#Good?? At karate??? Why karate

[takemebacktowheniwassane]

somebody please talk to me about why the fuck william finn decided to make whizzer good at karate

[emloafs]

we may watch the same show but i watch it gayer

[kaspers-kanvas]

theyre admiring each other

[miyagi-hokarate]

You're Alright, LaRusso!

unknown // The Karate Kid (1984) dir. John G. Avildsen // @babyangel-jpg // Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis // John Dryden // “the trick of finding what you didn’t lose” from Complete Poems, E.E. Cummings

[zappedbyzabka]

This is what I like to imagine Ali and Johnny could have been like when no one was around lol

[keen-eye]

something something great premise, bad writing…failure to adapt with the times…writers (white men) projecting their biases and fantasies and showing clear favoritism between 2 main characters…fans following suit…*

narrative not holding aggro “manly” man accountable for his actions…shut up, i’m right, screw you, get punched…but he had a shitty childhood…self-destructive, makes it everyone else’s problem…badass all american guy with a cool car, bitches, burgers, beer, and rock ‘n’ roll, baby…makes sexist and racist remarks, but he’s just a goofy guy…unbridled violence and refusal to mature are excused because he's an Action Hero…stuck in the 80s toxic masculinity mentality…apologizes, maybe means it, doesn’t change…alcoholism is hilarious…don’t let him around children…

less masculine man treated as a scapegoat...why is he whiny and annoying…giving but called entitled and selfish…stuck-up stick in the mud…polite, eats healthy food, likes a clean space, and knows how the internet works, ugh…samantha, danielle…don’t be a bitch/pussy about it…get emasculated, nerd…abused as well but learns to forgive…internalizes his rage and tries to be gentle…compassionate and sees the good in people…emotional intelligence, let’s talk this through…given female character treatment...held to a higher standard, judged more harshly...comfortable in his sexuality…vilified for holding justifiable resentment towards macho man…hate for character carries over to actor

oh and the homoerotic subtext (they break up every other episode)

*i recognize that this is exaggerated and doesn’t delve into the nuances of the characters. none of them are perfect

[pussyhoundspock]

God I NEED Daniel to own a line of garishly colorful suits he wears to his job as a flop public defender every day

[fixfoxnox]

Thinking of changing up my blog a bit. Redecorating if you will...

So if you see some random guy pop up...that might be me

[kn11ves]

emotional support group for autistics who got called condescending and rude as kids just for responding to things directly and still not knowing how they were being mean

[no1ryomafan]

Every time I’m with my irls the subject comes up a lot more cause they’re into more female oriented series but man while it’s given better female rep is just okay-not astounding but not feeding into the more worse tropes of women in anime-I feel really bad for Michiru.

It’s like she’s the more prominent female in getter as she’s probably had the most appearances out of any of the others but I feel she’s never been used to her fullest potential. The manga really felt like Ken didn’t know what to do with her as she just kinda existed and then was killed off, arma just uses her as a plot device, toei I can’t speak fully but I know she’s a support character however given it’s that role and the 70s it only goes so far and in other canons she’s flat out hardly acknowledged. (SVN literally just has her as a cameo)

New is probably her best version but I feel there was some missed opportunities with her as the Hein arc could’ve shown more what was going on in the present and with her but it didn’t have enough time for that, and even if she does have dynamics with the boys hers and Ryomas are very undeveloped as they hardly interacted which is both a shock and a shame as they seemed to be fun in the one ep-ep 2-where they really talked.

And also as much as I like News approach to her characterization it is a shame we hardly ever seen the more traditional version of Michiru be fleshed out, when even if “uwu nice girl” is more basic it can still work and be a good character. Like it made me more sad watching Android Kikaider and seeing Mitsuko who’s basically the same trope as Michiru-down to even LOOKING like her-being a older sister with a dead brother, absent mother and a sus scientist father and be so fleshed out, but Michiru never got that chance.

You can always say “oh maybe in another getter project” but fuck knows when that’ll happen ever man💀

[emloafs]

me leaving my bubble and seeing everyone hate on demetri for taking the last sekai taikai spot

[luci3skydi]

I repurposed the text for this from an a/b/o fic wip that I’ll probably never post, but it really goes to show how much space comics require: all three of these pages were one written paragraph originally. Which is below:

(I changed the text a little.)

Meta rant under the cut (not necessary to understand the comic):

So there’s this quick moment where Daniel offers a handshake to Johnny right after the sucker punch in the beach fight. He says, “Okay, man, now we’re even, huh?” angling for some sort of truce, but he keeps his right hand raised in a fist, protecting his face. It’s quick, but this moment says a lot about how Daniel and Johnny function within and react to the world around them. 

Daniel offers the handshake, but is that only because he’s losing? He knows the fight’s inevitable as much as Johnny: he’s got the fist up. The fist is sincere. But is the handshake? As far as Johnny’s concerned, there’s only one path forward that makes sense: they finish the fight. But Daniel offers nonviolence, equilibrium as an alternative. It’s a baffling move.

Does Daniel actually believe they can end this here? Right after he landed the first real hit? Is he dumb? Or is this just plausible deniability in front of Ali (‘see, I offered him an out! I’m the good guy!’) Is it a taunt, like Johnny probably sees it?

It reads like an ill-fated attempt to save his skin, doomed to fail, but he tries it anyway. He’s got his pride and his world view (“well, it wasn’t his, was it?”) and someone to defend, so he doesn’t back down, but he can also try to turn this around (and maintain the moral high ground) by letting Johnny decide: the hand of friendship, or the way of the fist. If Johnny chooses peace, well hallelujah! But if he chooses violence, hey, Daniel’s still a good guy. The guy who got beat on, yeah, but for standing up for what is right. Daniel has moral clarity in spades and the strength and spunk to defend it. 

Johnny really doesn’t have that same strength in identity and purpose that allows Daniel to adapt and prosper (when he’s not beset on by enemy forces) in life. Johnny’s plans at the beginning of this movie are so heartfelt and good and simple: he’s got one year to make it work, and that’s what he’s going to do, make it work. But the second he’s faced with Ali snubbing him and Daniel standing up to him, he throws all that out thoughtlessly. Because what he does and who he is are not the same in his brain. He molds himself into a Kreese clone to get friends, success, and a girlfriend. And that’s worked until recently. But his life is built on shaky foundations. (Enter Daniel “Bull in a Bonsai Shop” LaRusso.)

I think the difference between Johnny and Daniel is that Johnny only ever sees one path forward, he’s rigid. And Daniel’s flexible, he can see outside of what is supposed to happen, to what he really wants to happen. How he thinks the world could work, if people weren’t so hung up on pride and selfishness and how they’re supposed to be doing things. I think that’s why Johnny and him clash so badly in Karate Kid: Daniel is a disturbance to the natural order. He is a destabilizing element to the balance of Johnny’s universe (he questions Kreese!). He is another way to live and be happy outside of the narrow confines of masculinity and ‘might is right’ that Johnny has built himself up around. He thinks outside the box. And that makes him a freak and a twerp and an enemy. It makes him something dangerous to be crushed. 

This choice between the open hand (‘open hand’ = karate, and in this metaphor; Miyagi’s karate, violence as a last resort) and the fist (‘the way of the fist’ = Kreese’s karate, violence as first response) is really a choice between Johnny’s plans to better himself, and his need to assert his dominance and win. And he chooses violence, (self) destruction, and essentially to lose everything (and for what? Pride? Kreese and the Cobras’ approval? Somehow winning Ali back by doing exactly what she doesn’t want him to do?) 

In Cobra Kai Johnny’s a ‘I’m just giving it to you straight, this is how the real world works’ kind of guy, and one of his big character growth things is realizing that it doesn’t have to be that way, he has the power to make it different. Kreese’s Cobra Kai doesn’t have to be his Cobra Kai. He can let things go. He can fight for Robby (I mean, he doesn’t, but he could.) He can move forward and improve and even lose without it killing him. Karate Kid Johnny doesn’t have that awareness, he only has one view (Kreese’s view) and that is ‘if a man confronts you, you strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir.” So that’s what he does. And he doesn’t think twice about it. 

So when faced with this choice he chooses poorly, and he doesn't even see it as a choice in the first place. He takes less than a second to consider it. He fails at the first hurdle, and he doesn’t even realize it. 

[yallwildinrn]

Seven Sentence Sunday

Thanks to both @heytheredeann and @justabigoldnerd for the Seven Sentence Sunday tag and @stevieevenstar for the WIP Wednesday tag (that I am very late to lol.)

Something from my second (and definitely not final) draft of Chapter 5 of Snake in the Grass! I'm struggling with this one, no lie. I finally got something written for it last night tho. Wish me luck, I need it lol

After Johnny won the ’82 All Valley, Kreese had gotten one of the posters framed. He claimed it was because the class did exceptional that year, but Johnny knew – knows – it was because of his sweeping win. Whenever he left the locker room and headed back out the main dojo, that framed poster stood as a proud reminder of his hard work, his prowess. Did Kreese take the poster with him? Did he shatter it after ’84, hence why it’s not here anymore? Or is it in the garbage, discarded just like Johnny’s second place trophy? Johnny wishes that fucking poster was still here just so he could yank it off the wall toss it on the ground, and stomp on it until it was nothing but shards of glass and scraps of painful reminders of what was.

Tagging: @stevieevenstar @zappedbyzabka @abracazabka and anyone else who wants to join in - tag me so I can see what you wrote!

[puella-peanut]

Random Lakreese thoughts since I reread your cute little fic of the two of them bickering, I love how they refer to each other by their last names when they're fighting even though this is a totally different au. Lol.

John thinks of Daniel as a kitten a lot, I wonder if he ever calls him that in bed?

An as of untouched trope we're sleeping on- uniform kink.

I wonder what Lucille's reaction was to her little sunshine boy settling down with a man like that. If at first she was shocked by the age difference and didn't think John was worthy of Daniel, thinking he was just a grumpy old man.

Random Lakreese thoughts since I reread your cute little fic of the two of them bickering, I love how they refer to each other by their last names when they're fighting even though this is a totally different au. Lol.

So, they're not married in the original ficlet (only because it's the 90s, and gay marriage has not been legalized yet) but...

If they are married, it’s just their snippy little way of reminding the other that their hyphenated, shared surname can go back to being just their own respective surname if the other isn’t careful! 

“Yeah? Well I think I like the sound of LaRusso better than LaRusso-Kreese anyway! So there!” *Angry little pout*

“Fine with me. And it is, or was—Kreese-LaRusso, kid.” *Brooding intensifies.*

If not, they’re just being shits to each other. 

John thinks of Daniel as a kitten a lot, I wonder if he ever calls him that in bed? 

I am so partial to Prima Donna being John’s petname of choice for Daniel—especially if it starts off as something condescending (like in KK1), and then evolves over time into a term of total, if teasing, endearment. Like here. 

As for kitten...

So, John’s so not a cat person, in fact, he dislikes them, cold-hearted little bastards that they are. If anything, he’s fine with dogs—big ones, powerful ones, strong and useful ones like Rottweilers and Cane Corsos, etc. (Disclaimer: Daniel loves all dogs, huge and tiny and in-between with an unholy passion. Yes, even Chihuahuas!). Moving on, John is also rather partial to reptiles. Snakes, especially...heh.

But, like you said, he does think of Daniel being kitten-like a lot. After all, the boy is small and fussy, always in-and-out of trouble; loves snuggles and cuddles and being petted. He curls up just like a kitten would on a chair, or a cushion, or against John himself—which is something John looks forward to after a long day at work. (Not that he’ll say that outloud.) Also: Daniel is agile and quick on his feet, light, skittish, and surprisingly graceful. He laps up affection and tenderness like a kitten would milk. He sits where he pleases—the countertop, the ladder outside, the hood of his their cars. Plops himself onto John’s lap whenever he feels like it, and plays with his chest hair like a kitten would a ball of yarn. And he is very cute in the morning, when his hair is all tousled, and he’s curled up in John’s arms, warm and soft and pliant, and mumbling, still more than half-asleep, just five more minutes, John...

(No, Daniel is the only “cat” John tolerates, aka—can’t live without.)

Anyway, John’s not huge on nicknames (or more than one petname, that's excessive) and besides, Daniel is a perfectly reasonable name. He most certainly doesn’t call him Danny, or sweetheart, or darling (that’s for Silverusso land), but if he’s gotta have one, then Prima Donna is his go-to, especially when Daniel is being...just that. 

He does occasionally call Danial a kitten, but only in the bedroom. John can’t help it—the little mewls of pleasure Daniel makes when John has him at his mercy, the higher-pitched sighs and cries, the tiny nips on his skin, and nail-shaped-scratches he leaves on John’s body, especially his back. The way his pupils dilate in his haze of lust, swallowing up the brown as if it never was. Then those soft little purrs of contentment in John’s arms after he’s been fucked good. And his eyes, always so large and pretty, turned all soft and glassy when he looks up at John under his lashes afterwards with a lazy smile. 

Oh, he’s a kitten all right. John’s very own, adorable little pet.

(And if John came home one day to find Daniel in a simple collar, or maybe a red satin ribbon with a little bell at his throat—well! Well, well, well.)

An as of untouched trope we're sleeping on- uniform kink.  

Mm, Top Gun AU anyone? An Officer and a Gentleman AU? 

John has...preferences, but, bless him, he either doesn't know or care about kinks. He likes what he likes, and does what he likes and that's it. He's anything but fuss and feathers, and while he's Very Good in the bedroom, it's without added effects. Daniel's gotta provide that if he wants to add a bit more fun to the (admittedly great) sexytimes.

I can totally see Daniel having a thing for John in uniform. Getting John to wear it and roleplay is the hard part, he’s such a deliberate, un-imaginative, serious man and not showy. Maybe Daniel can drop a few choice words when things start getting hot like “soldier boy”, “Captain”...maybe act like a distressed, helpless civilian in need of rescuing or something from this rugged army man. Acts of service is John’s love language after all, and calling him Captain is definitely a huge turn on for him. Just keep pushing John slowly in that direction Daniel, and you’ll probably succeed in getting him to rail you good in his military best. Or like, just up the brat factor for an attitude reset delivered by your favorite Captain via prostrate. 

(Anyway, before they officially get together, Daniel probably comes across Kreese’s military pictures, takes one look at this strapping, macho man in uniform and...)

Daniel: Drop everything and rail me now while wearing this.

John: ?

Daniel: ...Please, Captain.

John: !

I wonder what Lucille's reaction was to her little sunshine boy settling down with a man like that. If at first she was shocked by the age difference and didn't think John was worthy of Daniel, thinking he was just a grumpy old man. 

Well damn, you’re the third person who has deposited something along these lines in my inbox after I wrote the ficlet—clearly I need to write something about this too! :3

Thanks for the ask! :D

[zappedbyzabka]

Scruggly

[navree]

people talk about pumped up kicks as the premiere "school shooting song that is really catchy" but they're fools because i don't like mondays by the boomtown rats is right there and has been for nearly fifty years.