Action-Adventure Cobra Kai - (The Karate Kid Spin-Off)

[Drizzle]

Didn't realize it will be out at the end of the year, hopefully the kids don't look like giants yet.

I don't think they're going to have the same problem as Stranger Things in that department since they film their seasons more frequently and a good deal of the cast were already in their late teens/early twenties when they started on the show so there aren't really any noticeable growth spurts.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[DarkKnight88]

Don’t ruin a good thing by running it completely into the ground. Not every franchise needs their own universe lol

 

[Pennywise]

Don’t ruin a good thing by running it completely into the ground. Not every franchise needs their own universe lol

Too late, lol!

 

[Drizzle]

I'm surprised Netflix didn't just outbid the competition for the rights to stream the original trilogy after they acquired Cobra Kai.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

YT link:

 

[SiegePerilous]

YT link:

Spoiler

So hyped for this.

The Johnny and Daniel training sequences are going to be gold. It will be a miracle if they can keep everyone on the same page without it devolving into chaos. Sam and Miguel will probably have to be the adults here lol. Also neat to see the two senseis train each other in different techniques, especially with Johnny on the balance wheel.

The Kreese and Amanda scenes will continue to be epic. I love that she's getting involved and now that Sam has been attacked in their home and Kreese has his claws in Robby, she's going to hate this SOB more than ever.

Robby has a scar on his head from where Johnny shoved him into the locker. Ouch, my heart. Kreese will use this to pit them against each other even more, and I wouldn't put it past the bastard to say some variation of "I love you like a son" to get a stronger hold on the kid. Which will of course make it even more painful when Kreese inevitably hurts Robby for whatever reason.

Tory dressed as Ariel? What the hell is going on there?

I'm not into Robby/Tory becoming a romance instead of just a friendship, but if that's her he's dancing with at the prom....I'd get behind them being completely petty and putting on a show to make Sam and Miguel jealous. They'd be entitled to that one at least.

Hawk is throwing the new kid Kenny against a wall, and Kenny is wearing a Cobra Kai t-shirt. Kenny joins Cobra Kai because he's being bullied, so maybe he goes through a similar arc as Hawk and it goes to his head and becomes a bully himself. Or Hawk is assuming Kenny is as bad as the others and hasn't completely shaken his "strike first" mentality and takes things too far, which in turn pisses off the other Cobras. It may bring some shades of gray back to this conflict.

Yay, Johnny/Carmen is continuing!

 

[JubJub86]

Can't wait for this, even if season 3 started getting a little ridiculous with how over-the-top the fights became, and the stupid stakes-evaporating crap like Miguel recovering so quickly. Still, it had all the awesome Okinawa arc stuff, some of the best parts across all three seasons, so whatever.

Fun trailer, cool to finally get a look at Silver. Great having him back as an antagonist, but...woof, ravages of time huh? It's kinda funny having the Kreese (current-day, not flashbacks) fights in this show, it's a little hard to take him seriously, kinda getting a similar feeling from Silver. But hey, gonna happen to us all I guess.

Really hoping we get some more 'Nam flashbacks this year too (or even just late 70s/early 80s stuff, sort of like kid-Johnny pulling up to the OG Cobra Kai dojo on his bike earlier on), probably unlikely, but it'd be a nice way to flesh out the Kreese/Silver dynamic more. They went a huge way to illustrating the loyalty thing last year, but the more the better.

Wasn't really feeling Johnny still doing all the gung-ho "kick their asses!" stuff in the trailer there either, kinda seems he should be a little mellower and more measured, trying to grow up more or whatever under the circumstances now with the Robby situation. But Zabka's always hilarious with that stuff, can't complain too much.

 

[SiegePerilous]

Can't wait for this, even if season 3 started getting a little ridiculous with how over-the-top the fights became, and the stupid stakes-evaporating crap like Miguel recovering so quickly. Still, it had all the awesome Okinawa arc stuff, some of the best parts across all three seasons, so whatever.

I definitely don't want Miguel winning the tournament for this very reason. Miguel's great, but I'd worry they pander to his fanbase a bit too much and give him plot armor. His recovering so quickly is already kind of ridiculous (albeit necessary), and I think they could still make him look good by getting very far in the tournament despite his injury. But he already won in season 1 and will more than likely get more chances to shine in remaining seasons. I'd much rather they have Robby or Sam be the winners instead (preferably honorably after a "come to Jesus" moment in Robby's case). Or even Hawk, Tory or Demetri. Basically anyone but Miguel cuz he's the most boring possible option they could go with for this storyline.

Fun trailer, cool to finally get a look at Silver. Great having him back as an antagonist, but...woof, ravages of time huh?

Still cannot believe his actor his younger than Ralph Macchio.

Wasn't really feeling Johnny still doing all the gung-ho "kick their asses!" stuff in the trailer there either, kinda seems he should be a little mellower and more measured, trying to grow up more or whatever under the circumstances now with the Robby situation. But Zabka's always hilarious with that stuff, can't complain too much.

That was both funny (because of Zabka) and also concerning. Kreese is Johnny's child abuser and is now continuing the cycle with Robby, not to mention Tory and a bunch of other kids. I love Johnny, but he really is dropping the ball with this left and right and I hope he gets called out on it. Especially as Kreese got access to these kids because Johnny let him back in his life.

Would much rather Robby reconcile with the Larussos at this point over Johnny. Daniel screwed up bad at the end of season 2, but he's been trying WAY harder to make up for it since then. And Amanda could probably solve this whole situation with Robby in 5 minutes or less if she was allowed to talk to him. I hope the writing allows her to at least make an attempt.

 

[Pennywise]

Three months!!

 

[JubJub86]

Yeah, Amanda's pretty much the sole sane person on this show.

Was kind of thinking, the Mike Barnes guy is still acting, you'd figure if he's going to show up it would make most sense for this season. I know they've done the redemptive arc already with Chozen, but might be kind of nice to see Barnes show up in a similar way, rival coach in the tournament and he's actually become a decent guy over the years, family man, kid's sports coach yadda yadda. Dutch went to jail, could go a similar route with Barnes only he's been out for years and years and has become successful in doing what Johnny should be doing - getting his **** together and acting his age.

Would be kinda funny, like Barnes is the guy who's put the 80s back in the 80s, risen above it reformed, isn't going to have any of Kreese's/Silver's bull****.

 

[SiegePerilous]

Yeah, Amanda's pretty much the sole sane person on this show.

Was kind of thinking, the Mike Barnes guy is still acting, you'd figure if he's going to show up it would make most sense for this season. I know they've done the redemptive arc already with Chozen, but might be kind of nice to see Barnes show up in a similar way, rival coach in the tournament and he's actually become a decent guy over the years, family man, kid's sports coach yadda yadda. Dutch went to jail, could go a similar route with Barnes only he's been out for years and years and has become successful in doing what Johnny should be doing - getting his **** together and acting his age.

Would be kinda funny, like Barnes is the guy who's put the 80s back in the 80s, risen above it reformed, isn't going to have any of Kreese's/Silver's bull****.

I feel like all the women in this show are pretty much the sensible ones except Sam and Tory lol. Of course I think the former gets way too much hate from the fandom for it, and the latter has some sympathetic reasons for being messed up.

Barnes coming back would be really neat. There is an opening for him to be as much of a victim of Kreese and Silver as Johnny, the other OG Cobras, Daniel, Robby and Tory. But if he dealt with it before Johnny and Daniel did that'd be really interesting. Robby is also now a mini fusion of Daniel from KK3, Johnny and Mike Barnes (he even looks like the latter and that has to be on purpose), so it'd be a missed opportunity not to use Barnes in some capacity.

Really, the only clear cut bad guys so far are Kreese and Silver, and probably Kyler as well since he is by far the least sympathetic of the kids. I feel like they brought Kyler back and put him in Ck so we could have a kid we could straight up hate without reservations. Tory and Robby we want to see get back on the right track, but f*** Kyler.

 

[JubJub86]

I don't know you'd call Mike a "victim" the way Johnny is. Johnny joining up at 12 or whatever it was and being under his thumb as some only-slightly-less-messed-up father figure than what he knew is a little different to Barnes showing up at 18 and already being a d*ckbag.

Kyler's one character that's always annoyed me here, heh, makes sense to bring him back under Kreese, but I kinda wish it had stayed as more of a cameo return, Hawk humiliated him in addition to the fat kid. Kyler doesn't even seem particularly threatening/intimidating compared to Johnny or Barnes, certainly not Chozen. Would have been happy to leave that guy back in season 1, tail still between his legs after the Miguel beatdown.

But yeah, I dunno, something about the idea of the worst *****e of all in Barnes deciding to grow up in his 20s after a stint behind bars or something kinda tickles me. Johnny and Daniel are still running around as not-far-off-senior-citizens behaving like petty pr*cks, and that guy's changed 25 years ago. Total rehash of Chozen of course, but still think it could work.

 

[SiegePerilous]

I don't know you'd call Mike a "victim" the way Johnny is. Johnny joining up at 12 or whatever it was and being under his thumb as some only-slightly-less-messed-up father figure than what he knew is a little different to Barnes showing up at 18 and already being a d*ckbag.

Kyler's one character that's always annoyed me here, heh, makes sense to bring him back under Kreese, but I kinda wish it had stayed as more of a cameo return, Hawk humiliated him in addition to the fat kid. Kyler doesn't even seem particularly threatening/intimidating compared to Johnny or Barnes, certainly not Chozen. Would have been happy to leave that guy back in season 1, tail still between his legs after the Miguel beatdown.

But yeah, I dunno, something about the idea of the worst *****e of all in Barnes deciding to grow up in his 20s after a stint behind bars or something kinda tickles me. Johnny and Daniel are still running around as not-far-off-senior-citizens behaving like petty pr*cks, and that guy's changed 25 years ago. Total rehash of Chozen of course, but still think it could work.

So far it's just an assumption that Mike was a victim like Johnny since we aren't as familiar with his backstory. And I can't imagine Silver was a good influence on him.

I can see the point that Kyler isn't as intimidating, at least not yet. But so far he's the easiest option to make a full blown heel. Shawn (the kid who bullied Robby in juvie) has been a popular choice among fans to come back and join Cobra Kai. I think he was meant to be a one off character but fan reception has been very positive, so they might write him back in in some capacity. He'd be more intimidating than Kyler cuz he's already a beast even without any martial arts training. But they could also write him back in and have him join Miyagi-Fang, which might help sort out any issues he might have.

 

[JubJub86]

How long was Barnes even working for Silver for, though? Weeks, a month or so? He's already an anything-goes ambitious ladder-climber as soon as they meet at the start, he's already got two henchmen/goon buddies, ostensibly Barnes was a pretty vicious dude before the events of III. Seems he barely knew Kreese other than as Silver's business partner, maybe knew about the army buddy stuff. They sure didn't mentally mess him up the way Kreese did with Johnny and the first movie's guys though, he was already that person.

Yeah, the juvie kid was way more threatening than Kyler & Co, too. Would seem a little coincidental he gets involved in the karate stuff though. I dunno, Kyler worked for season 1, Miguel being such a pushover of a kid at the time, but as far as teen movie/show bullies go he's pretty weaksauce. Maybe it's the generation gap and how highschool seems tamer or whatever now, but yeah, he always seemed like a bit of a manipulative weasel who'd only physically fight people knowing he had his guys at his back. Johnny had the gang, yeah, but was more the sort of traditional blunt-force jock *****e.

 

[Sithborg]

Barnes was the "bad boy of Karate" before Silver and Kreese recruited him.

 

[JubJub86]

Si senor.

 

[SiegePerilous]

How long was Barnes even working for Silver for, though? Weeks, a month or so? He's already an anything-goes ambitious ladder-climber as soon as they meet at the start, he's already got two henchmen/goon buddies, ostensibly Barnes was a pretty vicious dude before the events of III. Seems he barely knew Kreese other than as Silver's business partner, maybe knew about the army buddy stuff. They sure didn't mentally mess him up the way Kreese did with Johnny and the first movie's guys though, he was already that person.

Barnes was the "bad boy of Karate" before Silver and Kreese recruited him.

This is what I get for watching KK3 only once when I was little and Terry Silver being bats*** is the only thing I remember lol. I think Robby becoming a mini-Mike Barnes is making me think Barnes must have gotten a similar gaslighting treatment, but that's not the case.

Yeah, the juvie kid was way more threatening than Kyler & Co, too. Would seem a little coincidental he gets involved in the karate stuff though. I dunno, Kyler worked for season 1, Miguel being such a pushover of a kid at the time, but as far as teen movie/show bullies go he's pretty weaksauce. Maybe it's the generation gap and how highschool seems tamer or whatever now, but yeah, he always seemed like a bit of a manipulative weasel who'd only physically fight people knowing he had his guys at his back. Johnny had the gang, yeah, but was more the sort of traditional blunt-force jock *****e.

Shawn getting involved would be way too convenient I agree. On some level it would be really neat so I wouldn't mind seeing it, but at the same time it might reek of shallow fanservice. He'd probably be cool to bring back for Robby to interact with outside of the karate stuff.

IDK, Kyler both seems like a lesser threat for now but also one that I could see turning into a bigger one when he gets more training. He may be the sleeper villain among CK who rises to prominence because Robby and maybe even Tory have limited shelf lives as villains. Him deliberately going for Miguel's spinal injury in the house fight is definitely more disturbing than any other kid's actions, he has no real issues or traumas that we can see the way the other major kids do. He'd still be a coward who relies on a crew to back him up, but he and the crew would be more dangerous than they were in season 1.

 

[Drizzle]

I rewatched the original trilogy before they leave Netflix. What cracks me up most about Part III is that Terry Silver is supposed to be a Vietnam vet but the actor who plays him is younger than Ralph Macchio.

 

[CadeSkywalker28]

If he was 18 at the end of the war, he would have been around 65 now, I can totally believe that he is older than Macchio, who is immortal after all.

 

[JubJub86]

Yeah, tend to re-watch the three movies each year before each CK season hits, really struck me last watch-through how funny it seems that Griffith was only like 26 filming that. That's hardly a 'kid', but like damn, you're watching these on TV in the early 90s as a kid and you'd never believe that guy's younger than Ralph. Ralph looks like such a baby in the OG flicks (hell, you'd never take him for almost 60 now), where you get nothing but "adult dude" from Thomas.

20-somethings in general just seemed to 'feel' older than they do now I guess, taken/considered as total independent adults with some experience mileage under their belt unlike the coddling now. Probably Griffith being such a big dude adds to the character 'feeling' older than that too, like as a kid & teen I never really questioned whether that dude would have been old enough to serve in the tail-end of 'Nam. Clearly the character's meant to be older than the actor anyway, so it's not a huge deal.

Conversely, also hilarious Miyagi's taken as such an old man/grandpa figure, when Morita was only like 51 filming the original.