#Johnny and Daniel are both students at a karate dojo

[gemini-sensei]

Secret's Out | Miguel Diaz x Lawrence!Reader

Req: please do Miguel and cryptic pregnancy trope!!! like the process of her giving birth and can this be lawrencereader?? if not that’s okay :) CW: cryptic pregnancy, secret relationship, giving birth, Johnny being Johnny. (unedited)

It was no surprise Reader and Miguel fell for each other. Living in the same apartment complex just across from each other, seeing one another everyday, not to mention he was her father's karate student. It was a recipe for love.

It was also a recipe for disaster, as both Miguel and Reader knew that her father was going to have his head if he ever found out about them.

Johnny Lawrence was old school. He wouldn't like the idea of his star student getting together with his daughter. He didn't even like the idea of her dating even though she was 19 years old and perfectly capable of taking care of herself, thanks to yours truly of course. He'd taught her everything she needed to know about defending herself, not letting anyone sell her bullshit, and being so assertively herself that no one could argue with her about anything. He prided himself in at least raising a daughter who was headstrong, though that sometimes came back to bite him in the ass.

It wasn't one of those days, thankfully, and he was able to work in peace as she helped out around the dojo. She was mostly in charge of helping in demonstrations and setting up dummies as needed, but for the most part, things were going well. It was with LaRusso that Johnny had any problems with as they still butt heads from time to time on how to teach their students.

Reader was talking to Anthony and Devon about something when she felt a pain shoot up her back and through her stomach. She was a tough young lady, so she didn't let it show very much, but as her eyebrows scrunched up, the two students gave her weird looks.

"Are you okay, Reader?" Devon asked, looking her over carefully.

The pain lingered but she nodded. "Yeah, must be a muscle spasm or something."

She rubbed her back, thinking it would pass quietly. Though she'd never felt pain like that before, she wasn't all that concerned with it and she dragged Anthony with her to grab the bo staffs for the next and final lesson. It wouldn't be long before she got to go home.

Halfway through the lesson, though, the same pain surfaced and she felt like she was cramping. It threw her off her drills with the bo and she groaned, waving off the concerned looks of those around her. She didn't need them gawking at her and staring. She didn't finish the lesson with everyone and it pissed her off to no end, but she decided not to dwell on it. The last thing she needed was unnecessary stress on top of whatever it was bothering her.

She walked into the bathroom of Miyagi-Do while the students called it a day. Her father and Daniel cleaned up the yard and patio while she splashed some water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt her face with the back of her hand, but nothing felt off and she didn't look like she was sick. She just looked like she was in pain, which she was, but she quickly shook that look off and decided to finish the day's work. Going home would be fine.

However, she could barely sweep the interior of the house because she kept cradling her belly and groaning. The pain was consistent and happening more often. When her dad and Mr. LaRusso came in to close up, hardly anything was done and they had to question why.

"Reader, you're usually done and gone by now," Daniel said.

She waved him off with a huff. "Cut me some slack, old man. I feel like shit."

"Ah, it's that time of the month," Johnny said, seeing the way his daughter held herself and was slightly slouched over. "You always pull through, you'll be fine."

"Fuck off," she said, knowing damn well he didn't understand a woman's period. She thought about slugging him in the gut and giving him a taste of what that felt like when the pain shot through her again, harder and worse than before. She cried out and almost fell to the floor, only barely leaning against the wall to save herself.

Tears pricked her eyes as the pain became unbearable. Her breathing quickened as it persisted for a moment, her father and Daniel on either side of her in an instant.

Daniel wiped her forehead of sweat she didn't even know about and looked at her father. "I think this is serious. You should take her to the hospital."

Johnny looked worried and fearful of what that could mean, but he didn't argue. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Reader, can you walk?"

"I don't know," she whined, head leaned back against the wall as she put her energy into not crying.

Keeping her eyes clothes, she felt her father pick her up and carry her outside. Daniel led the way, opening the doors in their way. She was placed in her father's van and he buckled her in. He held her face and said, "You're gonna be okay. Whatever this is, you'll get through it."

"Just get me outta here," she groaned.

He nodded and hurried to the other side of the car. He drove as fast and without a care, only thinking of his daughter as she screamed in pain with each shooting pain that came and went. In between those moments, she was moaning and groaning in misery.

Despite his speed, things weren't going fast enough for Reader. Things started to feel weird and hurt more as she sat there. She couldn't sit with her legs together, unable to close them for some reason. She couldn't think straight, her whole body sending signals to her brain about how much pain she was in, and it sucked. However, she began even more scared when she felt a rush of hot liquid gush from between her legs and she was too embarrassed to say anything to her father.

Then something inside of her moved and she didn't know what to make of it. She reached between her legs to feel something bulging from her cunt and she burst into tears, scaring her father.

It had been a long time since he'd seen her cry, especially out of fear or pain, so what the fuck was going on?

When they got to the hospital, Johnny rushed in with her in his arms and she was quickly taken away from the emergency room lobby, leaving both of them alone. No one had any idea of what they were getting into, getting rushed, half-informed explanations from Johnny and quick answers from Reader before she was screaming again. It all happened so fast, but to Johnny, it felt like forever. His mind conjured up the worst case scenarios and he didn't know what to do with himself.

Robby showed up not long after, having gotten word from Mr. LaRusso that his half-sister was rushed to the hospital. He immediately went to Johnny. "What happened?"

"I don't know. One minute, she was fine, and the next she's screaming and crying," he explained, shaking his head. The screams and cries of his only daughter are trapped in his head and it's shaken Johnny to his core. "That's the toughest girl I know. She doesn't cry easily, Robby."

Robby rubbed his father's back in an attempt to comfort him. "I know."

They sit there for an hour before someone can tell them anything.

Carmen Diaz comes out, being neighbors and knowing the family well, she wanted to be the one to give them the update on Reader. She thought Reader was such a nice, strong girl. She knew she and Miguel were close, but she didn't know just how close until about forty minutes ago when Reader made a shocking confession to her. Nevertheless, Carmen held Reader's hand as pushed through the pain.

"Johnny, Robby," she said softly as she approached. She offered a smile because while the situation was scary and unpredictable, it hadn't ended horribly. In fact, it was a joyous occasion. "Reader's going to be okay."

"Okay? You sure? She was screaming her head off all the way here," Johnny said, standing from his seat.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said. She took a deep breath. "She gave birth to a healthy little girl."

"Gave birth?" Robby repeated, a shockwave hitting him and his father. How was that possible?

"Like a real baby?" Johnny asked. "Where'd that come from? She wasn't pregnant. I would've known if she was pregnant."

Carmen nodded. "Well, it would appear that she didn't even know she was pregnant. It's called a cryptic or hidden pregnancy and, as the name suggests, it's like a secret. She showed little to no symptoms, got her period regularly, and didn't gain a noticeable amount of weight. It's not typical, but not unheard of."

Johnny and Robby had to sit with that for a minute, letting it sink in. Reader had just given birth to a secret baby that none of them, herself included, knew about. Johnny was still processing everything when Robby asked, "Can we see her?"

"She wants the baby's father to come in first."

"Who the Hell is the baby's father?" Johnny asked, getting protective and defensive. He just spent well over and hour worrying and pacing the hospital lobby only to get sidelined by some shmuck that wasn't there. From where he was standing, this guy better be good enough for his daughter to do something like that.

At that moment, Miguel came running into the lobby with pure panic rushing through his bloodstream and sweat pouring down his face.

"Where is she? Where's Reader?" he asked, looking between everyone there. At that moment, he didn't care about the fact that no one knew they were together. He only cared about her and the emergency that he had to be there for. He's gotten few details over the phone when his mom called, only knowing that he had to be there. "Is she okay? Was there some kind of accident?"

Robby stared at Miguel, fire in his eyes. "No, but I might cause one soon..."

Miguel looked at him weirdly, knowing that Robby was going to be protective of Reader, but now didn't seem like the time. He turned to his mom for answers.

"There wasn't an accident, Miggy, she's okay," she assured him, rubbing his arms to comfort him. "She's being moved to the maternity ward and once they've got her settled in a room over there, you can go see her."

"Maternity ward? Why would she need to be there?" Miguel asked.

He felt Johnny and Robby's eyes burning holes into his whole body as they stared him down. He looked at them questionably, as confused as they had been only minutes ago. Then it dawned on him. "She's pregnant?"

"Was," Johnny grunted, glaring at his star student. "She had the baby already."

"What? How? I mean- how is that possible?"

Carmen rubbed his back as she got a page on her beeper. She checked it before looking at him. "I'll explain it on the way over there. Why don't the three of you follow me?"

By the time they got to Reader's room, Miguel was up to date on the basics what cryptic pregnancies were and how they didn't show themselves. He also got an earful from Johnny about the situation, which sounded a lot like "I can't believe you would do this to me" and "that's my daughter, the one girl in the whole world you, my student, shouldn't have ever gotten with." Robby stayed quiet the whole way there.

Miguel walked right into the room to find an exhausted Reader sitting up on the bed with a baby blanket in her arms. She was just staring down at the little bundle, the smallest of smiles on her lips. When she heard him enter the room, thankfully alone because she wasn't ready to face her father (and she didn't even know Robby was there yet).

"Migs," she said, voice barely above a whisper.

He walked over to her slowly, feeling as though he was in some sort of false reality. How was this possible? How could they not know? Even though he knew the answers now, he was still turning those questions, and more, over in his head. What did this mean for them? He was in college, how was he going to help her raise a baby? Pay for a baby? They didn't even have anything for a baby. They were so unprepared, so there was a part of his mind that thought this was some kind of weird dream he was having.

However, when he was close enough to see the little face of the baby - their baby - peeking out from the blankets, he knew it was real.

Despite her small size, their baby girl had a mop full of dark curls on her head. She had the smallest nose and tiniest lips he'd ever seen. She was fast sleep in Reader's arms, unbothered by anything else around them.

"She looks like you," Reader said, looking up at him with a small smile.

Miguel let out a little laugh. "You think so?"

"Yeah," she told him and giggled. She yawned but tried not to let it show. He put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him, and he saw how tired she truly was. She barley had any energy let, using what was left to admire their tiny little surprise. "I almost gave birth to her in my dad's van."

He laughed and leaned down to kiss her head. "Glad you made it here in time." He felt so bad that she had to go through that alone. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"Don't be. Seriously, I swear, if you start apologizing for that every day, I'll punch you in the throat," she told him, her brash attitude shining through. He smiled despite her threat. "I'm just happy I'm not dead. Besides, your mom was here and she's great."

"Yeah, she's pretty awesome," he said. He looked back at the baby in Reader's arms and reached out to her, touching her soft hair. "Do you have a name for her?"

Reader shook her head. "I can hardly think right now. I was hoping you'd know something."

"I... I don't know," he said and chuckled. He sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her. "We'll think of something, though."

As they sat in silence, from outside, Johnny and Robby were watching from the door. They peered in but didn't enter, letting the couple have their moment with their new daughter. Johnny still didn't know what to make of it, but as he watched the way Miguel interacted with Reader and their baby, he had a pretty alright feeling about it.

Robby put it into the best words, though; "I guess if it's gonna be anyone, Miguel's good enough."

[missinseg]

Robby and his second place trauma

Everyone wants to be first in every aspect of their life. Every person also needs to know that they are valuable and feel that they are a priority for someone. This is the same for work, school life and human relations. People are happy to feel valued and loved by someone.Then there are those who are always put in the background. For example, they are not anyone's priority. No one appreciates them for their efforts. Robby is one of the characters that is always put in the background in Cobra Kai series. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the character who experiences this in the worst way.

Let's talk about his family first, for example. Her mother was one of those alcoholics who prioritized herself at the beginning of the series.She could easily leave Robby at home and go out of the country. While Robby wanted to spend time with his mother, Shannon preferred to go out with men.

His father,Johnny, was absent from Robby's life for 16 years due to his own traumas. When Robby met again with Johnny, a strange boy had already taken his place.Johnny said he was trying to change, but in five seasons he never put Robby first. He never thought of his son first. His dojo, his girlfriend , his girlfriend’s son,his rival, his students, and his own problems were always more important than Robby. Every child is unique for his parents, but even though Robby was only child , he could not manage to be unique and take the first place in his parents' eyes.

The situation was no different in his social life. His first friends we saw were with him for their own benefit. Afterwards, he became friends and even lovers with Sam. They were good with Demetri in the beginning, but the situation changed later. For Sam, Miguel was the priority. Demetri ignored him as if he had never had a good time with him.

Daniel was his sensei, one of the first people to care him and teach him good things. They had a great time together. He taught Robby many good things about life as well as karate. He played a big role in his change. But even such a person's first priority was not Robby. Daniel kicked Robby out twice. He was a good person but he was not the person who always there for him. When Robby went to Kreese instead of Johnny and Daniel, Kreese used him for his own purposes. I think Robby already knew this and went to Cobra Kai.

The second place followed him throughout his career. He competed in two championships but finished second in both.

In the 6th season, we see that the "second place" has become a trauma for Robby after everything that has happened to him which is a normal situation. In order to overcome this, he tried to hold on to someone who loved and valued him. He did it the first time.

Now that he has been betrayed by her too, I wonder how he'll get over this trauma and find balance. I hope everyone who has never cared about him until now will help him get over this trauma and put him first in their lives for the first time.

[amazingmaeve]

BADASS CHICKS

miguel diaz x fem!reader

summary — johnny and miguel are looking for girl students to join eagle fang and one place they go to look is at the skate park where Y/N loves to roller skate. when they approach she is a bit tense about joining karate since the school fight.

warnings — fluff, mentions of fighting, flirting (if that’s even a warning), swearing, unsafe skating

word count — 956

authors note — this is going to be set in season 4 episode 6 where they’re looking for girl fighters. also him and sam aren’t dating for the purpose of this timeline.

miguel diaz masterlist | cobra kai masterlist

Johnny and Miguel made their way through the skatepark. They had just gotten back from the school as they were trying to find girls for the karate tournament. They needed this actually Johnny needed this.

If they couldn’t find girl(s) to join their dojo or else they would be in deep shit and not be in the tournament at all. Miguel didn’t want that, he wanted to compete as he was the all valley champion the year before. He also wanted it to get rid of Cobra Kai since they were getting bigger with Silver coming in.

Since Johnny and Daniel made that deal with Silver and Kreese that if Cobra Kai won they would have to shut down both of their dojos. Miguel didn’t want that for Johnny or for his training. He still had a lot of things to learn even though he was the champ.

At least that is what Johnny told him.

“Sensei I just don’t get why we are in a skatepark,” Miguel questioned as they walked around people who were skating and giving them weird looks.

Probably because they weren’t skating and just walking around. Probably thought they were weirdos.

“Skating is badass and people who do that are already used to pain so if I could find a girl that’s here and is willing to hear me out we could find our girl champ,” Johnny explained as he looked around to find any girls.

“What does skating have to do with karate? They’re not the same thing,” Miguel asks, putting his hands into the pocket of his jacket.

“They aren’t but these people they do tricks and like I said before they know what pain is, so that means karate won’t be anything different,” Johnny says.

“There’s not any fighting in skating Sensei,” Miguel says.

“There was back in my day, these people can be crazy sometimes and that is exactly what I need for the girl champ,” Johnny scoffs.

“Hey guys watch out,” Y/N shouts as she comes in skating behind him but before they could do anything she ran into Miguel knocking the both of them down. “Great,” She mutters as she was on top of the boy.

She steadied her hands as she got up and held her hand out for Miguel. He blushed when he realized who it was. She was in his math class and once had a crush on her when he wasn’t with Sam or Tory. He grabbed and got up as well.

“Sorry about that but you guys should know at a skate park you should be skating,” Y/N explains as she points to her feet where she was wearing roller blades.

Before Miguel could say anything Johnny butt in.

“Hey shouldn't you be wearing a helmet, elbow pads, all that kind of stuff,” Johnny asks as he holds the flyers for his dojo.

“I don’t need them. I've been doing this for years and if I get hurt I just get back into the game,” Y/N explains as she looks at the middle aged man. “Wait, who are you?,” She questions before looking at Miguel. “I know him, I don't know you.”

“Have you ever thought about trying out for karate not only would it make you more badass, you can actually learn how to defend yourself,” Johnny tries to sell with a smile on his face.

“I don’t know, I really don’t feel like getting my ass kicked by a bunch of dudes from my high school,” Y/N explained as she kept herself steady on the pavement.

“We need more badass chicks in this world and I am willing to teach you how to be that,” Johnny explains but still sees a tentative look on her face. “Okay it can also get you into shape like Miguel here come on Miguel take your shirt off and show her all the progress you made,” He says using his last attempt.

“What,” Y/N says in shock.

“I am not doing that, Sensei,” Miguel says at the same time as her.

“I mean it wouldn’t be a bad sight to look at,” Y/N teases looking at Miguel as he feels himself get more shy. “But don’t worry I don’t need you doing that,” She says and gives him a little smile.

“Are you willing to try your hand at karate then,” Johnny interrupts as he feels himself start to get more and more annoyed.

“And this I won’t have to do some weird fight to do this because right now I can’t do that,” Y/N questions.

“Of course not, he teaches you how to fight and defend yourself,” Miguel reassures her, giving her arm a squeeze as she gives him a tiny smile, her heart beating faster and faster.

“Who knows you might be this year's all valley champion and that’s something you’d like right,” Johnny asks.

“It does sound good and I would like to learn how to defend myself, there are some weirdos in this world,” Y/N says before looking at Johnny. “Sure, I’ll come by tomorrow but just take it easy on me,” She says.

“No promises,” Johnny grins as he gives her the flier. “Tomorrow at 4,” He says. She nods as she skates a way.

“See you in school tomorrow,” Miguel awkwardly shouts, making her turn around and give him a smile and two thumbs up.

“You could try hiding the fact that you like her,” Johnny mutters as he felt more confident on how they could win.

“Was I that obvious,” Miguel asks as he feels embarrassed.

“You want the truth or the lie.”

“Truth.”

“Anyone in a 10 mile radius could see that you liked her.”

[purpleheartskies]

Robby won captain

... because it fits his character development and character journey

After s5, I made a post called Robby as a leader that talked about how the writers have been building Robby out as the leader amongst the teens.

These are the main points in that analysis. That post has explanations for each.

Robby isn't a blind follower, which is important for a leader.

Robby doesn't actively seek out and hurt people to be vindictive, another good quality for a leader to have.

Robby honors the rules he sets and is an honorable leader.

Robby had some equal standing alongside Kreese and Silver in s4. Robby was the sole person in Cobra Kai who could teach Miyagi-Do to the students, meaning Robby probably led a lot of the classes.

Robby also tailored his lessons to the Cobras and didn't have them do chores. This shows he's able to identify how best to lead his group and change strategies to be more effective and to suit them. He did the same with Kenny, teaching him to use his speed to his advantage.

Robby was the first kid to mentor another kid. Robby was a great mentor to Kenny---despite what Robby believes, as he's too hard on himself.

Robby has been shown to be a strategic thinker who is at times willing to take risks, a good leadership quality to have.

Silver recognized Robby as a leader and even as an equal to the senseis, including himself, given how Silver responded to Robby in s5e9.

Robby was shown in a central, forefront position for the students in both dojos in s5.

These scenes were also in conjunction with Robby having a significant interaction with Daniel and Silver, respectively. The first one kicked off Miyagi-Dos return in s5. The second one was the first move against Silver by Miyagi-Do at the end of s5.

Robby's standing amongst the senseis is especially something of note. Robby is narratively an equal to the senseis.

In s5e9, Robby walked in after Silver and Kim talked about LaRusso, Lawrence, and Toguchi being pests and that they'll swat the next one. Robby then made his speech to the students, even daring to call Silver the enemy. Silver then swat Robby down with Silver's "they hear you, but listen to me" demonstration.

Another great example is s4e3. Robby became Kenny's mentor, while Daniel worked with Miguel and the Eagle Fangs alone for the first time and Johnny worked with Sam and the Miyagi-Dos for the first time.

And of course, Robby did what neither Daniel nor Johnny could accomplish in s4. Robby taught a dojo of students another style of karate and all of his students used that other style effectively in the tournament.

Robby is also the only kid to have teamed up with a sensei in a fight.

Hope we get at least one more team up between these two.

The matches in s6e5 were being used to determine who should be captain. The girls fight had no conclusion to it, and both girls became captain for a dojo. Not only did the girls each become captain, they also had a true resolution to their rivalry in terms of hashing things out properly. It's interesting, then, that there was a definitive decision for the boys for captain, although they haven't yet had a true resolution for their rivalry in terms of hashing it out properly. In fact, it was Robby only who took accountability and apologized, and Miguel didn't do either. Overall, the 3 kids who took accountability and apologized each became captain.

Robby became the captain after cleanly winning the only fair fight that he and Miguel have had. 😊 You go, kiddo!

It's important to note that being the best fighter doesn't make someone the best leader. imo Robby is the best fighter and the best leader amongst the boys (and teens). Even if Robby hadn't won the captaincy match, Robby is still the boy, between these two, who's better suited to lead. Robby is the kid overall who has been built out the most narratively as a leader.

Another important thing to note is that Robby is the teen that most naturally and closely follows Miyagi-Do, and as I point out in my Robby is the protagonist post:

Robby carries the essence of Miyagi-Do with him, wherever he goes, including juvie (The Heart of Miyagi-Do - Part 1 and Part 2). Although, this show is called Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai represents the generational trauma that is being passed down from Kreese to Johnny to Robby and from Silver to Daniel to Robby. Miyagi-Do is presented as the opposition to Cobra Kai: The goal of Miyagi-Do is to teach a better way. In fact, all the important avt final matches and the ST trial matches were Miyagi-Do vs Cobra Kai. The whole goal is to take down Cobra Kai. In s4, Robby beat the whole Cobra Kai dojo using Miyagi's teachings. Of course, the kid who carries the essence of Miyagi-Do will be the one to take down Cobra Kai for good in the end.

Robby, while wearing a Cobra Kai gi, used Miyagi-Do to take down the Cobra Kai students in their dojo. He then assumed his position as the leader (with Tory as a co-leader) and started teaching the Cobras Miyagi-Do.

It's important to note that Miyago-Do purely has yet to win a tournament. In s1, Robby was using pure Miyagi-Do to fight, but Miguel cheated to secure the win for Cobra Kai. In s4, Daniel told Hawk to put Robby on defense, which is Miyagi-Do, and encouraged Hawk to use Cobra Kai. Although Miyagi-Do won the boys championship by name, Hawk primarily used the Cobra Kai style to win. Sam was also using both styles to fight against Tory. Silver cheated and secured the win for Tory, so Miyagi-Do lost the girls championship and lost the tournament overall.

No other kid, especially not Miguel, has been built out the way that Robby has as a leader and as the teen who follows Miyagi-Do most inherently, even in his fighting style. According to Tanner and one of the stunt coordinators, Robby uses the traditional Okinawan style, but switches it up only when he needs to.

Miyagi-Do has to win a tournament purely as Miyagi-Do in this series. Miyagi-Do is the legacy of this franchise, and the whole point of this series is that Cobra Kai, including Eagle Fang, is a poison and must die.

In s6 part 1, the new development about Mr. Miyagi's backstory is interesting. When Johnny called Mr. Miyagi "a liar and a thief", I immediately thought of Robby. The earlier reveal that Miyagi had committed an assault and robbery and went on the run is a possible significant parallel with Robby, who shares other parallels with Miyagi. This reveal about Miyagi has shattered Daniel's perception of him. Maybe, as Daniel learns more about Miyagi's past, Daniel will also learn to listen to and consider all sides to a story before making rash judgments about people (..coughs... Robby...) in those situations.

In relation to Robby's character journey, the two King Cobras each told Robby, the kid who carries the essence of Miyagi-Do, that he can be a champion. Kreese even told Robby that he needs to show it to the world. Both of these conversations were also in the context of Robby not turning out like Johnny, which is a big part of Robby's character journey. Robby's "lie"/fear is that he believes that he's like Johnny and will end up like him ("second place" being one aspect of that).

Kreese to Robby (s4e1): "Trust me. You've got even more talent than your father. You just need to show it to the world... It's not about the trophy. It's about being a champion. Win or lose, that reputation will follow you for the rest of your life. Just ask your father and LaRusso."

Daniel's reputation as a winner has followed him. Johnny became... the person that Robby doesn't want to turn into. Kreese had also told Robby that Johnny squandered his talent.

Silver to Robby (s4e4): "If you want to be a champion, you need to dig out that fear and face it. Whatever it is. Because if you don't it's going to hold you back forever."

Robby later went to Johnny and told him that Robby's biggest fear is ending up like Johnny, but Robby isn't going to because he is better than Johnny. Robby has been trying to not be like Johnny in different ways.

It's notable that Johnny's "second place" trauma, especially in relation to his standing wrt Daniel, was being depicted alongside Robby's "second place" trauma in s6e5.

Kreese rooted Johnny's "second place" trauma in him when he told him "Second place is no place! ... You're nothing. You're a loser", strangled him, and then abandoned him. In s4, Kreese rubbed in Johnny's face that he's playing second fiddle to LaRusso. In s6e5, Johnny spent most of the episode dealing with his insecurities about being less than Daniel.

Johnny has rooted Robby's "second place" trauma in him by choosing Miguel over him since s1e5 and the plot device baby over him since s5e5. In s6e5, Robby was dealing with his "second place" trauma too.

Robby's struggle to not become like Johnny continues. From his lack of future prospects to being "second place", Robby still sees a bleak future ahead of him. Tory however gave Robby inspiration to fight for and believe in himself again. Robby is now ready to try once again to change his future by becoming a champion.

Also, to note, Tory is connected to Kreese and Robby, and Johnny brought up his mother's death after hearing about Tory's mother's death. Johnny's mother's death led him to abandoning Robby. All these strings are intertwining as part of the main plot, and Miguel isn't a part of this.

Robby definitely earned and deserved the captain position, and narratively, it was always going to be his.

Robby's Johnny's son. Of course, Cobra Kai is Robby's story, as much as it is Johnny's, maybe even more so.

I ended the Robby as a leader post with this:

I'd also love to see Robby get at least one mentor he wishes he had when he was younger (a strong support system of genuinely caring and compassionate adults would be ideal). Although Robby has many leadership qualities, he also still needs an adult in his life who is mature and grounded. He needs a mentor and supporter who he can look up to, who will be there for him and believe in him, and who can lead him.

It's become pretty clear in s6e5 that an important part of Robby's journey that makes him THE underdog and Karate Kid of this generation is that he's all alone. Robby is a leader, but he's still a kid; one who still has no support system and no real mentor.

In s6e1, Robby told Kenny that he should join their dojo so that he could go to the Sekai Taikai and "with the right mentors...". Shawn cut Robby off then, but Robby calling Johnny and Daniel the "right mentors" shows how much Robby has internalized the flaws in this relationships with Johnny and Daniel as being his own fault. Johnny and Daniel are the ones who have absolutely failed Robby, especially Johnny. They're not "the right mentors". Both refuse to acknowledge and understand Robby's side of the story. (My post The Neglect of Robby Keene covers this.)

Around the time that s1 came out, Ralph said about the first Karate Kid movie:

"It's a story about a boy who needs a mentor, needs a father, and he’s got all the odds against him."

This is definitely Robby as he goes into the Sekai Taikai. Robby has two "mentors", one of which is his father, but Robby obviously doesn't feel supported by either of them. Robby's balance is going to be really off as he starts the tournament, and I'm curious to see how it will affect his ability to lead and fight.

In s2, Robby had told Johnny that Miyagi-Do had helped Robby a lot and that maybe Johnny and Daniel can learn from each other.

Robby wanted Johnny to become Miyagi-Do even back then. He wanted him and Daniel to learn from each other. Now Johnny has joined Miyagi-Do, but he needs to become Miyagi-Do, like Robby is.

Johnny and Daniel are still not on the same page, though, and are still failing Robby and all these kids. Johnny and Daniel seriously need to step up. I really hope they do. Robby needs to believe in himself again, but it shouldn't be that this kid has to go it alone, not again, not anymore. Johnny and Daniel need to redeem themselves to Robby, and they need to be there for him.

Can you imagine Robby winning it with Johnny and Daniel both in his corner, all three as Miyagi-Do? 🥹 As much as I want to throw Johnny away, I know this would be a dream come true for Robby so I want it for him too. I hope it happens, and that it happens after they've validated Robby and all of his traumas and experiences, especially those caused by them and the person they blindly chose over him.

Robby wasn't second place for the first time, and his dad acknowledged him and his achievement. ❤️

[emloafs]

first 8 min of ck s6 thoughts

SPOILERS BE WARNED welcome to my brain dump. pls enjoy.

already yawning at this baby plot sorry not sorry

YAYA MADE ROBBY LUNCH IM GOING TO SOB

whoever made anthony "block" daniel over a croissant needs to be excused that was very very cringe

BINARY BOYFRIENDS ARE HEREEEEEEE

i knew that the trailer was likely all from ep1 but the fact that so much of it is in the first 2 min is insane

tory and devon being besties!!!!!!!! didn't know i needed it

robby holding up his student folder is actually the cutest thing I've ever seen shut the FUCK UP someone hold me

the kenthony vibes are strong with this one....

the way that the camera pans around from Anthony to kenny is actually chefs kiss (ps I'm very excited to see kenny's growth this season)

amanda trimming a bonsai tree is something i didn't know could be so personal

daniel flat out saying no more karate wars! woohoo! no more silver and kreese! immediately tells me that things are going to be worse than ever ok awesome

WHY and i cannot emphasize this enough WHY are Miguel and robby both in the back seat of the van??????? i kept waiting for someone to be revealed in the passenger seat and then they just... never were... WHY IS JOHNNY UBERING THEM

kiaz content of robby wrapping miguels hand <3

LETS GO MIYAGI DO LETS GO HAWK AND DEMETRI TRAINING NEXT TO ANTHONY LETS GO NATE BURT CHRIS DEVON FRIENDSHIP

mitch and chris getting back together was so intimate and beautiful and the way chris looked at him alone and smiled made me believe they're in love - sweet moment but def a "let's wrap up that loose plot hole real quick!!!" too quick but they're background characters so i get it

OKAY Miguel and robby meddling with sam/tory is going to be INSANE IM SO EXCITED

oh lets get our girlfriends to be friends! and then it totally backfires because sam and tory fall in love and date each other (one last significant other switcharoo and then kiaz can get together too, done and done)

was waiting for johnny and daniel beef to happen again ("since when do i run shit by you?") but all we got was fond understanding like hmgoodpoint from johnny instead of picking a fight with daniel and honestly THATS GROWTH I LOVE THEM

OH SHIT BINARY BOYFRIENDS AGAIN

what a reveal of them opening the sliding doors like this is all i could ever ask for they look so good

"sensei" [demetri bows] "sensei" [demetri bows] "sensei" [demetri bows AGAIN] this was the funniest part of the whole thing

the thing they want to show the senseis before training is that they are back together and in love and the whole dojo needs to know (they already all knew)

eli moskowitz is my favorite character i hate to say it I'm so proud of him finding balance and being a baddie and a loser simultaneously he just loves karate and his boyfriend

now picturing eli and demetri staying up late brainstorming new dojo names that get more and more ridiculous (instant fic idea)

this stupid dojo name better be good cuz i genuinely don't care that much about it and they keep burying the lead like its the reveal of the century

i only care that demetri and eli came up with it and then had everyone vote on it

IM SO EXCITED FOR THURSDAY AHHHH

[kkarateboy]

Daniel wasn’t drunk. No, not drunk at all. Drunk was such an ugly word with so many negative connotations. He was tipsy. Yes, that was it. Very, very, very tipsy. And whenever he got "tipsy," as he liked to call it, he was more... open.

He had been working at the dojo for the past five months now, and thanks to his skill and persistence, he had begun to attract the attention of some of the Sekai tekai higher-ups. They started to place more responsibility on him, but without any actual power. For the past month, he had been getting paid the same amount as an car dealer, had no one working for him or helping him with the situation , and had four times as much work as anyone else, including Sensei Kreese himself. Which, based on the neglect of his students, was saying something.

On a Friday night, after 16 hours straight of teaching and training, Daniel had collapsed on his couch and cracked open a bottle of expensive whiskey that Johnny had gifted him at Christmas. And oh lord, it was good stuff.

And now he was very drunk. Sorry, tipsy. As Amanda would know, a tipsy Daniel was quite the loose cannon. They actually had a rule in place: if Daniel had any alcohol, ANY at all, then he was not allowed to text anyone, call anyone (especially Johnny!), and would have to stay the night, supervised, with Amanda.

But Amandawasn’t here tonight. And so, in Daniel's barely functioning brain, he decided it would be an absolutely GREAT idea to go to the dojo for some fresh air. As he stumbled over there, he wondered why the cool breeze never felt this good against his face. And why did camels have two humps? Why not three? Or four? Or none? What were the humps made of? What did camels even eat? That was the moment that he tripped and nearly fell off a stairway leading to the dojo roof. (Like a balcony ; ishhh?)

Instead of simply grabbing the railing to catch himself, he just watched as he nearly fell. The city was quite beautiful from this view. The lights were beautiful. Heck, even the ground below was beautiful. It almost looked soft. As he closed his eyes and waited for impact, he felt strong arms catching him and pulling him up. Very strong arms. With nice muscles. He inhaled the scent of his savior. No other thought came into his mind other than "yummy Twink."

Luckily for Daniel, Johnny hadn’t been able to fall asleep that night. He had laid in bed for hours to no avail before hoping that some exercise would do the trick. What he hadn’t counted on, however, was seeing Daniel out in the wee hours. And he especially didn’t expect him to be stumbling around the dojo roof with a glass bottle clutched to his chest like a treasured item. So he followed behind him for a couple of blocks, not trusting him in this intoxicated state. And for good reason.

That was the moment when Daniel did a spectacular dive off the edge of the roof. Johnny leaped to catch him in his arms while he extended his karate gear to stop both of them from plummeting to the ground. As he carried him in his arms, he glanced down and saw a faint smile on Daniel’s face as he heard something that resembled "Twink."

He carried Daniel onto the other side of the roof (that had a rail, of course; he wasn’t THAT stupid) out of the view of potential onlookers. He gently set him down, which Daniel took advantage of to drunkenly flop down on his butt. "Johnny" he said with a lopsided grin. "Oh hi my prettyyy-boyy" Daniel slurred in a semi-surprised voice, as if he had thought Johnny was someone else. "What’re you doing on this fine evening?" "Larusso, you know you shouldn’t be out here drunk. It isn’t safe for you or for anyone else," Johnny said, scowling at him. "I’m not drunk, I’m just a tad bit tipsy," Daniel smiled up at him.

Johnny snorted. Daniel was completely and utterly wasted. He doubted Daniel would remember any of this conversation by the time morning came. "If you are just a bit tipsy, then I'm in miyagi-do and my name is Mr. Miyagi. " Daniel stared blankly at him for thirty seconds straight before his one remaining brain cell fired and he snorted. "OHHHHH because you aren't Mr. Miyagi! and I am drunk! You are a funny kitty kitty," he said in his ridiculously happy voice.

Dear god, this was going to be a long night. What on Earth was Johnny supposed to do with Daniel? He didn’t exactly know where Daniel lived by heart, so he couldn’t take him home. And he couldn’t take him to his place for obvious reasons. Based on his apparent state of drunkenness, Johnny was fairly certain Daniel would not make it home alive. And so he concluded that he was stuck babysitting a wasted Daniel.

"How much have you had to drink, Larusso?" Johnny asked. Daniel held up one of his fingers. "One what?" Johnny asked. "One shot, one glass, one what?" Daniel then held up the 3/4 empty bottle of whiskey. Ah, one entire bottle of whiskey. Great. And with Daniel’s weight (not that Johnny would ever judge, he just happened to carry him on quite a few occasions!), he wasn’t sobering up anytime soon. Great.

Johnny picked up the bottle and looked at the label. It was actually his preferred brand of whiskey, so his buddy at least had good taste. Except he hadn’t exactly tried chugging most of the bottle after not eating or drinking all day like some unnamed people in his direct vicinity. But what the hell. He had nothing else to do other than sit here on the rooftop. A couple of sips couldn’t hurt him that much. Could it?

Which was the exact line of reasoning that led to Johnny and Daniel breaking into a liquor store at three in the morning and demanding that they be paid in alcohol for their services to the valley. Which the worker actually seemed to agree with.

And so they stumbled across rooftops together as a team, each with hands full of stolen (well, technically it was given to them) alcohol. They stopped, at what they considered to be a far enough distance from the store, and struggled for a minute to open a bottle of gin. They sat down on the edge of the roof with their legs dangling over and watched the valley at night as they passed the bottle between them.

"IM NOT DRUNK, YOU'RE DRUNK!?" Daniel exclaimed, poking his finger right at Johnny’s chest. "DANIEL, YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY DRUNK," Johnny shouted back. "Wait," Daniel told him, "If I think you are drunk and you think I am drunk, then either you are lying or I am lying." "WOW, DANIEL, YOU ARE SO SMART," Johnny said, gleeful at having cracked the case. "But how do we know who is lying?" he asked. This question stumped them both as they returned to silence with confused looks on their faces.

About ten minutes later, Daniel suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, "I HAVE AN IDEA!" Johnny asked, "Could it be that we are both drunk, Daniel!?" Daniel scoffed at the ridiculous idea, "No Lawrence, my idea is that we should make out together." Johnny pondered his proposition for a bit before responding, "YeeHAw."

And so Johnny climbed onto Daniel's lap, straddling him and started kissing him. After they broke apart for air, Daniel said, "Ha, you taste like alcohol. You are the drunk one here!" "But you taste like alcohol, my buggy boo. A combination of whiskey and gin actually," Johnny responded cheekily. Daniel went back to kissing him, deeper and more forcefully than before, occasionally nibbling on his lip. When they broke apart again, Daniel announced triumphantly, "WE ARE BOTH DRUNK!"

[sensei-venus]

Had this idea where Poly! Alpha!Hawk and Alpha!Miguel end up falling for a pregnant karate sensei at a karate convention or competition.

The dojo ends up going to a karate convention where a whole bunch of dojos and professional karate masters are doing a big meet up. It’s part con and part competition, but it’s all fun. It’s just to show off different styles and teaching methods.

Hawk is so excited about it because it’s going to be his first competition and meet up as a full fledged sensei beside Johnny and Daniel. He’s so pumped to get to show off not only his moves but also his teachings with the kids he has been helping to mentor.

Miguel comes along as a guest, for medical aid. Because he’s doing all of his physical therapy work these days. He was able to get time off to come out and join the dojo. He’s just as excited as Hawk because it’s been a while since he has been on the floor before. Plus he gets a vip pass for being with the dojo.

When the event happens they show up at the convention building with all the kids. It’s hectic at first as they usher in all the bouncing pups. Their in awe as they enter the huge building. It’s crowded with people from all over the world. All of them coming out to join up to talk and show of their skills. The two guys are impressed as they walk around.

But the whole time the two of them can’t shake off this weird feeling they have. Something is off, not in a bad way but in a overly strange way. As they walk around the huge room they smell something that has their noses up in the air. They can’t seem to pin point where it is coming from. The scent is sweet, maybe even overly sweet. There is even a hint of creaminess to it that has their mouth threatening to drool. They have to shake it off after a while because they have no luck in finding it and the main event is about to start.

They bring all the pups to the locker room to change into their gi’s and they get a big wife of that lovely scent again. Clearly the people or thing giving it off had been in there recently. They quickly help the kids change out as well as themselves. A few minutes later they get all the pups out and ready to go up on the floor. With a small announcement all the kid’s file out onto the floor. The adults close behind. Miguel and Hawk stand at attention behind them as they wait for the next few dojos to be called out.

As soon as the next few dojos are called, something starts to happen. The last dojo is called and a set of pups file out bringing a huge wave of that lovely sweet scent with them. It’s like they had been bathed in it.

But when they all finally make it out of the small tunnel from the locker room, they understand.

The cutest little chubby omega is right behind them.

But with a huge prominent bump underneath her gi. It stands out as she jogs behind her own students.

Both of them are on full alert as they watch her jog up to the stage, ruffling a few of the pups hair, hand resting on her bump as she watches them line up in front of her. She seems so proud of her students. She has the biggest smile on her lips as they stand at attention.

Both alphas are in awe as they watch her students step up to the stage and show off some of their moves. All of them are in complete sync as they work. It pretty clear that they are on the more defensive type of training, only showing a few different offense moves.

They are especially on edge when the omega takes her own stance after her kids and does a few poses and moves. She's calm and driven as she finishes her demonstration. She ends with a small bow and everyone in the arena claps. She gracefully walks off to be with her group, congregating them on their great work. They seem to suck up her praise like little flowers to the sun.



(I have more to this but I don't know if I should write more on it)

[shrinkthisviolet]

I would love to hear your opinion on what you think/hope will happen in the tournament!

The karate kid universe is built on a kid who trained for like 3 months beating someone who trained for years, so I don't think that can be used as a determining factor when making predictions. Otherwise, literally every American character would get beaten by new characters we've never met before, lol.

I think the show did a good job setting Sam up so that no matter the outcome, she'll be okay. She's the character who has been solidly Miyagi-Do from the beginning, so it's possible that if she doesn't win, she will embody that philosophy in some other way. Mr. Miyagi didn't like tournaments, so her finding a way to embody his teachings outside of fighting may be satisfying. But her winning could also be a way to leave a legacy of Miyagi's teachings for future students.

Tory obviously has a very compelling reason to want to win, but I think if she does, her philosophy will have to change. Someone on here pointed out that in her fight with Sam to decide the captain, she went into the bouncy cobra kai stance rather than the solid Miyagi-Do stance. Cobra kai for her has always been about externalizing her anger or sadness, stating that she uses her anger as power while fighting. If that philosophy is rewarded, then she will continue doing that for the rest of her life and have no need to change. If she wins, I think it'll be because she embraces some Miyagi-Do teachings and becomes balanced.

Miguel obviously wants to win to get into Stanford, and he could use the prize money for his family. Some people have theorized that Robby will get injured and Miguel will take over for him, which I think doesn't really serve any purpose for Miguel or Robby's character journeys. Miguel wildly succeeded in the past, it might be interesting for his character to experience a "golden child syndrome" arc, where he feels pressured by his past successes, but the resolution to that would need to be him losing and accepting it.

Robby obviously touched on the fact that he is always second place and that motivation is compelling. I also think that if Robby wins, he has to find balance within himself rather than relying on Tory or Kenny or Johnny or someone else. If he's always relying on an external source there's never going to be a conclusion for his story because there's no guarantee that whatever source he's relying on at the end of season 6 will stay around forever. If he wins, it has to be because he found strength in himself.

Some bonus thoughts: Robby and Tory's promise to stand on the podium together could be fulfilled in a twisted way, with Robby winning for Miyagi-Do and Tory winning for Cobra Kai. Whichever teens don't win the individual tournaments will probably have a big win in part 3. If there's a tie between the two dojos, whichever teens don't win the first time, could win if there's a rematch fight. If there's no rematch or second tournament in part 3, Robby and Miguel's Sekai Taikai performance might mirror Daniel fighting Silver while Johnny fights 5 people at once to do justice to both characters abilities.

I would love to hear your thoughts and if you have different opinions on what might happen or what you think should happen!

So I’m gonna evaluate the core four teens first from my POV in terms of feats, and then answer (taking narrative into consideration too, because both matter in a show like this). Under a cut for spoilers (and because it’s a bit on the long side):

Feats

Starting with Miguel: won his first All-Valley, was beating Robby in the 2x10 fight until Robby kicked him over the railing, multiple characters have commented on his fighting prowess (even more than any other character). He did lose the captaincy, but he was also emotionally fraught at the time…but also Robby has been improving, so maybe they really are on an even field now. Hard to say when they haven’t had a fight without emotions running high. Compared to Sam and Tory…he’s only really fought Tory, managing to pick her up and restrain her, and she tries unsuccessfully to escape. But once they’re on the ground, she probably could’ve gotten out of it. Hard to say

On to Robby: he has been runner-up in both tournaments. This is notable, because none of the teens have scored highly in a tournament more than once—Miguel won his first AVT but didn’t place highly in his second, Sam and Tory have both only fought in one tournament (more on them later), Eli/Hawk only won his second tournament and didn’t place highly in his first. So I feel like that should be commended. He’s accomplished something no other character has. He also beat Miguel to the captaincy fair and square…though as mentioned, this could be due to emotions running high for Miguel in particular. Hard to say…but in every fight, Robby has become more skilled, so it could be that he is truly the better fighter between them now. Hard to say for sure, but regardless, I feel people are counting him out unfairly. Although, also notable to say that between the girls, he’s only fought Sam, and that was for like…2 seconds. She restrained him, but he could’ve escaped that easily if he wanted to.

Sam: she was runner-up in her only AVT. However, those results were skewed, and it’s shown that if not for the cheating ref, she would’ve won the whole thing—she does earn three points in her fight against Tory, they’re just not counted fairly. So there’s that. There’s also the fact that she also beats Tory in 2x10* and 3x10…and the latter is while she’s still dealing with residual PTSD

*Tory cuts her arm with the bracelet, but Sam then kicks her away, therefore winning the fight

If she’s put up against Tory, I’d say she should win. Compared to Miguel and Robby though…well, she does fight Robby during the prom fight briefly and manages to subdue him, but Robby could get out of that if he tried. She’s a quicker fighter than him, but a better fighter overall…hard to say. And we also never see a proper fight between her and Miguel.

Tory: she is a fierce fighter, there’s no denying this. Won her first AVT, but that was due to Silver’s cheating, and as mentioned in Sam’s section, it’s likely Tory would’ve lost that fight if it had been fair. Tory herself even admits this:”you didn’t lose the All-Valley.” Sam also wins every fight they have (and no, 3x5 doesn’t count because Sam ran from that fight due to a trauma response)

Despite this, there’s no denying that Tory is an incredibly effective fighter—getting to even runner-up position is no easy feat, and she fights no-holds-barred and is recognized for it (you can tell by how people react when she goes in to fight them). She’s never seriously fought either of the boys—Miguel did manage to restrain her during the prom fight, and she couldn’t escape at first, but she might’ve been able to on the ground. It’s hard to say.

Narrative/Story

Taking narrative into consideration, I can see them leaning more towards a Robby and Tory win, for the reasons you mentioned—“both of us up on that podium”, Miguel already ceded the crown to Robby anyway so let’s keep that up**, and Tory should really get a win after all the bs she’s been through***

**however, I do think if they do this, they give Miguel another path to go to Stanford. Maybe the LaRussos pay for it or something, some kind of narrative “good karma” as this story often has—the whole moral of “do good and good will return to you”

***that said, I think her winning the tournament with Cobra Kai isn’t the best idea. That’s letting Kreese win, in a sense. If she does win, I want her to do it in a Miyagi-Do gi, smiling and proud with her supportive friends beside her, knowing she won the right way with people who truly care about her (ofc that means they’d have to apologize for letting her just walk away in the midst of her grief, but that’s an easy fix)

And also as mentioned, Sam doesn’t need a win narratively right now. No matter what happens, she’s set. She’s beaten Tory in a fight every time though, so flipping that now would be strange.

All that considered:

I think Robby is definitely a strong contender to win Sekai Taikai, and he’s my pick (I did think Miguel is the stronger fighter, but having evaluated all of this, I think they’re at least on an even playing field, if not skewed towards Robby).

If there are gender divisions, my girl champion pick would be Sam, but Tory is a strong narrative option (however, I’d like her to win for Miyagi-Do, not Cobra Kai, because that would complete her arc more satisfyingly imo)

[miyagi-hokarate]

(Shows up late with boba tea) WHAT A SEASON AMIRITE FELLAS?

Random assortment of season 6 part 1 thoughts:

(tl;dr: not a lot of satisfaction with this season for me. Lots of spoilers and sarcasm under the cut ahfksjfjdkg. )

we still haven't gotten that goddamn fun Lawrusso spar 😩

Okay jokes aside, I'm...not a fan of this season :/

A lot of things felt off, like the characters (more on that specifically later) to the plot progression

Of the things I liked, Sam and Tory's developing relationship — especially them having a dialogue together — was incredibly refreshing and felt good to see grow!

Tory's character in general surprised me and it felt much stronger than in previous seasons!!! Of all the potential flashbacks, a Tory-centered one was serendipitous

I also liked that Robby won the role of being team leader!! Much of his character had been centered on guidance, both receiving and giving it, and it makes the most sense narratively to give him that ultimate chance to prove himself as a leader, being one who is meant to be one half to represent the skill and prowess of his dojo

As FRUSTRATING as some things were; Daniel and Johnny butting heads, Devon doing everything in her power to earn her spot in the Sekai Taikai (even resorting to cheating), Tory lashing out after the loss of her mother; these were all to me understandable conflicts that didn't feel forced or like pulling teeth (especially Tory. I'm so sorry girl 🫂)

RETURN OF SHAWWWWN

DUTCH MENTION!!!!!!

AISHA MENTION!!!!!!

Okay...hater moment fr now...

A lot of everything else I have some problem with or feel strongly indifferent to; the Sekai Taikai (but there's no stopping that, so I'm just :/ whatever), Mr. Miyagi's secret, Daniel and Johnny butting heads (yes, I know, repeating myself...), Johnny in general, everything about the fucking baby, everything about Sensei Kim and her students. Arhagrggagrggfhgh

AS I FEARED, I'm not a fan of the contents and fallout of Mr. Miyagi's secret box. Oh great, Mr. Miyagi's dark secret was that he committed crimes and was involved with the Sekai Taikai or something. What shock. I can't believe Mr. Miyagi hurt people and hide that from Daniel. Can you hear my thick and heavy sarcasm.

I don't know if the rest of the fandom had learned to love the Big Twist or whatever, but I still don't see that box as anything more than a cheap plot twist. Its existence is practically pointless with what we, the audience, and Daniel know about Mr. Miyagi; we KNOW he's already hurt people in his dark and mysterious past, even people who may not have deserved it. He was drafted into war by the US army because the country would rather Mr. Miyagi would die as a soldier than live as an American for god's sake. Mr. Miyagi is already weighed by the horrors of his actions — actions Daniel himself had learned that didn't make Mr. Miyagi a villain, or a hero, or a tale of woe; they were all done by a man who was human, who made mistakes and who felt regret in his actions. Am I shocked that Mr. Miyagi could have committed crimes in the interim years between internment and The Karate Kid? No, but it feels transparent that the purpose of Mr. Miyagi's box has more to do with the twist of him participating in the Sekai Taikai than anything as profound as what has already been Mr. Miyagi's backstory introduced in The Karate Kid

What is there to say about Daniel and Johnny that hasn't been said already. This is like their hundredth karate divorce. Pick another method of foreplay it's getting old

There were parts that I actually commend Johnny for reacting maturely for; cooperating with Daniel and Chozen about the dojo name; keeping his temper in check when the realtor insults him; but MAN does no one fumble the ball as hard as Johnny does otherwise. Not all of it is painfully incomprehensible, but Jesus what was up with him this season. You have a baby (💀) coming your way. Act like it

Speaking of the baby 😒 I still don't like it. It just...it's still such a disappointing way to try and progress the characters of Johnny, Carmen, Miguel, Robby, etc. That opening shot of that fucking onesie was despicable. It's watching Miguel and Robby smile and laugh through this wackass development still. It's watching Johnny seemingly preparing for a growing family in spite of the countless evidence to everything that would make him ill-prepared. It's the fact Carmen is stuck being Mom of Miguel, Love Interest of Johnny, and now Mom of this new kid. Carmen ESPECIALLY gets the short end of the goddamn stick in terms of characterization regarding this, because she barely has any 😩😩 I know it's too late to be complaining about this baby but AUGH. I hate this

Another thing I hate is how WEIRD Cobra Kai is with its Asian characters — with Sensei Kim, Master Kim, their students, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) Kyler in particular. The show has always had this problem, with the double standards of Kyler stuck as a static bully character while others are allowed to grow nuance and development and abusive Dragon Lady Sensei Kim, but the introduction of Korean Fu Manchu in the form of Master Kim and a mass of intimidating and equally nameless karate students training ruthlessly in the blue-tinted woods of South Korea really hammer in the odd racial subtext

In a similar topic, did anyone else find it incredibly weird how Kyler was made to eat off the floor by those frat bros? I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but it felt uncomfortable on such a different level than any other method of bullying shown in the show. It's never said why the frat bros target Kyler so much, and the only difference I could really make of is how Kyler easily defers to follow if in the face of aggressive leadership. And that he's Asian

I fucking hate that US flag mohawk and I am so mad that Eli is allowed to represent Miyagi-Do Karate in that goddawful thing I am being so serious right now

I'm sure I have other thoughts floating in my head that I can't recall, but here these are ahfjakdhjajd. I wish I could say I'm excited for part 2 arriving this November, but in much of the same way, the strongest emotion I feel is Dread

[hwangjins00]

Johnny Lawrence and the self-fulfilling prophecy

so i've been thinking about this for a while and also because s6p1 just came out but i think that johnny is one of the best examples of a self-fulfilling prophecy in ck.

SO we've seen multiple times that johnny's been told he ruins people, by danial, robby, shannon, and carmen, even terry. And i'm not gonna disregard his actions, i agree that he has done a lot of stuff that negatively affected himself and those around him, not limited to becoming a functioning alcoholic, teaching kids aggression, drunk fights, being an absentee father, etc

BUT we also see him try a lot of times to get his act together and do better for the people around him, such as teaching miguel mercy, cleaning up his apartment and trying to limit drinking for carmen, and trying to get along with daniel for the sake of his students, but he's still criticized even for trying his best, the only character to consistently have been on his side through his highs and lows has been miguel.

out of all the characters the one who refuses to see johnny's change the most is probably daniel, and this is NOT a daniel hate post, i love daniel and he's one of my favourite kk and ck characters but that doesn't disregard the fact that he tends to have knee-jerk reactions and gets unbalanced easily when it comes to johnny. A lot of the characterization in the show can be attributed to writing choices but i'm going to try my best to not make that my main focus.

alright lets start!

when johnny first opens up his dojo its partly because of the anger he feels towards daniel for succeeding in life but mainly because he doesn't want miguel to keep getting beat on and miguel probably reminds him of himself before he met kreese. Daniel is the one to come to johnny and tell him to close cobra kai and this is completely valid seeing as how daniel's experiences with cobra kai were in his youth, however its also been 30 years and its reasonable to assume that johnny isnt still a high school bully. He tells miguel that if he doesnt leave the dojo he'll end up 'just like' johnny. Right off the bat we have someone insinuating that johnny is a terrible role model. Then when daniel starts training robby and discovers robby's homelife he goes to talk to johnny just to immediately turn on him the second he sees kreese, he doesn't talk to johnny to clear up the situation and he doesn't tell him about his son, and yes johnny has been a shitty dad but he deserves to know that his kid is going to be living with someone else (i honestly thought it was crazy that daniel never mentioned that he had johnny's SON IN HIS HOUSE??)

when robby takes sam to johnny's apartment when she was drunk daniel literally kicked down his door and got into a physical fight with johnny because he couldn't believe that johnny was being considered a safe space for his son to bring his crush to in order to sober up and wouldn't listen to johnny rationally asking him to calm down. and S6 SPOILERS but i think that out of the two of them johnny was trying much harder to be accomodating to daniel, he gave up the name cobra kai and eagle fang for miyagi do, worked kata into his teaching and geniunely tried to not be so hard headed and quick to fight. He tried to get a job (daniel making him switch from using karate as a job was honestly crazy, that was literally how he was paying bills and putting food on the table, johnny asking to be paid for his time and effort wasnt an insane ask especially considering that daniel owns multiple dealerships and chozen comes from a rich family as well, johnny is the only one that actually needed the dojo as a way to make money) and just overall be there, im not saying hes a great dad right away but its obvious that he's trying to be there for both miguel and robby without making either one of the boys feeling forgotten. (ex, telling them both he's proud win or lose, tying robby's headband, listening to miguel's college essay)

HOWEVER, it seems that no matter what he does, johnny is almost never seen positively by anyone other than miguel and devon. daniel switches up on him instantly (he drops people at the first sight of their flaws, as soon as johnny takes even a single step backwards instead of acting rationally and looking at the situation + offering support he tells johnny he'll never change and drops him immediately, he did the same thing with robby and doing that to a teenager dependent on you for food and shelter is honestly crazy), carmen has been pretty much sidelined due to the baby (i have THOUGHTS on this), kreese is his only supporter and he was literally tripping balls and snapped hallucination johnny's neck like a stale breadstick so johnny doesnt really have much in the way of a good support system

now for those that have somehow stuck around lol lets get to the actual point (i realized here that i literally just blabbed for so long without making my point lmfao)

a self-fulfilling prophecy is essentially: you become what you are told. if i told you everyday that you will never amount to more than what you are right now, ive 'prophesied' your future and to self-fulfil it you would just stop trying because you know that nothing you do will ever change my mind.

in a similar vein i believe that deep down johnny DOES believe that no matter what he does or how hard he tries he'll never be able to move past the image of him thats already been made up in peoples minds (society for all it talks about rehabilitation does not tend to actually support those who want to rehabilitate- more thoughts below) and so he goes through a constant cycle of disappointing those around him again and again because no one believes he can be any better and he's internalized that, i honestly have soo many thoughts about johnny's character in kk1 and ck and i would love to chat with anyone interested about it

re: society and rehab

so people talk the good talk about how rehabilitation is important and necessary, in the show daniel is able to form good friendships with both chozen and mike who were arguably much worse than johnny was to him (chozen fought in a literal DEATH MATCH against him and mike harassed him, dangled him off a cliff, forced him to compete in a rigged match where he pretty much just whaled on him on the mat), why was daniel able to forgive these guys but not johnny? my theory is that its because to him chozen and mike have their lives together and have also properly apologized for their actions (JJ&H im still waiting on that johnny apology where we address the 'you're alright larusso' line) meanwhile johnny has obviously gone downhill since HS, but daniel never takes his attempts to get it together seriously and along with a lot of the toxic ideals put into him by kreese, johnny doesn't take his rehabilitation seriously either, he can't afford rehab for his alcohol dependency (plus rehab isnt viewed positively by him either) and he doesnt have a very steady support system so that makes it even more difficult. unlike daniel he's never had a positive father figure in his life which makes it difficult for him to act as a father without fear of becoming kreese, i just wish that the show would take johnny's journey to becoming the man he wants more seriously

[moreofaloner]

Just random thoughts about s6 part 1:

How many times are we gonna see Daniel Larusso being conflicted and imbalanced by life, and people only for there to be a big life lesson that he "learns", and then ignore that same lesson all over again??

How is he only making mistakes with Johnny?

Didn't we see the whole sharing karate ideologies in seasons 4&5??

And why did we have to get Mr Miyagi involved 😭

I know people are excited, but I liked the image of Mr Miyagi I had.

I'd rather see at the final season a Daniel Larusso that has inner peace that resembles that of Mr Miyagi. Let him be a good sensei for one season, instead of one who is favoring his Miyagi-do students and is so insecure about Johnny.

Instead they could give all this screen time to Miguel who stood in the sidelines mostly.

The good things of the older folks:

Johnny accepting a job from Daniel was top tier, and I love that he's a good salesman.

The new Miyagi do logo!! Such a subtle little change that I loved!

Daniel being ready to let the name of the dojo go.

The gender reveal party!!! Baby Lawrence being a pain in Daniel's ass before she's even born was what I needed!

Johnny Lawrence felt more stable, happy and sure of himself than we've ever seen him this season.

He's good with his sons, he's good with the mother in law and the gf/baby mamma and he's gonna be a girl dad.

We can see that leaving behind eagle fang for Miyagi do isn't easy on Johnny.

But he tries to make it work, especially because he wants a future with his family.

We got to see him and Devon work together, and I loved having that dynamic back, him fixing Tory and Sam, and the exchange he had with Miguel and Robbie before they fought shows to me how much he wants to do right by both of them.

But Johny Lawrence isn't Miyagi do.

We spent half of season 2 watching him fixing cobra kai's philosophy. Then another season of him creating eagle fang and trying to teach these kids to be badass and honorable. He does strike first, but when it matters and after some consideration of the consequences (he still needs to work on it though).

Him leaving behind all this progress to just follow Miyagi do, and not mix the two seems like all this development goes to waste just like the time we spent on it.

And the show is called cobra kai, I'd love to see some redemption. I'd love to see Johny taking over once again and making it what it was supposed to be.

(I don't see it happening though🥲)

Turning back to season 1, Miguel and Johnny benefitted by the way of the fist. It just needed a bit of tweaking so they don't become the assholes they became at one point in time.

Bring me girl dad Johnny Lawrence PUH-LEASE! I want it already

Chozen was perfect as he always is in this show. How dare kumiko not return his voicemail (I hope she's alive).

For Amanda Larusso I have only one thing to say; How could she not go after Tory??

How did all of them leave her alone?? (That actually is a rant on its own)

[gemini-sensei]

New Hire | Sensei!Hawk x Sensei!Reader

Chubby!Badass!Reader

Contents: fluff and some NSFW, nothing too serious (unedited)

When Daniel told him that he was going to be bringing in a new sensei, Hawk didn't know what to think at first. His mind went back to the trials and tribulations Daniel went through trying to work with Johnny, the ups and downs, the good and bad. However, he was assured that this new sensei wasn't like Johnny at all and that she was going to be professional. She was actually a children's educator and knew how to work best with kids and young teens, so there should be no problems.

Upon hearing they were a female sensei, Hawk was intrigued. He'd seen and met so few women in the same position as him, and only at tournaments. So to say he was a little excited to meet her would be an understatement.

He was getting ready for a class when the gate opened, but it was still to early for kids to start showing up. Thinking it was Daniel, he turned around to greet him, only to be met with a voluptuous woman smiling at him.

"You must be Sensei Hawk," she said, grinning at him. She walked up and extanded her hand to him. "I'm Reader."

He shook it with a smile of his own. "It's nice to finally meet you. Have you been shown around?"

"No, a tour would be great though," she laughed.

After a brief walk around the yard and showing her where they keep their equipment, Hawk sat down with Reader to get to know her better. They talked about how long they've been doing karate, how long they've been working with kids, what other hobbies they have, and other life things. He learns she just moved to the Valley for some peace and quiet, recently single thanks to a cheating ex, and just looking to start anew even though she's young.

"Never too early to start fresh," he told her.

She laughed. "Never."

When kids started trickling in, he introduced her to some parents and gaurdians. She said hi to the kids and made them laugh if they're a little shy at first. Everyone warmed to her pretty quickly. She made herself very approachable for the young children and once all of the students were there, Hawk told them that they'd have a little Q+A so that everyone can get to know their new Sensei better.

She told them about herself so warmly and answered their questions without hesitation. Yes, she has a pet. No, she's not married. Yes, she went to college. Maybe she likes pineapple of pizza. She made the kids giggle a lot and got them excited to have a new sensei at the dojo.

When it was time for the lesson, Hawk saw how great she is with the kids; how dedicated she is to teaching them and working with them. She's a natural with them and he admired her for it; how gentle she was when teaching them, how much care and attention she gave everyone. He knew that they were going to work together greatly.

It wasn't until after class that he learned how badass she was.

The whole time, she gave en off this soft and sweet nature, and maybe that has a lot to do with him kind of judging her based off her her soft, curvy body mixed with her attitude toward the kids. Once everyone has left, he asks her how good her karate is.

"Why don't I show you instead?" she challenged, then nodded toward the sparring deck. "That thing ever see any action or is it just for show?"

"Oh, it's not just for show," he told her, prideful of the design he made for it. "You wanna hop up there?"

"After you."

So they stepped up and faced each other, taking their positions. Hawk saw er as being on his level since they're both senseis, so he didn't plan on holding back. However, as soon as they start, there's little back and forth, and in a matter of two minutes, he's been taken to the floor. She pinned him down with her knees and landed a blow to his chest, which would mean she'd earn a point if they were really competing.

"I was a three time champion back home in the under 18 tournament," she told him before getting up. She extended her hand to him and he took it, letting her pull him up. "I was the one everyone strive to beat."

"And no one could?"

"Nope," she said with a grin. "I aged out of the tournament a champion and I still hold the record for most consecutive wins in the tournament."

"Reigning champion. Nice."

"Don't I know it." She laughed and it was something harmonious to Hawk. "They said if anyone came close to beating that, they'd call me back to present the trophy."

"What an honor," he laughed, smiling wide.

"Right?"

They finish cleaning up the dojo before their next class arrives. The time is spent talking about life, swapping stories, and just getting to know one another. It's a refreshment to the routine that had built up over the last few months. He thinks it's going to be great having Reader around.

As time goes on, he finds himself sitting down with her more, enjoying her company. He enjoys making lesson plans with her and little field trips for their students. Sometimes he has to stop himself from staring st her, wondering what he's doing when he catches himself.

He can't help it though. He's grown a little crush on her. Watching her work with the kids is heartwarming and when they're practicing on their own, he thinks she's hot as Hell. She's focused, determined, and totally badass. She also makes the kids feel confident and as if they can do anything. It's amazing, she's awesome.

At the end of everyday, he bids her goodbye, just to go home alone. He sits down and relaxes, maybe plays some online games to unwind, order some dinner. With each passing day, he finds himself wishing she were with him; sitting on the sofa as they relax, eating take out at his little dining table, winding down with a shower and crawling into bed. He wants to hold her at night, run his hands over her curves. Pull her close and kiss her neck.

Instead, he rolls onto his back and shoves his hand in his pants to the thought of her. He groans her name as he rubs one out, eventually coming all over his hand. He pants into the night air, thinking about kissing her after stuffing her full. It gets out of hand sometimes, especially after he thinks about getting her pregnant with their own little karate student... it's after that thought, he realizes he needs to ask her out. Soon.

[crimsonblackrose]

.

Lia is reading Beowulf

Anthony recommends Animal Farm instead.

Mr. Landry lived next to their elementary school and had chicken coops. They've been in school together since elementary school.

Lia: I miss being friends. Anthony's brain breaking for a moment.

Lia calls Kenny: Strawberry ghost.

Anthony's friend does Tommy's line about how everyone is doing something new.

This actor does a great job of making me hate his character Zack:

All he does is egg Anthony on and put peer pressure on him. Apparently Kenny got like 20 points during gym

Anthony stealing Kenny's clothes is messed up.

Miguel has been stretching since 6 am. 🤣 Tournament's a month away.

Mr. even while drunk never loses his keys somehow misplaces his hachimaki at Carmen's? not buying it.

Don't go where he can't follow. Ooh I forgot he drops a little context. "You know how they make that loaded potato soup."

I think the "i found something in your room I need you to explain" is 1. another invasion of privacy. 2. Anthony why wouldn't you hide a cobra kai hoodie, knowing that they broke into your home and are terrorizing your sister? 3. Why did you even take it home? and 4. I think sadly, the most we've seen Daniel say to Anthony since he was littler and just sort of ignored Daniel or tried to order out his needs.

Anthony you little liar. Well...actually I guess from Anthony's perspective Kenny is giving him a hard time. But it's not on purpose and the way you've been responding to losing at basketball or not having all of Lia's attention is not cool. And you curbing to peer pressure is on you. I'm sorry that your friends suck, but Anthony you managed to go this long making them think you knew karate and couldn't use it because it was a lethal weapon kinda means you should be able to worm your way out of all of this. Kenny's in Cobra Kai because of you.

Messing around and name calling is what your 'friends' are doing to you, not what Kenny is doing to you.

Daniel: Go upstairs, get changed. Anthony: For what? Daniel: Just go upstairs and get changed.

Anthony should've come down in a suit. Because Daniel should've specified working out or something.

Robby listening to Kenny and then figuring out the best way to help him/steer him. "I got kicked out of school and went to juvie, you gotta be smarter than me and your brother" is a very good choice.

I totally see Piper in the background and her friends.

Silver: we all have weaknesses. Tory: Kreese doesn't. Silver: of course he does. Kreese: The hell i do, don't tell them I have any weakness.

each pick a fighter 6 pack of brews to the winner.

Johnny struggling from 'we're hooking up, to not hooking up to sex talk intro....

Johnny nervously just listing off chain restaurants.

Miguel's surprised but not surprised and also judging his mom just a smidge:

Listen sometimes Johnny's got a whole lot of decent balanced stuff in his fridge. It depends on how much self-hatred he's stewing in. When he digs himself out of it he tends to clean up and also his eating habits change.

Miyagi-do does not have wifi

Remember...when Amanda's clue that Kreese was dangerous was that he had weapons on his wall? These weapons? Weapons Daniel also had? And that the kids are now training because the All-Valley included skills competition?

Anthony says the cars, Daniel forgot to put the covers on them, look like a jackson pollock painting (they're covered in bird poop)

I can't believe Daniel's leaving to go to the dealership. Like on the one hand proud of him for finding the balance to do both. Both on the other hand, he's literally leaving a whole bunch of teenagers alone to practice with weapons. Unsupervised by an adult. Daniel, wtf?

Piper flirting with Tory after their sparring. 🤣 Good for her for shooting her shot.

Johnny heard that Silver was giving out dojo merch and sent Devon a eagle fang shirt before her first class.

Random new eagle fang students, we haven't had that in a while. I guess Johnny did manage to scrounge up some new recruits. I do think he should've still taken Moon on she could've done kata for him.

Devon brings up Bloodsport. Johnny is delighted.

omg

Johnny sent her prep work and it was movies and she went above his list:

Devon is a fan of Cynthia Rothrock.

Mitch saw Last Dragon, Johnny is not impressed. 😅 Sorry Mitch.

Devon also drops: best of the best.

Poor Miguel getting side lined again.

Johnny has tied the kids arms to their sides, in case cobra kai pops their shoulder out and they have to fight one handed.

I would like to point out he's talking about cheating and playing dirty and he got this idea because Daniel immobilized his arm with his secret pressure points.

Like I get that Daniel thinks his way is the best way to prep against Silver, but if they'd talked and Daniel had told him of all the Silver moves he knew, Johnny would've built lessons about ways to defend against it. Because he's literally trying to ensure they stay in the game and don't panic if they get injured like he did. Which he's been doing since the beginning by showing pretty much all his students at some point how to get out of a choke-hold.

It also sucks though, now that Johnny has one from Kreese and one from Daniel on that list because Daniel went too far and used the pressure points against him. It's a good lesson but it shouldn't have been inspired the way it was.

Johnny's used literally everything he can think of, ducttape on Mitch, rope on another kid, what looks like bungy cord on another. I dunno I feel like prepping them against cheating is so smart. I think he seran wrapped Bert. 🤣

I would say Johnny being careful with Miguel is probably related to Miguel's injury, but that hair ruffle in front of the class is totally because Johnny's told Miguel he's dating his mom.

One of the kids throws sand in Mitch's eyes. Which ow, and also dangerous. Johnny that could've been accomplished with a blindfold. But use the other senses because you've been blinded, without meaning too defends against one of SIlver's moves, to blind your opponent. For that one Miguel just held a box of sand.

Oh, I don't think having Devon kick all the guys in the balls is the way to go there Johnny. Even if Daniel used a ball-shot move he learned from Mr. Miyagi in TKK2. Miguel you gotta admit, not being in this one is probably for the best.

Johnny should've ensured they were all wearing protective gear first. Which is not...very him. (I'm going to blame netflix here) because while he put the kids in danger and it didn't always seem safe i.e. the junkyard with the dogs. He still ensured they had protective gear when doing stuff like breaking glass.

Like everyone giggling about Silver picking Kenny might make sense, but Silver totally scammed Kreese with his whole double or nothing. He literally knows that Robby's weakness would be his little buddy he's taken under his wing. Which is the whole point of the lesson.

And he proves it when Robby goes woah woah woah are you okay and Kreese has to call pause.

I do like that despite winning Kenny and Robby still do a little fist bump after their fight, like no hard feelings there despite Kenny tricking Robby by feigning injury.

all the ice, at least Johnny got ice for them all.

I dunno Johnny you shouldn't put all the kids but Miguel through the ringer and then say 'champ we've got family dinner'. It's uncool and you should know that it could cause division or seem like you're playing favorites.

Also Johnny just leaves Miguel. Are you seriously leaving Miguel who as far as we know doesn't have his own car or license yet, at an abandoned factory?

The taskrabbit Anthony called is named Artie, whose cat needs hernia surgery so this is his side hustle, and Daniel has tons of Glacier freeze gatorade but no lemon lime.

Daniel I'm surprised you let your credit card or any financial info anywhere near something Anthony has access to after he tried to alexa order something and you struggled to cancel it.

Anthony's response to this is that he knows, which makes me wonder if Daniel and Amanda pay so little attention to him that he feels like he does most things on his own and thus accomplishes everything on his own.

See that works on Sam because she met him but Anthony didn't so he doesn't care.

Mr. Miyagi taught sam the wax on wax off first move. Anthony gets he's a great ma and he taught Daniel karate. And he's heard all the stories and he's sick of it.

Daniel asks if that means he doesn't want to learn how to defend himself or learn skills for life and Anthony responds not if it means cleaning up bird shit to which Daniel rebukes him for language. then essentially says he thought Anthony was mature enough for this and walks away and tells Anthony to just go back to his video games.

Which, Daniel you fucked up here. Anthony never got to meet Mr. Miyagi that he remembered. So he's just hearing the whole family bond about this guy he doesn't know and it's isolating because he's got nothing to draw on to add to it. Anthony knows all the stories, he knows all about Mr. Miyagi, but do you know anything about Anthony beyond video games? Do you even know what video games he likes to play? Because you bought him kitkats from Japan and that's it. You're just not...listening. You're pissed because in your head he disrespected Mr. Miyagi. And didn't listen to the core of it. Which is there is no Miyagi magic for him and instead his whole life he's been living in the shadow of a man he doesn't know and getting teased because he should know the moves.

Also, I think if Johnny was still there, it'd suck because his training is always hard, but that Anthony would enjoy it more.

normally i tend to think whatevers in the middle of the table is the main course, but that's tomato, red onion and avocado and nothing else.

johnny is not good balancing between Miguel and Carmen.

I think what's happening is Johnny is trying so hard to not be Sid that he doesn't know what to do. Carmen literally moves later like she's going to just eat the tomato, onion and avocado as a meal/salad.

The way Anthony immediately starts apologizing for being in the dojo is kinda telling of his not so great relationship with his father. Like he found something that sparked his interest in karate but then immediately panics as soon as Daniel asks what he's doing.

Like Daniel even says he doesn't need to apologize, but Anthony just doesn't seem to know him well enough that he thinks he's doing something wrong.

Is this the pressure point lesson?

Because if it is, what Daniel says related to it is wild.

If it is in fact pressure points then Daniel you've already used it twice, once to save Johnny's life and stop Kreese and once to try and win an argument with Johnny.

I am glad Anthony is talking about how he feels sort of left out because he doesn't have any memories of Mr. Miyagi.

I also feel like this is a long time coming, Daniel needed to have this conversation with Anthony ages ago. A chance to tell him not stories about himself and Mr. Miyagi or Sam and Mr. Miyagi, the stories he knows all about, but you missed telling Anthony about his own story with Mr. Miyagi. "Mr. Miyagi wanted to hold him and as soon as Anthony was in his arms, Anthony kicked him in the face."

Mr. Miyagi apparently just laughed and said Anthony was going to be handful but would also be a protector of the family.

Since when? Also you, not wanting to pressure someone into doing what they don't want to do? Dude. You do that all the time. You tried to pressure all the students into learning just Miyagi-do which broke up the combined dojo.

Junior Prom theme his Hollywood Heights, which feels a bit like phoning it in since they're in LA.

Johnny once again showing up at school. Why if it's decorated for prom is it the middle of the day? Who would put up all those balloons and decorations this early?

Carmen might get pissed that Johnny's taking Miguel out of school to skip history.

Lia has figured out her and Ant's play date: Saturday at a fair at Westwood park and the best part is fried oreos. A bunch of other people including Kenny are going. Lia also has a friend named Jane.

Zach, get a hobby will you?

Kenny using LaPusso against Anthony knowing it's a weakness and luring Anthony and his not friends into a trap in the library. Smart kid. Also I get why he didn't trust the 'let's talk'.

Kenny is doing a great job of taking them all out individually.

One of the kids is named Marcus.

Of course Kenny got caught.

Johnny knows a lot of random facts about Rowdy Roddy Piper (A Canadian wrestler/actor for WWE who it look like wore a kilt)

Johnny says he doesn't know how to do this kind of relationship. And Miguel says that's what happened with robby right, he got scared? And Johnny admits that he got scared.

Johnny felt cheated, everything just made him miss his dad more and he couldn't figure out why everything was happening. His mom did the best she could but well she married sid.

Miguel asks if he ever tried to find him.

Johnny doesn't know what he'd say. But this is something Miguel's relating to.

Johnny also doesn't know where he'd begin looking for him.

Johnny really does have some honesty and reveals a lot about himself when people are willing to listen.

He says he didn't have a male role model until he met Kreese and they both know how that went.

He's trying so hard not to be the people in his life that abandoned him or gave up when he didn't do exactly what they wanted when he knew it was wrong.

He says he can never fix that. 😭

But he doesn't want to make that mistake with Miguel, he just doesn't know what to do or how to do this. he says he clearly doesn't know what the hell he's doing.

omg I'm going to cry, don't you boys start crying. Like damn xolo the tears in your eyes and the shaky laugh.

Some things are going to change, you dating my mom, but there are some things I don't want to change. | Like what?| Like you being my sensei.

I love that Johnny prepared a lesson.

He's going to teach Miguel one of the most badass moves in karate, the flying tornado.

Sam crashing their lesson. 🤣 She skipped school and was like fuck everyone else I do what I want which is sneaking into Eagle Fang.

I do appreciate that Johnny's first question is "Does your dad know you're here". Like he knows Daniel will be pissed and I don't think he'd teach her and lie about it. It's not his style.

The school/principal moved fast. "I've already talked to the other offending students and they will be suspended, so will your son."

He has evidence of Kenny running and being chased by the kids, found the milk tiktok, and evidence of cyberbullying.

Kenny really took care of his bullies.

Terry's reading this book.

Terry's also excited for Kreese's six pack gift to him: Ba Muoi Ba (Vietnamese Beer)

Scovil, from Utah, didn't really bathe, took point and took over leadership when he shouldn't have and stepped on a mindfield and died. Aka Kreese is warning Silver.

Kreese you really brought down the vibes, this guy was the giddiest happiest dude and now he's so sad and quiet and aware something is up.

Terry is right, Kreese you're over-reacting.

It's also uncool for you to pull the cage into this. You're being a dick Kreese, this is mean. Like Kreese you put so much effort into getting Terry to co-sensei with you and then you pull rank, and dredge up the worst memories of Terry's life.

[silverusso]

Been thinking about terry spoiling Mike and Daniel in kk3 or maybe the 90s they just are both his little sugar babies that he fucks on the regular and they are both so cute and sassy and he just loves watching them go at each other which leads to rough making out and sex and he is just enjoying both his boys like he loves them both and spoiling them and then in cobra Kai they just all take cobra Kai away from Johnny and all run it together

I have had an idea similar to this that's just been stewing in the back of my head basically since season 5. (Can't say whether I'll ever write it) but here's the premise:

Set after the AVT -Mike still loses- but Terry pays to smooth things over so Mike & Cobra Kai don't get banned. He also pays to keep the loss hush-hush so it doesn't tarnish Mike's reputation bc he plans to sponsor Mike as Cobra Kai's poster boy (Mike's a national champ after all and already pretty well known considering he's in karate magazines) but with someone like Silver sponsoring him? He's really living the life, flying all over the place to compete in bigger and better tournaments, doing interviews and photoshoots and commercials etc ((he's my boy and and i will give him everything ck didn't dammit!)) He and Daniel both live with Terry and Danny's no less spoiled than Mike is, but per an agreement with Mr. Miyagi, Daniel doesn't compete like Mike does. Even so, he can do whatever else he wants (after all, Terry can and will finance anything Daniel could ask for). But Terry still has to make things right for Kreese so he gives him back his dojo in the Valley and even gives him back his star student Johnny (look i didn't really think that hard about how he manages to pull that one off. maybe brainwashing or spells are involved idk💀) anways, happy ending for everyone more or less except Johnny I guess lmao.

[purpleheartskies]

In s1, Robby got the one-on-one Miyagi-Do training from Daniel. One beautiful element of this montage below is that the musical score played here is the score from the movies when Miyagi and Daniel would practice kata together. Robby is the only kid to have gotten this montage with Daniel.

In s2, Robby and Sam learned the balance wheel technique. This was the second special Miyagi-Do move introduced in the series; the first one being the two-legged kick which Robby also got. For this technique, Robby and Sam had to rely on each other and trust that the other would be where they should be. Although the Miguel and Sam are perceived as the "it" couple by many, Robby and Sam got this training and still have relevance as a pairing.

In s3, in the episode titled "Miyagi-Do", Robby struck first. In this episode, the offensive side of Miyagi-Do was introduced, "defense takes on many forms". Although Kreese had advised Robby to strike first, Robby didn't follow through with that until he had no choice. Robby instinctively followed Miyagi-Do and struck first as a form of defense. Sam, the other main Miyagi-Do and legacy kid, also struck first in this episode.

In s4, Robby used the Miyagi-Do that Daniel had taught him, and that Miyagi had taught Daniel, to take down the entire Cobra Kai dojo... and then he taught them all Miyagi-Do.

In s4, the prom fight proved that Robby and Tory are the more in-sync couple than Sam and Miguel. This fight also showed that Robby can fight in-sync with Tory, in addition to being able to fight in-sync with Sam.

In s5, context aside for a bit, it was exciting to see Robby fight alongside Johnny. Out of all the teens, Robby got to fight alongside a sensei. Most importantly, Robby got to the fight alongside Johnny. Finally, despite the context of whole story being "Johnny chooses the Miguel/Diazs over Robby" except for that "one good day together", Robby got something special with Johnny that Miguel hasn't gotten. The fights in the story serve a narrative purpose. It was great to see the team-up moments between Robby and Johnny, like when Robby fought alongside Sam and alongside Tory, as well as the aerial view looking down on the fight, like when Robby did the wheel technique with Sam. If only Johnny didn't chase after random people and had actually tried to build a real relationship with his son. Sigh... Anyway...

In s5, Robby saved Johnny, and Sam saved Amanda. Another subtle element linking Robby and Sam as the legacy kids.

In s5, we also got Robby and Sam doing the balance wheel again. While some assumed that Miguel and Sam would master the balance wheel together in s4, Robby and Sam are still the only two students who can do this technique together. An important thing to note is the wardrobe. Daniel and Sam wear mainly navy blue with some green, while Johnny and Robby wear black and red. As I talked about in my post about color theory for Robby and Tory, Robby rarely wears black and red together, not even when he was in Cobra Kai in s4. In s5, he only wore black and red in the Miyagi-Do scenes, despite having rejoined Miyagi-Do and not Eagle Fang.

Some claim that Miguel is the best fighter and the new Karate Kid, but Robby's fights and training montages have more distinctive symbolism. Not to mention, Robby is given some of the best moves. Robby's importance in the story is pretty obvious, and tops that of all the teens, Sam a close second. Robby is the new Karate Kid. He got the OG one-on-one Miyagi-Do training and training montages. He instinctively follows Miyagi-Do. He can fight in-sync with both the main female teen characters. He was/is also the better boyfriend to each of them. He got the first sensei-student team up fight. Throughout the story, and even in fights/training, the subtle reminder that he is Johnny's son and is the "real" kid of a legacy character is always there. Robby is this generations "Daniel" and Karate Kid.

[sugar-coated-prat-dragon]

Title: Robby had every right to teach the other students Miyagi-do

First of all, one of the things Daniel remembered from Miyagi’s lessons during the tournament was there was no “one way of doing karate”.

More importantly, Daniel decided to teach Robby and once he did that knowledge could be passed down to anyone that Robby decided to teach it too.

Because once you teach a student a technique or lesson. That student can teach it to anyone they like.

Daniel has no more say over Robby teaching it to people (than Johnny would have over Miguel teaching Cobra Kai to someone if he wanted).

That’s part of being a teacher.

Daniel doesn’t have to like it because they’re his competition, but once you teach someone something it’s there’s to teach or use as they see fit.

On another note: Robby teaching them Miyagi-do didn’t really effect anything other than helping them win some of the fights at the tournament and that hardly mattered given how Silver would have kept his dojo open, even if he hadn’t rigged it.

After watching season 5, the audience sees that it worked out fine because now that everyone in Cobra Kai is done with Silver and likely going to switch sides.

Which means that Miyagi-do is going to have a bunch of new students who are trained in both forms and that’s going to make everything easier for Johnny and Daniel going forward into season 6.

In fact, the only students Kim is going to have in season 6 are likely going to be the ones she brings over from her dojos in Korea.

—————-

In conclusion: 🤯

It didn’t matter anyway because Silver rigged the tournament.

And in the long run, Robby training them might have helped them win their fights, but after watching season 5 you can see that it didn’t really do anything monumental.

Those Cobra Kai students being trained in Miyagi-do didn’t effect the plot in anyway in season 5 (since the kids left the dojo at the end anyway and they didn’t do any damage using the defensive moves they learned)