#(Johnny was right Daniel was wrong... also again)

[purplerakath]

This is one of those things that being AuDHD I keep second guessing about the characters.

That and I dislike Demetri's characterization immensely. For very AuDHD reasons, if my friend showed me a video they promised me they deleted as a way to cheer me up, I'd have a meltdown. I'd never trust them again. They'd basically be dead to me. Because no matter what they said, or did, ever, in the future. That moment would be lingering in the back of my head forever.

So on the one hand, a lot of Autie traits are also just trauma response traits, and they made it clear from jump Eli has always been bullied. On the other hand a lot of the secrets Demetri told about Eli are autistic comorbidities so I'm never sure if I'm projecting or not on if Eli is ND or not.

If we do entertain the idea of ND (speaking Autism specifically for own experiences) read on Eli, I wouldn't call Hawk a mask. I would say he spends all of Season 2 and 3 completely dysregulated. He's in a form of freefall since the All-Valley in S1 and whatever forms of safety he had in his life are drained away against his will.

One of those being Demetri talking crap about Eli's special interest (Karate) since Season 1. Which is more of 'I see what they wanted with Demetri they just did it badly.' Demetri started pushing Eli away the moment Eli started being Hawk. (Which admittedly is also a very neurodivergent thing to do) Then they were on opposite sides of a war, and Demetri kept making himself less safe every time they interacted.

So it isn't a surprise in Season 3 he's basically in the longest stretch of disassociation and meltdown possible. His best friend keeps betraying him. His new best friend is in a coma/wheelchair. His third new friend moved away. And his new surrogate mentor/role model 'betrayed him' because Kreese got into Hawk's head.

And he wasn't until he got back all the people he lost (well, not Aisha, but Demetri, Miguel, and Johnny) that a balance between his two extremes (Eli in S1 and Hawk in S3) came about. Only to have that balance taken away again by Cobra Kai assaulting him and destroying another of his safe spaces (his hair, and the sanctity of his tattoo guy's shop).

But at the end of Season 4 he beats Robby (clean), has Moon back to liking him, he has all his safe people back. He can start to find out how much of Hawk was overcorrection (his apology to Kyler's flunkie in S6) and how much is him. And that is, apparently over the top America-hair.

Which in an autistic reading makes perfect sense. Also with him now finally comfortable enough in himself he can question if he ever wanted Demetri's dream of going to MIT. Like- Season 6 Hawk is incredibly healthy and flourishing.

I really, really wish the show did better with Demetri's character. I hate having my response to 90% of everyone's favorite scenes with him be 'but he's being an asshole right now.'

it’s always “eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for masculinity/the queer experience” but it’s never eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for the neurodivergent experience and masking. hawk is CLEARLY eli’s way of masking - he is literally following a social script, adhering to social cues and speech patterns he created to look tougher out of a need to SURVIVE. he literally distances himself away from demetri who is LITERALLY THE DEFINITION of neurodivergency (misunderstanding social cues, special interests, slower development when it comes to karate) out of fear that he might be perceived as anything that isn’t his neurotypical persona.

sure we talk about it, but we don’t talk about it in the sense of how powerful that makes the bond between him and demetri - “this is who you are.” “a loser?” “my best friend. i know you think that that mohawk defined who you are. but it didn’t. not to me.” it is the most POWERFUL thing to me when we get this narrative where demetri will stand by his side not in spite of or because of his neurodivergency but just understand that it’s a part of him. no babying, no shoving one part or another down - just acceptance. and only when eli gets that acceptance is the mohawk not a mask anymore, but a facet of his own personal beliefs, dreams and interests. hell, it’s why i can finally say that YEAH - I’M LETTING HIM WEAR THE AMERICAN MOHAWK. it isn’t some persona he wears anymore like a lie - it’s his enthusiasm for his special karate interest. and i like joking about flag desecrations, so why not.

this is a very happy/positive ramble, so i’m not going to get into complaining about how more often than not the mischaracterization of eli peeves me off so bad because my brain unconsciously connected it to people infantilizing autistic characters. LET AUTISTIC CHARACTERS HAVE FLAWS AND EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL IN THEIR HIGH SCHOOL JOURNEY OF SELF DISCOVERY! IT’S FUN!

[bluetorchsky]

"There you are."

Henry Stickmin gasped, looking up from where he had been trying to hide. He turned around, ready to throw a punch at whoever spoke to him but he froze in his spot.

The younger man stepped forward, tilting his head at the thief. "Is something wrong?" He asked, a smile hidden beneath the cloth around his mouth. His eyes were covered with a black mask, a black cloak around his body and a black hat with a wide rim and a red stripe around the top part.

Even in dark alleyway, where the boy casted no shadow unlike himself, Henry was face to face with Anino, Patron to the Devil, ruler of the Underworld. Anino, the right hand man of the Devil and the one to take dead souls back with him underground.

Henry was confused why he was here, pulling the stolen diamond closer to him. Anino saw this and shook his head with a chuckle.

“Henry, I am not here for your diamond. I am here for something else.” The boy’s youthful voice startled Henry, but so did the fact that he knew his name. Seeing his expression, the patron clarified. “All the deities are aware of who you are, Henry. Your deity has made them aware of you and your special powers. The other Patrons were told to keep a look out for you, so that we may not interfere with your choices.”

Henry looked down with a frown, his eyes catching the symbol on the back of his right hand. A four-pointed star that always reminded him of a destiny he never chose. And yet, he was given the powers to alter the timelines, see the possibilities, and finalize the choices he made. How ironic.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the soul seeker shuffle and sit down next to him. He took off his right glove and pulled down the cloth covering his mouth. “I’m guessing your last choice sealed your fate, huh?”

Henry nodded, not making eye contact with the other. Anino let out a thoughtful hum before he waved his right hand over his eyes, his mask dissolving into shadow flames. Now Henry could see the bright, calm brown eyes of the boy.

“You…are so young…” Henry whispered, bringing his knees closer together.

“Eh, I don’t feel that young actually.” He said with a dry chuckle. “Still, doing this since I was ten was a big change for me. It’s been…interesting to say the least.”

The boy waved his hand over the floor and a small shadowy portal appeared. He reached in, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he reached further in before smiling. The soul seeker sat back up and pulled his right hand out to reveal-

“Cake?” Henry asked, his dull grey eyes widening. “But, why?”

“My birthday is tomorrow, but my mom made too much cake.” The teen said with a chuckle. “I’ve been trying to get rid of a decent amount, so that there is still enough left for me. And, it is your birthday today, isn’t it?”

The thief let go of one knee and reached into his work out jacket, feeling the birthday coupon he had been given at the grocery store.

“Yeah…my birthday…” He murmured, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He stopped when he saw the small flame of a candle, burning brightly in dark alleyway.

“Then Happy Birthday, Henry Stickmin.” Anino said with a smile. “I think you could use one of these moments once in a while, no?”

The thief stayed silent but after a moment, he looked back up and smiled at the other boy.

“Yeah…thank you…um…”

“Daniel. You can call me Daniel.”

“Daniel…Thank you.”

—————

Happy 4th Anniversary CTM! I know this scene takes place after Stealing the Diamond technically (Anino is going to find Johnny’s soul after), but I also wanted to showcase that Daniel’s birthday is tomorrow, the same date as mine. I just figured to combine both events together, hehe.

There is not a lot I can say that I hadn’t said last year, but I just want to say thank you again to everyone in the community and fandom, for making this series as great as it is! Y’all are wonderful people!

Sorry if it’s kind of hasty, but just getting this posted before work so you know how it is. Lore stuff in the story will be expanded upon some time in the future.

[purpleheartskies]

The Neglect of Robby Keene

This post focuses on how neglect, abandonment, and emotional neglect are constants for Robby and how these led to Robby's behavior in s5. Interestingly, I'd written a draft of this post for s1-s4 before s5 came out. I didn't post the draft at the time because s5 was going to come out soon and the spoilers/leaks had started. After s5, I was easily able to update the draft to include the relevant content from s5 because Robby's story in s5 fit right into the post, sadly.

A recurring punishment for Robby is abandonment and neglect. Johnny bails for months from Robby's life whenever Johnny and Robby argue. Both of his parent's responses to him quitting school and giving them attitude about it was to just abandon him to his decision. And after he was dumped into juvie, neither Johnny nor Shannon made genuine efforts to be there for Robby as he needed them to be.

"You know, all those years you weren't there, I blamed myself."

Really, Robby doesn't even have to do anything to be abandoned or neglected by his parents, as is the case with situations like Robby's. Johnny walked away before Robby was born, making the decision then not to be there for Robby as a parent should be. Shannon constantly bailed and probably left Robby with no food or money often. Robby's sigh when he was going to fill his bowl of cereal with water was so telling.

Robby acts in no way surprised by Johnny and Shannon's behavior, and when he calls it out, he uses phrases like "it took 16 years", "same as it always goes", "again", "all those years", indicating the consistency of their behavior. Even when Shannon was leaving for Mexico in s2, Robby wasn't surprised that she was leaving but was worried about the bills and rent. He had also commented that she had been gone for days and he thought that someone had been breaking in, indicating that he hadn't been expecting her to return so soon. She had no concern for his well-being. Instead, she asked him what was wrong with him because he had attacked the guy with her, who had been entering the apartment, even though she had been gone for days with no obvious communication with Robby about when she would be returning. She was gone for months after this, and Robby ran out of money and food. Daniel took Robby in, and then months after, when Shannon returned from Mexico and said that she was leaving again, Robby asked her where she was going "this time".

Shannon: "Robby, what is wrong with you?!?" Robby: "What is wrong with me? You haven't been here in days. I thought someone broke in."

In fact, since s1, Johnny's abandonment and neglect of Robby has involved Johnny replacing him as well. Johnny not only gave up on Robby so easily after Robby said that he didn't want to go back to school and told Johnny to leave. Johnny also told Robby that he didn't care if Robby went to school, simply because Robby made some pointed comments and gave him some attitude. Johnny then went and dedicated himself to a random kid to put all of his efforts into, instead of going back to Robby and making a firm commitment to change and do better with him.

Robby seeing Johnny share a father-son moment with a random kid, after Johnny had affirmed Robby's comment that Johnny hasn't cared for 16 years by saying that he doesn't care if Robby goes to school.

Abandonment/neglect is so often a punishment and a constant for Robby that, when Daniel disowned Robby, Robby was generally accepting of this punishment. The first time Daniel kicked Robby out, Robby did try to explain himself in the moment, but the next day at the avt, he was back to his usual quiet demeanor, not saying anything to Daniel and just leaving him be. And when Daniel came to speak to him, Robby apologized and explained himself, not making the slightest mention of the harshness of that punishment without being given a chance to explain. Daniel had told Robby after he had fallen for Louie's first prank that Daniel would listen to Robby's side next time, which Daniel didn't do. The second time Daniel disowned Robby, not just as his student but as part of his family too, saying that it was all a mistake and once again not giving Robby a chance to explain, Robby was quietly sad about it but had no anger towards Daniel about his words or disownment. Instead, Robby defended Daniel's overall kindness to him and told Johnny that he and Daniel can learn from each other. Robby was still quietly accepting of the disownment later when he was talking to Sam in school. In fact, he took the situation as inspiration to confess a secret he had been keeping from her.

"Wait. Don't even start. I gave you a second chance. This whole thing was a mistake. You know, you wanna end up like him [Johnny], that's up to you." Robby doesn't know that, the next day, Daniel told Sam about Robby, "I thought I could help him, but... but he's got his own family. I need to focus on mine." Daniel had truly given up on Robby without even giving him chance to explain.

A couple weeks after the school fight, when Daniel ambushed Robby with the cops, Robby panicked and then threw up his emotional walls ("Don't bother") pretty quickly. He was being completely open and vulnerable with Daniel in that conversation, because he had believed that Daniel actually cared about his feelings and what he'd experienced, but when the cops showed up, Robby realized that Daniel, like Johnny and Shannon, no longer cared about his emotional or psychological needs, especially during such a crucial, traumatic time for him. Robby had wanted Daniel to be in his corner and have his back, to believe in him, which Daniel didn't do. Daniel once again didn't give Robby a chance to explain. In juvie, Robby was back to his usual quiet demeanor. Daniel had promised to visit Robby every day, but Daniel never did. Daniel did call and Robby hung up on him, but Daniel didn't make the effort to actually come to Robby like Daniel had promised, proving to Robby once again that Daniel's commitments to Robby, like Johnny's and Shannon's, can't be trusted. (Robby did try to open up to Sam via email, but he was stopped from writing the email. He later didn't write to her because she had stopped trying to reach out to him after her last email, "If you're okay, please answer". This had also been after her tv interview saying that she "hoped" it was an accident. This was yet another instance after the school fight of someone indicating that they thought the worst of him, and then abandoning him.)

Robby and his emotions are cast away so often that he puts up emotional walls to shield himself and pushes people away or he just puts his emotions away because, well, who is there to truly care about him and for him to trust and rely on? Johnny and Shannon have always put themselves, their feelings, and their needs above his, never truly caring about him and his feelings, thoughts, and needs. Like, when Robby wanted to hangout and watch a movie with Shannon in s1, she guilt tripped him into understanding that her wants and needs are more important than his. Or like when Robby genuinely told Johnny in s2 that Robby needed time to forgive him, Johnny made it about himself and accused Robby of continuing to train with Daniel just to torture Johnny, even though Johnny himself had been torturing Robby by replacing him with a random kid and continuing to train that kid even after that kid had purposely pulled on Robby's injured arm just to win a plastic trophy. Robby is so traumatized by Johnny that Robby had believed that Johnny had told that kid to fight dirty against him. Also, like in the car later in s2, Johnny asked Robby if he was nervous about his first day of school, but right when Robby started talking about the LaRussos, Johnny became dismissive of Robby's feelings, so Robby said, "I know you don't want to hear it". Robby knew that Johnny's feelings about the LaRussos matter more to Johnny than Robby's feelings about them, despite everything the LaRussos had done for Robby while Johnny had done essentially nothing for him. And after Johnny had abandoned Robby in juvie for months, knowing that he was being beaten and providing him with no support, Robby's big confession to Johnny that Robby has blamed himself all these years for Johnny abandoning him was met with no response or corrective action from Johnny, although Johnny had also accidentally hurt Robby in their confrontation. Johnny left Robby with a mark on his head with Kreese, and Johnny left with Miguel and didn't return. Johnny didn't care that Robby was homeless and had been homeless since getting out of juvie.

In s4, Robby said that Johnny now wants to make up for lost time just to feel better about himself. This is an accurate assessment of Johnny's intentions, which played out in s5. All these years, Robby's feelings have never mattered to Johnny. Only Johnny's feelings about their relationship matter to Johnny. Every speech Johnny gives about his failing with Robby is about how Johnny feels about it and how it's affected iim, with no acknowledgement at all about how Robby feels about it or how it has affected him. For example, Johnny tells others "I didn't know how to be a dad" as his reason for abandoning Robby. However, just because he didn't know how to be a dad doesn't mean that Robby didn't need a dad and didn't need Johnny to try to be one to him. Johnny himself was abandoned by his bio dad but he has had no empathy for Robby, instead leaving Robby with no dad and to be his own dad. Johnny could have at least made sure that Robby was being well taken care of, but Johnny didn't care to do that either. Johnny knew Shannon's habits before she went to rehab, like her often being at happy hour somewhere, where to track her down, and that she dated a lot of random men. But, like Robby had said in s1, Johnny hasn't cared about Robby his whole life.

In s5e3, Johnny said that things were now good with him and Robby, even though Robby told Tory in s5e4 that he and his dad still had issues, some that are too big to solve. Earlier in s5, Johnny had manipulated Robby into the "father-son" trip to Mexico and continued to manipulate him to get him to stay because Johnny admittedly needed help finding Miguel. Johnny had only looked for Robby for a few hours the two weeks he had been on the run, but Johnny gaslighted Robby and made it sound like he had searched for Robby with Daniel for those whole two weeks. Johnny then minimized over 17 years of failures with Robby to Johnny's non-"failure" with Miguel. And, because Robby was unhappy about Johnny tricking him into the trip, Johnny told Robby that he could go home on his own and ditched Robby at the bus stop, not caring if Robby could/would get home safely. It's in that moment Robby started fawning with Johnny on that trip. After having been abandoned by Johnny for years, especially whenever Robby would speak out against Johnny's mistreatment, Robby now switched tactics to avoid this punishment. Not to mention, Johnny was going to ditch him in another country after dragging him there with a lie, while Johnny had also told Carmen that it was unsafe for her to be there. Johnny obviously didn't care about Robby's safety or well-being and was willing to sacrifice him, while Johnny did what he could to keep Miguel and Carmen safe.

Johnny told Robby the bus schedule and handed him some money: "Sorry I dragged you into this, Robby." Johnny abandoned Robby at a bus stop in another country after tricking him there in the first place under the guise of a "father-son" trip...

Later, Robby told Johnny that he wanted to help Johnny because Johnny was trying to make things right. This is an example of Robby fawning and putting Johnny's needs above his own. Johnny obviously wasn't trying to make things right with Robby though, which Robby at least realized subconsciously so went on the defensive by fawning throughout the trip and which Robby acknowledged consciously in some way when Tory later asked him about the trip.

When it came to Johnny wanting Robby to be friends with Miguel, Robby clearly told Johnny that he didn't want to be friends with Miguel and that Johnny and Miguel have their relationship and Robby wants his space from that. Robby made his boundaries clear, but Johnny has no respect for them. Johnny eventually gave Robby no choice but to "fight it out" with Miguel, and Robby eventually surrendered completely to Miguel near the end of the apartment fight and surrendered completely to Johnny after the baby news, so that Johnny wouldn't abandon him again. Now that Johnny is going to have a baby with Miguel's mom, they're going to be Johnny's family for real, and Johnny already proved to Robby with the Mexico trip that the Diazs will always be more important to Johnny. The atrocious apartment fight followed by the baby news, firmly established Miguel once again and now this coming baby as priorities over Robby, as Johnny admitted that he wanted Miguel and Robby to get along because the baby was coming. Robby gave up who he is completely to appease Johnny for the rest of s5. At dinner, Robby had to ask Carmen's permission if he could join them, once again firmly establishing her priority above Robby as well. As Johnny's son, Robby shouldn't have to ask to be included, but as the kid who was scapegoated for the rivalry and for the school fight, Robby had to ask permission from his attacker's mother if he could have dinner with his own father, who had also sided with his attacker. If Carmen has an issue with Robby, then she shouldn't date his father. But, Robby the kid is put in the position of having to navigate the situation as if he has to earn his place in his father's life. Later in s5, Robby had to laugh off his own comment the one time he spoke up about Johnny's failures with him, after overhearing Johnny speaking with Miguel about his feelings and not wanting to fail him again. Robby still had to be careful expressing himself around Johnny, or Robby would be shut down and likely abandoned.

These quotes explain it well: "Having an emotionally immature parent often means you're pretending: pretending you're not resentful, pretending to agree with their opinions, and pretending you don't have needs and boundaries..." "It wasn't just people pleasing to please people. It was survival to keep unpredictable behavior away. The fear of not being able to make someone happy isn't about their happiness but how they use power in harmful and unexpected ways."

Sadly, Daniel no longer cares about Robby's feelings anymore either, although Daniel had cared before he'd disowned Robby the second time. This is especially noticeable in s3 when Daniel ambushed Robby without giving the slightest consideration as to what Robby's emotional and mental state would be. Daniel had called the cops before showing up at the rehab center and talking to Robby first. After Robby hung up on Daniel when he called Robby in juvie, Amanda dismissed Robby's anger as "he's a teenager" and that he'd come around, so Daniel let it go. Being a teenager doesn't make Robby's feelings invalid, especially given how Daniel had him arrested without even a proper conversation between them. After Robby got out of juvie, Daniel cared for a second about Robby's feelings when Daniel heard that Robby saw Sam and Miguel at Miyagi-Do, but then Daniel forgot about it as soon as Sam convinced him to give Miguel a chance. When Robby had gotten out of juvie the day before, Daniel had told Robby that Miyagi-Do would always be his home. Robby showing up at Miyagi-Do later that day meant that he had been open to taking Daniel's offer of a home, after walking away from Daniel outside of juvie. Daniel didn't even consider this after he had heard that Robby had come to Miyagi-Do. By then, Daniel had "let him go", like Amanda had told him to the day before.

In s4, both times Daniel talked to Robby, it was about Cobra Kai and related topics. When Daniel approached Robby the first time, Robby accused Daniel of coming to use him for the dojo war, and Daniel didn't even register what Robby's accusation meant wrt Robby no longer trusting him. That is, Daniel didn't care about Robby's feelings about him or their relationship, and Daniel just started talking about what he had come to say to Robby, similar to Sam's approach with him earlier in s4. Daniel had only thought to talk to Robby because Amanda had talked about teens with anger issues being lost causes in need of wake-up calls. In the second conversation in s4, Daniel used Robby's trauma against him when he taunted Robby about wanting to get back at his dad, a reference to their conversation at the s1 avt. Daniel was also dismissive of any negative feelings that Robby has towards him, and Daniel just focused on tearing Robby down for interfering with Daniel's goals to take down Cobra Kai and did't care for what Robby was saying to him. Daniel also overlooked that he had taken sides and teamed up with Johnny and Miguel, two of the people who had hurt Robby the most.

In s5, Daniel repeated exactly what he'd said to Robby in s3 wrt how Daniel had handled the aftermath of the school fight, so Robby avoided talking about his issues with Daniel. Instead, Robby put Daniel's feelings and needs above his own and told Daniel exactly what he wanted to hear. Robby said that Johnny and Sam had filled him in on what was going on (which implies that they had told Robby that Daniel had talked earlier about how he had failed with Robby). Here, Robby claimed that Daniel hadn't failed him. Robby told him all the ways he had helped Robby, and Robby talked about how Daniel had been right about Cobra Kai. Robby said what he needed to in order to lift Daniel's spirits and make him feel like he hasn't failed Robby, even though Daniel has been failing him at least since kicking him out before the school fight. Robby also called himself a "messed up" kid when he talked about how Daniel had given him a purpose. When they had met, Robby had been a kid who had been abandoned and neglected and living in survival mode, which he still is in many ways. At the time, Daniel himself told Amanda that Robby is a "good kid. He's just had a rough go of it." Sadly, Daniel didn't correct Robby here and didn't tell Robby what he needs to hear: he was never a "messed up kid"; he is a "good kid who's had a rough go of it".

Daniel: "Robby, the things I did, juvie, I was... I was just trying to help you." Robby: "No, I'm... I'm sorry. I mean, I should have listened to you about Cobra Kai..."

Robby's feelings and side of the story don't matter. This is a significant part of how Robby has been treated by the other characters and the narrative itself. Robby's generally closed-off demeanor is the result of years of abandonment and neglect. He puts away his emotions and rarely speaks about them because he has had no one who consistently and unconditionally cares about how he feels. In fact, when Robby expresses his emotions, he is often shut down. Like, Shannon dismissing him when he wanted to hang out with her, dismissing his concern that someone had been breaking in after she had ditched him for days, and dismissing him when he tried to remind her about all the rent and bills they have to pay when she said that she was leaving with that random guy. Or, like Johnny getting upset that Robby needed time to forgive him, dismissing Robby's sadness about Daniel kicking him out, telling Robby that choosing Miguel over him was making things right, brushing Robby off when he told him that Miguel had been the one to attack Robby and escalate things in school that day, and ignoring Robby wanting space from Miguel and from Johnny's relationship with Miguel while Robby was stuck staying with Johnny for the summer, which was something else that Johnny and Shannon had decided for Robby without caring how he felt about it.

The quote about emotionally immature parents continues as: "... This act of pretending becomes so ingrained that you can spend several days together in the same room and yet still feel profoundly invisible and deeply insignificant to them, as if your feelings and needs do not faze them at all."

After Johnny had tricked Robby into a "father-son" trip and manipulated him more so that he would stay to help find Miguel, Johnny shared a profound father-son moment with Miguel right in front of Robby as if he wasn't there. Johnny hugged Miguel with more love than he has ever shown Robby.

Robby has had no one who would validate him and help him properly understand and process his emotions, especially those related to his traumas of abandonment, neglect, replacement, the school fight, juvie, and his other traumatic experiences. Instead, the one person he found for a short time in s1 and s2 who seemed to care just told Robby to "let go" of all these negative emotions related to his abandonment, neglect, and replacement by his father, which is not the correct way to handle these emotions. Fawning is also described as self-abandonment. In s5, Robby was now disregarding his own feelings and side of the story to appease everyone around him.

The school fight is one of many situations of Robby's feelings and side of the story don't matter, which occurs in different ways throughout Robby's story with the various characters, especially in s5 when Robby swallowed all of his emotions to be around the "good guys" as they all ignored or dismissed his issues with them. Even the other teens, Miguel, Sam, Demetri, Hawk, and the Miyagi-Dos, ignored or dismissed Robby's side of the story.

Demetri dismissed Robby talking about Hawk's wrongs toward the Miyago-Dos and called Robby an asshole, comparing him to Hawk. Demetri has never once acknowledged that Robby had protected him from Hawk, who had lead a gang assault against him over a yelp review, and had been protective of Demetri when some of the Cobras had first joined Miyagi-Do.

In general, Robby has never been given the support and time he has needed to process the events of the school fight and his experiences after that. He had been viciously attacked, stopped from protecting his girlfriend, and taunted about people he cares about not wanting/loving him in return (because the person taunting him knew that the taunts were extremely hurtful and grounded in truth). His attacker was about to break his arm for no reason but then suddenly stopped and said "I'm sorry". However, in such an intense situation and having been attacked by that person without provocation multiple times before, Robby reacted with a "fight response" and accidentally things went horribly wrong. After being frightened and on the run for days, Robby went to his mom for help. This is important. He went on his own to an adult, after being on the run and being well hidden. He wanted help, real help, to solve the situation. (Up until the end of s4, Robby was mostly counter-dependent because of his traumas. He rarely directly asks for help, so him coming to his mom and talking like he was going to go on the run was him genuinely wanting to stay and get her help. After all, he had been hidden and on the run until then.) Instead, Daniel, who Robby thought would help him and give him the psychological and emotional support he needed while solving the legal situation, didn't even care about his mental or emotional state, making rash decisions on Robby's behalf (calling the cops on him instead of first speaking to him, understanding from him what had happened, preparing him, and letting him make the decision to turn himself in) as well as judging him by his mistakes (kicking Miguel as well as running after the school fight), while simultaneously telling Robby that his mistakes aren't who he is. Daniel's actions were counter to his words, thus setting in Robby's distrust of Daniel. Daniel only cared about the legal situation and not about Robby's side of the story or his mental and emotional state, and so Daniel acted accordingly. Daniel also acted based on his earlier experience with Johnny wanting to kill someone purposely in the garage fight, after which Daniel told Johnny that maybe Robby has too much of Johnny in him. Before the school fight, Daniel had told Robby, "You wanna end up like him, that's up to you." When Daniel talked to Robby at the rehab center, Daniel still believed that Robby is like Johnny and not his own person.

Robby got so hopeful after Daniel said that he'll "help" Robby learn from his "mistakes". But, Daniel's "help" came in the form of Daniel having called the cops on Robby without first having talked to him, understanding his mental and emotional state, or caring about his side of the story. Later, Robby even commented that Mr. LaRusso wasn't in his corner and didn't have his back. Daniel never fought for Robby as Daniel should have. Instead, part of Daniel's "help" was a police ambush and a traumatizing place like juvie, where Daniel didn't even visit Robby as promised. Daniel has never once acknowledged Robby's side of the school fight, and instead told Amanda and Sam right after the school fight that he couldn't believe that Robby would do this, implying that Daniel believed even then that Robby had injured Miguel on purpose. In this scene in the rehab center, in the scene when he got out of juvie, and in their one-sided reconciliation scene in s5, Daniel repeated that this was all Daniel's way to "help" Robby. Daniel still doesn't even consider Robby's feelings wrt their relationship as relevant, so Daniel doesn't try to talk through and understand Robby's side of the story properly. After Robby had walked away from Daniel outside of juvie, Amanda had told Daniel to "let him go", and sadly Daniel did.

Johnny and Shannon were of course utterly useless and uncaring towards Robby in this whole situation following the school fight. Johnny and Shannon once again put their own needs and feelings above Robby's in what was probably the worst situation of his life, and neither helped him nor was there for him as a parent should have been. In s5, they continued to put themselves first, not even caring who Robby wanted to spend the summer with, but deciding for him. Shannon not wanting Robby for the summer is par for the course for her and shows that rehab may have helped her with her alcoholism and drug addiction, but not with her tendencies to cast Robby aside. Though she did raise the alarm about Silver in s4, her dismissive "Cobra Kai or whatever" and her absence from the tournament continue to show her lack of interest in Robby's life and in being there for him. Wrt Johnny, Robby had said in s4, Johnny just wants to make up for lost time to feel better about himself. In s5, Johnny proved Robby right with Johnny's self-centered dialogue about Robby, Johnny prioritizing his relationship with Miguel and Carmen as well as his efforts for the baby plot device over Robby, and Johnny continuing to dismiss Robby's feelings the whole time while still wanting to keep him around like a prop as long as he didn't speak out against Johnny.

Johnny and Daniel deny Robby's identity as his own person with his own feelings, needs, and experiences when they project their view of Johnny onto Robby. Daniel has been doing this since before the school fight in s2e10. Johnny started doing this after Daniel's comment to Johnny in s3e2 that maybe Robby has too much of Johnny in him. Johnny and Daniel doing this adds to the emotional neglect that Robby experiences due to them. Not to mention, before they allied together at the end of s3, they each put their rivalry with the other above Robby. Now that they are okay with each other, Daniel expects Robby to be okay with Johnny, and Johnny expects Robby to be okay with Daniel. Daniel dismisses Robby's feelings about Johnny and claims that Johnny cares about both boys, despite seeing the evidence otherwise. Johnny was dismissive of Robby's gratefulness to the LaRussos before the school fight, but in s5, Johnny filled Robby in about Daniel's situation and wanted Robby to show his gratefulness to Daniel because now Johnny believed it mattered.

After the school fight, to add to Robby being discarded and thought the worst of by the people who "care" about him, there was also Robby's experience of juvie, with the beatings and bullying that Robby endured on his own, including the reminder that his dad and girlfriend hate him and don't want him. The guards turned a blind eye of course, and only Kreese and his advice had come through for Robby.

" 'But, Robby, your my son. But I hate you, Dad.' Your girl left you, your dad hates you, you got nobody. And now you got nothing."

Johnny had seen Robby's bruise in juvie but immediately accused Robby of starting fights, not caring to ask Robby what had happened or if he was even okay, and then never coming to see Robby again. In s4, Johnny also dismissed that Robby had been attacked by Miguel that day in school, saying that he himself wasn't there, implying he didn't care for the details. Johnny ended the conversation by turning Robby away and slamming the door on Robby's retreating back. Johnny then went back to his life of being a constant loving and caring support towards Robby's attacker, and not towards Robby, as Johnny had been for months. (Johnny's decision to choose Miguel over Robby in the aftermath of the school fight was wrong. Child abandonment and neglect should never be condoned, especially in a situation like this. Johnny is Robby's parent first and foremost, and Johnny failed Robby and continues to fail him in all ways.)

This quote is so relevant:

"It can clear up a lot of confusion around childhood trauma, when you realize abandonment is not only when someone walks away. It's also when someone who is meant to protect you, allows others to hurt you."

This has been Johnny wrt Robby throughout the series. Johnny continues to abandon Robby, not just by walking away but by leaving him in dangerous situations and allowing others to hurt him. Johnny knew about Shannon's lifestyle and about the random men she brought around Robby, but Johnny didn't care. Johnny knew that Robby's friends in s1 were not good people for him to be around, but Johnny still walked away. Johnny hasn't fought for Robby and his side of the story since the school fight, and instead took his attacker's side and has continued to show him support since. Johnny ignored Robby's bruise in juvie, victim blamed him for it, and never went back to support him. Johnny left Robby to train with Kreese and Silver in s4. In s5, Johnny dragged Robby to Mexico and then ditched him at a bus stop to get back home on his own. After Robby stayed, Johnny allowed Robby to take risks that he didn't need to. Later, Johnny handed Robby over to Miguel for a beating. After the s1 avt, Johnny was upset that Miguel had shown no mercy to Robby during their match, but since the school fight, Johnny has walked that back. In s5, Johnny allowed Miguel to hurt Robby as he has always wanted to, and Johnny no longer acknowledges what Miguel did to Robby in the avt. Johnny truly doesn't care about the details of the rivalry. Miguel is the one who started the rivalry and is the bully in the rivalry.

It's also important to note that, until s5, Robby's side of the story regarding the school fight still remained largely unheard, and even then we only now know his side of the start and end of the school fight. We were never shown Robby's thoughts during the entire fight, especially the moments between his attacker randomly letting go and saying "I'm sorry" and Robby's "fight" trauma response (which Robby described as wanting to "finish the fight"). Robby had every right and reason not to trust Miguel in that moment and not to realize that Miguel had genuinely decided to stop fighting. After all, Miguel had a history of attacking Robby and had attacked Robby twice in that fight, even choking him, kicking him into the railing intentionally, and wanting to break him arm, all for no reason. In s3, Robby had tried talking about the school fight to Daniel, but Daniel ambushing him was like Daniel shutting him down and saying that he didn't care or want to hear it. After that, Robby stopped talking about the school fight. Even when Kreese and Tory showed him empathy about it in s3 or when Sam said she was angry with him about it in s4, Robby didn't say anything in response. The first time he talked about it again was later to Johnny in s4, and Robby got shut down again. Robby was trying to deescalate another situation and rightfully corrected Johnny about what had happened in school that day. Johnny is Robby's father. He is one of at least two people that Robby should be able to rely on for protection and help, which Robby can't do.

"abandonment is not only when someone walks away. It's also when someone who is meant to protect you, allows others to hurt you."

What adds tothese extremely sad aspects of Robby's story is how much Robby still loves his parents, despite how they treat him, and how much he of course still hopes that they'll care about him. Like, in s2, how sweetly Robby talked about watching Shannon's favorite movie with her when he was younger, even though at this moment she was still gone, after having ditched him for so long that he had run out of food, lost electricity, and would have been evicted. That even though she didn't care if he had what he needed to survive, he still spoke of her and those memories fondly. And when she finally returned months later, the moment she said that she was going to get help for herself and for him, he became happy for her and no longer showed her any anger.

In s5, Robby mentioned that he and his mom watch "Hot Ones" together, indicating that they still watch movies and shows together. But, Shannon once again ditched Robby for the summer against his will. Although this time she didn't leave him all alone, she did leave him with someone who she knows is unreliable when it comes to properly caring for Robby. One thing Robby doesn't know is that Shannon brushed off all of her and Johnny's failures with Robby as the two of them being young and dumb, and Johnny happily accepted this. (Johnny was in his 30s when he gave up on day 1. Johnny is now in his 50s and still keeps screwing up with Robby.) Shannon and Johnny once again dismissed all of Robby's negative experiences because of them, just to feel better about themselves.

With Johnny, Robby became hopeful the times Shannon told him that Johnny wanted him to move in (s1) or that Johnny wants a relationship with him (s2), even though Johnny himself had shown no genuine indication to Robby of either. In juvie, Robby smiled a little in disbelief, overwhelmed when he found out that Johnny had scheduled to visit him, even though Johnny had not tried to contact Robby for "over one month" after their "one good day" together. Johnny sadly missed this visit and chose Miguel over him again, which Johnny should not have done. (Even, Bobby didn't approve.)

In s4, Robby went to Johnny to tell him about his students bullying Kenny, but Johnny didn't care. Robby also told Johnny about his fear of becoming like Johnny and said that he wouldn't because he is better than Johnny. Instead of telling Robby that he can be better than Johnny, like Johnny had once told Miguel, Johnny just got upset and dismissed Robby so that Johnny could get back to making Miguel's favorite dinner to get him away from Daniel while Robby went back to being trained by the pyscho that had strangled Johnny twice, once when Johnny was about Robby's age and once just a few weeks prior while Robby was lying unconscious nearby. After the avt, Robby followed Johnny to tell him about how much he is struggling with all of his "hate", which he doesn't understand is how his trauma due to Johnny manifests itself. Robby told Johnny that Robby took Kenny under his wing because Robby wanted to be the mentor he wished he had when he was younger, a quiet acknowledgement that Johnny had never been a mentor to Robby as Johnny should have been. Robby eventually told Johnny that he's sick of blaming Johnny. Sadly, Robby keeps putting hope in the person who has abandoned and hurt him the most and who has no true will to fight his inner demons and treat Robby better.

In Robby's conversation with Johnny after the avt, Robby is so devastated by how much "hate" he feels, as if he has no right to have "hate" and that it is wrong for him to feel the way he feels, regardless of why he feels it or how others have treated him. Robby has been raised to reject his own emotions, like his parents reject them. And being told to just "let go" of that hate by his first mentor didn't help either. Not to mention, Johnny guilt tripped Robby in Mexico, low key making him believe that his "hate" is wrong and that he should sacrifice his well-being to help search for Miguel. Johnny continued to dismiss Robby's "hate" for him and for Miguel after that and eventually forced Robby to fight Miguel, that is to use a "Cobra Kai" method, to resolve his issues with Miguel for Johnny's own benefit, even though in this s4 conversation, Robby had told Johnny that using "Cobra Kai" had made everything worse for Robby.

"And I had all this hate inside of me, for you and for Miguel. I thought I could use Cobra Kai to control that. But it just made things worse and now it's never going to get better."

In s5, Robby switching to fawning with Johnny and everyone was a sad culmination of all the trauma Robby has experienced, especially due to Johnny.

Abandonment, neglect, and emotional neglect can't be seen. These describe things that aren't done for a person. This is the silent context of Robby's story. You can see all the good times Johnny has with his replacement kid and grow fond of their bond, but you can't see the empty void that is Johnny's absence in Robby's life or the emptiness of a dark apartment or a lack of food that isn't there. You can't see the absence of psychological and emotional support, especially when those who should be giving it don't give it. Robby's relationships with Johnny, Shannon, and Daniel aren't just the moments he has with them, but also consist of all the things they didn't do for him that he had needed them to do as the adults in his life.

s3 and s5 showed what a great difference a support system can make, though a support system shouldn't come at anyone else's expense, like Johnny's support of Miguel has always come at Robby's expense. In s3, Johnny put all his time and effort into helping Miguel with his recovery. While Johnny was building Miguel back up, Johnny ignored all the hardships Robby was facing. Robby was alone and was being torn down and eventually went to Kreese of all people because he was the only one who had been there for Robby at a desperate time. Later, Robby knew that he couldn't trust Kreese, but like Robby told Johnny, he couldn't trust Johnny either. Daniel, as Sam's father, rightfully put his time and effort into supporting Sam, repeatedly telling her that he is there for her. Daniel, however, never did the same for Robby, despite having taken on the role of Robby's mentor and parental figure. Robby expectedJohnny and Daniel to care about him and didn't expect Kreese to care about him, so Robby stayed with Kreese because he was the more predictable one between them. In s5, Daniel lost in his fight against Silver, like Robby lost in his fight against Miguel. Everyone rallied around Daniel after his loss, while no one other than Johnny and the Diazs knew about the Robby and Miguel's fight, and no one other than Johnny and Miguel knew of Robby's loss. Given that Robby became people pleasing towards all of them, it seems Robby didn't trust any of them to care about him so he didn't tell anyone about the fight. This itself adds to Robby's trauma. While Daniel was lifted up and supported by those around him, Robby has been dealing with things alone for a long time, especially since the school fight, and feels that he can't trust the same people who supported Daniel.

Robby has had no consistent parental/adult, psychological, and emotional support for a very long time, probably his whole life. By the end of s5, Robby needs that support as well as time to heal more than ever. Robby needs the support of someone who is truly committed to helping him and who won't give up on him and/or tell him that helping him was a mistake or ignore his mental/emotional state, regardless of whether he has screwed up.

As I mentioned, the narrative also emotionally neglects Robby. Robby's pov and side of the story aren't just overlooked by the other characters but are also overlooked by the narrative as well. His side of the story hasn't mattered to the other characters, at least so far, and the story is told more from their povs.

The other characters, the narrative, and most fans are like Kyler in this conversation: acting like Robby's traumas and feelings aren't anything to acknowledge.

Despite this narrative emotional neglect, Robby still exists in the narrative and still is such a central part of it. Robby is the protagonist and underdog in the story. As I mentioned in another post, the protagonist isn't always the main pov character. However, the protagonist's pov is eventually revealed. With that revelation, I hope Robby gets a proper support system, especially someone who will sit with him repeatedly, listen to how he feels, tell him that it's okay for him to feel what he feels, and help him process in a healthy way all the feelings that he's been holding in for so long. Someone who will help him to trust again and to love himself as he should, and not to self-abandon in response to others' behaviors towards him. He needs someone who will be there for him, have his back, and be in his corner unconditionally.

((As always, please don't comment or reblog with dismissive comments about the nuance in the story. The nuance is part of the story, and the story is exploring important topics like trauma, bullying, neglect, and dysfunctional relationships. Regardless of what will be in s6 or what payoffs we'll get in the story, this is an analysis of what is in canon so far. Robby's story is so important because it portrays abandonment, neglect, and emotional neglect consistently through Robby's experiences throughout the series. Robby's character and story represent various people in society and their struggles, and these topics should be respected.)

[bluerosefox]

[2023 Prompt List 1][Here] [2023 Prompt List 2][Next] [2023 Prompt List 3][Next]

|Why Ra’s Would Summon the Ghost King (Also Twins AU) [Part 1] |Danyal, Danny, Phantom [Part 2] |WIP [Part 3] |Bio!Dad Jason and Bio!Mom Jazz (With Oc!Kid or Son!Danny) |Ghost Gotham (With Bonus Ghosts Martha and Thomas) |Danny Says Clone Rights |Robin’s Haunted Halloween (Feat. Ghost King Danny and Ghostly grandparents Martha and Thomas) |Library Cryptid Danny |Twins to Trio? (Dani mistakes Damian as Danny, and Damian learns his twin might not be dead) |Twins AU BUT WITH ANGST! |Mom!Dani (Square up Superman) |Free Flying Graysons (Feat. Ghostly John and Mary Grayson) |Comes in Twos (Twins! Jason and Danny die on the same day) |Foreboding Words of Warnings (Feat. Competent Ghost King Danny) |Across My Memories (Feat. Ghost King Danny, Ghost!Prince Jason) |Consorthood Via Combat (Feat. Ghost King Danny, and Danny dating any Bat of your choosing) |Wrong Number Au (Danny sends a rant text to Tucker... Only its not Tucker) |Todd and Phantom, Mostly Ghostly Shenanigans (Danny and Jason try to get out of the GZ together and bond) |Ellie “I WILL bite you” and Danny “He’s just a baby” Fenton (Deaged Danny and caretaker (and tiny bit feral) Dani (Ellie) watch out Gotham, she’ll bite.) |Double Troubles (another Damian and Danny twin au but they wanna see how long their families notice they switch places) |Everything, including the bride. WAIT, BRIDE?! (Dead Tired pairing, Tim now regrets being a smart cookie as a kid and solving a magical puzzle box while Danny regrets beating Pariah Dark cause he got the old King’s bride now as his own) |CAT Ghost INSTINCTS (Damian brings home a... interesting new acquaintance who has some interesting... quirks) |Peek-A-Boo Champ! (Jazz and her baby being taken by a cult. Jason coming to save them. And Uncle Danny being the best at peek-a-boo) |Teeny-Tiny Kitten (Danielle ‘Ellie’ makes a wish and later gets found by a certain cat and bat) |Same As The Day I Lost You (Mix de-aged Danny, and siblings!Damian and Danny, add in some teleporting/portaling when the bats are fighting the League and you get this idea.) |Cuckoo Clocks (Clockwork sends a certain RR a sticky note during his solo run to come find Phantom and later find him) |The (Not) Normal One... (a reborn/reincarnted Danny idea where he’s the normal one in the batfam... only he’s really not.) |Dip and Kiss (Jason totally would kiss the person who ended the Joker in an Oscar worthy movie moment) |The Trouble With Time Travel Guilt (Danny starts an AITA thread due to his guilt over the future that will never be, he trauma bonds with fellow heroes and time travelers over it) |Friendships Between Realms (YJ and Danny Shenanigans Being Peek Friendship) |Misunderstandings and Miscommunications (Danny panics and runs, good Fenton parents want their son home, well meaning but not knowing the full picture best friends, on a war path Jazz and the maybe wooing of RH, and the DCverse getting caught in the middle of the chaos) |A Little Robin (Danny gets stuck in a Robin doll/plush and winds up in Gotham) |Kid's y'know? (Youngblood wants to be an astronaut this time, and Danny... Has to stop him from running amok the JL Watchtower) |Gothamites Never Really Rest (Johnny was a crime alley kid, Kitty was the daughter of a mob boss, and Jason was a kid they pseudo raised before their deaths. They meet again when Kitty and Johnny return to Gotham and find budding crime lord named Red Hood)

[shrinkthisviolet]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Johnny / Daniel conflict over Daniel stopping the fight! Personally, I think Johnny is wrong on multiple levels. If he really thought the best way for Tory to work through her grief was to fight it out, I disagree but different people have different coping mechanisms, but he shouldn't have offered Sam up as a way to do it. Even if Johnny was completely ignoring Sam's well-being and was willing to put her in danger, Tory just apologized and was forgiven. How would she feel if she hurt sam all over again because she was fighting over-emotionally? If Johnny really thought she needed to fight, he should have offered to spar with her.

But also, I think he's wrong about her reasoning on wanting to fight in the first place. To me, it didn't seem like she wanted to hit someone or unleash her anger or work through her feelings. It seemed like she had a very specific goal of becoming the girls' team captain. Sometimes, when you go through intense grief instead of working through it, you want to distract yourself by doing something productive. Her goal was to win the tournament for her mom. To do that, she needed to be captain. That's why she wanted to win, and she wanted to do it by fighting because she wanted to honor her mom by proving she's "a fighter." Because Daniel and Amanda are well-adjusted people, they probably could have helped her through it in the moment, but Johnny undermining Daniel reinforced what Kreese said to Tory by implying that he was playing favorites, causing her to storm off. She literally says the same thing to Amanda that Kreese says to her, that "when push comes to shove you're always gonna choose her over me" and it's after Johnny implies that Daniel is playing favorites. Johnny essentially pushed her back to Kreese by making her think no one else would prioritize her, and all because he projected his personal issues (from when he was a grown adult, and that got him sent to jail) onto a teenager he's never really seemed to care about before now.

This is also the first scene I can think of where Tory and Daniel interact, and i wish we could have gotten more. She's had great moments with Amanda and some more with Sam after she apologized. It would be nice for her to complete the circle and have a nice interaction with Daniel. I think Daniel has the most to teach Tory when it comes to karate and balance, so it would be nice if he actually got to do that, lol. I heard that Peyton said in an interview that Daniel was right to stop the fight, and I hope it does actually get explored in part 2.

Love this take! You’re absolutely right. Johnny was wrong to want to continue the fight—Tory hadn't fully processed her mom’s death, hadn't eaten or slept in 24 hours, hadn’t even been hugged or supported in any way. That’s not the time to jump into a fight...and that’s how everyone ends up hurt (and yep, if Tory had hurt Sam in that state, that would’ve just compounded her grief and made her feel guilty on top of it). So glad Peyton agrees!

And YEP—Tory wanted to continue that fight specifically, to become captain and fight in the tournament. Johnny missed that (and so did at least a handful of fans). Daniel and Amanda were right there to support her, and Robby could’ve too, but as you said, Johnny reinforced “oh you’re playing favorites” (reinforcing Kreese’s words…even tho that wasn’t Johnny’s intention, it was still the wrong time to say that regardless. Read the room, Johnny, ffs) and killed any progress that could've been made*. The fight could’ve been postponed for a day (or at least half a day) until she got rest, food, and support—it didn’t have to happen right then and there.

*none of them should’ve let her walk off, and I’m pissed that they did, but they could've gotten somewhere with Tory to begin with if Johnny hadn’t interjected needlessly and had just TRUSTED DANIEL AND AMANDA

(Plus, Johnny comparing losing his mom at 30 to Tory losing hers at 17-18 felt weird to me. Loss is loss and hurts regardless of age, but people deal with it differently, and age is absolutely a factor in that)

Tory and Daniel have so many parallels, especially in s5...I was absolutely looking forward to them interacting this season. Alas...it was just for this, and Daniel never gets to bring up that he lost a parent as a child too—he KNOWS what that feels like and how much it hurts (and he lost another in Mr. Miyagi, but that was as an adult, so the actuation isn't quite the same).

[transjlawrence]

Season 6, episode 5 thoughts

“I’m not that easy to track.” If Tory were to actually call the cops right now, there is no way he would be able to get away fast enough for the cops to not find him

I want to write full analyses about the way Kreese views life is war and the way that affects the way he talks and the way he teaches

AISHA MENTION!!

Wayne Gretzky quote?

I’m glad that Tory mentions the way probation genuinely affects the decision for her to get into college and for Robby to get into college and how they have to seek out other avenues. Like mentioning the very real world consequences is important to me

”We are on the same page.” *points to his back* “Miyagi-Do, remember?” And yet he’s wearing his black headband and Daniel is wearing his hachimaki from the ‘84 All-Valley. Fascinating and subtle differences

I don’t know what they’re watching but one day I hope they watch Shootfighter and pretend that’s not Billy Zabka on screen the whole time

Oh heartbreaking and also more visceral acting from Peyton List.

It is interesting to me how Robby seems to have a happy, nice demeanor and seems to really be trying to do better but it’s like he’s also never allowed to be angry again. He can’t be anything but content.

Oh Tory :(( I hope she has someone she can tell and that the other characters aren’t like, “What’s wrong with you??” Bc it’s like genuinely my least favorite thing that happens in shows when a character is grieving. Or I hope she isn’t told she’s grieving incorrectly either

”And what are you fighting for?” “Closure. Tory beat me last time but it was tainted.” I like the way that Sam’s character has matured too and how it shows.

HELP?? HE STOOD UP AND THEN TRIED TO GET LOUIE IN ON THIS? YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A CAR SALESMAN JOHNNY

Oh, they are letting Robby be angry. I am so happy about that. Also they are so Cain and Abel coded. Second to that, why is he training in Converse? I wear them to work. They are the worst shoes.

Oh little Tory 🥺 and showing us real moments with her mom

THEYRE PARTNER-ING!!! THEYRE ACTING LIKE PARTNERS!!

Oh is this a mirror of the All-Valley. This is exactly what happened in the first karate kid movie

I need the crane kick to be used actually. I hope it is

Some part of me wants to know what the behind-the-scenes choreography for this fight looked like. Like ever since my friend showed me a stage combat video, I’ve been really curious about other stage combat stuff

Oh Robby won. You know this will cause beef between them.

This too is a reflection of the first Karate Kid tournament. The extra kick going back to that extra push that Johnny did to Daniel

Oh, the miscommunication and the yelling from Tory. Oh and her talking about Kreese’s words. Oh Tory

”She was working through it!” And who understands better than Johnny? Also the acting from Zabka goddamn

Why are you talking about Miyagi like that. I don’t like this whole tarnish Miyagi thing (mostly bc it keeps in line w Daniel’s idolization instead of treating Miyagi like his character was human)

WHY ARE THEY DIVORCING??? WHY DO THEY KEEP DIVORCING?? HES ON THE VERGE OF TEARS

Oh them both putting it on their kids. Oh.

Also Hawk in the tournament with Demetri. Oh.

Also I am worried for Tory. The way they just kind of let her leave and instead decided to fight about it instead of going after Tory or making sure she was okay was kind of crazy

Oh Kreese again. AND TORY. The music goddamn

[msfbgraves]

Did you read the article about how the creators of CK are goi by to tarnish Mr. Miyagi’s memory and have Daniel face the mirror in season 6? When will they just come out and say they hate Daniel and Miyagi? When will fucking Johnny Lawrence face the mirror and grow the fuck up, be a dad to his biological kid, and apologize to Daniel? Fuck this show, I’m so SICK of this shit. I grew up watching KK in the 80s, and clearly the writers favor the deadbeat loser that is Johnny and despise Daniel. I’m not watching this show anymore, I’m only here for the fanfic. Fuck this show!!

Ralph said that he agreed to Cobra Kai for a big part because of Creed. Seeing that you can continue something from the perspective of the opponent. But Creed has never been on a mission to show us that everything Rocky ever did was secretly misguided and borderline evil. It was about finding mutual respect. Cobra Kai was set up as the same thing, or so they said, but from the first episode onwards it was on a systematic mission to show Daniel in the most unsympathetic light possible. To prove him wrong, to show his kindness as nothing more than weakness and hypocrisy because, apparently, the message of the film was is painful to confront that the creators of the show need to undo it. Expose it. Defend their egos from the statement: bullying is wrong and hurts people. There has to be 'another side', a side in which the bullies are actually in the right. Because Daniel, by being kind and a little annoying, must be wrong. Must deserve it. These writers are not kind, it seems, and so kindness must be bad. Hardness, revenge, and an absence of mercy most win out. Because we must be taught that this is the nature of humanity and therefore, this hardness must be celebrated. Kindness must not exist in such a worldview, and therefore any kindness must be exposed as deception. As hidden cruelty. If cruelty is the nature of man, then surely it is better to be upfront and cruel than deceptive and cruel. This is how Johnny can win. If kindness doesn't exist, surely the honest man must trump the liar. And therefore the honest cruel man is good, and the dishonest cruel man is bad. But again this only works if innate kindness is a lie. Because if it's not, the kind man is better than the hard man, of course! And they can't deal with that. They don't feel kindness, apparently, and in order to prove themselves and their claimed avatar Johnny as still being good, kindness must be exposed.

Except there is nothing to expose in Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. They're not perfect, even in the first film. Miyagi had faults! He'd turned away from the world. Daniel had faults. Kind as he was, he was rather insensitive towards his Ma at times, because he felt Lucille had been insensitive to his needs. Also, you have to rebel somehow. But it doesn't go much further than that. He still comes to see her at work. He lets her teach him to dance. He tells her about his girlfriends. And yes, Daniel can be a little vindictive to those who have wronged him, spraying Johnny with water and exposing Chozen's scheme. What a monster! Do we remember the time he punched Chozen in the dick? Literally below the belt, what a sneaky thing to do at his own mugging!

As for Miyagi, he could be insensitive to Daniel's needs, too! Daniel lashed out at him and lied to him. They were never perfect. But they were always kind and that is something CK cannot stand. And since there is nothing in the films to indicate that they were being insincere, the writers decided to make something up. Ultra violent Miyagi secrets, I dunno. Maybe they retroactively are going to make Miyagi into a war criminal to uplift Kreese. And of course the only way to prepare for the Sekai Taikai is by bringing in Mike Barnes to be brutal. (It's not like they have a Japanese lifelong sensei on hand who has likely competed there himself and knows the culture inside out?)

Yet if kindness actually exists, even if they don't feel it, they can still sense this is wrong. And it must not be wrong! They cannot abide that cruelty is wrong!!!

Except....

They always excuse their heroes lashing out by them having been treated unkindly. Okay. So suffering unkindness is unjust, retaliating out of having suffered unkindness is just, but being unkind is strong? OK... So Cruelty = strength. Suffering cruelty = weak. Revenge = strong. Kindness = a lie. Loving=vulnerable and weak, but cruelty=strength, strength = deserving of love, therefore the cruel are entitled to love. People receiving love by being loving are the weak getting rewarded for weakness, which is wrong and must be punished, aka Daniel deserves to be beaten for being kind to Ali. Cruelty deserves love, but giving love is weak. Johnny is entitled to Daniel's friendship because Johnny is strong and cruel and Daniel is lying and weak, because kind. And this kindness (which is a lie???) is still something Johnny is entitled to by virtue of being openly crueler and therefore stronger, more upfront, and just, but he is not obligated to give it. Causing pain strong, retaliating by causing pain is also strong and nobody ever suffers any lasting consequences. Except when it's Robby but he deserved it for having been nicer than before, and being a constant reminder of Johnny's failure as a parent. Can't make our hero look bad by existing OK?

This is a: psychopathic thinking, and b: flies in the face of everything The Karate Kid stood for. Ralph is doing his utmost to minimise the character assassination of Daniel but Pat Morita is no longer alive to defend himself so fair game. I can't imagine what Kamen thinks of all this. And yeah, what they're doing to everyone who needed an uplifting story about imperfect but good people is painful. If you don't have the emotional maturity to see that violence leads to hurt, leads to more fighting, leads to hurt and death and disfigurement unless someone steps in and says: enough with the violence, you're basically a toddler. And a malicious one! But they've given the toddlers free rein at Netflix. I'm sure the next thing they write will be a series on why Rosa Parks is the epitome of evil.

I got sucked in because of the dedication of William Zabka and Ralph Macchio and now I feel betrayed. My one hope is that these actors always bring grace to this malicious writing and make something interesting out of something mean spirited. But if CK gets the GOT treatment in popular culture? Good.

[kovajean]

I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind lately.

We’ve gotten confirmation from Thomas Ian Griffith himself here:

“And there’s still this passion, and, you know, guy underneath that just wants to–wanted Daniel to be his friend and, wanted to, you know, wanted to be loved[...]”

That Silver’s apology to Daniel in 4x5 was sincere. Which makes me wonder why he did it the way he did.

What did Silver get wrong about his apology?

1. He barged in on a lesson.

2. He brought Kreese with him.

3. He apologized in an open space.

Why are these wrong?

1. It would be different had he shown up on Daniel’s doorstep. But he didn’t. He didn’t even show up at Daniel’s house in general. He showed up at Miyagi’s house.

2. Kreese has been an antagonistic force for Daniel for years. Not only did Daniel fight Kreese throughout the movies, but ever since Kreese showed up again, he’s continued to ruin Daniel’s life. It would be different had Kreese left Daniel alone over the course of Cobra Kai, but he didn’t.

3. Everyone is aware of Silver (and Kreese’s) fighting skills. One would assume that being presented with an ultimatum (either accept my apology or don’t) by them in an area that is specifically designed for fighting, would mean that the possibility of being fought if you pick the wrong option skyrockets.

Now, isn’t Silver smart? A master of manipulation? He knows exactly how to get what he wants. So why didn’t it work this time?

Simple answer: Kreese.

Kreese also knows how to get what he wants. And what Kreese wants right now is Silver’s undivided attention and loyalty.

Kreese knows that if Daniel accepts Silver’s apology, he won’t get what he wants. So he has to make sure Silver’s apology fails.

We don’t see the lead up to Kreese and Silver going to Daniel’s place, we don’t even know that they’re going to do that until they’re already there. So it’s not unlikely that they talked about how they were going to go about it. I have half a mind to believe that Kreese orchestrated the whole thing.

He decided that they’d barge in on a lesson, because of course interrupting Daniel’s passion is going to put him on edge.

He decided that they’d both show up, because he knows exactly how Daniel feels about him. The kindest person on earth could show up with Kreese behind them and Daniel would want nothing to do with them, simply because of the association.

He decided that they’d walk right in the middle of the dojo backyard, which just so happens to be the perfect spot to fight. Because being stuck in a large open area with people that have kicked your ass multiple times before is not gonna make you feel charitable.

It’s so much easier to dish out a bad apology than a good one. And Kreese wanted to make damn sure that Silver’s was bad. He can’t chance losing Silver again. Not after the heartache it took to get him back.

Not to mention that, were Silver’s apology to work, it wouldn’t be the first time that Daniel has taken one of Kreese’s positive relationships (I say positive liberally) and made it a negative one. Hawk left Cobra Kai. Daniel and Johnny started working together. Now what, Silver’s on his side too? That can’t happen.

I find it very funny (and very alarming) how easy it would have been for Silver’s apology to work. All he had to do was call Daniel up first, ask him if he’s free to talk at a nice, quiet place (one that at least isn’t specifically designed for fighting), come alone, and explain everything. Why he’s sorry, why the apology took so long, what he’s been doing up until then. It would have been so simple. Yet, Kreese won’t let him do it that way. He designed it to fail. So it does.

And one last thing:

This is the face of a man who knows that he won. He's reveling in it. In the next scene, too.

[swampbrick]

same tennis anon!: Another idea is Johnny as actor Daniel's bodyguard. And Daniel is constantly like, "You know I don't need a bodyguard, right?? Like there was only one weird fan interaction??" And Johnny's like, "Yeah, that's not the only thing I do. You're about to step into wet cement." "Pff, no I'm not-" *totally does*

But also like with angst because Johnny's protecting Daniel mostly from mostly harmless things like, "Hey, buddy, too close." or, "No pictures, sorry." but also it has the potential to get serious too

Mother hen Johnny helicoptering Daniel? Oh god, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?! I can definitely see the humor angle of this one heavily, but just picturing the angst possibilities is enough. Daniel getting fed up with the hovering and lashing out, Johnny being himself and icing Daniel out after that, and then something actually DOES happen- nothing too awful, but something that could have been prevented if Johnny had been there. And him just blaming himself for it all- UGH. These two make me SICK.

I've said it once, I'll say it again anon- these are some lovely ideas that I would be beyond ecstatic to read one day!

[theinheriteddutchess]

This morning I watched the cobra kai part where Daniel and Johnny train each others students, and Robby comes by later to tell Johnny to tell his students to stop bullying kids.

And I'm... just so tired of Johnny's infantile behavior. First he's so jealous of miguel bonding with Daniel, so much he had erectile disfunction with Carmen. Then he barely got time for his actual son!

Robby comes there to talk, understandably bristling and guarded. And Johnny starts talking about how cobra kai is bad, you know, the dojo he revived.

Did he have a point about kreese and silver? Of course. But he is so bad with words. It's not about cobra kai. It's about how he treats his son. He doesn't even ask how robby is!

And then when robby puts him in his place with the "i'm beter than you" line, he shuts him down and the conversation.

He still can't admit his mistakes, otherwise he would say, "yes I hugely screwed up with you and I'm proud you're better than me, but I will always worry about you, these people get inside your head no matter how you think you can resist, and you matter! I just want you to be okay. i don't know how to reach out because I have no right to expect you to let me in, but I will always love you."

Nope, he basically say okay bye I got no time for this, I'm cooking (yeah that packaged food seems like it needs a lot of attention!).

And then he looks all wooby like he's the wronged party.

Dude, you're kid is sleeping in a dojo with 2 insane men trying to get back at you, and you still worry more about miguel, even if he's doing great.

It's still all about Johnny's feelings. He still doesn't even do the minimum. This conversation happened because robby came by, he can't even bother to do that.

And then again miguel is kind of busy and ah look at Johnny all lonely. But no, it's because you turned your kid away, and you prioritize everyone over him. And you also expect miguel to only look up to you. You get upset he likes a different kind of music now too. And miguel had to say, I can like both!

That's how immature Johnny really is. He really does need older stable friends man. Someone to help him to walk a better road, but wait no, he needs a therapist.

(I like Johnny, but this always makes me so fed up!)

[youhavethesun]

spoilers for cobra kai season six episodes six/seven:

what the actual hell. I could scream I am SO INCENSED. how could they do this to miguel. I spent the two episodes FUMING at the fact that he’s not captain I’m so sorry I do like robby a lot but miguel deserved that captain spot from the very beginning!!!! hawk saying ‘we all wish it was you’.. and he was right!!!!!!!! I can’t believe this the fact that miguel’s having to leave with johnny.. the worry for carmen I can’t - this is sick. robby losing concentration over and over to tory like helloooo flashbacks to the s4 hawk/robby fight much??? if there’s one thing about robby it’s that he will let his emotions take over I’m so sorry to say (it’s understandable.. but it’s infuriating to watch!!) I’m so furious if they take miguel out of the tournament they better bring him back ASAP if he doesn’t get to fight in the finale I will flip my shit I’m not even kidding… after all he’s gone through. my boy recovered from a coma for this?!! To fight again and instantly have it taken away?. absolutely not.

anywayyyy let’s talk about my boy Miguel absolutely DEVOURINGGGG as usual ugh he is so incredible I love him <3333 literally my son :)) he absolutely destroyed everyone else as he shouldd I mean even in the initial montage of everyone taking hits where was he? nowhere to be found :))) AND THEN THE ELIMINATION TOUND?? TWO AGAINST ONE? I WAS SCREAMING AT MY TV SCREEN he was INSANE. also his ‘watch how it’s done.’ to robby.. well he ate. because literally that’s how it’s done!! he was also very much giving s1/2 no mercy cobra kai miguel at this point and I’m actually living for it because I do love a comeback. you know miguel is always known for his heart and his compassion and sometimes I just love to see him get pissed off on occasion!! he deserves it. as a treat. the speech he gave to robby in the hotel corridor also.. he made only correct points tbh.. did anyone else think his intonation in this scene specifically was weirdly identical to tory’s? something something about them having everything taken away from them and still fighting..

carrying on the other great part of these two eps was the devon/johnny scenes!! did I tear up at the confession and johnny comforting her? maybe. okay nobody talk to me about how the parallels between them and johnny and miguel’s season two talk,…. I am thinking too much. like.. “One thing I'll never regret is all the work I put into students like you. If I ever pushed you beyond your limits, it's because I know you're capable of more than you think. I'll always have your back. All right?” to Devon, vs “But one of the best things has been teaching you, and I want you to know, no matter what happens, I promise... I'll always be on your side, and I'll always have your best interests at heart.” to miguel… my heart.

absolutely love to see it and I’m so relieved for devon’s redemption (and johnny saying he wanted to let her apologise to kenny in her own time? he can be so understanding especially when it comes to the kids where he’s really their sensei you know?) the parallels between him and devon and him with s1/2 miguel are making me very upset I NEED johnny/miguel father son scenes STAT (except not at the expense of carmen because wtf!) would also like some johnny/robby moments please!! just johnny paying attention to his sons more would love that

also with the johnny father figure to devon moment can we talk about miguel bring SUCH an older brother to her in ep 7 especially it’s so sweet? the way he cheers for her before anyone else and his reassuring pats on her shoulder while everyone else is disappointed it’s just .. (very much captain material :((( )

I don’t really have anything to say about sam. she’s there I guess. I’m trying to be nice about her since she hasn’t done anything wrong this season so I am saying nothing. daniel on the other hand… I am irritated to no end by this man it is so upsetting because the original kk movies? daniel is my son!! I love him!! daniel in ck?? this man has me at my wits end every episode why the fuck are you running off IN THE MIDDLE OF A TOURNAMENT ‘I’ll be back in 90 minutes’ my ass!!! why could this not wait until a better time?? this gif is all I could think about the entire time he was kidnapped in that little dog cage

my girl tory however was incredible as usual we love the drama we love to see her casually winning <3333 also on a completely side note was there a the O.C. reference? in the year 2024??

welcome to barcelona bitch!

in summary I’m internally hyperventilating because I can’t stomach the thought of miguel not fighting in the finale please don’t do this to me cobra kai writers please! anxiously waiting until tommorow to watch the next three episodes so please don’t spoil me for them ty :)

[purpleheartskies]

Happy Father's Day!... but not to Robby's "father", Johnny Lawrence. He doesn't deserve the honor of that title: "father" or "dad".

You know, in s5e9, Johnny told Chozen,

"My whole life was haunted by one stupid kick. I thought if I could go back in time, do things different, dodge it, block it, my life would be fixed. The kick wasn't the problem. I had to stop focusing on what was behind. Start looking at what was in front of me." [points at Carmen]

Johnny made this decision in s3e10, when he left Robby behind with Kreese and did nothing to make things right with Robby. Robby was in Cobra Kai with Johnny's abuser who had strangled him twice, and Johnny made no attempts to convince Robby to leave Cobra Kai. Instead, Johnny just got impotent over Miguel hanging out with Daniel and was making his favorite dinner to coax him back to him. (Johnny trying to convince Robby in s4e4 doesn't count because Robby is the one who came to him for that conversation, and Johnny didn't even care to really listen to what Robby was saying to him.)

In contrast to Johnny, in s5e9, Robby went to Cobra Kai and took a stand against freaking Silver to make things right with Tory and Kenny:

"I came here to apologize. I let you down. Turned my back on you. I didn't understand at the time but I realize I was wrong. I shouldn't have just left. I should have taken you all with me. Everything you're taught here is bullshit. There is pain in this dojo and it's built upon fear, because this man is not your sensei, he is your enemy. But it's not too late. You're not past the point of no return. And I promise, there's still another way."

Wouldn't it have been amazing if Johnny had done this for Robby when Robby was in Cobra Kai? But, no. Johnny didn't do this. He had decided to "stop focusing on what was behind. Start looking at what was in front of [him]." s5 was even worse for Johnny and Robby and was sad, sad proof that Johnny isn't worthy of being a father/dad to anyone. Silver spoke truth: Johnny will screw up another kid.

In s4e4, Johnny dismissed Robby when Robby told him:

"For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid... afraid that I'm gonna end up like you. But that's not gonna be my fear anymore... because I am better than you."

Johnny once told Miguel that he can be better than Johnny, but Johnny freaking turned Robby away when Robby said that he is better than Johnny. In s5e9, Robby proved once again that he is better than Johnny. Hell, even Dom in Fast X, a ridiculous character in a ridiculous, over-the-top movie franchise with bad writing and retcons galore, has the right idea about fatherhood. Dom said about his son: "Pass it down. Each generation, better than the last... That's fatherhood." and "You will be better than me." Johnny never passed down anything to Robby, other than the generational trauma. Johnny never cared or thought to teach Robby anything. Instead, Johnny replaced Robby with a "second chance" and passed down his legacy to that "second chance". Johnny has been choosing that "second chance" over Robby ever since. In s5, Johnny encouraged that "second chance" to use that legacy against Robby (apartment fight). Johnny's also getting ready for his "third chance", all while continuing to neglect and abuse Robby so that Johnny can feel better about his failures with Robby.

One question for s6 is "Will Johnny ever put his "real" son above his own ego for good?"

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 170/332

2016 Chinese GP

Okay so they reverted back to the old quali format, Lewis had a problem with his PU and he's last on the grid meanwhile Nico is on pole for the first time of the year… He's sharing the first row with Ricciardo. Raikkonen is behind them alongside Seb. Valtteri is fifth, then it's Kvyat, Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and Massa. 

From the drivers' truck Lewis tries to say hi to the crowd but they can't hear him. Johnny asks if he's ready for the race and Lewis says he doesn't have a choice. It reminds him of going to races with his dad and a shit car and starting from the back but this time he has a good car.

It's gonna be a challenge but he'll give it everything he's got. He hopes it's entertaining because he doesn't plan on staying where he is.

He knows he has great fans who will be on that journey with him. Johnny asks what result he'd be happy with today. Lewis says with a laugh normally you're never happy with anything other than first.

But considering where he's starting he just wants to make sure he gets points. He acknowledges the work his guys put in the night before, putting the car back together, so getting the most possible points is a reward for that. 

The build up isn't very interesting. There's a segment about Haas' good results in their first two races, and an Alonso interview

They're on the way to the grid. Crofty says nobody has ever won from the back of the grid, but John Watson, in 1983, started 22nd, so same as Lewis that day, and won. At the time, there were 28 drivers total. 

Okay. It's time for the race. 

They are racing! 

Ricciardo overtakes Nico while I see Lewis overtake at least two cars at the back. The Ferraris struggle! They got very close and Kvyat overtook them both. AND THERE IS CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO FERRARIS! Oh it's chaos, the top 10 is in shambles. Apparently Lewis also got damage? HE LOST HIS FRONT WING omg. It's stuck under his car. Horrible horrible weekend. Seb is on the radio saying he made contact. He says the RedBull was coming up the inside "like a madman" and that's why he hit Raikkonen. At the end of the first lap, the order goes Daniel, Nico, Kvyat, Perez and Hulkenberg, Sainz, Massa, Seb, Jenson, and Valtteri. Raikkonen pits from P20 and Lewis is nowhere to be seen, unfortunately. Oh here he comes in as well. And Nico overtakes Ricciardo just as Ricciardo's tyre BLOWS UP! Completely delaminated 2013 style. Kvyat overtakes him as well, of course. And it's a safety car. There's too much debris on the track. That's good for Lewis because it brings him right back near the other cars but he's complaining of how the car feels. A bunch of people pit, of course. Including Seb. Loads of traffic in the pitlane. On the start replay we see Lewis ran over the debris from the Ferrari collision and then got hit by Nasr. We also see Seb overtaking two cars in the pitlane entry and then Lewis pits again?! They put him on supersofts now (he started on softs and then got back on softs after they changed his nose). I guess the idea is he needs to be able to overtake at the restart… On the radio, Bono says : "We have a plan, nothing wrong all part of the plan." – "Sorry I’m boxing again now?" he asks. OH MY GOD HE IS ACTUALLY PITTING AGAIN?! . "Affirm, we’re going to fit the soft so we don’t have to use any other compounds," Bono answers. It's not even lap 10 and they pitted him THREE TIMES already?! I mean I get it but it's not like he's gonna be able to do 50 laps on softs, is he?! Well I've shown over and over on this blog that I'm a terrible strategist so we'll wait and see and trust their experience but right now I'm mostly just baffled. Seb is still talking about the collision. "Kvyat's attack was suicidal, there was always going to be a crash. No way with the speed he had he could have done the corner." I haven't really watched the collision carefully so idk. I guess we'll see in the postrace. The journalists aren't convinced. Also Ted is about as convinced by Mercedes' strategy as I am because we get from the radio that they don't wanna use the mediums. Ted says getting to the end of the race only on soft tyres would probably necessitate 3 more stops, for a 6 stop strategy ultimately. So… Yeah… in the meantime we see all the traffic jam in the pitlane earlier. It's insane. Nowaday that would be a bunch of penalties. So many collisions were barely avoided. The safety car is about to come in. Here we go. Seb is making moves.

On lap 10, Nico is in the lead followed by Massa, Kvyat, Alonso, Wehrlein, Gutierrez, Perez, Valtteri, Pal ? Who's Pal? Oh it's Palmer, right, then Jenson is P10. Seb is currently P12, up two places in one lap I believe, Ricciardo is P15, Raikkonen is P18 and Lewis P19. And Seb overtakes Sainz for P11. Raikkonen overtook Magnussen for P17. Lewis overtakes him as well, quite aggressively. Seb is up in P10 in the meantime. Nico is cruising ahead but Valtteri attacks Perez who's on the tail of Gutierrez, Seb is just behind, now in P9, biding his time. LEWIS OVERTOOK RAIKKONEN! Good job. It would have been difficult having to follow him up the pack. Loads of action I can't keep up. Palmer and Ricciardo are battling over P12 and Ricciardo won, at least for now. Seb attacks Valtteri but can't quite make it. These four are very close to one another. Lewis is up in P15! Seb finally gets Valtteri for P8. Wehrlein is overtaken by Perez for P5, just as Seb makes up another place by getting ahead of Gutierrez. At the back Lewis overtook Palmer for P14. And as we're watching replays of his overtakes, Seb overtakes Wehrlein and puts himself in P6. Kvyat gets P2 by overtaking Massa and Lewis is P13 after getting Hulkenberg. Next step is Ricciardo. And here he attacks! Not enough yet… Daniel is also attacking Gutierrez for P11, they're wheel to wheel… It's done, down the inside, Lewis follows through and HE's now wheel to wheel with Gutierrez. But he has to wait for a couple more corners to do it from the outside. He's immediately catching Ricciardo. Seb overtakes Perez for P5! He's so close to Alonso he's basically tapping him on the shoulder. He attacks! He's ahead down the straight but Alonso gets the slipstream and tries to attack back. The straight is too short though. That's P4 for Seb. BUT OH HO some pieces flew off his car! Raikkonen pits. He wasn't able to follow Lewis up the field. Lewis overtakes Jenson for P10! He's 25 seconds away from Nico now. Alonso pits and that puts him on P9. Seb is chasing P3. Oh he pits. He's out behind Lewis, in P13. It might be interesting if they battle. But Lewis probably will pit as well. 

Alright that was a busy 10 laps, now we're on lap 20, and the top 10 currently reads Nico, Kvyat, Massa, Valtteri, Sainz, Oh but Kvyat pits wait. There's a three way fight between him as he gets out of the pits, Seb and Verstappen. So as I was saying. Nico, Bottas, Lewis now up in P3 somehow?????!?!? /? //// seriously what? Last I checked he was P9?! Anyway Jenson is P4, Kvyat P5, Verstappen P6, Seb P7 AND NICO PITS. So we wait again. And Seb overtook Verstappen and where is Kvyat?! I CAN'T KEEP UP. WAIT A SECOND SO I CAN RECAP THE TOP 10 PLEASE. Seb overtakes Jenson. 

SO. THE TOP 10. Nico, Valtteri, Lewis. Kvyat is now P4, Seb P5, Jenson P6, Perez P7, Massa P8, Ericsson P9, Alonso P10. No idea where Max went so I guess he pitted. Someone is being investigated for driving too slowly in the pitlane but I don't remember who and now we're informed some unsafe release concerning Perez will be investigated after the race. Lewis pits! He's now P14… P13. P12. P11. He attacks Raikkonen for P10. There's a three way battle for P5 between Perez, Valtteri and Jenson. A bit later, Raikkonen overtakes Jenson for P9, and then Lewis as well as he pits. He's back in the points! He attacks Raikkonen again! He still can't make it, Raikkonen is making it hard. But Perez pits so that's P9 anyway. 

That's lap 30. Nico is still ahead of course, followed by Kvyat again, and Seb. Massa and Valtteri are next, then Daniel, Sainz, Raikkonen and Lewis, P10 is Verstappen. On the radio we just hear Lewis say "I am." which is confusing. The transcript shows it was in answer to Bono telling him to give it everything he has. Oh yeah NOW we hear the complete exchange. He pits again and this time it's for the mediums so what was the point of the weird strategy earlier? He's back in P10 quickly enough but as the commentators– well it's P9 now. As the commentators point out though, most people ahead of him will not pit again so he's gonna have to work for it on track. Again. Kvyat and Seb pit. Nico pits but literally nobody cares at this point. There's a battle for P3 between Kvyat, Raikkonen and Seb. Seb overtakes Raikkonen pretty quickly and then Kvyat in about as little time. He's P3. Raikkonen pits. 

On lap 40, Nico, Seb, Kvyat. Four way battle for P4 between Max, Massa, Valtteri and Lewis. Daniel is P8, Perez P9– Massa overtakes Verstappen and Verstappen pits, Lewis attacks Valtteri, P5 ! Daniel is getting into the action as well. Oh that's an easy overtake on Valtteri, dangerous for Lewis. His tyres are fresher. But Valtteri strikes back! Oh he can't… ohhh there we go Daniel is right on Lewis… He defends, he defends, but Daniel has the pace… Lewis locks up again… He's looking for a way past Massa… and Daniel overtakes him. Now he's under pressure from Raikkonen… he's attacking Massa but can't make it and now Raikkonen is attacking him! 10 laps to go. He attacks again… Yeah. That's another lost place. Raikkonen overtakes Massa as well and Lewis is back to chasing the Williams. 5 laps to go now. The ending is pretty anticlimactic. 

And it's the end of the race. 

Nico wins again. In the end the rest of the top 10 was Seb, Kvyat, Daniel, Raikkonen, Massa, Lewis P7, Verstappen, Sainz, Valtteri. 

As usual Seb speaks with Nico in German. I don't understand German despite studying it for like 10 years but I think he mentioned "schlafen", to sleep. They watch the screens. Seb says something about Lewis, but I can't hear because Nico is shaking the camera and the mic makes a noise. Kvyat says something we can't hear as well. Seb turns to him. "You! Asking what happened at the start?!" he says, half stunned, half amused. "(Inaudible) to the left you crash into us and we all flew (inaudible)." – "Well," Kvyat starts but Seb interrupts. "No, not 'well', you came like a torpedo!" – "Well that's racing," Kvyat laughs like a 13 year old boy joking about boobs. "Uh that's racing but you know if I keep going the same line, we crash," Seb says. "Well don't keep going," Kvyat says with the same hollow laugh. Seb is not amused anymore. "Yeah but there was a car on the left also," he says. Nico is all smiles behind them. Kvyat says he didn't see that because he only has two eyes. Seb shrugs. He says they could have crashed if that's how he went at it and Kvyat says "we didn't". "YOU didn't!" Seb corrects him. They keep going. Seb says sure it's racing but he's gonna get damage if goes at it like he's crazy. "You were lucky this time!" – "Well I'm on the podium so that's okay," he answers again with the same equal cocky smirk. He's annoying. Seb raises his eyebrows. This conversation is going nowhere. Unfortunately the video glitches and I can't hear the end. 

On the podium they basically replay the same conversation. I'm over it. Oh apparently Nico almost got kicked out of his plane from Mexico because he was partying too much. Embarrassing tbh. 

I only have a partial post race. Hopefully we at least get Lewis' interview? We do, it's the first interview we hear.

He smiles as she says it hasn't been his weekend. He says he got a good start but it's always difficult from the back not getting caught up in what happens ahead. He tried to fight his way through but everytime he had to pit he had to do it all again. "But anyway, that's racing and uh… Not a great finish for us this weekend but uh, you know, hopefully onwards and upwards." She asks if in hindsight maybe one of the stops wasn't needed. He says he just got out of the car so he doesn't have any hindsight. She asks how difficult it is to follow the cars in front in the Mercedes. He's not enjoying the question. He hums. He says he talks about it all the time. The track is good because you can overtake but the car was pretty damaged. He suspects there was suspension damage as well. 

Toto says there's some stuff they need to work on but he's happy RedBull is back in the mix and it was exciting to see three teams battling for the podium. 

Out of the press conference, Ted says Kvyat has moved from laughing it off to standing his ground while Seb still can't let it go. He also confirms that Lewis not being able to do longer stints on his softs tyres (12 laps compared to Nico's 23) was due to the damage to the front of the car that was shredding the tyres.

At the end of the notebook, Ted mentions Lewis saying something about fighting himself during the press conference. He then says Toto said Saturday night during the Mercedes press conference that Lewis was so one with himself and it was fantastic to see so they asked Lewis about it. Apparently he said it was nice to hear that from Toto. "He's a very big part of the journey I'm on, you know earlier in my life, throughout my life my friends used to say to me 'Lewis you don't know who you are, it's like you're searching for yourself.' but now I've found myself, I've found my identity". And I think that's a very important thing to mention in this rewatch. 

That's it for now! 

[pieheda]

So the fan theory is that Kreese murdered Tory’s mom. That’s how much he cares about winning karate tournaments. Enough to murder her mom and also make it look like a tragic but natural death.

Not only do I think this is true, I think he also killed Johnny’s mom. Johnny was an adult by then, but Kreese knew this would help him to manipulate Johnny 20 years later when they would inevitably be in the same dojo again. He probably also killed Mr. Miyagi, just out of spite. Snuck in the hospital and pulled the plug, it’s plausible. I wouldn’t put it past him.

He also traveled back in time and killed Daniel LaRusso’s father. Now I know you’re thinking, that doesn’t make any sense! Well, he was going to SAVE Daniel’s father because that would prevent Daniel from needed a father figure and finding that in Mr. Miyagi. But he realized that he didn’t want to avoid Daniel, he wanted to beat him, and so he killed Mr. LaRusso just to create that emotional tension. He thought it would alter the timeline, but this is when Kreese realized that the All Valley Under 18 Tournament was a fixed point in history, and that he was absolutely right to believe that teen karate tournaments really are the most important thing in the world.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: oh crap, Kreese killed Betsy! That’s where you’re wrong. Obviously Captain Turner arranged a special ops mission where he personally ran Betsy’s car off the road, so that in a key moment he could manipulate Kreese with this information. Just like all of the other bad behavior Kreese learned from Turner, he learned the trick of “kill what someone loves in order to emotionally manipulate them, even if you must bend space and time to do it” from Turner as well.

I predict that the big season ender is going to be Hilary Swank appearing as Julie Pierce to say “I am here to avenge my parents, who you killed in that car wreck so long ago!” and then taking him down.

[transjlawrence]

Finished Season 6 episode 1 and here’s some thoughts:

When will they let Amanda have a normal life. Please

Miguel and Robby are so brothers. Can you pass me more tape. I love them

Poor Johnny and his dojo :((

I feel like regardless of the probation, they should probably mention Tory’s financial situation too. Not that they have to but it was in the back of my mind when they awkwardly turn to Tory

Why is Kenny in the wrong for not wanting to talk to Robby??

SHAWN AND KENNY!!! I LOVE WHEN THEY MAKE SIBLING CHARACTERS

KENNY PLOTLINE KENNY PLOTLINE!!! I NEED TO SEE MORE OF HIS CHARACTER

Also Shawn looking out for Kenny. I love that sm

Johnny may have gone up to Coyote Creek bc he thought it was Kreese but I’m not convinced Kreese knows how to use a phone like that. His messages have no spaces, I just know it

The callback to Johnny discovering Cobra Kai in the first place gave me actual chills. You know Johnny felt 12 years old again

I love that Johnny concedes. It really shows how his character has grown and how much he wants to disconnect himself from Kreese. Also Daniel acknowledging Miyagi wouldn’t care about his legacy even though it’s clear Daniel does

Them all fighting? They are actual boyfriends. Chozen, Daniel, and Johnny are so marriedcore.

I like that Kenny is there to have more plotline with his character but I still don’t like how it almost seemed they cornered him ? Idk, I am being picky right now but also I have thoughts

Will do one for the rest of the episodes too!!

[msfbgraves]

Why is it that in terms of the KK trilogy, Terry is considered far and away the most dangerous villain, when it was Chozen who was ready to commit murder and kill Daniel!

Terry was psychologically damaging to Daniel which is sinister enough, but at the end of the day, he wanted to shame Daniel in a local competition, not fight him to the death.

Johnny was your typical asshole school bully kicked up several notches, Chozen a violent sociopath who wanted blood and murder, and Terry a psychopath aided by cocaine and obsession.

Of the three, Chozen is the most dangerous in my opinion due to motivation and desire. I think people sometimes forget how horrible and crazy he was when he was young because he’s become so honorable and good in adulthood. And he’s Team Daniel 100%, unlike Johnny who is frenemies with him, and Terry who is a villain with a crush.

I don’t get it!

"No such thing as a bad student. Only bad teacher."

"For a man with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death."

We have the personification of those sayings in Chozen and Sato. Chozen and Sato are Daniel's and Miyagi's dark twins. We forgive Chozen for the same reason we forgive teenage Johnny for that near-murder of Daniel. One more kick that hit, Daniel could well have been killed (I keep toying with a fic idea where Lucille visits Johnny in Juvie with a simple question: "Why did you kill my son?" Only why would I hurt everyone like that?), but we gloss over that because the answer is obvious: a maniac teacher.

Chozen is clearly what Sato made him and Sato is demanding, strict, obsessed and entirely unforgiving. And the only adult in Chozen's life. If something like the trick with the weights and the ice is something that Chozen came up with on his own, he was certainly not corrected. He was likely taught that it's a dog eat dog world and everyone is ultimately in it for themselves. He was shown no principles, no character, only ego and lack of mercy and then, when his fear overcomes him, his uncle spiritually kills him. Why is he the only one blamed for not coming to Sato's aid? There was a whole group of people in there also doing exactly nothing. The only responsibility that Chozen was taught was to always win and to always save face, and he doesn't take Miyagi on directly because that's a battle he already knows he can't win, he wouldn't take on his uncle for various reasons but in a very warped way, he takes his principles very seriously in trying to win from Daniel to save face. I still feel it's odd that Sato did not interfere. His nephew is clearly entirely lost, it was his responsibility to stop it. Miyagi's, too, if Sato again would not step up. I know, I know, we needed the climactic battle scene, but why was Kumiko the only one not having any of it? Why did everyone stand there as he beat her unconscious too? Anyway, it's obvious that Chozen was a warped, lost soul, but he still had a sense of responsibility that was later turned to good when his uncle finally realised he had failed his nephew spectacularly and built on that to set it right, a responsibility Chozen again accepted 100%. Is he still a little unhinged? Sure. But even as a very young man, he had a sense of honour and responsibility, some kernel that could be built on. Some character.

And Terry is so dangerous because he lacks that sense of proportion. You do not take it upon yourself to torture a teenager (and he absolutely did), to avenge a nonexistent slight to his army friend. We've all seen that Daniel won honourably, and that Kreese lost all his students through his own behaviour. But the scheme is Terry's idea, with zero context, and even Kreese tries to - weakly - talk him out of it. It's insane, that's why it's so scary. It lacks all sense of honour, proportion, casaulity. And he has the smarts charm and money to pull something like this off. The reason why he didn't kill Daniel is not because that is obviously wrong, or a disproportionate reaction to a perceived slight....the reason why Terry didn't kill Daniel is that killing him would not get Kreese his reputation back, and far more likely because he simply didn't feel like it. This guy stops at nothing but his own sense of right and wrong, his own logic, but that logic is entirely unpredictable. There's nothing this guy wouldn't do if he felt like it. If he felt that instead of humiliating Daniel, the right reaction would have been to kill all the cobras, he'd have done that. And gotten away with it. He's a charming, rational, cultured, billionaire, intelligent man who has never been quite sane. Oh, he can mask with the best of them. But he's not right and that is terrifying because as Cobra Kai shows - it wasn't the coke talking. I've read in Stephen Fry's book that some people are so manic coke actually calms them down. Terry seems to be that kind of person. Who knows what he's actually on? Are those pills heart medication? Or some form of mood regulation? Coke can be a form of self medication, and even now, Terry is clearly treating something...