Cobra Kai - TV Tropes

In a show like Cobra Kai, it isn't uncommon to see some characters get villainized by fandom to a degree beyond what is seen as justified by fans of said characters.

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• This was especially prevalent in the fandom after season 2. The show set the marketing for season 2 as "Cobra Kai vs Miyagi-Do! Which side are you on?" Since Cobra Kai is the titular dojo and the "cooler" dojo, a lot of people sided with the characters in that dojo despite their wrongdoings while Miyagi-Do characters like Sam, Robby, and Demetri get a lot of hate. Another Miyagi-Do example was that some pointed out that Amanda approaching Kenny to cheer him up after the laxative incident was mainly to get him to help Miyagi-Do in the Sekai Taikai with having Anthony apologize about the incident being after the fact of needing Kenny. However, Amanda immediately shifted priorities of having the two boys end their beef given how they will never stop fighting when she revealed Miguel temporarily dropped out of the Sekai Taikai as Carmen was in the hospital.
• Some Hawk fans act as if his bullying of Demetri is completely justified on the basis of Demetri being annoying and outing Hawk as a bedwetter, even though the latter was a reaction to constant harassment from Hawk, including being gang-assaulted at the mall over a Yelp review, Hawk vandalizing Miyagi-Do, and Hawk pouring a drink on Demetri's head, the last of these being when Demetri was trying to make amends with Hawk even after the first two. Not to mention that during the school brawl, Demetri was the only student to try and get an authority figure involved and took Miyagi’s "defense only" teachings to heart by fighting back at Hawk when all other options, including running away, were exhausted. Even if Demetri hadn’t embarrassed him at the party, Hawk would very likely have still chased him down during the brawl and if the brawl hadn’t happened, Hawk would at the very least be harassing him all year. Sure, he’s a mouthy kid, but it’s a healthier reaction than the brutal violence that Hawk, Mitch, and Tory resort to.
• Demetri gets criticism from the fanbase for good reason in earlier seasons but even his good moments get him vilified. Demetri talking to Eli about joining Miyagi-Do after the mohawk incident made it appear that he only visited Eli to win the All Valley in Season 4 as he is the only other male fighter who has a chance against Robby. Detractors have ignored that Demetri was the only one to actually check on Eli after the incident and that Demetri never expected a yes from Eli, continuing to train at Miyagi-Do for the tournament, regardless of whether Eli would join or not.
• Sam is frequently vilified by a portion of the fanbase, who overstate the degree to which she is responsible for many of the conflicts in the series by focusing on her miscommunications while giving other characters a free pass for needlessly resorting to violence in response. These examples come to mind:
  • Many act as if Sam is solely responsible for the school brawl due to drunkenly kissing Miguel, ignoring that Miguel kissed her back while sober. Tory overreacted by starting the fight, Miguel tackled Robby who was trying to stop it from escalating, which Hawk himself did.
  • She also gets criticized for leading the Miyagi-Dos into the arcade fight in season 3. It clearly was a mistake, but by this point, Cobra Kai had pushed the Miyagi-Do students too far without consequences. There's also a tendency for some fans to blame Sam for Demetri's arm getting broken, never mind that Sam was having a panic attack at the time as a result of Tory showing up and calling out to her, and is clearly guilt-ridden over it. And ultimately, Hawk chose to break Demetri’s arm with Tory and the other Cobras egging him on. Tory even had the nerve to call Demetri a “pussy.”
  • In Season 4 when it comes to Sam’s behaviour towards Tory, who genuinely tries to put their rivalry to bed. While it’s clear that the audience is not supposed to agree with Sam’s petty bullying, a large portion of the fanbase - as usual - has fallen into Black-and-White Insanity by only looking at one side of the conflict. One side hates Sam for acting this way, despite having justifiable reasons which included legit fearing for her life and the other fully supports her given Tory’s past actions. However, the season’s deconstruction of Sam’s somewhat classist speeches is completely ignored by her supporters, who don’t see the irony that Sam is behaving the same way Tory did in the past, despite not having the same issues the latter has to deal with. Notably, Sam sees just how bad Tory’s had it near the end of Season 5, and she softens up.
  • Another case often brought up is that Sam never apologized for the false accusation towards Tory re: Amanda’s wallet being stolen. In what would be par for the course, Tory overreacted, called Sam a bitch and shoved her into a refreshment table, covering her in food. Tory never apologized for that. Not helping her case was that shortly before, Tory brazenly showed off a bottle of vodka she stole from the club and even bragged that she could also boost the silverware, which gave off the impression she’s a criminal-in-waiting. Add to that Sam viewing Tory as Toxic Friend Influence on Aisha (something Sam herself experienced with Yasmine), and it becomes understandable why she didn't feel like apologizing (until season 6), even without considering all the Love Dodecahedron drama.
• Some Robby fans dislike Miguel on the grounds that he's getting in the way of Johnny being able to devote time and effort to Robby. This generally overlooks the fact that Miguel has never directly or indirectly given Johnny an ultimatum, never tried to force Johnny to pick between himself and Robby, and never even done something less direct like complain if Johnny is reaching out to Robby and trying to bond with him. Any time that Johnny has made a definitive choice between Robby and Miguel (like giving up in season 1 on trying to get Robby to return to school and focusing on mentoring Miguel instead, or when he stays at the hospital in season 3 to pray with Miguel's family instead of going to his scheduled juvie visit with Robby), he did so on his own without any input or influence from Miguel. If anything, the show even makes it clear that Johnny and Robby were estranged before Miguel came along and showed Johnny (indirectly) that he needed to be in his son's life.
• While Anthony was undoubtably an asshole in the first four seasons, some people miss the point and get catharsis from watching him being disproportionately bullied by Kenny for what was at the end of the day, mean antics that he was punished and has apologized for. Kenny’s, however, includes life-threatening pranks like dunking Anthony’s head in an unflushed toilet with the help of larger bullies like Kyler, who is far worse than Anthony could ever be. Even then, some fans say Anthony deserved that.
• Some people believe Tory to be solely responsible for everything that happened in Season 5 because she wouldn't confess about Silver cheating in the All-Valley until episode 8. This ignores that while Tory wrongly put her trust in Kreese, she had her worries about being a double agent, feels guilty about her illegitimate victory and how she led Daniel to receive a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Silver, and as soon as her partnership with Kreese fell apart, she confesses the next day after leaving the Sekai Taikai tryouts. Still, some accuse her of hiding the truth for selfish reasons and have even gone as far as to say she deserved being tortured by Kim for this on top of her previous misdeeds.
• Some people believe Axel to be responsible for accidentally killing Kwon just because he blocked the latter's kick on instinct while not even seeming to realize Kwon had a knife, which put him off balance and caused him to fall on the knife. As tragic as Kwon's death was, he was the one who brought a knife to the fight with the intent to use it on Axel. Plus, Axel is just as horrified by Kwon's death as everyone else.