Justyn Todd Giardino (born: March 5, 1997), better known online as FUNKe, FUNKePills, Punchy, and Punfunky (formerly Mtvnoob), is an American gaming YouTuber whose predominantly popular for his comedic and educational Team Fortress 2 videos, though his focus has shifted to general gaming content overtime, with some amount of content on TV shows and anime.
History[]
Main Channel[]
FUNKe made his start on YouTube in 2009 posting videos about RuneScape. Since then, all of those videos have been unlisted. Later in late 2013, he began uploading Team Fortress 2 content. He started off uploading short clips without much commentary, including a showcase of old TF2 taunts that remains as the oldest video on his channel that isn't unlisted. Later on, in 2014 and 2015, he began uploading gameplay videos with his commentary overlaid on top in the vein of STAR_ or Jerma985, who were popular in the community at that time. He uploaded some scripted content, but the vast majority of his videos at the time were live commentaries and gameplay. Some of that content contained his friends, such as Valtroid, Venom, and Tyche.
During and after 2016, FUNKe began to slowly transform into completely scripted content, and eventually video essays and commentaries. His video titled Yep, that's Overwatch Contenders was the last video of his that wasn't scripted content. He would present some of this content in his new format, FUNKtv, which were video essays that would use Source Filmmaker animation and his TF2 Scout loadout to present his ideas. Skits would be incorporated in between different parts of the videos. He also created FUNKe Study, a type of content that would disect and "study" a specific game or show but would take a lot less editing and time than traditional FUNKe videos. This has since been moved to his second channel.
In late 2018, he had migrated fully from Team Fortress 2 to variety content. Much of his channel had been rebranded (his former stoned Toon Link avatar being replaced with Bombi). He began to create video essays that had much more intensive editing than before and focused on a variety of games that had something in common, rather than just one video game. These videos, dubbed "glorified Top 10's" by FUNKe himself, covered topics that many video games shared, like boss battles, mapping tools, and music mechanics, and disected these aspects of games.
In the latter half of 2019 and the first half of 2020, FUNKe fell out of YouTube for a while, attributing it to procrastination and burn out. FUNKe began working on his return, and uploaded 2 FUNKe Studies on his second channel during the nearly 1 year gap he was gone. He has since uploaded 2 videos in the same style as his most recent content. The State of Movement Shooters 2, his most recent video, used more subtle editing than his normal content, and focused heavily on one of FUNKe's favorite games, Titanfall 2. FUNKtv has been currently untouched, but FUNKe is hoping to create another one some time in the future.
After another hiatus, being busy with his personal life, he resumed infrequently streaming before returning to make content on Youtube in 2021. He has started to use Bombi as an avatar to present his videos in such videos as I Miss Team Fortress 2, and MORE Movement Shooters. He tends to upload videos with a 2-5 month gap between each one.
FUNKraft[]
FUNKe ran a series of now inactive Minecraft servers called FUNKraft across seven seasons, as well as a few stress tests, side events, and a Hardcore run. He would stream on this server live on his Twitch, and would invite his Twitch subscribers and Patreon supporters to play on the server alongside him. Some of the seasons would have different mods and data packs to distinguish them, and he would occasionally upload highlights of his streams onto his second channel. The 7th season was cut short when FUNKe went on hiatus, and the series is currently inactive despite his return to content creation.
- Season 1
- Season 2
- Season 3 - Called Modded Mayhem, it utilized a modpack.
- Season 4
- Season 5
- Season 6 - Utilized the Pixelmon mod.
- Season 7 - Called Elemental, it utilized a server plugin called ProjectKorra replicating the element bending system from The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Trivia[]
- His avatar, Bombi, is a cousin of the Sentry Buster from TF2. FUNKe describes him not as a persona but as a vessel that he possesses to communicate through.
- FUNKe has produced some music, including the Lunchbox Mixtape, a TF2 parody song album, as well as some political rap songs on his SoundCloud.
- FUNKe has a lot of love for the American rock band Weezer, to the point that it has become one of his defining qualities. His favorite album is Pinkerton. Several of his videos use Weezer albums as a rating system, with the Blue Album representing a ten, and Pinkerton representing an eleven.
- FUNKe has implied that he and his longtime friend Valtroid are looking into getting into a relationship, saying that it isn't a concrete thing.
- Valtroid was often involved in FUNKe's earlier streams and videos, and FUNKe has said that they talk almost daily.
- FUNKe's former profile picture mirrors the expression of Stoner Link.
- FUNKe used to live in Florida for 5 years.
- FUNKe is half Irish and half Italian.
Gallery[]
