi. They were both on the same single and they reference each other. The song is brought up by Higgins when he tells Keeley and Rebecca that Freddie, when he briefly owned Richmond in 1980, tried to make that song Richmond’s song but that it didn’t work. Rebecca then brings up that her dad went to art school with Freddie and that according to him if you would have asked Freddie what his greatest talent was, he would have said “flipping straights”.

We’ve already established Ted’s connection to Queen. And we’ve heard Ted refer to himself as straight just a few episodes ago (episode 7, and I’ve already pointed out the connection between episodes 7 and 11, this is another connection) now we get to hear Rebecca say that Freddie Mercury’s biggest talent was “flipping straights”. Ted is, as far as I know, and I’ve checked, the only person who refers to himself as straight, in the whole show. Not a single other character does that. Once in the Christmas special, once in season 3, episode 7, that’s two times. Will the rule of three apply here? Will he say that he’s straight a third time or will he subvert expectations or if you will, flip the script and say that he’s something else?

Dolly Parton Trent has worn a Dolly Parton shirt twice. Dolly Parton is a queer icon. In season 3, episode 11 Beard feels the need to call dibs on Dolly’s part in “Islands in the Stream” at karaoke. Implying that Ted perhaps snags that part for himself a lot of the time. Ted then walks away singing “Islands in the Stream”. Yet another queer connection between Trent and Ted via music.

Harry Nilsson/ (Judy Garland) Back to “You’ve got Mail”. The last scene of “You’ve got mail” ends with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan meeting up and they kiss while Harry Nilsson’s cover of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” plays in the background. We’re shown that scene, not just by witnessing the characters watching it, but by it filling our own screen for a while. “Somewhere over the Rainbow” is of course from “The Wizard of Oz” originally, sung by Judy Garland. A queer icon. The connection to “The Wizard of Oz” and Ted Lasso has been brought up before. But in this episode, it’s very front and centre. Ted is standing at “The Wizard of Oz” pinball machine, staring at the spinning house. And of course, Ted’s connection to Kansas is always there. And it’s brought up in a very important way this episode, with his mother more or less telling him he should go home to Kansas.

So, we have a well-established connection between Ted and Kansas and “The Wizard of Oz”. Let’s talk more about Judy Garland, Dorothy, the original singer of “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. As I mentioned above, Judy Garland was and is a queer icon. And “The Wizard of Oz” was and is a big part of the queer community. Then we have the “Friend of Dorothy” euphemism, a way to recognise other queer people, and it’s strongly associated with Judy Garland’s Dorothy. In episode 11 we are introduced to Ted’s mother, Dottie, which is a nickname/shortening of Dorothy. Another very clear queer connection to Ted.

And let us also look at James Lance who has said that there is a story arc for Trent’s shirts. And he wore a t-shirt with Dorothy’s ruby slippers to an event that is connected to Ted Lasso. And when asked why he was wearing that shirt, why he chose to honour Dorothy. It feels like he’s deflecting when he says “Well, every good character’s got to have a good pair of shoes, right. And these are surely, surely,the best pair of shoes in showbiz. So, you know, they get their own t-shirt. There aren’t many shoes to do that.” That’s suspicious. And we now know that James has had a lot of input into Trent’s costume, with him suggesting things and getting a thumbs up a lot of the time. He clearly thinks that clothes are important and can send a message. And he chose to wear a Dorothy shirt to a red carpet. When we now know that the eleventh episode of season three had several heavy references to “The Wizard of Oz”.

And to go back to Harry Nilsson. A song sung by him was on the soundtrack for Midnight Cowboy, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, a queer movie. (And let’s remember that Trent himself said that Dustin Hoffman would probably play him in a movie).

Honourable mention

Mumford & Sons/Marcus Mumford

Why would I add Mumford & Sons and Marcus Mumford? Because Marcus Mumford made the theme song to Ted Lasso and the instrumental songs for the soundtrack, they’ve also used both Mumford & Sons and Marcus Mumford songs in the show. And the band have a connection to Jason Sudeikis. He was in the official music video for Mumford & Sons’ song “Hopeless Wanderer”, inthat video he clearly plays a version of Marcus, and he kisses another man in it. I think that deserves an honourable mention.

So, to sum it all up, there is queer subtext in the music and the artists that they mention and play in Ted Lasso, and these are just the ones that I personally can connect to Ted (and Ted/Trent). I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but I feel like there is way too much to just be a coincidence. To borrow part of Trent’s line “Through thousands of imperceptible moments, all leading to their inevitable conclusion.” Number four, that doesn’t even matter (but it actually does), LOVE. Queer love.

[emotinalsupportturtle]

Keep seeing clips of that dude reacting to Good Omens and he is now loosing it over how “ruthlessly sexy” David Tennant is saying “I know the answer is going to be a resounding no, but am I the only one who finds him sexy?” You got that right brother

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

🥚egg head🥚

[reminiscentrainclouds]

I take one look at my Toyhouse profile and my interest in all 5 of my separate OC stories/worlds gets renewed at once HELP

[magpiesketchins]

Whatcha doin' up there, lil buddy?

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about the handling of the LGTBQ+ representation in ML (assuming you're comfortable talking about this subject) ?

There's not much to discuss since Miraculous is doing that thing where all the rep is small moments and lines that are easy to cut/change when airing in countries that aren't queer friendly. The little we do get seems fine. I'm especially a fan of the two adult couples as it's nice to see loving families where the parents are clearly queer.

I will not give Miraculous any credit for rep that only comes from Twitter. "Max is ace and Alix is aro" or "Marc and Nathaniel are totally dating!" Then put it in the show, you cowards. Nothing grinds my gears more than this BS where creators try to claim rep they didn't actually give. It's just another form of queer baiting. "You're totally represented in this show! I know we didn't say it, but it's there. I promise! Please give us money, views, and love!"

If you don't want to include "meaningful" rep in your show so that you can make as much money as possible by having a product that's viable in all markets, that's fine. I get it. TV Shows are incredibly expensive to make, but it's 2024, not 2014 (the year of Korrasamai via hand holding). Ambiguous and background rep is no longer the best anyone can do in mainstream TV. If anything, it's become the standard. The token effort done to appear progressive and appease those who want it without turning away larger audiences by being too progressive.

That's not to say that the little rep we see isn't noteworthy, progress is progress! The fact that they can include any sort of explicit rep is great and I'm pleased that they put something in as it makes background rep more standard. I want it to be the standard. I just wouldn't put Miraculous on a list of "great shows for queer kids" since all of the rep is ambiguous at best or of the blink-if-you-miss-it variety, which is what I meant by the term "meaningful" up above. I don't think the given rep has no value, I just don't think it's going to make anyone feel seen in the way shows like The Owl House did.

If they really wanted to get full marks from me, they would have done something to acknowledge that Adrien is aspec since he reads super aspec. It would have been an easy thing to add to the Adrigami arc, too, since it was pretty clear that he didn't actually have feelings for Kagami. At least, that was my read of that whole mess, but I am ace so it's my default. I have to actively remember allos are a thing when writing or else everyone will read as some flavor of aspec.

[probablyin-bed]

it's starting to hit me that stranger things is really ending and that whatever new content we get & when the last season finally airs like ..... that's it. there is no new stuff after that. there are no teasers. no bts crumbs. no theorizing what comes next in the story line. none of it like, its done ! see you never ! so weird

[littleplantfreak]

just learned brimstone is literally just another name for sulfur except it sounds sick as hell

[mbirnsings-71]

do be prepared to have the same photo/gif of buck and bobby spammed onto ur dash 100000 times in a row heheheh

i'll be so prepared actually it's my favorite photo ever and I can never not have it on my dash thank you very much :D