#as well as kenny and miyagi do

[olisgifs]

If you could just come back, you could really help bring everybody together. Please.

[m1guelsgf]

done for the night

axel kovacevic x reader

author's note ⋆｡𖦹 ✮ ‧₊˚✩彡

hiiiii this is my first fic for any CK character so i'm kinda nervous. hope u like it. i started a pt. 2 already bc i just love axel but i also wanna write him in different scenarios as well! will open my requests asap :)

c.w.

s6pt2 spoilers, drinking.

being in barcelona was a dream. you were grateful that you were able to tag along with the miyagi do's. sensei larusso and sensei lawerence always liked you, especially johnny. being miguel's best friend is a privilege you were happy to have. sure, it came with a lot of drama but it also came with a protector, a group of friends, and some karate skills.

plus, being miyagi do's water girl wasn't a bad deal for being flown out to barcelona.

you were enjoying being on the inside of all the events while not needing to fight. the first couple of rounds you seen were intense. being around all these powerful people made you a little nervous but you had hope nothing terrible would happen like the rumble at west valley. these weren't angry teenagers fueled off drama and angst, they're athletes. aspiring professionals.

after miyagi do managed to stay in the game by the skin of their teeth, everyone was getting ready to go out. sam was talking your and devons ear off about spain and all the things her and miguel were going to do in their freetime when there was a knock at the door. you got up from your spot at the vanity and opened it to see miguel.

he was distressed, foot anxiously tapping with a hand through his hair. "is sam in here?"

"yeah, sam." you waved her over to the door. "you good, miggy?" miguel opened his mouth to speak and his eyes immediately welled up with tears. "what's wrong?"

"my mom..." his voice shook as he took sam in his arms for a hug. "something's wrong with the baby, i need to go back home." he spoke, voice muffled by sams hair.

"of course." you nodded. "is there anything we can do?"

he only shook his head and hugged sam harder.

"miguel." johnny said from the end of the hallway and beckoned him.

miguel let sam go and gave you a quick but tight hug before taking off. you and sam share an uneasy look before going back inside the room.

"miguel's going back home? sensei too?" devon asked and the two of you nodded.

"i need a drink." you said, grabbing your purse.

***

at the bar, everyone just seemed to take the gloominess with them. knowing miguel was struggling made it impossible to have fun.

"what are we going to do now that miguel's gone?" devon asked hawk and demitri.

"we could always have y/n take his spot?" hawk said, giving you a look over like he was sizing you up.

you scoffed. "yeah right, i wasn't even good enough to fight for a spot in the sekai tekai. getting my ass kicked on the world stage isn't on my bucket list."

"i'm serious." hawk said. "if they can't get kenny, you're next up. so don't black out this time." hawk pointed at your drink, remembering the time you got blackout drunk and threw up all over the inside of his car at one of moons parties.

"i'd prefer drunk y/n over kenny any day." demitri started. "at least she didn't shit her pants."

"oooookay." you stood up, taking your empty glass with you. "i'm getting another drink." you saw the way they were looking at you. "my last one. i don't think you guys will need me but if you do, i'll be ready. i promise."

you walked over to the bar, where sam and robby were sitting. "hey."

"hey." sam said and robby only nodded.

"what's with him?" you noticed robby's bad mood as soon as you walked up.

"maybe you can help." sam stood up, taking her cup with her. "i'm gonna go sit with the others for a sec, see if miguel still has service."

"okay." you nodded, taking sams spot at the bar. "what's wrong?"

"everything." robby sighed. "i need a drink."

you wanted to tell him not to, that it wouldn't solve anything but you knew that he already knew.

"get one, whatever you want. i got us for the first round." you took some cash from your pocket. "hey, can i get a mai tai and..."

"a rum and coke. double. please." robby asked and the bartender nodded, getting to work on your drinks.

"it's one of those nights, huh?" he only nodded, peering at the other edge of the bar for a moment before scoffing and turning back to you.

"yeah." you looked down to where he had just looked, to see tory and kwon sitting besided each other. kwon had an arm around her shoulders and was whispering something in her ear.

"i'm sorry robby. she's gonna come around, i know she is."

"i don't know. she's doing better without me." robby took a sip of his drink and looked down to where tory was sitting. kwon had separated from her but was still close. "and i'm here." he looked at his drink. "thanks by the way."

"it's not good to drink alone. especially when you're down." you nodded, taking a sip of your drink. "also, i missed out on the robby who smoked weed and skated everywhere. i hear he was kinda fun."

"i still skate everywhere." he said with a small laugh. "just not a skate rat anymore."

"yeah, you're the captain now." you gently nudged his shoulder. "i don't know how that feels exactly, the pressure, but i do know that you're gonna make everyone back home proud. especially tory."

"i hope so." he took another drink and eventually, his was gone.

"i know so. she's been watching every one of your fights."

robby cringed a little bit. "knowing i've lost every one of my fights definitely makes me feel lame."

"you're still in it. there's still tomorrow." you took another sip of your drink.

robby nodded. "i'm gonna go to the bathroom."

you nodded in return, looking over your shoulder to see hawk on his phone, sam and devon talking, and demitri dancing with a girl. when you turned back to where robby was sitting, kwon was in his seat.

"hi."

"hello." you were playing with your straw.

"what are you drinking?"

"a mai tai." your responses were dry but kwon wasn't backing off.

"do you want to dance?" he offered his hands but you shook your head, backing away a little.

"no, thanks."

"what? you're only miyagi do's little girlfriend? not for the rest of us?" kwon leaned in closer. "i can treat you better than keene."

"leave me alone, kwon."

"hey." robby's voice came from behind you.

kwon only scoffed and backed up. "someone's waiting for me anyways." he stood up. "i promise i'll keep her warm tonight, keene." he said before leaving the bar.

"are you okay?"

"i need some air." you stood up and went outside, leaving your friends at the bar. you felt bad for leaving robby alone but you couldn't be there anymore.

you felt the effects of the alcohol as you walked down to the beach. your head was spinning. you stopped and took a seat near the shore, sighing as you looked out to the water.

and then you saw him.

axel kovacevic.

he had been destroying his opponents on the mat. nobody's been able to land a point on him. he was one of the strongest competitors. he was stoic too, especially now as he was practicing his kata about 10 feet away from you. in the moonlight, by the ocean, with the alcohol making your perspective soft, he wasn't robotic. he was focused. until he caught you staring at him.

you made eye contact and immediately looked down at your lap. you waited about 5 seconds to check if he was still looking and he was full on staring. it was awkward. he wasn't looking at you as a threat, but with curiosity.

the two of you observed each other for a silent minute before you decided to say something. "hi." you waved and he didn't say anything in return. "you're axel right?" he nodded. "i'm y/n. i liked the kata you were doing."

"i'm not supposed to speak with opponent." he turned away from you and you stood up.

"i'm not your opponent. i'm not even fighting in the tournament. more like, emergency backup." you smiled, watching the corner of his lips tug upwards.

"why aren't you fighting?" he asked curiously, taking a step closer to you.

"i'm not really a fighter like my friends are." you shrugged. "you're great though."

"i'm alright." he leaned over to pick up his shirt and revealed bruises on his back. the sight made you wince.

"what happened?"

"bo staff competition."

"nobody has been able to land a point on you yet." you looked at him and he had a sort of an embarrassed look. "i know about... your sensei. one of my friends saw. it's not right. you should be out with your team, not practicing alone."

"there's always time for practice. my sensei wants me to be the best. it's because of him i never lose."

"doesn't make it right." you responded. "your entire dojo is pretty great though, i have to admit."

"you're pretty." axel stopped himself. your face was on fire and so was his. "your dojo's pretty good too."

"thanks. do you wanna walk with me? back to the hotel?" you asked, rocking on your heels. axel looked around and nodded and you both took off into the night.

"how long have you been fighting for?" you asked.

"ever since i was a kid. what about you?"

"only a couple years. after one of my friends got really hurt, i decided i had to get serious about learning. he had been teaching me some stuff but when it happened i just had to join a dojo. it was actually... cobra kai."

axel looked at you in disbelief. "you were in cobra kai?"

"yeah. after miguel got hurt, i was really angry and i took it out on everyone."

"miguel..."

"he was the original cobra kai." you remembered when miguel excitedly showed you his first gi. "it's a long story though. those sensei's, silver. they put me and all my friends through hell. so i know what its like to have a sensei do anything to make you the best, even hurt you."

axel couldn't say anything, he could only look at you with wonder. "is that why you don't fight anymore?"

"kind of. i don't know. i'm just not as angry as i used to be. i feel like my anger was the only reason i was ever good and i don't wanna live like that." you shrugged.

"i understand." he nodded. "i love karate but i don't want to be a robot all the time." you shook your head and opened your mouth to speak but he interrupted. "i hear what everyone says. they call me a monster, a machine. sometimes i just want to be axel." you nodded, this time you didn't have anything to say. "that's why i like to travel. i get to disappear in each city whenever i'm not fighting."

"how many cities have you been to?"

"a lot." he chuckled and listed all the cities and countries he's been to. you listened in awe. "what about you?"

"i've never really left california." you responded. "but after being here, i'd love to see everything. the sagrada familia makes me feel small but not in a scary way. it's like a monument to the great things humans can do."

"how cute!" a familiar voice interrupted. "little rival team playtime, huh?" kwon and another cobra kai came from around the corner. "thought you were only for miyagi do to play with."

"and i thought i told you to leave me alone." you tried to push past them but they blocked the path. you could smell the alcohol on kwons breath as he spoke. "just let us go."

"what's the magic word?" kwon asked, leaning in closer to you.

"move." you responded bluntly, not wanting anything else to do with this.

"wrong." kwon scoffed and shook his head. he glanced over your shoulder and you were sure someone was behind you.

"we just want to go back to the hotel." you weren't planning on giving kwon what he wanted.

"okay. you can go, only if you say please." kwon was in your face again, smug smile plastered on his face.

before you knew it, the other cobra kai kicked axel. it barely affected him as he shot into action to defend the both of you.

"come on, hit me. show me why they brought you here." kwon tapped his cheek and you were about to raise your arm when you were grabbed from behind. you elbowed whoever grabbed you multiple times before being able to slither out and kick him across the face. at the same time, axel shoved the other cobra kai into kwon. "okay come on. i'll take you both."

the sound of sirens took everyone but kwon out of the fight. he was still pressing axel and had to be taken away by his teammates.

"come on, let's go."

the two of you bolted back to the beach. after catching your breath, you started laughing a little.

"what?" axel asked.

"that guy kicked you and you barely moved. you have a strong base."

axel looked away from you, a smile spreading across his face. "thanks. that was a nice roundhouse."

"thanks, axel." you smiled at him and then looked out at the ocean. when you looked back at him, he was staring. no, he was admiring you. "what?"

axel said nothing, he only reached to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. his hand brushed against your face and you leaned into the touch.

and then he kissed you.

and you kissed him back. it was perfect. he was cradling your face with one hand, pulling you closer by your waist with the other. his mouth moved against yours softly and romantically. it was sweet. he didn't want anything other than to kiss you and you were happy to oblige and let yourself be putty in his hands.

but then your head started spinning again. you pulled away abruptly, taking a deep breath as you came up for air. the alcohol, the running, and the kissing were all making you dizzy. "axel i-."

"i'm sorry, i should go. already after curfew." axel took off running down the beach.

"wait, axel!" you called out after him but he was gone. you felt terrible as you went back inside the bar to meet with your team. everyone was already heading out and robby was nowhere to be seen. you figured he had went back to the hotel and hoped he would be fine. everyone else on the other hand would be dealing with their drama for a minute, including yourself.

[seeker-of-stories19]

Season 6 Pt 1 Kiaz Thoughts/Observations

- Miguel and Robby choosing to sit in the backseat together when the passenger seat is open in the very first scene

- Miguel asking Robby to bandage his knuckles for him even though he also has a roll of tape in his hands. Just the symbolism of that moment with what their relationship has been like and they’re not fighting each other anymore they’re protecting each other.

- Miguel being so invested in watching Robby hit the punching bag at Golf N Stuff

- Literally a double date but Kiaz are the only ones even interacting- it totally gives boyfriends who are trying to set up their bffs so they have another couple to hang out with

- Miguel being the first one to check on Robby after Shawn shows up and immediately agreeing with the girls that they’re all on Robby’s side

- Miguel stepping into yet another fight to protect Robby

- “That could’ve gone better” “It could’ve gone worse” literally Robby being pessimistic and Miguel being optimistic is my favorite dynamic

- Miguel being so desperate for Robby’s feedback on his college essay and so worried about hurting his feelings

- Miguel immediately reaching for Robby when the sewage pipe breaks

- Literally Miguel and Robby are never not next to each other, they’ve got more chemistry than any of the actual couples

- Miguel reaching for Robby in the background when Johnny comes in with the pink powder on his shirt

- More scenes where Robby is with Miguel and Sam and Tory are together than with the people they’re actually dating, I wonder why…

- Robby immediately putting his hand on Miguel’s chest when the Sekai Taikai announcement comes out

- Miguel looks so put out at the thought of having to fight Robby again

- He is so offended he got blown off for Robby’s actual girlfriend even though they had a pretty good reason not to train together

- Miguel seeking Robby out to make sure he knows that he’s not mad at him and doesn’t want anything to change their relationship

- Robby immediately checking where he stands with Miguel after winning the captaincy

- Miguel’s little smile when Robby is checking to see if he’s upset during the speech about Barcelona

- Miguel is so disappointed but he also can’t help being proud of Robby it’s so cute

- All the looks I can’t even count

NON KIAZ RELATED BONUS

- Really excited to see Shawn come back and have more character development

- Daniel being willing to give up the miyagi do name for Johnny is giving me major Lawrusso vibes and I’m not even a hardcore shipper

- Johnny in a Miyagi-Do gi is literally unbelievable

- Demetri’s shocked expression every time he does karate

- I’m not on board with Kyler’s mini redemption, not after what he did to Sam in season one

- Beer with blue and pink labels for a baby shower, only Johnny Lawrence

- THE BABY IS A GIRL!!!

- Just laughing over the fact that Johnny even knew what tampons are

- Samtory is also amazing this season

- I’m excited about Kwans arc

- Me literally expecting Yasmine to walk in on Eli and Demetri making out when she shows up at the Dojo

- Kenny winking at Anthony

- Pissed we got a American flag Mohawk and not a bisexual/nonbinary pride one (not that that was ever gonna happen but it would’ve been nice)

- I still really hope Kenny somehow ends up with a Sekai Taikai spot after what Devon did and that Anthony and Kenny don’t have too many problems for too long over it

- While I wanted Hawk to have a spot as well- I was annoyed they just gave it to him instead of letting Kenny and him have a rematch which would’ve been more fair

- I’m worried that Kenny vanished

- ROBBY IS A CAPTAIN!!!!! I’m literally so excited as much as I love Robby and Miguel both there are so many reasons I want to see Robby get a win and I’m so excited for the possibility of him winning the Sekai Taikai

- Tory ditching Robby sucked, he’s been hurt by yet another person he cares about

- Also Daniel not letting her fight sucked, as long as Sam was okay with it they should’ve let Tory process how she needed to. Daniel made assumptions about the situation and while Tory was obviously emotional she was fighting for this specific memory of her mom that shaped her life not just using karate as an ongoing negative coping mechanism and the way everyone ignores what she’s saying she needs in that moment really rubbed me the wrong way

Finally I’m just going to say this is my favorite season yet and I’m more excited than anyone will ever understand to get actual Kiaz interactions. I feel like this season took me from I ship them because I think they’d be really compatible and they already have this super intense relationship to actually seeing moments between them that feel like more than friendship and it means so much to me I’m so excited!

[angelflms]

Okay, so I have been thinking so much about this (I have been talking aloud to myself for like ten minutes bc I've invested myself wayyy too deep into this), but I think I know why Miguel bothers me so much despite being my favorite character.

The writers suck.

Now, I know I don't have screenwriting credibility and I'm merely just a girl and I know that perhaps they can't cram all of this shit into the show and make room for literally everyone else, BUT I think the reason why so many people don't like Miguel as a character is because he doesn't have much of a character to work with. So whenever he does something that shows character (the Mexico storyline, the Stanford storyline), no one feels bad for him. I think that maybe if he had definitive arcs for each season, while weaving it better into Robby's arcs (since they're foils and tethered to each other), he would actually be likeable. So I wanted to show you what I feel like I would do to write Miguel's post school fight arc. Feel free to tell me your opinions. (buckle up, this is a long one)

S3a

similar to what we see

but we actually get to be more into Miguel's mental response to the aftermath

I dont' think they went enough into his feelings with everything and that everything went a bit too fast (for Miguel) during the season.

perhaps they could've gone deeper into his PTSD, similar to what they did with Sam.

but instead it preventing him from going to school, it prevented him from doing karate all together.

it was clear early on that karate and Johnny slowly became all that Miguel cared about.

Johnny was sending mixed signals and Kresse's entry into CK was conflicting as their ideals were different.

Johnny made it clear that CK's mottos are a way of life, so Miguel was moving the exact way one would in karate irl.

Karate was his life. And it nearly ended it as well.

I don't believe Miguel would immediately still want to be so gung-ho about joining karate again after nearly dying from it.

Johnny would lose Miguel's trust and would fight for it back. He already lost Robby. He can't lose Miggy too.

Miguel doesn't want to be around him for now, despite feeling bad for pushing him away

S3b

When finding out he was paralyzed, it hurt to find out, but at the same time, with his conflicited feelings about karate, he would feel a bit relieved.

I like to think that when the surgery worked, everyone was happy but Miguel because now people are going to expect him to want to go back to doing karate.

Eventually he and Johnny have a heart to heart and make up, though he's still a little bit hesitant on trusting him

he does reluctantly join Eagle Fang and he tries to make an effort to train again and get past his fear

Though things still feel like what it was like at CK, which isn't something Miguel is enjoying

Plus him being the only shot they have for the All Valley is putting presure on him, mainly due to Johnny

The scene where he tries to kick but fails happens

He falls and flashbacks of the school fight happen

He gives up and says he isn't doing karate anymore

That is until the finale fight when CK comes in and fights the EF/MD kids and Kyler beats him up

he remembers why he started karate in the first place and starts fighting again

He chooses to do karate again

S4

Again similar to what we see (Johnny and Carmen, the intro to Kenny, etc)

I think he still feels weird about being back in the world of karate and latches onto Daniel more as a sensei now with the conjoint dojos situation (he's a lot softer on him knowing his situation)

Which pisses Johnny off and makes him jealous (he just misses his kid ya know?)

He tries to make an effort with Miguel but he grows more distant after hearing Daniel's side of the events during TKK

This season could heavily parallel s2 with Kiaz as they're on the opposite sides of the coin now with Robby being with CK and Miguel learning more Miyagi-Do techniques

This could also bring more tension with Lawrusso because of how they're both treating and training him and how Johnny thinks Daniel is taking Miguel away from him

(maybe a fight scene about this idk)

Perhaps Miguel starts feeling bad about pushing Johnny away as he very much still cares about him and sees him trying

Daniel does talk to Miguel about how Johnny does care about him and how he's beaten up about everything and how he wishes he could change everything

This will make the whole "I love you" "I love you, too Robby" scene a lot worse

Miguel feels lost again

The sprain he gets during the All Valley was the final straw for him as he has a panic attack and in a heap of emotions, he leaves for Mexico, not just to find his dad, but to genuinely run away from everything

Also throughout this season, I really wanted to see more of Robby being guilty for what he did during the fight but pushing it away until he sees what Kenny does to Anthony and realizing that history is already about to repeat itself

Also also we do see Miguel talk about collage but brings up that he wants to become a PT (did I take this from someone who reblogged my other rant, yes) and probably want to go Boston University (they have a PT degree program)

S5

Same as we see for the most part

I was hoping Miguel would bring up the whole "I love you" situation but he never did and I wonder why

I wish we saw bits of the car ride home from Mexico and the awkwardness between the boys (there's a good ao3 fic that does this pretty decently)

Perhaps Robby can tell that something is off with Miguel though and tries to spark conversation but the latter refuses to talk to the former because of the school fight

I think the break up should still happen

Both because with everything going on with him, the breakup would just be another stab in the chest, but also because that fucking scene was so good!! Like idk if Mary and Xolo get their flowers for that scene but I'ma need them to get their flowers for that scene

Now he's just this ball of emotions

Johnny still wants to push for the boys to be close since he's caring for both of them now (and ofc the baby) so like in the actual s5, he still tries to get them to talk

Now I would've preferred a heart to heart reconciliation (similar to samtory s6) but since the dudebros would think that's too soft and this is a fighting show, the balcony scene would be fine

Though I do think in a later scene, Kiaz should have a more emotional talk with each other

Miguel just talks about how hard it has been since the school fight and how everything keeps on changing and everything gets a lot for him

Robby tells him that he gets it and confesses how guilty he feels for being the one to put him in the hospital

And then I feel like the rest of s5 can go the way it did

i don't know. maybe this is too convoluted but I do think that the lack of characterization and constant mischaracterization of miguel diaz is due how poorly the writers went about him post s3a imo. i think they could've done something great with him in a way people felt for robby you know? they always randomly bring things up as a way to say "hey he has trauma too" but it's always at the most inopportune times and it always comes off half-assed instead. i love miguel so much because of his happy-go-lucky energy but he has so much wasted potential which is wild to say when he's the main character.

[itssomeonetofightfor]

Things I hate about part 2 of Cobra Kai (a rant if you will)

This is an absolute deconstruction of everything that was set up for the last 6 seasons!

Johnny and Daniel STILL fighting about idiocies instead of focusing on the absolute fucking mind fuck that has just been played on both their kids ( not blaming Tory by the way) . Robby is her boyfriend and the last I knew Johnny was aware of Sam and Tory's budding friendship. They decided to best do nothing for them except blame each other. YAY! Off to a good start.

Lets follow it up with the least efficient support system in the world for your captain. Apparently Robby is not allowed to be fucking devastated by the fact that the ONLY person that he trusts fully has abandoned him . Apparently they, and by they I mean Miguel and Sam ( who should know better by now) , in spite of hearing endless Johnny sob sories of how he left his child behind, decides to chide him and undermine him about how he doesn't deserve to be captain. Even though we have had to put up with all his girlfriend drama, INCLUDING him re- dislocating Robby's shoulder to get a win in season 1 because he was jealous. You want to be a leader? Prop him up! God knows he needs it after everything, but NOO lets make him feel less than. And please, when he asks you to back him up you stay silent. Thats the way! It doesn't help whem Sam piles on with half winded information. That is enough to get the rest of the team to demoralize him some more..

Hawk and Demetri becoming the most hypocritical and spineless duo of the season, reverting all the work done in previous seasons. They were annoying as all hell and I couldn't care less if they were there or not. If I was an athlete on their team I would rather withdraw...what a draaag. How they acted about Kenny was so ludicrous that I wanted to punch them in the face. They also acted as if it was only Robby's fault they were failing FUCK OFF!! AND FUCK MIT HAHA.

That's how the writers made me feel, undoing all the greatness that these characters once were. I loved Miguels struggles and Sams defiance of her father. I loved the picked kid Eli becoming Hawk. I even loved Demetri's neurotic insecurities maqueraded in a ball of sarcasm. But what the writers did this season is make everybody useless so that one common purpose could be reached...MIGUEL AND JOHNNY! It would be beautiful if it wasn't at the expense of every single character in the show.It was built up only to be flattened down at the end. That's what pisses me off.

Daniel has all but forgotten the he had a mentee once. Let's give him a pointless kiddnapping story only for him to be off balance and be obsessed about Miyagi ( who these writers should not be messing with btw).

Let's keep Robby off balance for most of the five episodes. Which became a fucking nonsensical plot point by the 1000th time he looked at at Tory.

Yes, Miguel shines as the glue and hope of Miyagi-do..the only one who can keep it together for everyone., and it would be fine IF it wasn't at the expense of everyone else performing down and out of character.

But ALAS!! His lightbulb moment comes only after Johnny assures him that he is is top dawg even if he alludes that he supports Robby ( must have missed it, but if you SAY so) and finally he starts giving Robby some encouragement.

Only then, they let Robby have his well earnt moment, not only with his protegeé Kenny but for himself. IT. IS. GLORIOUS! But then, they undo it the next day by returning his rival to the tournament just to swiftly kill him... why all this you ask? Well to set up the next rival. Who for? Yes you guessed it it's for Miguel using Sam as bait.

My question is why the writers went this way and now unfortunately, because the internet internets I know leaks.

 Why? Why kill Cobra Kai's captain in the most idiotic way.

Why make Robby seem like the most undisciplined and unfocused member of the team?

Why make Sam the most irrelevant party in this tournament (unless it has to do with next rival drama).

Why neither Sensei is there for their kids (Except Miguel of course, how silly of me).

Why keep Tory in Cobra Kai?

Because in one season they are going to deconstruct all of this for it to fit Johnny and Miguel winning together as father and son as it was always meant to ( nevermind his own son who he hasn't had a scene with, but they are going to gaslight you into thinking they did)  All in the name of unity and family. They have done all characters dirty, including Hawk,  Demetri, Devon, Kenny and lets not forget..lets get Daniel distracted with Mr. Miyagi ( and ruin his legacy in the process) so that there can only be the sole father and son combo for the win. Why else make a fake miscarriage about if not for them to be reignited in the fight for the win. Miguel and Johnny. Our heroes!! They will never take accountability or flack for anything. Just as fan service in media loves it. Fuck the overarching story.

Don't get me wrong, I love Miguel and Johnny, I just don't love how they want to get to their endgame.

[keen-eye]

my thoughts on eps 6-10 of cobra kai s6

good

silver smoking a cigar in the hot tub. it's all i've ever wanted

much better than eps 1-5. although it wasn't hard to beat, it was setting up for the more exciting part. but 1-5 were still weak compared to other seasons

robby's time to shine. his fight scenes solid as always. his rivalry with kwon. loved robby being a leader even if he's still disrespected

robby and sam's maturity. they're under a lot of pressure and they're doing their best

kenny showing up and kicking ass. more people should flip silver off

chozen and kim da-eun, interested to see where that goes. i like kumiko but chozen seems like he'd want a partner with the same fire in them

the kids heartfelt talk in the locker room and the love between the characters and the actors. although none of their conflicts were really resolved…

silver and kreese trying to kill each other. i hope they do it at the same time and die holding each other

personally did not see the sekai taikai brawl coming, big "oh shit" moment. the sheer amount of bloodthirsty people ready to throw their karate futures away just to freely attack each other was very outlandish but that's the show lol. the school brawl had more impressive direction and higher emotional stakes, but the ST brawl upped the danger level a ton and kwon's death was a great cliffhanger

tory's "is it worth it" conversation with kim da-eun. after the death of her mother she feels so defeated, her anger at the world was her motivation but she lost a lot of it once she saw her friends again, and deep down tory knows winning won't make her happy

silver and sensei wolf scheming

irish music playing every time the dublin dojo is fighting

amanda's outside perspective of the karate drama never gets old

hmmm

johnny and miguel flying back home just to find carmen okay and then immediately flying back to spain. there needed to be a reason to get kenny into the competition but using carmen like this was so wrong

hey johnny? father your son. no not miguel, the other one. yes, robby. do you remember him

miguel telling robby he believed in him as their leader felt insincere because it was after johnny explained that it was all robby had going for him***

daniel and johnny didn't try to talk to tory***

kwon and the rest of cobra kai are written to be very two-dimensional. this was probably to be expected

please can johnny finally stop acting like a fool. he and daniel still can't work well together because johnny keeps jumping back and forth between being a reasonable adult and a juvenile idiot

too many romance plot lines. miguel-sam-axel, kwon-tory-robby, tory-robby-zara. tory and zara had a decent rivalry without having to make zara try to steal him just to rub it in tory's face. and implicating her in whatever happened the night robby was drunk

demetri and eli's continued squabbling. demetri cheating on yasmine. them questioning kenny's true allegiance for it to be resolved in like 5 minutes

daniel acting pretty nonchalant about being locked in a cage lol. is this going to be brought up again

still finding the miyagi storyline to be unnecessary

*** robby & tory injustice

[karatekels]

WARNING: SPOILERS WILL BE COMING! 🚨

So, as we all know, part 1 of season 6 is dropping tonight! It's looking like midnight my time, and because I am a large baby, that is past my bedtime.

I'm going to be binging the episodes early tomorrow morning, and posting my ranting rambling thoughts here - maybe I'll just use this post? - the way I did for the first five episodes of my rewatch.

I will hide them under a cut, and I don't plan on posting anything about the new season outside of this post for a week or so.

Basically, if you want to avoid spoilers: read with caution!

Episode 1: Peacetime in the Valley

…God I really love how they do music on this show.

Okay this peace better die real fucking quick because I’m annoyed.

CHOZEN IN A SHORT ROBE, NOW WE’RE TALKING.

Looking at this newspaper clipping, I wonder if we’re supposed to care about little details or if they just didn’t really care and it’s completely random. If it’s NOT random, I have thoughts:

Why is the photographer who took Terry’s mugshot only named by their initials. Anyone know a B.T.?

…okay, looking at the column on the left, this had better be a joke. CLOWN MURDER?!

And then the article itself is cobbled together. Unless this is just a fake newspaper as a plant, then this is pretty week bud.

Coincidentally, if you or any other showrunner would like to hire me to write fake newspaper articles for your show or movie so that people like me don’t tear you apart online, I am available!

Okay so Tory and Robby are clearly still together, and the only thing that isn’t complete peace is Kenny and Anthony only looking at each other from a distance?

DANIEL’S SMUG SMILE AS THE COBRA KAI LOGO GETS THROWN AWAY GO FUCK YOURSELF SIR.

Amanda YES, bring up Terry getting the charges dropped!

Kreese vs. US Marshals eh?

Stop talking about my man without showing him, Daniel.

Oh good, already tension between Daniel and Johnny’s views on things.

OH JOHNNY LOOKS GENUINELY DEVASTATED THAT THEY DEMOLISHED THE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE.

…wow we really are just forgiving Benedict Penis Breath for some reason, huh?

IT DID NOT TAKE AWHILE FOR YOU TWO TO TALK AGAIN, ROBBY. YOU LITERALLY JUST HAD A FIGHT AND THAT SEEMED TO FIX EVERYTHING??

…Johnny wants to use fire on the children? I can think of a couple that can be guinea pigs *cough*KYLER*cough*

Ohhhhhh… Daniel picking Chozen over Johnny isn’t gonna end well. What if instead we got rid of Daniel and Johnny and Chozen hung out.

– insert Sekai Taikai exposition here –

And the new name of the dojo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis… I MEAN, WE’VE ALL BEEN CALLING IT MIYAGI-FANG FOREVER.

Of course Daniel is angry (I mean it is a stupid picture of Mr. Miyagi but still)

…Chozen going against Johnny here really doesn’t check out. But I am here for a Chozen vs. Johnny fight.

The worst double-date in history! WHO CARES IF SHE DOESN’T WANT TO LEARN MIYAGI-DO??

Robby, don’t you dare speak ill of the precious Kenny/Silver mentorship dynamic you JERK.

Daniel (and Chozen) being so dismissive of Johnny’s feelings makes me sad

Oh DIP OMINOUS TEXT MESSAGE GOOD THING YOU BOUGHT THAT AXE.

Tory looks so sad and I hate it. Eat your waffle cone, Miguel.

Robby why in the hell would interrupting the game make Kenny want to listen to you? Also lmao look who’s taller now Kenny grew like 2 feet.

HI SHAWN. …Being ominous in an arcade is great.

Daniel preaching balance when he’s simultaneously…Daniel is infuriating.

…Chozen alcoholism subplot? ANDNO KUMIKO?! BUT I SHIP IT SO HARD!

Oh Johnny really brought the axe huh?

OH MY GOD STINGRAY I’M DYING.

Shawn your child brother is starting high school please do not take him to a strip club.

ROBBY WHY WOULD YOU APPROACH WHILE THEY HAVE BATS.

WE DON’T WANT TO FIGHT, he says while joining the fight!

…am I Stingray? “Because it’s awesome” – I WILL BELIEVE IN COBRA KAI FOREVER.

And he appreciates that Amanda is a smokeshow.

Don’t you dare disrespect ponytail dude, Shawn Payne.

Did the prison system actually help Shawn? SHOCKING.

Daniel being the bigger person? Only took HOW MANY DECADES?!

…so we’re calling it Miyagi-Do? Even though it’s not just Miyagi-Do? THIS IS DUMB.

We don’t get to see how Kreese got to Korea? REALLY?!

Episode 2: The Prize

NICK! YAY TERRY BACKSTORY! (Also Barrett yay but I mean… TERRY)

Kreese defending her is so cute OH MY GOD SHE’S IN THE AIR CHILL OUT GRAMPS.

Oh good, sewage in the cooking pots.

Not a real talk about money on this show! Oh, we’re cutting away?

…Why did we linger on that one student when Kim said “Silver is gone now”? Am I just looking for hope where there isn’t any?

I’m sorry, how old is this man going to be now? HE LOOKED 80 IN THE LATE 60S.

Does Amanda just dress like that everyday? Daniel is a lucky man.

I would watch an entire YouTube series in the vein of Trixie & Katya’s “I Like to Watch” that’s just Chozen watching reality shows.

“Your incompetence is why I must stay alive” is a brutal fucking line.

Kyler and his gaggle of 45 year old college freshmen. Or just Brucks.

…please think Chozen and Johnny are a gay couple, Mr. Realtor. Okay no, but Johnny blowing this up pretty spectacularly is pretty great.

Why do I feel like this is going to culminate in Kreese stabbing Immortal Kim because he’s “worthy of taking control”?

OR THE SNAKE COULD BITE HIM UMMMM.

As someone who has been in university in some capacity for like a decade, this… was not my experience. Though watching Kyler get shit on is kind of fun.

OH NO DUTCH REFERENCE. HE’S STILL IN PRISON THOUGH THAT’S GOOD.

Deus ex Johnny-fan ftw!

NOT HALLUCINATION NICK MARINI!

…Okay, so we are just gonna double down on the homoeroticism with men being each other’s weaknesses? I mean I’m here for it.

Frats have always seemed so stupid to me, with hazing and shit. Even for morons like Kyler. Never thought I’d see the day where I’m rooting for Kyler but I guess here we are. DESTROY THE DOUCHEBAGS. (Though how is anyone getting into college with this ASSAULT)

American tourist loses mind in cave, talks to snake. Film at 11.

Kyler acknowledging he’s a moron? I’m here for it. NO NOT ANOTHER FRAT COME ON.

LMAO Johnny insisting he has a job – AND IT WORKS HE JUST STARTS SELLING CARS.

Amanda is right though, what’s in the briefcase, Johnny?

Kim Da-Eun is gonna JUMP Kreese’s bones istg

Episode 3: Sleeper

Chozen freeloading is hilarious

“Chicks dig me” as a response to possibly having a daughter is crazy.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?!

…the cobra is still in your dealership, Daniel?

“I’m a girl dad” – Johnny Lawrence, 2024 (or whatever year this is supposed to be I can’t remember)

…okay this episode is called Sleeper and we’re seeing that same student we did in the last episode when they said “Silver is gone now” DID TERRY HAVE A BASTARD CHILD AND NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?!

You tell ‘em, Devon.

Lol “LEE, CALL YOUR DAD, YOU’RE HANDLING THIS PROBLEM AT YOUR HOUSE.”

Please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character

Got a lot of mystery boxes in this episode, huh?

…”we can have a girls’ night,” says the 50-something year old man to the 3 teenaged girls he isn’t related to. I do love his relationship with Devon though. It’s a shame she’s going to die in a freak karate accident so that Johnny can name his daughter after her.

THE HORRORS LOCKED AWAY IN A HIDDEN COMPARTMENT ARE THAT HE WAS A BOXER?!

…oh and he beat the shit out of people.

AND HE CHANGED HIS NAME?! OKAY SHIT’S GETTING INTERESTING.

Lmao the Ouija board fakeout

Yeah good Daniel, leave your dolled-up wife in the shady gym.

OH MY GOD JOHNNY PLEASE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

Kreese is really just trying to make a bunch of killing machines (or at least one, anyway), huh?

The Big 3 weren’t lying when they said they were going all out this season with the fights.

Also is Kreese just fine with the snake bite? He’s fine?

Oh noooo, Mr. Miyagi wasn’t a perfect human I’m SHOCKED.

Johnny is SO happy they’re fighting I love it – OH NO BOOOOOOOOOO PEACE. Go get matching tattoos or something you dorks.

Oh no Daniel, is your perfect worldview crumbling? Was surrogate daddy not as perfect as you thought?

YES, CHOZEN. WHAT DID HAPPEN IN CANCUN?

Nooo Chozen don’t leave even if it is for Kumiko I’LL MISS YOU.

Yes, let’s end the episode on “girls are easy”

Oh no wait, more Daniel mourning the loss of his innocence

Were the rumours right? We’re going to Spain? LET’S GOOOOOOO – wait how are they going to afford everyone going?

And we’re down to six – Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory… Kenny/Demetri/Devon?

Episode 4: Underdogs

Hawk thinks patriotism will earn him a spot? God I hate that mohawk.

“Each and every one of you has a shot, even though many of you are either our children, close enough to be our children, or are our clear favourites”

SHUT UP DEVON IF ANTHONY GETS PICKED I’M GOING TO KILL SOMEONE.

Johnny assuming he’s as good as a partner at the dealership is KILLING me

THANK YOU FOR TELLING HIM NO ABOUT ANTHONY, JOHNNY.

Why is Daniel so against them… actually earning their spots?

Hi Mike!

Lol flashback – but why not show Terry?

YES DEVON MY QUEEN.

AWWW, Penis Breath is so happy with his new name.

SERIOUSLY? ANTHONY?

If Anthony makes it I’m killing myself.

Devon speaking up for all neglected minor characters everywhere.

What in the actual fuck is going on. Go away Yasmine you suck. OKAY BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF DEMETRI’S HAPPINESS. …maybe her dumping him would’ve been better she is the WORST.

Binary Bros. will be the couple with the drama this season.

This capture the flag game seems fun but Mike can’t look at everyone at once…

I mean your son IS going to bleed and get the shit kicked out of him, Daniel. Wake up. No? Gonna keep feeding him your bs? Cool.

Barnes has quite the craftsmanship.

JOHNNY VS MIKE LET’S GOOOOOOOO… but away from the saw please.

HEY HE SAID THE THING.

…we’re really just gonna call each other bad boys with a straight face?

Okay Devon, enough with the negative self-talk. You’re sounding like me.

NOOOOOO Binary Bros. are fighting!

Kenny is kind of cocky af and I hope he doesn’t get it.

Smart move would’ve been to go up top and see if you can spot the flag…

OH WE TOOK KENNY OUT WITH A CHEAP TRICK…that’s not funny.

Oh SHIT Demetri is being an asshat. Why is NO ONE asking bout Hawk?

MAN now Devon has to feel bad because someone else chea– OH MY GOD IT WAS HER.

Episode 5: Best of the Best

Why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous

Oh look Kreese has come for a visit.

And yet another blonde champion has turned against Kreese.

OH MY GOD, DEMETRI SHUT UP.

Robby you lovestruck little fool it’s adorable.

I really love Terry (duh) but Johnny is 100% my favourite Sensei.

HEY LEAVE THAT CANADIAN DUMMY ALONE, EH?

What about your worst impulses, Danny Boy?  S H U T    U P   and appreciate your hot wife for once, Jesus!

…Carmen is going to go into labour in this episode isn’t she.

AND there it is! Nope wait, false alarm. Everybody go hug Miguel.

NO NO NO DON’T BE DEAD NO NO NO

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT

HER FIST WAS CLENCHED – WAS IT KREESE?

Why does Sam and Miguel’s relationship seem so focused on beating Robby and Tory? While Robby and Tory seem actually into each other?

Daniel you suck, you hypocritical, self-righteous twat.

This is some mighty fine acting, Miss Peyton List. Best crier on the show since Xolo!

JOHNNY YOU HAVE A BABY ON THE WAY CAN YOU NOT YANK THE STEERING WHEEL.

…he’s right though. SHUT UP DANIEL.

Okay but Johnny this is really stupid you’ve sold cars for four minutes.

LMAO “YOU’RE FINALLY LEAVING HIM” GOD AMANDA LISTEN TO JOHNNY HE’S RIGHT.

Johnny gonna embrace boxing with the students? Daniel can’t really say anything about it not being about Mr. Miyagi then.

She kept… the bottlecap… I AM NOT OKAY.

You did not try, Daniel. Shut the fuck up. I’m mad at you. Go away. Get your head outta your ass.

You don’t get to know everything about anyone, Daniel. Especially when you’ve got your head so far in the sand you can’t even come to grips with who YOU are.

Amanda go find Tory. GO FIND TORY, AMANDA.

Okay there’s Tory. USE THAT MOTIVATION, ROBBY.

Can Robby get a decent haircut for once please? He’s a cute kid, his head deserves better.

Good for you, Robby. (Also why do I feel like he’s going to change his last name to Lawrence once the baby is born and then they’ll all just be one big happy sappy family)

I’m sure that Tory seeing both of Sam’s living and supportive parents there won’t screw her up at all.

Oh that’s gonna be Tory’s therapist or something for Amanda isn’t it UH OH.

YEAH YOU NEED TO STOP THE FIGHT.

OH SHIT. Not Danny striking first.

FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH WITH THIS KUMBAYA SHIT.

…Kenny’s gonna be mad about that – oh wait he’s not there and I’m sure it’s going well for him.

Not the bloodstained headband.

…Hawk really kept the dumb mohawk for the tournament huh?

Tory and Kenny gonna be fighting for Korea with Kreese?

(Why is Kreese there? This is televised? The police??)

LET’S FUCKING GO TORY.

[secretsandwritinggs]

Um, so here is part four everyone, because I need to be writing something. I’ll let you know that some of these take place before Tory and her brother had moved into the Lawrusso household. [Those will be italics!!] If you have suggestions for headcanons for anyone, a couple, a different fandom, etc let me know so I could work on that for ya 👨‍🍳

Sam and Miguel often don’t talk about Tory due to him still thinking that she hates her.

Sam has spoken to Johnny that her hatred over Tory was childish and decided to let go of it.

(only kind of wished Daniel did the same thing instead of letting it linger 30+ years. In some way, I’d like to think that Daniel always thought of Johnny over those years.)

To help with the grief, Sam gave Tory and Brandon a build-a-bear with a recorded message from their mother.

Tory tends to hang around Sam’s room, because in some way it reminds her of her mother, Brandon also.

Sam has always thought about giving Tory and Robby a room inside the house so they wouldn’t have to live in the apartments.

Amanda would drop by to Tory’s apartment to see if she ever needed anything like toiletries, groceries, medications, etc.

Anthony gave Brandon one of his older tablets before Daniel decided to buy both him and Tory their own devices.

(their “devices” being new phones and such so they could in contact with everyone.)

Sam and Tory’s style went from two separate ones to one shared one ranging what seems like what one would wear versus the other.

Every time Tory seems to be getting worse, Johnny takes her out on the mat or rage room where she can let all those frustrations out, though he’s still unsure where to take Brandon..

For her birthday one year, Sam had gifted Tory a coloring book along with a sketchbook and pencils, since she heard that she enjoys coloring / drawing things.

For her status at the dojo, Daniel had created a new type of “role” for Tory and claimed that she could be a fill-in instead full-time student at Miyagi-Do.

(this is a role that I made as I do not know if this is an actual thing in martial arts, but basically the fill-in student can have its own dojo. In Tory’s case, that means she can still be Cobra Kai if that’s what she’s wanting to do and the same with Robby.)

Their styles reflected through their academics:

Miguel, Robby, Sam, and Tory definitely have study sessions in Sam’s room.

Everyone else looks for Sam to give an answer, since she’s the only one besides Amanda to get a college level academically.

(Anthony following suit once he gets into high school as well.)

Kenny was surprised to see that everyone was civilized with each other however, he wasn’t surprised to see that they were rowdy.

Everyone eats stuff other people’s plates or drink the rest of their drink if they cannot finish their food / drink.

Eventually Sam and Tory started to sound the same so they decided to distance themselves from one another to quote, “get their voices back to normal.”

All the boys collectively hide away in the basement and claim that the girls need a “special pass” to allow themselves in.

Brandon has a hiding space in the theater room.

Johnny drunkenly bought a soda dispenser so they placed it in the theater room.

Tory and Johnny made a secret language so they can communicate with each other similarly to what Daniel and Robby has with morse code.

They all exchange Valentine’s day gifts with each other and definitely laughed at each other the first year they done it, because it was a surprise to everyone now it’s a tradition, lol.

Kyler is for sure a heated conversation in that house to put that lightly…

(Kenny still doesn’t get the hate on him UNTIL Anthony drops all their problems so now he’s like, “Wow, he’s a piece of shit ,” and they’re all like, “We’ve been telling you that”)

Both Anthony and Johnny say tum tum and tummy instead of stomach.

Robby and Sam get the most stomach aches.

(Robby because he’s constipated (poor him tbh) and Sam gets them on her period, since food doesn’t settle too well when she’s on it.)

Sometimes they all nap together after practice at first they thought it was too gross now they just do it whenever without a second thought.

That’s all I can think of for this moment for part four so there might be a part five in the future…

Parts in order: one , two , three , four , ...

[fodenswhore]

Cobra Kai Season 6 PT 1

(discussion/rant???)

- seeing as i did a rant over cobra kai season 5 on here, it’s only fitting that i do the same for part one of season 6!

🐍- as only one half of the season has been released, it wouldn’t really be fair to form a stalemate opinion on what i’ve seen so far. i didn’t hate it, i didn’t dislike it, i didn’t love it - it was just fine. in my opinion, it didn’t have the same exciting vibe as the previous seasons, not sure what it was but it just felt like something was missing. i’m hoping part 2 will feel different.

pregnancy storyline - my opinion on this storyline has and will not change. i still find it unnecessary, i still find it predictable and i still believe the trope ruins any book or movie that it’s worked into. however, that being said, it’s been interesting to see johnny’s character development this season. he’s fully embracing the whole pregnancy and baby vibe and it is pretty sweet to see.

johnny - like i said, it’s been interesting to see johnny’s characters development this season. i really liked the version of johnny we got to see. he got a job!!, he and daniel worked well together (in brief moments), he was supportive of both robby and miguel and he encouraged and supported devon. it was nice to see him getting his life together.

kreese - he’s a wanted man. how did he manage to travel to two different countries? UNDETECTED????

mr miyagi - i was a little baffled by the mr miyagi storyline. it’s so great that they still include him and talk about him because he was such a vital character in the karate kid movies, but i’m not exactly sure where they plan on taking this storyline?? i wonder if maybe mr miyagi used to train/work with sensei kim’s grandfather? we obviously saw that he entered the Sekai Taikai tournament so maybe they entered together?

daniel - ugh he was low-key irritating. miyagi do is supposed to be a partnership between eagle fang and miyagi do, however it just seems like it’s purely miyagi do. i feel they could’ve merged the names and become miyagi fang? i get he wants peace but he was basically causing rifts with johnny for the most stupidest of things. hoping he does better in part 2.

tory - the way no one ran after her when she walked out of miyagi do?? not even robby, her boyfriend?? everyone knew her mum was the only family she had (besides her brother) so i cant believe they just left her to fend for herself and grieve alone. honestly i don’t blame her for joining cobra kai again. it’s hard to say whether she would’ve won the female captaincy if she stayed at miyagi do but she definitely would’ve ended up hurting sam during the fight. i loved the friendship she and sam were forming so hopefully she comes back to miyagi do and they become friends again.

hawk - no WAY did the former all valley male champion not get into the final six for the Sekai Taikai on default. i was so shocked when hawk didn’t get into the group automatically with tory, sam, miguel and robby. and then he only got a place because tory quit like whatttttt! he’s one of the strongest fighters in my opinion, miles better than devon and demetri.

demetri - irritating. never stopped yapping about MIT. thinks he’s the shit. i usually like him but not this season.

kyler- nice to see character development from kyler because he was an absolute prick in the other seasons. he’s still cringe but was cool to see him getting along with miguel and the others.

devon/kenny - devon was annoying, i get the Sekai Taikai is a once in a lifetime opportunity but practically begging for a spot isn’t a good look. she needs to believe in herself and needs to stop worrying about how good others are around her. and the cheating to get into the tournament! like if she can’t win fairly at the challenge to get into tournament, how is she gonna be decent at the tournament at all. kenny deserved that chance to go to the Sekai Taikai, he’s a much stronger and aggressive fighter and it would’ve been perfect for him to show his real potential. i can’t believe the writers made him shit himself and look like an idiot.

so overall, i liked the season so far but i wasn’t overly amazed with it. as always the karate fight scenes were amazing! and this is not hating on the show or the actors this is just me giving my opinion.

find my season 5 rant here :)

[shrinkthisviolet]

I think what really gets me about the Mr. Miyagi storyline isn’t even the content itself, but the context.

Like…as has been pointed out several times on this site, this show treats its characters of color in an…odd way compared to the white characters (Miguel mostly being an exception, because he’s the protagonist, but his storyline is consistently tied more to his white Sensei than his Mexican mother and grandmother, so…). Every character of color has at some point joined Cobra Kai—and yes, so have a number of the white characters, but the one character who hasn’t is white (Sam). They’ve also been framed as aggressive at least once (even Kenny, who is the most sympathetic when framed this way, still retaliates against Anthony in a way beyond what Anthony did in the first place!). If they’re lucky, they’re either so minor that they’re never mentioned again, or shuttled off to Miyagi-Do later (and once they’re there, the writers usually write them better—Kenny in particular)

Also, notably, its Asian characters get the worst of it: Kyler sexually assaults Sam, Kim Da-Eun physically assaults Tory, Sensei Wolf physically assaults Axel.

(I would also like to list Zara here, but I will concede that with her being ethnically ambiguous, it’s only clear that she’s a character of color, not Asian—her name, Zara Malik, could be Pakistani or Arab (or possibly she’s from another country that I’m less familiar with culturally, like Malaysia). Her accent leans more towards Pakistani (except her first fight against Tory, during which her accent is a straight-up Spanish accent), but the latter possibility does exist. But anyway. Just wanted to say that)

And then…Mr. Miyagi. I see the writing on the wall with his storyline, I know how this is gonna go: he’s in grief, he signs up for the tournament to let off steam, he kills because he wants to make his opponent hurt like he does, and it shakes him so badly that he becomes a pacifist. At least…I hope that’s what this show is going for. But! It still sits badly with me because of the pattern described above…as well as the show’s other pattern of putting him and his teachings down at every turn…hiding behind “well, it’s Johnny, not us!” even tho it’s very clear that Johnny is their favorite (I mean…duh, aside from the way he’s allowed to never grow, they also wrote the show about him).

If the movie writers had chosen to do this, or a group of writers that had treated Mr. Miyagi with respect rather than derision, I wouldn’t be reacting so poorly. I imagine most of the Tumblr Miyagi-verse fandom wouldn’t be, because we’d trust that they’re trying to further the nuanced “Mr. Miyagi is human” message from KK1 without putting him down. But it’s because of the show writers’ clear attitude towards Mr. Miyagi that we’re reacting this way. A lot of us probably do see where the storyline is going! But that doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly tasteless given the show’s patterns.

Oh, and just for a cherry on top? Part 2, when we find out Mr. Miyagi killed his opponent, was released on November 15th. You know what else happened on November 15th? Mr. Miyagi’s death, as established in the show!

Maybe that’s a coincidence. These writers can’t keep their own timeline straight, so it probably is. But it sure lends to leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

[purpleheartskies]

One idea I have for next season is that Anthony and Kenny hash things out and start a social media campaign to help Robby:

#justiceforRobby

In their campaign, they resurface and spread the clips from the school fight that highlight all of Miguel's wrongs against Robby as well as the fact that Robby was protecting Sam and the Cobras kept attacking them or stopping them from escaping. Miguel did no different. They can include how Miguel had attacked Robby at the canyon party and accidentally hit Sam. They can also include Miguel pulling on Robby's injured arm to win. (These two are incidents Anthony knows about.) They'd need to put a lot of emphasis that what happened at the end had been an accident. They can be the ones to help tell Robby's side of the story.

If Miguel flipped a switch and attacked Robby at the beginning and again in the middle of the school fight, and then later flipped an opposite switch to stop attacking Robby and attempting to break his arm for no reason at all, how could Robby know if Miguel wasn't going to flip yet another switch and attack him again? Miguel has always been unpredictable when it comes to attacking Robby. Miguel still is.

They can also spread how Robby helped and mentored them, never bullies anyone, and encouraged that they hash things out. Kenny can also talk about how Robby has always encouraged him to try a better way and that Robby even came to the Cobra Kai dojo to encourage all the students to leave Cobra Kai.

Robby will probably never get justice, but hopefully Miguel's reputation takes a hit. Miguel has shown no humility, taken no accountability, and still feels entitled to attack Robby whenever he wants.

Another idea is that they help Robby become a YouTuber. With his karate and skateboarding skills, he could rise to fame doing awesome stunts using both sets of skills. After all, he taught himself the two-legged kick using his skateboarding skills.

Robby is super smart and talented. I don't like that he won't get to earn his high school diploma through school and walk across the graduation stage like the other kids will. Even Tory's going to be able to do that.

The adults in Robby's life don't seem to care about helping and encouraging him for his future. His karate mentees might as well be the ones to help him. Maybe the message can be that at any age you can have a real positive impact on someone's life.

Robby teaching his mentees Miyagi-Do in the Cobra Kai dojo.

[m1guelsgf]

done for the night ii

axel kovacevic x reader

hello all! i hope u all like this part!! took me a little longer bc of finals. it's 5am and i need to sleep. lmk if i should start a pt.3 bc i do have tons of ideas and also for seperate oneshots and other fics for axel

canon divergence in this one :p

my requests are open! please send me some for any of the ck characters (but esp axel) but you can also just yap to me, i love to yap. been thinking about writing for kwon...

that's it from me! thx for reading <3

taglist:

@munson-mayhem @angieslove06 @arywry @karmaswitch @thisistherealmekitty

miguel and johnny returned with kenny the next afternoon. devon confessed to what happened in the woods and gave kenny her spot. kenny forgave her. sensei's seemed to be working well together. everything seemed like it was on the up and up. until...

"what do you think about kenny?" demitri came up to you with a curious expression, eli trailing not too far behind. kenny was sitting in a corner with devon, the both of them laughing and talking.

"kenny? i'm glad he's here." you responded from your spot at the mirror. you were doing your makeup, wondering why everyone had to meet in the girls room every time before matches. "he's gonna do great." you liked kenny, he was a cool kid and a great fighter. you had no doubt he would rise to the occasion.

"see, man." eli tapped demitris arm. "you're being paranoid."

"i'm not. he's gonna screw us." demitri raised his hands. "showing up the same time as silver? bad omen."

"you're being dramatic, mit." lately, if it wasn't one thing with demitri, it was another. he spent the rest of last night venting to you about the yasmin ordeal and you wanted to tell him he was in the wrong but you didn't want to argue with a debate champion. you were choosing your battles but it was hard because battles kept coming left and right.

"yeah, we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions." sam agreed from besides you. "he came all this way to help us."

"i'm not saying it's happened yet but we know that silvers gonna cheat. the only question is how?" demitri shot kenny a look.

"i'm gonna go over the numbers devon gave me with our sensei's." you got up and left the room with no plans on meeting with the sensei's unless you crossed paths. you just needed some air. between dojo drama and axel, you were feeling overwhelmed. you wanted to talk to him and ask him why he left so abrubtly after you kissed, but you also felt wrong mingling with a rival dojo. if any of the miyagi do's saw you talking to him they would definitely get the wrong idea. or the right idea, seeing as your first conversation with axel resulted in a kiss.

there was two hours until the next match. enough time to go for a walk on the beach to clear your head so you could fully support your teammates. before the doors to the elevator could shut, a hand stopped them. axel walked in, looking at his phone. his tall frame immediately stiffened when he saw your face.

"hey, axel." you started, knowing he wouldn't make the first move to speak. he nodded in acknowledgment. "it's good to see you."

"it is?" he looked at you, a crease between his brows. your reaction to his kiss last night made him think you wanted nothing to do with him.

you nodded. "yeah. it's always good to see you. where are you going?"

"needed some air." he sighed out in response.

"me too. everything is a little too much in there." you thought back to robby and tory, demitri and eli, kenny, and your sensei's.

"same." between sensei wolf, zara, and you, axel was stressed. he knew he would do good but he was half a second behind, his precision faltering in his performance at practice in the early hours of the morning. sensei wolf, of course, did not let it slide.

the two of you stood in silence until the doors opened. the both of you exited and fell into a nice, silent walk together. you didn't even need to speak to one another. it was comfortable.

you walked down to the beach and there was more people during the day than at night. you managed to find a spot to sit and he sat next to you. looking out at the ocean, you put your attention on the sound of the people walking by and talking, the ocean, and music coming from the bars in the background. however, even with all the noise, you couldn't drown out your thoughts. you didn't even have to fight but you could feel that your team wasn't on the same page. you could feel a loss coming if they didn't get it together. they needed to trust

each other again but it would never be that easy. on top of that, you felt as if your choice of new friends could make things worse if they were to find out. you were torn, wanting to be there with your friends for an important moment in all of their lives but also to disappear into the background of barcelona with axel. why did he have to be on the opposing team? why couldn't it be simple?

axel, on the other hand, was only able to think about you. he already knew how to deal with pressure. he knew what his body could and couldn't do. he knew the ways sensei wolf would push him. he had been trained for this. his life was his sport and maybe that was the problem. he was never allowed any time to let anyone into his life. he was the best in karate and nothing else and you still saw him. not just the talented fighter, you saw axel. and you wanted him. he wasn't going to just let you go like that. he knew it wouldn't be that easy but he never backed down from a challenge.

bracing himself for the possibility of rejection, he cleared his throat. "do you want to get dinner tonight?" axel asked, finally turning to look at you.

"tonight?" he nodded. "yeah, i would love to." you nodded, blush creeping onto your face. "we should probably head back."

"no." axel grabbed your hand. it wasn't forceful, but gentle and assertive all at once. your stomach did a somersault. "let's sit for a little while more, yeah?"

"okay." he didn't let your hand go and you didn't make a move to let go either. it was nice, being able to just sit with him by the beach and melt into all the people coming and going. it felt natural, like you were meant to be here in this moment with axel.

axel wasn't used to this kind of softness in his life. he was built on routine and structure. his life had always been goal oriented. rarely did he have moments to just sit and think. a couple serene minutes went by and your phone started ringing.

"miguel d. is calling"

"sorry, i have to take this." you stood up and answered your phone. "hey."

"where are you? there's only an hour until the next event."

"i went for a walk to clear my head, i'll be back soon."

"okay, because i could really use some support. everyone's focus is all over the place. it's like they don't care if we lose." miguel sighed into the phone. your heart skipped a beat. here you were with your attention on axel.

"i know, they're gonna exhaust themselves fighting each other before they get to the mat."

"yeah." miguel laughed a little. "i wish you had chosen to compete for a spot. it would have been nice to have you and sam on my side. we're outnumbered."

"it's gonna be okay. it will get worked out."

"i hope so."

you looked back at axel. "i'll be back soon, okay?"

"okay."

you hung up the phone and gave axel a tight lipped smile. "i have to go."

"what about tonight?" he stood up, taking a step towards you.

"i'll see you at nine." you waved goodbye, leaving him standing there in the sand. axel looked forward to getting his matches out of the way and being able to properly take you out.

***

axel was good at shutting down his emotions. emotions didn't help his karate. precision and discipline were all he needed on the mat. still, he couldn't help the jealousy that plucked his heartstrings when he saw you and miguel talking. the way you looked at him, you made him seem incredibly important to you. the way you were smiling and laughing, blocking the playful jabs he sent your way. axel wished it were him.

"sam, come get your kid." you managed to jab miguel in the stomach after his playful assault.

"ow!" miguel dramatically threw his arms up.

"that's what you get." sam laughed and he placed an arm around her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of her head which axel did not see.

the matches began and you couldn't help but be immersed in axel's fights. he was doing amazing, as usual. he was lazer focused and no one stood in his way. he was untouchable. you were glad you weren't fighting, or else you would be majorly distracted by the way he would shoot a look at you after every point he gained. you just couldn't look away from him. he was magnetic.

once miyagi do faced their first opponent, furia de pantera, you felt all the anxiety of the day rushing back up.

demitri stubbornly and stupidly refused to tag in eli which resulted in the panthers landing the first point. sam managed to land a point on their female captain but eli refused to tag in kenny and tagged sam again. she managed to hold her own for a while, blocking and countering every strike. they weren't letting her tag out because they could tell she was getting tired keeping up her defense. almost all the panthers got a turn with sam, all of them incredibly quick and strong. diego, or "spanish hawk" as demitri called him, getting the last round. he blocked another of sam's kicks and swept her standing leg. sam fell to the floor with a shout. she fell on her ankle at an excruciating angle. the entire arena could hear a loud pop as she hit the ground. you grimaced at the sound of her cry in agony. the spanish team all looked at each other with concern and diego was apologizing profusely as the referee ushered him away.

"sam!" miguel rushed to sams side as she held her ankle in the center of the mat, rolling around in pain.

"medic! we need a medic!" daniel larusso rushed to sam's other side, frantically trying to help.

back in the locker room, the medic was putting a brace on sams ankle. "we managed to get the swelling down but you need to stay off of it for the next few days so it can heal."

"so does that mean...?" sam asked, eyes already teary because she knew what was coming.

"you're not gonna be able to finish competing." the medic and daniel talked for a minute before she left. sam was holding miguels hand, resting her head on a pillow while letting silent tears stream down her face.

"refs said it was an automatic forfeit. we can still fight the next match in 30 minutes." johnny came back in the room. "automatic forfeit. bullshit."

"she's not gonna be fine in 30 minutes johnny. medic said she can't fight." daniel said pointedly.

"well, we have to do something. we need a female captain to continue." johnny shot back. everyone was exchanging worried glances between each other and then they all turned to look at you.

you looked around you, to make sure you weren't imagining things. "me?"

"yeah, you." johnny nodded. "you got 3rd place at the all valley. doesn't get much better than that."

"you all know i don't fight anymore right? i haven't trained since the all valley. it's been months. what about devon?" you quickly tried to defend yourself.

"believe me, i'd love to but you're the better option for captain. if you had fought me in the woods you would have kicked my ass." devon smiled at you, encouraging you to take the spot but you felt anything but encouraged. your heart was racing, threatening to jump out of your chest.

"i can fight." sam said from her place on the bed while trying to get up. her face contorted in pain as she tried to move her injured foot.

"woah, woah. stop. no offense babe, but if you fight you're just gonna get us all eliminated. i wanted to see you on that podium, but it just wasn't your time." miguel kissed the top of her head and sam could only squeeze her eyes shut and say goodbye to her dream.

"so what's it gonna be? you gonna let all your friends down just because you're scared." johnny questioned you.

"i'm not scared."

"then what?"

you took a deep breath and looked at everyone. robby and miguel both had the same puppy dog expression that made it incredibly hard to say no. devon and kenny both nodded at you in approval. hawk shot you a pleading look. it was all too much again. "i need a minute."

without another word, you quickly walked out of the locker room and into the arena. competitors walked past you, not paying you any mind. you were no one to them. you felt invisible again. your mind didn't stop racing though. you didn't know if you were ready to compete for the world championship of karate. you also didn't know if you could let your friends down like that. you walked aimlessly for a minute before someone tugged you into an obscure corner.

you fight instict kicked in, being incredibly anxious, so you did the first thing you could. you swung your fist right into their face.

"ow." a familiar voice answered the punch. "it's me." axel held his cheek with one hand, rubbing the spot where you hit him.

"axel! i'm so sorry!" you immediately rose your hand to touch his face, gentle this time around. "i didn't mean to hurt you."

"it was a good punch." axel was smiling, trying to make you feel better about it. "but i've had worse."

you frowned, knowing what he was referring to. "i'm still sorry."

"it's okay. where are you going?"

"nowhere."

axel looked at you. he could tell something was off. your responses were quick and breathless. "are you okay?"

you nodded instinctively. "yeah. yeah. yes. i'm good."

"are you sure?" he felt a wall coming up between the two of you and he didn't like it. "you can talk to me."

you let out a little sigh, trying to relax as much as possible with him. you didn't know whether you could trust him or not with him being on silver's team and you felt a lump in your throat preventing you from being honest. "yeah. i saw your matches. you were amazing." you were as honest as you could be. he was killing it.

"thanks." axel looked you up and down, noticing your tense body language. your arms were crossed and your foot anxiously tapped the ground.

"how do you do it?"

"what?"

"how do you stay undefeated?"

axel looked at you, curious as to where this was coming from. "i train hard. i stay focused. i use my strengths and know my opponent's weakness. i only ever lost once. never again." you were nodding along as he spoke. "why?"

you inhaled sharply. you wanted to tell him. "it's complicated. i'm-"

"she's gotta be around here somewhere." robby's voice was faint but distinct.

"i wish find my phone was a little more precise." miguels voice approached closer.

"those are my friends, i gotta go." you gave him an apologetic look. "i'll see you tonight."

you left axel, once again, and immediately faced miguel and robby. "hey, so i know this isn't ideal-" robby started, already preparing a speech in his head to try to convince you.

"i'll fight." you cut him off.

"what?" the two asked, equally confused at your turnaround.

"i'll fight. i just need a gi. and some training." you looked at the time on your phone. "match starts in like 20 minutes right?"

they nodded and very quickly ushered you back into the locker room. "she's gonna fight." robby announced, and everyone's eyes lit up.

daniel larusso smiled, proud of your decision. "you can handle this." he spoke as he tied the headband around your head.

"now go get dressed, our captain's gonna help bring you up to speed." johnny placed a hand on robby's shoulder, giving you an encouraging nod.

"sam..." you started and she immediately stopped you.

"it's okay. i trust you. we all do." sam gave you a supportive smile and nod.

the miyagi do insignia on the back of your gi has meant many different things for you at many different parts of your life. this time it meant redemption, to finally fight for the right reasons.

robby and your sensei's did the best they could to prepare you for the match, stressing defense and not letting them land a point on you. don't do anything too risky. you could leave it up to your team, at least in this one, to score the points.

stepping out onto the mat was even more intimidating than you thought it would be. you were no longer a spectator. you were an enemy. more than that, you were a spectacle. a shiny new toy. you felt eyes on you from every angle, terry silver smiled at you. kreese eyed you curiously. tory looked at you in disbelief. she couldn't believe that she might have to face you for the first time since the all valley where she's not even sure she really won any of her matches.

"replacing samantha larusso as captain for the miyagi do team is y/n l/n." the announcer did his job, making your name sound incredibly grand next to all of these excellent fighters.

then there was axel.

he was staring at you, as per usual, but with surprise in his eyes. your gaze softened. the most you could do was give him a discreet nod of acknowledgment and face the two fighters in the center.

miguel started the match this time around. it was miyagi do v. redentores. he was doing great, just unable to break his opponent's defense. he glanced over his shoulder and looked at you, tagging you in. "you got this."

your adrenaline carried you as you bounced on your toes, waiting for your opponent to strike. he looked you up and down, scoffed, and then started attacking.

you were agile, jumping nearly 6 feet in the air when he tried to sweep your leg. you landed on your feet. "ais!" you shouted, throwing a fast combination of punches and kicks that your opponent dodged. you backed him into a corner until he tagged another girl on his team. she was mainly kicking, using her legs more than any other part of her body. you saw an opening and took it, blocking her next kick with one arm and then sweeping her leg from beneath her, axe kicking her while she was on the floor.

"point!"

"let's go." you ran over to robby, tagging him in. "it's time."

"come on, captain." miguel clapped his hands together and watched the scene fold out in front of him.

he very easily got the second point but his last opponent was simply too quick for him to land a point on.

"robby, tag me!" kenny called out.

"no, me!" hawk said in return.

"tag me."

"do not tag him!"

robby was able to take a breath and centered himself before tagging in kenny. it was amazing, but not surprising, that kenny won the winning point. while on top of your shoulders, he flipped off terry silver and your heart swelled with pride. of course, you had your own beef with terry (who wouldn't after he made you break wooden boards that were so thick that it drew blood and wrecked your hands) but kenny finally stuck it to him. kenny was free from the intimidation and cruelty that is terry silver.

across the room, even in the embrace of your team and sensei's, you felt the familiar sensation of being watched. of course, it was axel and for once he looked happy in the arena, not just determined. you smiled back in his direction before you had to leave the mat.

"y/n, that was awesome." devon came rushing to your side. "i almost forgot that you can jump that high."

"more of that." johnny fist bumped you as miguel grabbed your shoulders and gently shook you. when he let go, you noticed axel walking right in your direction. he wasn't even looking at you. he walked directly into miguel with his shoulder, making miguel stumble, and then past you guys like nothing.

"what the hell was that?" miguel said, very confused and annoyed. he thought he had been imagining the death stares that the iron dragon leader had been shooting him from across the mat all day. the two hadn't even faced each other yet. he couldn't think of a single reason why the guy wouldn't like him.

"i don't know." you looked back at axel who was staring at you and miguel. you shot him a questioning look before turning back around but axel watched you go.

there was only 5 minutes until the tie breaker with cobra kai. after an emotional pep talk and a quick talk with your sensei's on areas of improvement, you were ready. you were even excited. your confidence was steadily rising and your team was more in sync than ever. you were ready.

"nervous?" miguel asked approaching you

at the edge of the mat.

"not scared though."

he laughed a little. "you know, when i first met you, this is the last place i thought we would end up."

"yeah, me too. i didn't think the annoying, scrawny, little kid would be one of the best fighters in the world. never seen that one coming." you teased and he rolled his eyes.

"yeah, yeah, yeah. i didn't think ugly betty would be my best friend, fighting by my side in the world tournament of karate." he referred to the era before you got contacts where you wore unflattering glasses and had no sense of style.

you smiled. "oh shut up..."

"you know, i'm really happy we became friends."

"me too, miggy."

he draped an arm around your shoulder. "best chance i ever took."

you rolled your eyes and shoved miguel away from you. "you were the most risky chance i ever took. being your friend put a target on my back."

miguel rose his arms in defense. "hey, hey. let's not bring up the past now. remember when your friends broke into my girlfriends house-"

"better to leave the past in the past." you laughed a little. "thank you, miguel. none of us would be here if it wasn't for you." you looked down at your hands. "i wanna apologize-"

"don't." he stopped you. "you apologize like every month. i already forgave you for everything, even before you came back to the our side. you're a major reason we all made it here. i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. you don't have to keep apologizing.

you did your time."

you remembered meeting miguel when he moved in next door and encouraging miguel to take the karate classes. it felt like yesterday for the both of you. miguel's your best friend. nothing more, nothing less. you had been through a lot together. you're grateful he was able to forgive you. you knew the two of you would be friends for a long, long time. without another word, you hugged miguel tightly. he hugged you back just as tight. "our match is about to start."

from afar, axel watched the interaction with a broken heart. of course, you were in love with your best friend. he never stood a chance against miguel, the guy who completely changed your life. seeing you in miguel's arms put a pit in axels stomach, one that threatened to swallow him whole. if he was fighting, someone might actually be able to land a point on him. he never felt this before and he didn't know how to stop it.

the last match was incredibly close but miyagi do won. robby took the win for you for you guys in his last fight against kwon. you don't know what exactly happened but he honed in on all his skills, letting go of whatever was keeping him from performing at his peak. he kicked kwon's ass and everyone was proud of him. your sensei's even let the team hit the streets for the night as long as you all got enough sleep and you didn't do anything they wouldn't do (terrible words to come out of johnny lawrence's mouth).

"you guys seriously aren't going out tonight?" you stood up from your vanity, finished getting ready. it was 8:45pm. miguel was sitting on sam's bed next to sam while devon was in your shared bed.

"nah, it's gonna be a chill night in." miguel rested his head on sam's shoulder. her crutches rested on the wall besides them.

"kinda disappointed we didn't get to see more of barcelona." sam frowned.

"me too."

"i think you two should go out." you said, looking over your shoulder as you grabbed the door handle. "you can always meet us at the bar. come on devon."

you waved devon over and she followed you out of the room. once in the elevator you sighed. "okay. you remember the plan right?"

"i go to the bar with the team and tell them that you're training. if i get back before you do, i tell sam the same thing." devon nodded.

"i really appreciate you doing this for me, dev."

"of course. so are you really not gonna tell me who it is? is it kwon? i saw you two talking at the bar." devon asked, eyes wide and full of a youthful curiosity.

"it's not kwon. ew." you laughed. "when i do decide to tell everyone, you'll be the first. i still need to test the waters. see if i can trust him, you know?" you replied, looking at the time on your phone. you hated to group axel in with silver but he was the captain of silver's team. you felt like you couldn't be sure about his intentions with you and you hated it. he's been nothing but sweet to you.

"okay." devon accepted. "just call us if anything goes wrong and it's a sneak attack."

"i don't think it is, but i know you guys will come running if i need you." you smiled warmly at her. "thank you, again."

"anytime. plus i know you'll have my back when i'm off doing secret boyfriend things."

the elevator doors opened and you stepped out. "be safe okay?"

"okay." you nodded and watched the elevator close, devon going back up to the boys room.

as if on queue, the neighboring elevators doors opened and axel emerged. he was immediately drawn towards you. you had on plenty of shiny jewelry but he was drawn to your eyes the most. you captivated him. he almost forgot the scene he witnessed in the arena where you and miguel couldn't get your hands off of each other. almost. he still had his guard up, especially now after your surprise entry into the sekai tekai. he needed to know if he could trust you. "i didn't think you were coming since..." he trailed off.

"because i'm captain now?" you asked and he nodded. you looked around. "we're not in the arena anymore. we're done for the night." you gave him a reassuring smile. "you look great." you took his hand that was outstretched to you. he was wearing a white knit longsleeve and brown pants, black belt with a silver buckle and black chuck taylors. it was nice to see his personal style and how it compared to the vibe he gave off in the arena.

"you too. let's go?" he asked and you nodded, walking out of the hotel. you started walking in the direction of the beach district but axel stopped, keeping you in place.

"what are you doing?"

"this is a date. you think i would let you walk?" axel asked, amused at your confusion. a taxi pulled up and he opened the door for you. "after you."

you were caught off guard. "thank you." you got in the taxi, axel coming in next to you. you had somewhat limited dating experience. you dated eli before he broke up with you to date moon and you dated robby for a few weeks after he got out of juvie before he started showing interest in tory. it was like every guy you dated eventually left you for another girl but axel was focused on you. you felt small under his gaze. you never had someone pay so much attention to you.

"don't thank me. it's the least i can do." he squeezed your hand and you smiled at him, resting your head on his shoulder. axel couldn't help but lean into your affection. he also couldn't help but worry what your intentions were. were you and miguel trying to get in his head with a sick joke? was any of it sincere? he pushed the thoughts away as best as he could and kept you close as the ride went on.

axel paid the driver as you guys left the taxi. you were in front of a restaurant and bar that your friends passed on last night in favor of the tapas bar. this one was definitely more low key and atmospheric. the lights were dim purple and blue and the music was a soft instrumental. axel did all the talking, speaking spaniard spanish, which you weren't expecting at all.

you two were led to a table in the corner, by a window with a good view of the street. it was a truly romantic setting, with roses in the center and two candles illuminating your table. you two were silent for the first minutes, enjoying the music and exchanging glances and smiles after ordering food and drinks.

"we should start talking right?" you sighed. "one of the main reasons i like being with you is that we don't need to talk, but we have to get to know each other at some point. right?"

"right." axel nodded, thinking of what he could say. "that was a nice point you got on nichols. you can jump really high. maybe even world record." he tried to keep it light.

"thanks." you turned red under his compliments as you bit your lip. "is it okay if we don't talk about karate right now?" axel froze. martial arts were his whole life. what else could he talk about? you could tell he wasn't ready for that so you decided to try and break the ice. "have you ever been here before?" you asked.

"once, on my last trip to spain. me and zara came here after a... tournament." axel smiled sheepishly, mentioning karate after you asked him not to.

"are you and zara close?"

"not really."

"how come?"

"competition. in our dojo, there can only be one number one. in the tournament, we can work together because we both want to win, but outside of the tournament we don't even really talk." you hated to admit it to yourself but hearing that was a relief. you didn't know what you would have done if they were a thing. "sorry, you don't want to talk about karate."

"no, i'm sorry. it was kind of unfair to ask. i mean we're competing in the world tournament of karate." you laughed at yourself a little. you were nervous but you could also tell he was nervous as well.

"okay, why did you take the captain spot?"

now it was your turn to freeze up. "i know larusso got hurt, but why you?" you tilted your head to the side a bit. "not like that! that was rude i didn't mean why you, i meant-"

"i know." it was the most you ever seen him talk at once and you almost didn't want to stop him. "i stopped fighting a few months ago. i lost a tournament. 3rd place. i tried to stay out of all the drama. i dedicated myself to school. i didn't think i would compete again." you took a deep breath. "i stopped fighting because i hated who i became when i learned how. i have regrets, a lot of them having to do with my teammates. this is my chance to fight for the right reasons. i owe it to them."

the silence weighed heavy. axel took in your words. "don't you owe it to yourself too?" he asked.

before you had a chance to answer, the waiter came over with the water you both asked for. you took a sip from your glass and when you met axel's eyes he was still waiting for your answer. you realized then that axel would never let you avoid or evade anything with him. you admired it. you had the tendency to shut down when it all got to be too much.

"i don't know." you shrugged. "it's complicated."

"sounds like it." axel's foot bumped your under the table. "sorry."

"it's okay." you bumped his foot back and then you two were playing footsie. it felt nice to be giggling with a boy you liked. you felt like a normal girl who could go on a date. you almost forgot what it felt like to relax before meeting axel.

you two recieved your food and about halfway through enjoying it, you froze. "what?" axel asked. he followed your line of sight out of the window until he saw miguel walking up to the entrance of the restaurant. "what's he doing here?" his entire demeanor changed. miguel's entrance made axel completely tense up. you were tense too but once you noticed axel's composure, everything clicked. the constant glares in the arena, his tendency to roar whenever your team was front and center to one of his matches, the shove he gave miguel earlier today. axel was jealous. it was amusing when it finally sank in. axel was jealous of the closest thing you ever got to a brother. you basically saw miguel as a germ and axel thought the two of you were together. the thought of a romance made you wildly uncomfortable because he was literally like your brother. it was like he completely missed any sam and miguel interaction. you noticed him holding open the door for sam but it was like axel was completely missing the big picture again.

"i invited him."

axel's heart dropped. he looked at you and you were smiling. proud of yourself. he felt sick. everything he tried not to think about you was true. you were using him, playing with him. he let himself get carried away with the idea that you could actually like him. "you what?"

"oh yeah, i told him to come. thought you should finally meet him." you pointed over his shoulder and he turned around, seeing miguel and sam kissing while swaying together. "and his girlfriend. sam."

axel went red with embarrassment and he quickly turned back around to face you. he didn't know how he could miss that. the two never left each others side on the mat until she got injured. he was the first one to run to her side when she got hurt. now, rethinking all the interactions that he seen between you and miguel, he may have been reading into some things. he turned back to you, shameful blush all over his face and ears.

"did you really think i was with miguel?" you scrunched your nose like miguel had cooties or something. "he's a brother to me."

"i'm sorry-"

"don't apologize to me, apologize to him." you couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "you're cute when you're jealous, axel." he felt his face burn even hotter. taking his hand in yours, you looked into his eyes. "i promise you can trust me."

he stared into your eyes and he was able to see that you also needed the reassurance. you weren't some master manipulator, you were a girl with stories and he wanted to hear all of them. he wanted to tell you his stories and create new ones with you. "and you can trust me."

at the same time, sam and miguel were seated at a table across the room. miguel's back was turned towards your table but sam had a clear view of the exchange.

the two of you had long forgotten sam and miguel, leaning over the table to kiss.

it was a syrupy sweet, playful kiss. your lips moved in time with the guitar playing in the background. you were giggling, and you could feel his smile against your lips. he gently bit your lip and you gasped, pulling away to peck his lips a few times before trailing your kisses away from his lips. you kissed the side of his mouth, all over his cheek, and over his jawline.

"i like you." you whisper when you get close to his ear.

"i like you too." he leaned into yours. "you wanna go?"

"okay." you nod and he stands up, taking your hand and leading you out of the restaurant.

the two of you spend the rest of the night kissing on the beach, both of you finally able to be yourselves with the other.

sam spends the rest of the night trying to focus on miguel and not the fact that you were macking it with the captain of terry silver's team.

[wrongroup]

Us vs. Them philosophy of Cobra Kai

Important points: 1.These are incomprehensible complaints of a person who is too deeply invested in a nostalgia bait comedy show about martial arts. Everything here is just my personal interpretation. 2.Spoilers for season 6 part 3 based on leaks

Cobra Kai is at its core a show about redemption and second chances. But instead of actual improvement characters for the most part just keep switching alliances and continuing with their past behavioral patterns. There are changes but a lot of them are pretty superficial. And as the series goes on simply joining Johnny’s side completely replaces actually changing for the better. Creating a constant "us" vs. "them" dichotomy that allows for less and less nuance as the show progresses.

Season 1 still remains a pretty well-conceived story where both Johnny and Daniel are portrayed as flawed individuals. And it ends with Johnny realizing that despite his best intentions Cobra Kai's “no mercy” teaching turned Miguel into a dangerous bully and Robby, his own son, has to pay a price for that. But then Kreese, the main proponent of the "us" vs. "them" worldview, shows up and the show slowly starts to lose all of the nuance. Now it's a good guys vs. bad guys story.

*SPOILERS for part 3*The main reason it bothers me so much is Kreese’s impending full blown redemption in part 3. Even Kwon’s death besides its shock  value and other plot reasons could be explained also as a tool to bring Kreese back to Johnny’s side. But there’s simply no time to explore it in any satisfying fashion in my opinion. Throughout the series we have seen glimpses of doubt in Kreese but he never actually expressed real remorse or accepted responsibility for his actions. He is always right, everyone else is simply an enemy and should be destroyed. And that is what made him interesting to me. But in the end Silver, the man Kreese actually showed mercy to once, is the series' big bad. Is there a message or is it just a tragic coincidence?

And the tools the writers use to make characters sympathetic are pretty uninventive. Who even deserves redemption in the world of Cobra Kai? A fridged woman in the character's past or present might be an indicator. Johnny’s mother Laura is used to explain his absence in Robby’s life specifically. Kreese has got dead girlfriend Betsy. Even Tory’s mother is killed in order to drive her back to Cobra Kai. Her death is the first time we see her face. Silver has none so we know he is a truly evil guy.

And in the case of the younger generation it also looks strange to me how for example Hawk’s change is him stopping beating people to a pulp and that’s it. He was still into attacking Kenny, a middle schooler, because of the Cobra Kai merch but since Hawk is in Miyagi-do now so that’s fine. Tory’s home invading days are truly in the past but she changed so much since season 5 I barely recognise her. Instead of actually making up for her past mistakes she’s simply dragged through hell by the narrative itself which in my opinion is both unnecessary and hard to watch. Is it really a character growth or writers’ desire to file off all of her unpleasant traits in order to make her more likeable?

But those are pretty far-fetched points. What really bothers me is Kyler’s episode. At first I didn’t view it as a redemption one because Kyler hasn’t changed at all. Yes, Miguel and others helped him with his own bully situation but it looked to me like Miguel would simply provide help to anyone who needed it. It just happened to be Kyler ironically. But in the light of Kreese’s redemption doesn’t it look more like “yeah, he is an asshole but he's our asshole” so they had to help him. Enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of situation similar to teaming up with Kreese to defeat Silver. Which further adds to "us" vs. "them" worldview of the show that doesn’t allow for any half measures. It just expands to include assholes like Kyler into the "us" category. I actually enjoy Kreese as a character for the most part. He has depth and people could sympathize with him. His therapy scene is one of the best in the series in my opinion. But the show spent so much time building him and Cobra Kai into absolute villains that the sudden 180 doesn't feel deserved at this point at least to me. Maybe I am just an alarmist and this interpretation is stretching it too far. No one in the writers room certainly has thought about how it all might look for some viewers. But coupled with the creators obvious favouritism towards everything Cobra Kai over Miyagi-do it concerns me. Are we supposed to root for our protagonists simply for the fact that they are the protagonists without questioning their actions and alliances?

[18-2024]

Axel Kovačević  (Alternative Version)

Fullname: Axel Kovačević 

Status: Alive

Occupation:

Student of Iron Dragon (Formerly)

Student of Miyagi-Do

Relatives:

Parents (Deceased) †

Friends:

Sam LaRusso (Close Friend)

Kenji Okumoto (Close Friend)

Mika Barnes (Close Friend)

Kwon Jae-Sung (Best Friend)

Robby Keene (Close Friend)

Miguel Diaz (Friend)

Hawk (Close Friend)

Demtri Alexopoulos (Close Friend)

Tory Nichols (Close Friend)

Kenny Payne (Friend)

Devon Lee (Friend)

Daniel LaRusso (Sensei/Father Figure)

Johnny Lawrence (Sensei/Father Figure)

Chozen Toguchi (Sensei/Father Figure)

Mike Barnes (Sensei/Father Figure)

Julie Pierce (Sensei/Mother Figure)

Enemies:

Terry Silver

Sensei Wolf

Romances:

Sam LaRusso (Former Crush)

Kenji Okumoto (Former Attraction)

Axel Kovačević is young martial artist who was male captain of Iron Dragon dojo for Sekai Talkai. After the tournament he came international student of Miyagi-Do.

Biography:

Axel Kovačević was in born in Croatia, to unfortunate parents. Despite his hardship, he manage to have a help childhood. But the age of 4, Axel were murdered, leaving him an orphan.

At age 9, he decided to take Iron Dragon Dojo, where he met sensei. His training tough and even damaging this got to be strong and powerful in his fighting. Most of his teen years has traveling around the whole, competing the tournaments and winning them.

Personality:

Despite being arrogant, he is shown to contain that with a calm and intimidating personality that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone that stands in his way. While he is just as disciplined as Zara, if not more so, he is also low-key. He does not show that much emotion when fighting his opponents, but prefers to reveal his battle cry at the end of fighting his opponents when he wins.

However, he is shown to be extremely jealous of Miguel after learning that Sam, the girl Axel had a crush on, is in a relationship with the latter; he's prone to glare at Miguel and then bump into him, which leaves Miguel confused until Sam told him what happened. As such, Miguel can see that Axel wasn't able to let go and move on. This is likely because Axel has never been allowed to have feelings for others or even have any fun due to Sensei Wolf's harsh training towards him. So when he developed a crush on Sam, this was something he’d never experienced before and didn’t want to lose it.

Axel is also basically the definition of a robot who follows orders to the end and does not feel anything in the process. This is why Demitri compared him to the Winter Soldier. Axel has never been able to think for himself. This caused some conflicting feelings for Axel when he accidentally more or less killed Kwon, as he had likely never taken a life before then.

When Kenji Okumoto and Mika Barnes confronted with this he became even more defensive about his relationship with Wolf, not wanting admit that he could really not be treated as well he thinks he is .

When he fought Mika and defeated, he didn't feel doing it. When Kenji fighting him, he noticed was whaling on the same way Wolf does. When he asked him he wants to beaten like Axel couldn't even comply since it felt he feelings two of him.

After he loss to Kenji, his loss his will to fight, even himself against Wolf. But when Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence came protected for the first time he felt safe.

Axel, without a dojo or purpose, took Sam and Kenji offer to join Miyagi-Do.

He goes The Valley and Okinawa, having friends from both places.

Axel into an social awkward trying young man who is learning the values of friendship and support which he loves alot. He tends to go with the flow the others shenanigans

He accepts like Kwon, Demtri, Tory, Mika, and Kenji without judgement. Due how realizing how much he cause Miguel, he avoided not wanting to upset him. Eventually they made up.

He views Daniel, Johnny, Chozen Toguchi, Mike Barnes, and Julie Pierce as not only mentors, like parents to him.

Axel, knowing how he has been through, when he heard Kwon's backstory, due them in the same awkward positions, they bonded their troubled past.

Fighting Style:

Axel is not only one of the strongest opponents seen on the Series but also one of the most dangerous as well. Axel showcases an impressive fighting style characterized by brute strength and exceptional martial arts skills. Trained by Sensei Wolf at the Iron Dragons dojo, he excels in both offense and defence. During the Sekai Taikai tournament, he demonstrates his ability to seamlessly evade attacks and capitalize on openings, as seen when he effortlessly dodges strikes from Kwon and Yoon before taking them down. he was also able to block strikes from Robby, countering with a blow to his face hitting him so hard, he starting bleeding and also leaving a scar on his face in the process.

His resilience stands out; he barely flinches from powerful kicks, highlighting his toughness. In his semi-final match against Robby, Axel counters strikes with ease, quickly building a lead. His dominance is further evident during a brawl where he outmatches both Miguel and Kwon, showcasing his ability to handle multiple opponents.

Axel's size, combined with his extensive training, makes him a formidable presence on the mat—one that instils both fear and respect in his opponents.

Despite this Axel seems to have flaws with protecting his left side. As Wolf scorns and abused him for even after scoffing what he thinks he did wrong as Axel fails twice on keeping his guard up on his left side.

This flaw was exploited by Kenji who realized and continuously struck like Wolf does, it being a big factor to his loss.

Until Miyagi-Do, Daniel and Chozen taught how to better protect his left, including the drum technique.

[what-goes-unnoticed]

𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔 | 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒛 𝒙 𝑳𝒂𝑹𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒐 𝒙 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒌𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒛

✩ chapter one out of. . . . (1,715 words in total)

✩ summary - Anthony and Eli decided to join Miyagi-Do, though for different reasons than the other. Eli wanted to redeem himself for being a bully; Anthony wanted to protect himself, as well as proving himself to his father and sister. He wanted to them to see what potential he has. Him and Eli start getting along and they start hanging out outside the dojo by going to parties, the library, or wherever they can go.

✩ warnings - drunkenness, frenemies to lovers, implied sex, jealously, panic attacks, public display of affections, poly relationship, and tension (emotional and sexual) [applied to all]

(was originally a Loskowitz fic but then thought of adding Diaz to it, so now it’s a Laitz fic lol)

Karate was never really his thing, or doing much of sports anyway. He felt like he wasn't good at any of them, not like he didn't try of course. He felt like athleticism came naturally to both his sister and father; they were always trying something with one another. He was just caught up in the moment of panic about not being good enough. He always dreaded not being enough for his parents, sister, or anyone else. Sure, it could be dismissed as silly, or whatever you could name it.

He would always overthink every little thing he did, even when he was told not to worry about it. He wanted to do a couple sports at least, so he tried out for the middle school's tennis and golf team, it seemed simple enough. Kept him away from being trapped at home all the time so that was a good thing, but his mother didn't really think he was serious. "Seriously, you want to play tennis?" She gawked, almost laughing at her son. (She meant it lightheartedly but it did not come out that way) Sam told her not to be mean and that she was proud he found something that interested him.

He also wanted to give karate a try, he began practicing with Sam as he was filled with too much embarrassment to ask their father if he could enroll in Miyagi-Do. Sam was the one who told him that Eli, who he knew by Hawk at the time, was in a similar situation. Although his reasoning was a bit different as Eli wanted to better himself from being a bully. Anthony wanted to join to get closer to his father, help him defend himself from his bullies, as well as sharpen his focus. It all seemed silly to him, but Sam told him that they were not bad ideas to come join the dojo, and she told him that she could tell their dad for him to shield him from the embarrassment. He agreed that she could when he was coming home from school and doing his homework.

She was staying home on that particular day she was going to tell him. The nervousness consumed Anthony when he was away at school; he didn't want to look at anyone so they wouldn't see the death in them. Kenny kept nagging at him though, he tried his best to ignore him until it was the end of the day. Sam texted that she will be the one picking him up from school. "Hey LaPusso, I have been needing to talk to you all day!" Oh god, it was Kenny right behind him, he didn't want to turn around to look at him.

He just hoped Sam would get to the school faster. Kenny spun him around to look at him, they locked eyes for a bit without uttering a word to one another. He gulped down, eyeing up and down at him. "Thought you had something to say, Payne. What happened to it? Did you lose it somewhere?" He asked, trying to sound calm. He didn't want to feed into his nags, but gosh, they were hard to ignore.

They got him fired up, so instead of feeding into it, he just remained calm. Kenny frowned at his words and calm demeanor. Kenny had lost his train of thought just from seeing Anthony calm. He tried his usual nags but those weren't working, so he didn't know what to do. He gawked about the fact that he was waiting for his mommy to come get him.

That made Anthony snicker actually. "Sister, actually," Anthony corrected him, smiling a bit. Kenny huffed out an annoyed breath, still not saying anything to him directly. Anthony spotted Sam in the car line and made his way over. "Let's get out of here as soon as possible, please," He pleads, tiredly. She wanted to know why he did but eyeing where he was standing before he came up to her car, she understood.

She got out of there pretty easily and quickly. She asked him if he wanted to pick up a snack for the road so he wouldn't be too hungry for dinner. He agreed as they stopped at a nearby gas station where he got a candy bar and beef jerky. "Dad knows that you want to join Miyagi-Do, your first practice is tomorrow, but you can watch today's practice," she says, calmly. She took one of his jerky for herself and ate it.

He gasped upon her doing so, she almost choked on it from laughing. "You ate my jerky," he says, almost surprised that she would eat it. She couldn’t stop laughing at his shocked expression like yes, she ate it and grabbed another one as they came through the door. “My jerky,” he grumbled softly, smiling at the fact she ate it.

The two were giggling as they went upstairs to their rooms. “Do you hear those two? They were giggling,” Amanda says, stating the obvious, but was surprised to see her children are getting along. It was near time for practice to start, Anthony was just unaware at how early their practices were. “Do you guys usually start this early?” Sam said that they have been for nearly three weeks now, but usually start around four thirty or five o’clock.

Anthony took his sitting on the grass next to Eli, and to be honest, he was kind of nervous too. His skin was flaring up next to him, it was rather difficult to breathe a little bit. Eli had seemed to notice his reaction to him. He had placed a hand on his shoulder, “I’m not going to bite your head off, little LaRusso, I’m a friendly now.” Anthony knew that he was with something about him not being one set him off.

He didn’t know if he could trust him yet. These flareups are either going to get better or worse, he couldn’t really say. Over the course of training for a couple weeks Anthony had really gotten a grip on the whole beginner thing of karate. He liked it more than he had hoped, sure it was boring in some parts, but he was having fun. Even him and Eli had begun talking to one another by exchanging numbers to communicate outside of practice hours.

He knew his father didn't quite trust Eli yet as much as him and Sam did. He slipped outside his bedroom window to hangout with Eli in the middle of the night. They were at some girl's party she was throwing for her friend. They had some campfire celebration. There were people drinking and smoking, but he just played on his phone and maintained little to no communication with anyone else.

It was getting late for Anthony to be out so he had to sneak back in his room. He sneaked back in his room thinking he got away with it until he saw his desk light on. He slowly approached his desk to see who it was. It was Sam who was sitting there. "How was the party," she asked.

Her nose perked up from smelling the smoke of the fire on him. He wanted to act like a fool and asked her what party but he didn't, he admitted defeat. It was one party, well technically one that she had seen. She told him that she knew about the other ones as well, and if she was mom or dad that she would have his ass right now. He just shared that he and Eli are bonding, which she gets but she would like to know ahead of time just in case.

He agreed before calling it for the night. Now what the fuck is she going to do with Eli? Eli is still outside waiting for him it seems. "Eli, go home!" She hollered. Eli was blinking up at her like he had no brain cells in his brain.

She crawled out of Anthony's window to tell him to his face. "Go home," she instructed firmly. Eli just giggled when she bossed him around. She frowned upon seeing him laugh. (He did have a nice one but that is not the point) "Do I need to take you home, Eli?" She asked, getting way too annoyed for this. He gathered her in an embrace and pushed his lips out for a kiss.

She pushed him back to not kiss her. How fucking drunk is he? He was very out of it as he tried kissing her again, he was also groaning a name in her collar. She didn't know what name it was but it did not sound like hers. She called Miguel to come to her house and help her with him as she was almost certain she couldn't carry him alone.

Eli buried himself deep in her neck as the three walked to his house. Sam was not happy about him trying to kiss her, neither was Miguel but he kind of found it funny. She rolled her eyes at him for laughing at it. She laughed a bit too but this was serious. She did not need another guy kissing on her as she had a boyfriend, it didn't matter if he was drunk or not.

When arriving at his place she had explain who she was and what she was doing with Mrs. Moskowitz’s son. It was a bit awkward explaining how he was at a party with her younger brother but she states that she wanted to bring him home safely. Eli’s mother eyed her suspiciously but was warm to Miguel as she has seen him before. After putting Eli in his room she just wanted to leave this house as she could feel the woman’s eye follow her every move. “Mrs. Avery, I can assure you, Sam is not dangerous or one of those girls you’re worried about,” Miguel says, to Eli’s mother as they were leaving.

She said she knew that Sam wasn’t as she was feeling uncomfortable from her protective gaze. Avery had thanked the two for bringing her boy home safe and sound. She was being tested or something? A little heads up would be great, you know?

hope you enjoyed this chapter; next one is coming soon…

[variousqueerthings]

now haaaving watched the next three episodes of Cobra Kai

Pros:

while the going was good with Sam and Tory it sure was good. I do kinda like that their thing isn't related to boys anymore (not that it ever really was, but now it definitely isn't) (instead it's related to the plot psychologically torturing Tory beyond any other character) + Mary Mouser and Peyton List have chemistry out the ceiling. is that a saying? out the chimney. through the roof. out the window. defenestrated chemistry

I quite liked a lot of the training stuff as a general

I also quite liked Devon's plotline -- I like that she was ruthless in that way, she takes the lessons she learns at face-value + she's not great at Peopleing, I liked that (although... let's look at the cons...)

liked the Demetri and Hawk narrative, they were brought a little more to the fore and it was a realistic break that follows up on some threads I fully thought they'd just... forgotten. lol

okay this was actually in the earlier eps, but I like that the show had Chozen go "uh fuck you, Miyagi-do is a super important cultural space and you can't just come waltzing in and demand it fits your specifications" (altho it is a shame I feel like Johnny respects Chozen more than Daniel... this down in my cons generally about Johnny)

Cons below, but I will say I will say! there's nothing super unexpected down there. I am chill about this show, I'm just. noting it. I'm watching the show as wholly braindead, while thinking about what a non-wholly-braindead show could look like

Cons:

Gender Reveal Party. at least it was over with quick

Okay so like. the elephant in the room (shockingly not the fact that Johnny is having a baby and is woefully terrible at parenting) -- Miyagi's deep dark secret. I think it's not even like. That tarnishing, that's not exactly its issue. it's that it's such an incredibly boring idea compared to his actual backstory, which I'm trying to remember rn if the TV-show ever properly mentioned (not the Okinawa part of it, but the internment camp). There's really no need to create this drama, other than it seems like the writers can't quite figure out what to do with Daniel and don't understand what made Miyagi an interesting, flawed character to begin with and why Daniel might struggle with having him on a pedestal. That being said, I'm mostly just. meh. this might as well happen. Miyagi punched some guy in the face, stole something expensive, fled America for a bit to avoid the cops (?) and fought in the karate killer tournament I guess

I've gotta be honest withya. I just. no longer enjoy Cobra Kai's Johnny. he just ain't it anymore. he was increasingly not it as the seasons went on, but he is simply a merry-go-round of being a dick who is also never going to change, and it being ok by the plot at this point because he needs to fulfill some idea of masculinity and clash with Daniel. there were a fair few moments I could go on and on about buuuut. I'm chill about it. Fanfic Johnny: blows u a kiss. Show!Johnny: it's not on sight, but certainly it's a wide berth. u kinda suck as a person. you're like the dad that someone doesn't ever bring their friends round to see, because he's not a nice guy and it's embarrassing and they know he'll never change and so you drift apart over the years

which -- the show is still trying to make claims about Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do as Equal, while also showing that every kid who went through Cobra Kai (including Johnny) is Fucked Up. Kenny is traumatised and doesn't trust anyone. Devon is fucked up and doesn't know how to be with people. Tory is... my sweet angel who does nothing wrong ever. Hawk and Demetri's break started here. and it's like. Johnny you were a part of this! Take one accountability pls, ever

similar to many things related to Show!Johnny a lot of the kids dramas came outta nooowhere. I can buy Demetri and Hawk's, I actually think that worked (see above), but Robby getting at Miguel for needing the win more? I mean. Yeah? the stakes are higher? be a bro about it? clam down? help your guy get into university? what's the problem here? similarly Sam's "I've just got to prove myself for... reasons." it's a struggle with balancing stakes I think

Chozen is still in love with Kumiko I guess *siiiiiiiiigh*

There's just. everything with Kreese taking over Korean Cobra Kai further eroding the whole idea of the original movie, in tandem with the Miyagi-plotline, we're just off on a whole other journey at this point vs earlier seasons where it was like. "got the spirit." the spirit has left the building. there's definitely a sense of either "we think we can do Better than the original" or "we completely missed the point of the original in the first place." a mix of both I imagine

I noticed how Carmen and Amanda appeared almost only to push the Johnny and Daniel into their arcs. there are things one can do with it ofc, one can build on the crumbs. Carmen questions how Miguel and Robby might be at odds with one another if having to fight -- and they sort of are, and it's the thread again of Carmen bringing up Very Reasonable Concerns, Johnny waving them off and... then she's right, but nothing happens. I think Carmen deserves compensation at this point. vs Amanda who gets one neat bit with the hospital calling her to reveal that Tory's mother has died (suggesting she's continued to support Tory between seaosns), but otherwise she's like "oh look a Miyagi Mystery. Daniel are you thinking about the Miyagi Mystery again? how do you feel about the Miyagi Mystery?"

I'd say they did my boy Kenny dirty, but I'm waiting to see where they go with all of thiiiis. but they did. that was really really cruel and the show doesn't always know what it's saying about bullying and Kenny has been hurt more than most by other characters (including Anthony who didn't do that to him, but does laugh about it... my guy...)

they really do have Tory in a whole other narrative, she's got a thousand yard stare!!!!!!

Mike Barnes homophobia moment (Twice). Me @ the writers: listen, I know "cream puff" is a thing that was iconically yelled in the first movie, but I think your including it here says so much about how you're all about referencing Cool Moments without caring at all about like. the plot of the original film/s. like a big example of everything this show is