History YMMV / FunkyWinkerbean

* AmericansHateTingle: Like with most other U.S. plot-based comic strips, ''Funky Winkerbean'' has pretty much zero European readers. Perhaps more surprisingly, it never took hold in Canada either, where it's also almost completely unknown. Part of the reason, no doubt, is the difficulty that new readers would have in understanding new strips without access to the decades of old strips that have piled up.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 2019 saw a months-long arc around Cindy and Jessica filming a documentary about Butter Brinkel, a 40s Hollywood star whose career was ended after he was charged for the murder of an actress he dated, and who was a close friend of ''Starbuck Jones'' actor Cliff Anger. After the long period of pre-production and exploring the case's drama and peculiarities, Cliff ends his interviews for the documentary with an odd recollection: Brinkel's actor-chimpanzee pet Zanzibar, who he recalls once pointed a prop gun at him and ''spoke'' (in English, which is impossible for real chimps!) to demand where his "father" was when Cliff looked after the monkey, suggesting that ''he'' killed the actress in a fit of misplaced jealousy! The arc comes to an end mere days after this bizarre revelation, with no further comment on the absurdity of it all.

** Though Harley's role as the school janitor had been established in Act 1, he had largely faded into the background in the following Acts, making his final appearance have the vibe of RememberTheNewGuy for later readers. That he's revealed to be a time-traveling observer whose mission has been to guide the timeline in the proper direction just to HandWave away the strips many, many, ''many'' [[ContinuitySnarl Continuity Snarls]] and the gap with the ''ComicStrip/{{Crankshft}}'' timeline certainly didn't help either.

* AssPull: After Batiuk announced he would be ending the strip in late 2022, he introduced the character of Mr. Davidson, the school janitor, as a time-traveling observer whose mission has been to guide the timeline of the town of Westview in the proper direction. Because... why not, apparently. (In reality, it was to HandWave away the strips many, many, ''many'' continuity snarls and plot breakdowns -- they were all the work of the time traveler, messing up the timestream.)

** Pretty much everything regarding Lisa's death, but especially when she makes a video for Summer.
** Bull Bushka's illness, from his initial diagnosis of having a degenerative brain disorder (the result of repeated concussions while playing football), to the aftermath (retirement from coaching and later teaching at Westview High) to seeking treatment but being denied insurance coverage to his decision to take his own life (fearing bankruptcy, suffering from ravaging headaches, unable to explain increasingly bizarre behavior and knowing his family and friends will likely watch him devolve into a dementia-type vegetative state) … the storyline of the onetime superjock and super-tormenter of Les Moore who overcame his past to be one one of Westview's most beloved coaches and teachers (and one of Les' closest friends) into a man truly suffering and tortured by his predicament and knowing there was nothing he could do was one of the strip's most heartbreaking storylines.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: It's a little hard to care about these people, either from the sheer number of bad things or how much it gets hammered in your face.

* AssPull: After Batiuk announced he would be ending the strip in late 2022, he introduced the character of Mr. Davidson, the school janitor, as a time-traveling observer whose mission has been to guide the timeline of the town of Westview in the proper direction. Because... why not, apparently.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: According to Batiuk anyway. He really takes it personally.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: In its early years, the comic was simple enough – a wacky gag-per-day strip that took place in a high-school. Years later, after a few in-universe timeskips, it became one of the most dark and depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, suicide, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. And yet, for some reason, it still retained its silly name. Even its sister comic Crankshaft (which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't a dramatic exaggeration either; read Funky Winkerbean's trope page.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: In its early years, the comic was simple enough – a wacky gag-per-day strip that took place in a high-school. Years later, after a few in-universe timeskips, it became one of the most dark and depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, suicide, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even its sister comic Crankshaft (which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't a dramatic exaggeration either; read Funky Winkerbean's trope page.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: In its early years, the comic was simple enough – a wacky GagPerDay strip that took place in a high-school. Years later, after a few in-universe timeskips, it became one of the most dark and depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, suicide, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even its sister comic Crankshaft (which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't a dramatic exaggeration either; read Funky Winkerbean's trope page.

* DanBrowned: In 2020, Batiuk had an arc involving a wildfire that broke out in LA. Despite Batiuk proudly posting on his blog photos of a trip he took to Los Angeles specifically to 'research' the story, he got almost every geographic detail totally wrong. The fire (as described) stretched from Point Dume to at least Bronson Canyon -- which would wipe out Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Westwood, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Hollywood, and possibly Los Feliz. It would be a Hurricane Katrina-level disaster (or worse) that would leave hundreds of thousands, potentially millions, homeless. He also has characters escape the fire by driving "north along the coast" from West Hollywood (which makes no geographical sense whatsoever), and has people who are practically in the middle of the blaze completely unaware of it. In reality, the massive amount of smoke this sort of fire would spew out would be visible for miles around, and would immediately (and very noticeably) affect the air quality over a very wide area of LA county.

* AssPull: After Batiuk announced he would be ending the strip in late 2022, he introduced the character of Mr. Davidson, the school janitor, as a time-traveling observer whose mission has been to guide the timeline of the town of Westview in the proper direction. This reveal might have worked had the character of the janitor been seen in the strip even once before.

* WhatAnIdiot: Lisa was accidentally retconned into being one in a recent arc involving Darin's father Frank. Her journal reveals that after Frank had hit her in the past and pressured her into having sex with him she intended to break up with him. And she told him she wanted to break up while they were alone, at night and in an alleyway away from any people. Not in the daytime, at somewhere public with lots of people around.