Arthur Megathread - A thread for all fans of the critically acclaimed PBS children's show

[The Fifth Waltz]

https://www.pride.com/geek/2019/5/13/arthurs-teacher-mr-ratburn-gay-finally-got-married

Queer representation in children's animation has been getting better and better as the years go by, and while it's nice to see so many new, inclusive titles premiering on so many networks, we wish some of our old-school faves would also introduce queer characters as well. Well it looks like Arthur might have just heard our prayers...

The long-running PBS Kids series (which has been airing since 1996) just confirmed that Mr. Nigel Ratburn, Arthur Read's cake-loving, third-grade, Lakewood Elementary School teacher, is queer!

In the new episode "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone," viewers finally get to see Mr. Ratburn marry his husband! And it's literally the cutest thing ever!!

While current Arthur viewers are probably a little too young for Twitter, when O.G. fans who grew up with Arthur in the '90s & '00s found out about Mr. Ratburn's new husband, they (righfully) freaked out!

The blue checkmarks be throwing in their opinions too! thanks, @Shway

 

[Pepito The Cat]

Congrats Mr. Literal Anthropomorphic Rat, you are a symbol of our cause.

 

[The Pink Panther]

That fucking rat always sounded pretty flamboyant on the show. No surprise that the rat would turn out to be the faggot.


Lol, a gay rat.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Make the plague and disease carrying mammal gay

 

[Tootsie Bear]

Not only is Mr. Ratburn gay, but he's also in a inter-species relationship with a aardvark! Truly progressive!

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I can't think of anything I give less of a fuck about, aside from the fact that this show is still running.
I watched this when I was kid...and they're still making new episodes?!

 

[Eggplant]

Well that's one way to ruin your childhood with progressive bullshit.

 

[Mightykiwi]

To be fair, that guy always came across as a faggot to me

 

[The Jumping Dwarf]

Yes, because implicit gay buttsecks between two anthropomorphic animals is clearly what this preschool cartoon needed.

Wow. So tolerant.

 

[Pina Colada]

I have to say that I’m not surprised, given the way Ratburn speaks has made me think he was never really straight to begin with.

Spoiler: Also this

Props to Arthur for handling it in a good way (which it notably has for mature themes) and not making a huge deal out of it. It makes me think back to the Postcards from Buster episode with the two moms (which never mentioned the obvious, yet still got shitcanned).

 

[The Pink Panther]

I can't think of anything I give less of a fuck about, aside from the fact that this show is still running.
I watched this when I was kid...and they're still making new episodes?!

They're as much of dead show as the Simpsons, which like the Simpsons, got its animation budget cut where it transitioned from traditional digital ink paint animation to an absolutely ugly flash style (though the Simspons transitioned to ToonBoom, I think.).

 

[ProgKing of the North]

It actually seems like they're handling it pretty well. The teacher's getting married and the person he's marrying happens to be a dude. Nothing wrong with that IMO

 

[Marissa Moira]

Yes, because implicit gay buttsecks between two anthropomorphic animals is clearly what this preschool cartoon needed.

Wow. So tolerant.

Sesame Street was based on the premises of sticking things up the ass of characters.

 

[gun]

remember the intro where he's swimming in the pool with kids and theyre all scared because his head looks like a shark

 

[Marissa Moira]

Hold up that dude in the white suit on the left is wearing high heels.

That's pretty blatantly gay.

 

[Chan the Wizard]

Not progressive until we get a tranny that commits suicide.

 

[FierceBrosnan]

remember the intro where he's swimming in the pool with kids and theyre all scared because his head looks like a shark

In all fairness...

 

[Tootsie Bear]

Hold up that dude in the white suit on the left is wearing high heels.

That's pretty blatantly gay.

Apparently that's Patty Ratburn, Mr. Ratburn's older sister and the "wedding coordinator". She was played by Jane Lynch.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Not progressive until we get a tranny that commits suicide.

It's gonna be Francine

 

[ProgKing of the North]

It's gonna be Francine

Francine and Muffy are clearly gonna be in a bulldyke/lipstick lesbian relationship and Muffy's gonna get all butthurt when Francine goes on T

jesus how do I even remember these characters' names, I haven't thought about Arthur in like 15 years