THE FUNKO REPORT
Added 2021-12-06 05:26:58 +0000 UTCWhat’s behind our cultural obsession with nostalgia? Why’s it feel like there’s nothing new happening? How has entertainment fandom become a political identity? And what the heck is going on with men? How has masculinity become defined by either infantilizing yourself or cosplaying as a kitschy traditionalist?
1. Mark Fisher - the slow cancellation of the future
2. Contrapoints - men
3. Making Fun: the story of funko pop
Comments
For future reference, Disney Adults around 8:20
Christopher Clark
2025-09-19 02:34:16 +0000 UTCI appreciate this video and how much it's made me reflect on my biases toward toxic/positive masculinity and what it means to redirect both sides of discontent. My perspective is constantly being rewritten, never fully being able to explain why either side is right or wrong. This video felt like being pulled out of a suffocating ideology and breathing fresh air again.
Lorraine Cornillie
2023-07-24 17:02:03 +0000 UTCbruh why tf have I waited so long to join the Patreon this shit is incredible
Teodor Eliasson
2023-07-08 17:01:56 +0000 UTCgot a ticket from a cop the other day with a funkopop mounted to the back of his motorcycle
Frigid Mirth
2023-06-01 08:30:27 +0000 UTCA
Ryan O’Connor
2023-01-03 02:56:06 +0000 UTCThis is great
Maxwell Hoffman
2022-10-19 20:13:47 +0000 UTCyour reports make my heart race :)
Geraldo_Rivera
2022-03-17 23:59:23 +0000 UTCI also appreciate that you consistenly shy away from casting blame on one party or another and instead return to class disparity as the enemy
Alex Harris
2022-02-19 23:43:27 +0000 UTCHoly shit, the part about the soft talismans and pastiche nature of traditional hard talismans is wild as hell
Alex Harris
2022-02-19 23:34:29 +0000 UTC🤯
Nicos Ledakis
2022-01-11 13:05:43 +0000 UTCI'd like to add to the point of the cancellation of the future the great success of nostalgia music that preys on idiomatic tropes from specific eras, most notably Dua Lipa(the album is literally called Future Nostalgia) and The Weeknd heavily borrowing from the 80s synthpop musical and visual aesthetics as well as Silk Sonic basically just remaking Motown style soul music. It's not so much that it's invoking the spirit of those era-defining styles moreso than being a caricature of them: the Skate song off Silk Sonic being a prime example of that. That being said, those are all 3 fantastic albums with breathtaking production that I respect and admire very much. Great work Brad!
Samy Guidoum
2022-01-10 23:32:11 +0000 UTCGenius, thanks Brad
Kez Dearmer
2022-01-08 11:15:20 +0000 UTCLove it, Brad. That montage at the end had me laughing. I'll have to sort out what my own version of Funkos are, but I hate all of the soft AND hard talisman starter pack signifiers you shed light on. A lot to reflect on.
Eric M Diehl
2022-01-02 19:02:53 +0000 UTCI mean, they literally refer to themselves and their listeners as "failsons", a direct nod to their "failed" masculinity. The real funkos are the podcasters we made our friends along the way. I'm absolutely not denigrating the podcast btw, I'm a big fan/faildaughter myself
G
2021-12-24 06:28:25 +0000 UTCas long as it's not a vasectomy gift from your wife's boyfriend, I think you're in the clear
G
2021-12-24 06:20:26 +0000 UTCWe all have our Funkos, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams.
Danny McIntyre
2021-12-21 07:19:04 +0000 UTCgreat report, thanks brad
Pablo J
2021-12-15 03:35:38 +0000 UTCFuck yes. This rules.
John J Stone
2021-12-15 02:28:32 +0000 UTCFirst of all I'm obsessed with this, second - I feel like this is somewhat true for women, too. Every time I imagine getting married and having a family etc etc I feel like "a republican" and feel some odd need to justify it to my friends. Super bizarre
Mary
2021-12-14 21:57:07 +0000 UTCWhy'd you put Chapo in the slideshow at the end? Would make a lot more sense if you put Ezra Klein, Vox, or Pod Save America there—no way a Chapo listener is a Funko collector.
Eric Wiley
2021-12-12 15:10:14 +0000 UTCIn support with Driely: “URBAN MEN’S FASHION / THROWING FITS / AIME LEON DORE / ‘ARCHIVAL’ “
Zach Mueller
2021-12-11 14:07:39 +0000 UTCsame. my girlfriend bought me a nintendo switch recently lol
Will Wharton
2021-12-11 08:53:09 +0000 UTCIt’s interesting that as a gay man I didn’t identify with much in this video. I goes because there is less of a worry about coming across as toxicly masculine? Like I can grow a scraggly neckbeard and wear flannel and vote for Bernie and my woke coworkers give me a pass for it in a way they wouldn’t if I was straight. Hear me out: What if the liberal male ideal is just being gay?
James Wills
2021-12-10 07:24:03 +0000 UTCThanks
Nick Vitou
2021-12-10 06:58:57 +0000 UTCTouchdown by John maus
John
2021-12-10 06:58:09 +0000 UTCWhat is the song at the end?
Nick Vitou
2021-12-09 16:54:28 +0000 UTCGlobal homogeneity.
Nick Vitou
2021-12-09 16:54:05 +0000 UTC💪🏼 Ps. I'd add 'Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past' by Mark Fisher's close friend Simon Reynolds to any reading list on the subject of culture's inability to formulate a coherent vision of the present
Benjamin Arnold
2021-12-09 00:23:38 +0000 UTCAnother fantastic report!
Devon
2021-12-08 20:13:45 +0000 UTChave always seen marvel films as mchappy meals of cinema so this really speaks to me
sixty four
2021-12-08 18:45:25 +0000 UTCLove this! My experience with men and Funko though has actually been that if they are serious collectors, they are not experiencing that these licensed toys are softening in the nu-male way. A lot of the men I've met are actually beta nerds who perform masculinity through collecting them and getting "rare" or valuable ones. Very much like NFT's. So they actually perform masculinity through resource collecting and hoarding and even over emphasize these traits to maybe cover the shame of being into collectables. I really liked the difference between hard and soft talismans, I think the lines between how men are using these items to feel secure is really blurry, both being a pastiche of traditional masculinity when taken to extremes (one economic "I have rare items" and one visual "I can survive in the wilderness") .
Alexandra Michelle
2021-12-08 17:39:28 +0000 UTCgreat work. feeling a pang of guilt everytime something i enjoy is referenced lol. feels good tho. like someone is tenderly touching a wound in my soul.
za
2021-12-08 02:14:30 +0000 UTCRecently left a five year job working at a shop that sold these things. This really articulated a lot of my feelings about this type of fandom culture and was pretty cathartic, thanks Brad!
Steve
2021-12-07 14:52:03 +0000 UTCOne of my fav general fandom fandom tiktoks are the "tell me your man won't leave you without telling me your man won't leave you" trend lmaooo its full of fandom bois. It always cuts to "secretly" filmed clips of the men looking at their basement full of thousands of dollars worth of fish tanks or them explaining why Bionicle are not mean to be played with to their dog. It's the theatrical pov of wifey to grownup lol random man hahah
Rachael Milton
2021-12-07 06:35:30 +0000 UTCThis video really put to words a lot of things I’ve had trouble expressing recently. The cultural expression of being “a fan” feels so steeped in sickness and subservience. Dedicate yourself to a product, live vicariously through other’s work, it’s easier than living your own wasted useless life. And I’ve been wondering how one can be “a fan” in a healthy way. I mean I’m pretty far from a consoomer, but I’m not a cultural hermit and so these fandom anxieties pop up in my life. Of course the other problem is how in a profile centric society your cultural consumption is existential to your own identity. I can’t watch anything anymore without being plagued with questions of what it means for my personal identity - or more so what other people would think about it. And it sucks because it’s great to share and enjoy art and content with others. But the current landscape makes it such a show: enjoy the right things, enjoy them for the right reasons, enjoy things subversively, etc. Its just exhausting to even engage with.
Will McCracken
2021-12-07 06:31:56 +0000 UTCwell wicked mate
Big G Shedda
2021-12-07 05:45:44 +0000 UTCGod damn. This rocked me.
Joey Brodnax
2021-12-07 05:01:52 +0000 UTCCum town
Peem
2021-12-07 03:01:54 +0000 UTCYour best one yet damn you!
Nathan Rutkowski
2021-12-07 02:26:08 +0000 UTCok epic much??
Peter M. Loftus
2021-12-07 02:11:56 +0000 UTCHey cool video, thanks for all the work. I especially like your wondering at the end, almost like a call to action. I think the new-new masculinity you ask about creating exists. It is an understanding that the forms of masculinity, and gender presentation in general, are related in the same terms as family resemblence. Lined up in a row, you can see that your cousins are all related, even if some look totally different than others. Lined up in a row, I can see that positive masculine role models are all related by masculinity, even if some behave completely different than others. What traits they have in common is complicated, difficult to pin down. What they all lack is simple: they're not antiquated shitheads. Thanks again for sharing, and for reading this far!(!?)
Evan Lamb
2021-12-07 01:59:55 +0000 UTCAnother fucking banger of a video Brad. Your end sequences always make me feel like I’m strapped into a Total Recall-esque reprogramming machine. I think one of the consequences of the nu male is the total disengagement from forming, or at least voicing any opinion on… anything? Whether it’s “making space” or “uplifting voices” or “trusting the science” it goes beyond apathy or fear. It’s actually virtuous to refrain entirely from engaging with any social or political questions. Even when their opinion is the *right one*, its virtue-signaling, white-knighting, here’s-your-prize-for-doing-the-bare-minimum. I think that in engaging instead with these infantilizing interests, these men with their tails between their legs feel like they can be themselves, free of sin. I think a lot of them have surrounded themselves with scolds online for so long now that they’ve backed themselves into a Funko-lined corner.
Jackie
2021-12-07 00:47:43 +0000 UTCFinally subbed after years of lurking on the insta and it looks like I'm here to stay. The positive vs negative analysis of modern masculinity hit the nail on the head, and the way you tie in infantilization and consumer identity feels like it filled in some gaps for me personally. It seems to me like at least one form of consumer fanatic existed before technology flipped it from a largely antisocial to potentially social phenomena. I'm thinking of the LOTR fans who actually learned Elvish, or the Star Wars fans who could tell you why a particular Sith in the early aughts prequels didn't make sense as a character. Do you see there being a rare but more robust and substantive form of consumer fanhood out there? If so, what separates it from the Marvelcon crowd? Thanks for all you do Brad - I look forward to exploring more of your Patreon and purchasing my very own Brad Troemel Funkopo, when the time comes.
Joe V
2021-12-06 23:14:48 +0000 UTCfucking loving your patreon brad <3
Rein Berenschot
2021-12-06 22:07:02 +0000 UTCThe lack of a liberal masculine archetype in American society is a fascinating observation. Kindof blew my mind.
Paul Maertens
2021-12-06 21:54:28 +0000 UTCanyways really loved this report <3
Pedro Bello
2021-12-06 21:00:32 +0000 UTClI use "LIL B" the "basegod" as my archeotype of the male I want to become.
Pedro Bello
2021-12-06 21:00:18 +0000 UTCthe solution is in the Gen X model, sensitive art dudes rebelling against their toxic dads
Mara Zupsich
2021-12-06 20:13:34 +0000 UTCBeing based, luckily this doesn't apply to me
Dondo
2021-12-06 18:58:50 +0000 UTCYou really popped off on this one Brad
Pietro Alexander
2021-12-06 18:00:03 +0000 UTCSo good! I agree that the modern man has become so empty with personality. It seems that so many people's interests now are not based in participating in pop culture, political, and career niches but creating a fake sense of personality from the infinite information floating on the internet. Additionally, no one wants to evaluate themselves on topics like if they are presenting the right version of themselves. How can someone know who they are if their personality is based on their own interests at this moment rather than the sum of their life experiences?
Forrest Hamilton
2021-12-06 17:07:39 +0000 UTCMy initial discomfort with the subject matter proves the point you’ve sucessfully made here. Great stuff.
Null_null
2021-12-06 14:21:11 +0000 UTCplease write a book
Zackery Belanger
2021-12-06 14:16:43 +0000 UTCso good! as always. i think this one should be free for the public
Stinky G.
2021-12-06 14:06:39 +0000 UTCPLEASE DO A REPORT ON VIRGIL ABLOH WHILE THE BODY IS STILL HOT
Driely S.
2021-12-06 13:45:29 +0000 UTCBRAVOOOO
Jacob Isaacs
2021-12-06 12:25:46 +0000 UTCbless up
okkaori
2021-12-06 11:46:45 +0000 UTCas always, chapeau
Santiago Corredor-Vergara
2021-12-06 11:16:37 +0000 UTCExcellent
jemma
2021-12-06 10:29:15 +0000 UTCGREEEEEAT
Max Weinland
2021-12-06 08:12:42 +0000 UTCat the end of meaning and progress is ecstasy XD #nowayhome
Aidan Lyerly
2021-12-06 06:46:52 +0000 UTCthank you Brad—extremely important info for the people
Gabe KS
2021-12-06 05:52:35 +0000 UTCyes
ldb
2021-12-06 05:27:41 +0000 UTC
