As popular as The Karate Kid movies were, they weren’t nearly as big as Star Wars. Nothing is. But with the remake-reboot trend along with the 80s nostalgia that has plagued Hollywood, something like Cobra Kai is like a jackpot waiting to be hit.
It could have been one of those soft reboots where the old cast comes back to usher in the new heroes and fades into the existence and we’re left with a soulless cash grab of a series that has nothing other than references carrying it. We’ve had FAR too many of those – Ghostbusters Afterlife, Terminator whatever, Jurassic World, Charlie’s Angels, Jumanji, Picard…
And of course, our favorite – the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Boy did this thing not understand the assignment at all. But Cobra Kai does and it shows us that you can absolutely bring back a 30-year-old franchise to life without destroying its legacy. In fact, it adds to it.
Yes, this is about both the show and the characters in it. And no, this is not meant to hate on the show or any character whatsoever. What I will point out is something the show is showing us through its framing, writing, and narrative choices. These are the 3 keywords I will be using a lot in this essay. Please make sure that you fully understand their meaning to understand what I say better.
With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s go, baby!
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Robby Keene is easily the most intriguing character in Cobra Kai to me. Mostly because I couldn’t slot him in any archetype when I started watching.
He isn’t the protagonist – he is billed 5th and introduced all the way in the 4th episode. He is not the quintessential hero or good guy because he is introduced as running scams. That should mean that he is the antagonist? Well, stealing some money so you can have food and having remorse while doing it really disqualifies you for that. He is neither the a-hole with the heart of gold because my guy is so quiet in nature.
The closest I could come up with was him being someone like Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of the Hunger Games series. She doesn’t have a distinct personality because all her energy goes into survival. Similarly, Robby doesn’t fit in any clear archetype because all his energy goes into survival as well. He regularly chucks his self-esteem down the drain and does what he needs to to survive – from running scams to allowing being bullied.
Robby’s story has been fascinating all through S1 to S4. I’m amused at how much prominence he holds in the narrative while simultaneously being treated unfairly than other characters. He is the 4th main character and is directly in competition with Miguel. And things are pretty bleak for the guy…
Everything they said about Robby and his characterization is on point (and they made so many amazingly well thought out arguments for the way the show pertains to him).
They’re correct when they say that Robby’s character holds a special place to Daniel, whereas Miguel will always just be Sam’s boyfriend to him and therefore he holds a more important role in everyone’s lives.
Even in Robby’s relationships with both Sam and Tory there was a genuine build up of romantic interest, trust and affection that’s lacking in both of Miguel’s relationships with them.
I also found myself nodding in agreement when they pointed out how despite being the main character, Miguel isn’t actually framed as attractive the way Robby is and given the way the show does frame those moments, it is definitely interesting.
@quirkyrogue Wow this article is actually a lot like a series of posts I’m working in that explore Robby’s relationships to the character and the show. Although mine takes a slightly different angle. I definitely agree with everything said and I’ve always felt it was interesting how Robby is the only one of the younger generation to have a connection to every single character and major plotline, which also places him directly at the center of the show
Thank you so much for the kind words. I love that we may have different opinions about certain things, but we still respect where the other person is coming from. You guys are amazing
Yes, this is about both the show and the characters in it. And no, this is not meant to hate on the show or any character whatsoever. What I will point out is something the show is showing us through its framing, writing, and narrative choices. These are the 3 keywords I will be using a lot in this essay. Please make sure that you fully understand their meaning to understand what I say better.
With the disclaimers out of the way, let’s go, baby!
–
Robby Keene is easily the most intriguing character in Cobra Kai to me. Mostly because I couldn’t slot him in any archetype when I started watching.
He isn’t the protagonist – he is billed 5th and introduced all the way in the 4th episode. He is not the quintessential hero or good guy because he is introduced as running scams. That should mean that he is the antagonist? Well, stealing some money so you can have food and having remorse while doing it really disqualifies you for that. He is neither the a-hole with the heart of gold because my guy is so quiet in nature.
The closest I could come up with was him being someone like Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of the Hunger Games series. She doesn’t have a distinct personality because all her energy goes into survival. Similarly, Robby doesn’t fit in any clear archetype because all his energy goes into survival as well. He regularly chucks his self-esteem down the drain and does what he needs to to survive – from running scams to allowing being bullied.
Robby’s story has been fascinating all through S1 to S4. I’m amused at how much prominence he holds in the narrative while simultaneously being treated unfairly than other characters. He is the 4th main character and is directly in competition with Miguel. And things are pretty bleak for the guy…
I knew from the start that this was gonna be one of my hardest costumes to make but I learned so much from it and I feel it really upped my construction game.
Black Dress:
I started with the dress because honestly it was the least intimidating part of the costume. I patterned the dress from scratch by tracing the outline of a stretchy dress onto some spare wrapping paper. I then added lines where the seams should go with masking tape while the dress was on my body and traced those lines onto my paper pattern. I then sewed up all the seams hemmed the top and bottom of the dress and it was done, super simple.
I made the dress out of a thick black stretch suiting for 3 reasons. 1) I had tons left over from another cosplay. 2) It was thick enough so I didn’t need to line it. 3) It had enough stretch that I didn’t need to add a zipper to my dress.
Magican’s Cape:
Next was the real challenge: the cape. The whole thing was made of basic broadcloth. I made a huge rectangle that would sit well around my shoulders and measured where I wanted the cape to fall. I then cut out two large rectangles from the blue fabric. On both rectangles I did some math in order to get exactly 9 dimonds to fit because I wanted to be SUPER accurate.
It took a few trials and paper patterns but eventually I got the right diamond size and I attached them to the bottom of the rectnagles using wonder under:
I carefully sewed up the two sides like a pillow and turned it right-side out, and proceeded to iron the heck out of it to get it flat. I then freehanded the colored suits that go on her diamonds and used wonder under to attach those as well.
Buttons/Brooch:
The buttons and brooch were actually 3D printed! It was my first time working with 3D printing ever! I was really lucky in the fact that my college has a 3D printing lab open to all studnets. I got help making the files from my friend who is an art major.
In order to smooth them out I painted 2-3 layers of wood glue on them and let them dry. I then painted the gold parts with spray paint and the silver and green parts with normal acrylic paints.
Top Hat:
The top hat gave me the BIGGEST issues. I originally tried to make one from scratch using a simpicity pattern but I couldn’t attach the two pieces and sewing through the interfacing broke 2 of my machine needles.
I was super discouraged when I found this tutorial on how to cover a top hat in fabric!
I bought a black top hat off ebay that came too short so I was super frustrated but my friend suggest I make it bigger by adding to the exsisting hat.
I added height to it with craft foam and covered the entire thing in blue cotton, that matched my cape by following the tutorial and carefully glueing it down with tackly glue.
Purse:
The very last thing I worked on, I made the parts from thick fuseable interfacing and cotton. The basic shapes were 2 thin rectangles where the zipper could be sewn into, another rectangle for the bottom, a strip to fit around my waist and two hearts. everything was hand sewn together, it took a rather long time but I love the result and my bag is 100% fuctional. The strip closes with industrial strength velcro.
Small Details:
I made the scarf from scrap cotton I had laying around, I made a leaf like shapes and sewed two of them right sides together, flipped and ironed.
I had the gloves and wig from a previous cosplay but they were originally from ebay. I attached bells to the cape by hand. The thigh high white boots were found on amazon.
Feel free to send me any questions! Happy cosplay ♥
Bezos has pledged to donate $1 billion to his charity. Although this might seem good at face value, “billionaire philanthropy” itself is created by the problems it purports to solve.
There has been an unprecedented transfer of wealth to billionaires during the pandemic - their fortunes grew to a record high of $10.2 trillion while millions of workers sunk into poverty.
These two phenomena – surging wealth inequality alongside the increased social role of “charitable” handouts from the super-rich – are closely intertwined. Without extreme levels of social inequality, it wouldn’t be necessary to rely on the alms of billionaires “donating” the funds back to society just to meet critical social needs.
Now, some of these billionaires have decided to donate a small fraction of the wealth they gained during the past two years. It’s important to note the sources of this increase in wealth:
The fact that the pandemic has accelerated the process of monopolisation and concentration of capital.
Trillion-dollar corporate bailouts like the CARES Act, which placed vast financial resources at the disposal of the ultra-rich (conversely, the debt this incurred will largely have to be paid off by the working class)
Capitalists refusing to halt non-essential production, sacrificing workers’ health and lives in the pursuit of profits.
It is from this sort of immoral shit that billionaires have accumulated the fortunes from which they now dispense their “moral” donations.
To top it all off: Billionaire philanthropy allows the ultra-rich to exert great influence over non-profit organisations and public policy discussions. Often, so-called philanthropic organisations function as little more than vehicles to promote the interests of their wealthy donors. In any case, they will never challenge their interests. Bezos’s foundation calls for “market-based” solutions to climate change and will fund lobbyists to promote “market reforms” rather than government regulation. Convenient.
Tl;dr In order to combat climate change, fight infectious disease and cure other societal ills, we cannot rely on the scraps donated by the ultra-rich, to be used as the ultra-rich dictate according to their own individual whims and interests. Particularly when this money was obtained by contributing to these problems in the first place + will not be used to challenge such problems on any fundamental level, but instead be used to sustain the status quo that allowed them to become billionaires in the first place.
