#robby keene deserves better

[filmfliiicks]

no seriously. I can’t stop thinking about how the writers of Cobra Kai developed (or more specifically didn’t develop) and wrote Johnny and Robby’s relationship.

Johnny is the main character and yet we never see him bond with Robby or sincerely talk about their relationship or have him meaningfully apologise for his neglect.

And Robby having to constantly be the bigger person (“the writers are showing how he’s not going to let loss define him,” or “it’s on Robby to let the anger go”) isn’t good enough because it should be Johnny doing the heavy lifting and it excuses Johnny of his worst mistakes.

In the narrative, Robby has loss after loss, not just in competition but in relationships. The writers have him SA (and don’t even have the common sense to realise they wrote a SA scene), they disregard his relationship with Daniel entirely, they stick him into Miguel’s friend group when they clearly prefer Miguel, Tori doesn’t say I love you back (would it have hurt the writers to have her say it?!), they have him so unfocused during the ST that it’s laughable to think that he’d be offered a contract as a third runner-up.

He has all these losses and there is never any cathartic aftermath. You can’t show a neglected kid with a deadbeat dad and think a 2 minute scene after four seasons where the dad doesn’t even apologise fixes everything the audience has previously witnessed.

It’s unsatisfactory.

If Cobra Kai started with Johnny, it should have continued with fixing his relationship with his son.

[msfbgraves]

Robby was raped. Is no one going to acknowledge this, or do the dudebros only think rape happens to women?

Fuck this show.

At least one of the writers - not Hayden, I think it was Josh? - reacted that Robby's predicament wasn't meant to be read as sexual assault, though goodness knows what it was supposed to be read as. You can't consent when you're intoxicated this badly. Had this been a girl no one would have tried to 'read it differently' or gone like 'we don't know what really happened'. And often what happens with female characters too is that the scene wasn't about Robby. It was about Tory. It was sexist, even to Zara - how else could a girl try to get under another girl's skin than by using sex? That's how femme fatales are always written, and it shows that these writers have never been in the presence of a clique of mean girls. They certainly do not need to fuck your boyfriend to get at you.

But to get back to Robby: definitely assaulted and very very likely raped. But that's Robby, meant to suffer for all his father's sins. They probably think any sex is good sex for a boy, "Har, har, got your dick wet, good one!"

This messaging of CK makes it more difficult for survivors of abuse to come forward, because it tells that abusers get everything they want with no repercussions; no justice will ever be served and however much you try, some people are just meant to be victims so suck it up, who cares, you don't matter.

While the Karate Kid showed that those society overlooks can be our greatest friends and teachers, you can train to fight without hurting anyone, and hard work and dedication can bring you the respect of your peers, even your bullies, and show them there is a better path. (Since, ya know - an abuser like Kreese will turn even on their best henchmen).

Do they think that Cobra Kai would even exist to correct The Karate Kid if its message was not one people have been wanting to hear?

[fearlessmoony]

I might come across as intense when it comes to robby keene, but as the eldest daughter of a deadbeat, neglectful father who thinks directing a couple words my way once a year makes up for all that he's done (or haven't) and whom I had to sit back and watch build a new family, take care of his wife's son and love and care for his newborn kid like he never did for me, I can't never be too serious about him.

[annurb]

Still watching Cobra Kai

Kreese apologized to Johnny... they even had a heartfelt talk with Johnny saying he felt abandoned. They talked about their past... WTH??!??!?! He UNDERSTANDS how it feels, why coudn't he apologize to Robby?

I can't...

[beheworthy]

To be completely transparent, the recruiter said to Robby “we saw what you did out there, the world is going to want to see more of the two of you together.” Obviously Robby making it to the finals had an impact on the sponsorship, but imo that line deeply implies that had he not kissed Tory, he would not have gotten the sponsorship. They could have said “we saw what you did out there, you really held your ground” or “we saw what you did out there, you put up an amazing fight” but instead they went with a reference to the kiss. So take from that what you will

Oh okay, alright. His skills were seen by them but I think his relationship took precedence in everything.

I just, Robby fans stay losing.

[maeberys]

So, to recap, over the course of 6 seasons, Robby has been: abandoned by his father, neglected by his mother, injured by Hawk, cheated on by Sam, attacked by Miguel, betrayed by Daniel, beaten by Shawn, abandoned again by Johnny, used by Kreese, emotionally hurt by Tory, nerfed by the writers in the ST, and SA by Zara. And still anyone wonders why his fans feel aggrieved at the prospect of him not winning the ST?

[afoolishreader]

Fuck the cobra kai writers.

I will now live in my own version of cobra kai in my head, where everything actually make sense, with coherent writing.

:3:3:3:3:3

[just-v]

Me omw to use my Creative Writing degree (in progress) to write a fix-it-fic for Robby: 🏃‍♀️💨

[colduaire]

just rewatched Instant Family and there's this scene where the adoptive parents are fed up with their adoptee cause the kid's being difficult and the godsend that is grandma sally says to the adoptive parents (about the adoptee) "she doesn't hate you, she just thinks you don't love her." and this is so robby and johnny coded. robby has been abandoned by johnny over and over again, and it's led him to believe that johnny doesn't love him. and i'm crying cause no one cared enough about robby to tell johnny how much he really hurt his kid.

[filmfliiicks]

If I have to read ‘It started with Cobra Kai/Johnny/Miguel/Johnny and Miguel so it had to end with….’ as a line of defence against criticism of Cobra Kai again, I’ll scream.

Just because it started with them doesn’t meant the writers absolutely butchered the journey and the ending. Like if I was a hardcore Johnny fan I’d be upset they didn’t fix his relationship with Robby properly or if I was a hardcore Miguel fan I’d be disillusioned with the fact he seemed to have his final fight for the sake of having a final fight and there was no real motivation behind it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[msfbgraves]

I see you, fellow shipper 😈

I have had my suspicions about CK writers being on Tumblr but now I absolutely know.

Normally, when some people are getting into a dark ship, especially when it goes against the main fandom favourite, canon doesn't usually get freaky with us. Quite the opposite. Characters are kept apart, they will introduce the milkiest of milktoast new love interest to show how Aggressively Normal they are, and how this darker pairing is Not A Thing, no sir.

So normally, on a ship like Silverusso, they'd pair Terry with Da Eun to not upset the cishet Status Quo. But that didn't happen here. They went with it and then some. Terry bidding on Daniel's... bonsai trees, sure love. Terry with his dick out in a sauna. And again to drive the point home. Daniel in a dog cage. Terry alluding to sexytimes with Kreese, other than the general dating vibe of S4.

And now, suddenly, somebody has been through the Robby Keene deserves better tag. Sharon's back. Johnny remembers his son exists. Daniel is being Robby's mentor again.

Nobody was writing about this on TikTok, or Twitter, and the few who dared to mention anything on Reddit were met with fury from the Cobros. The only ones bringing this up were the girlies on this hellsite. You know, the site that nobody takes into account for anything.

I don't think it's John, Josh or Hayden, of course. And I'm very, very happy we're being listened to. So, dear Cobra Kai staff writer: thank you for listening. Thank you for getting all of this in actual scripts. It can't have been easy. It must have taken some diplomacy, because you couldn't very well show your bosses all the ways we were reading them for filth. Yet you did it, you freaky tumblrina. I hope you had a good time on Ao3.

I'm sorry you couldn't get us an interview with TIG and Ralph but even then your efforts are much appreciated.

[fearlessmoony]

don't think I'll ever forgive nor forget the foul way the writers and this fandom treated robby keene. giving him a social media partnership as a consolation prize is not enough, he deserved to win on screen and be recognised as the excellent fighter he is, not whatever season six was. robby keene simply deserved better.

[annurb]

Watching Cobra Kai right now

Baby Laura was just born, Johnny was there being a loving father, being there for his baby. Robby right there, seeing this.

And all I could think about was when Robby was born.

[squidwardstikiland111]

welcome to yet another season of johnny being a father figure to everyone but his actual kid

[aut189]

Robby deserves better!