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| “ | You can call me... Stingray. | „ |
| ~ Stingray's introduction. |
Raymond Porter, better known by his nickname Stingray, is a major character in the TV series Cobra Kai. He is a grown man who, desperate to be appreciated joins the Cobra Kai Dojo.
He is portrayed by Paul Walter Hauser, who also voiced Embarrassment in Inside Out 2.
Cobra Kai[]
The only real glimpse of Raymond's childhood is in the video game Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising, showing he was an overweight boy, constantly teased and excluded by others and left crying. As Chozen introduces his level in the game, he is a man often cast aside by society.
Raymond said he lives with his mother (who is implied to be fed up, fatigued and infuriated at his juvenile behavior and his refusal to grow up). He seems to have stood up to his mother's authority to some extent, finally deciding to enroll in a dojo against her wishes (both at its frivolousness and how ridiculous he looks compared to the much younger students).
When he was approaching Johnny about enrolling in Cobra Kai, Raymond says that he can afford tuition as he saved money from living rent free (which shows Raymond has some sense of thriftiness or at the very least managed to avoid paying rent for a long time). Johnny does not seem excited about this kind of agreement, agreeing to allow Raymond to enroll mainly because he is a paying customer.
Season 2[]
Raymond first appears as an employee of a hardware store where Johnny Lawrence runs into Daniel LaRusso and Robby Keene. He is a fan of LaRusso Auto, karate and 80's heavy metal bands like Metallica.
After seeing the Cobra Kai demonstration at Valley Fest, he becomes interested in karate and officially becomes a new member of the team along with other teens including, Tory Nichols.
He later adopts John Kreese's ruthless teachings and starts going by his new name “Stingray.” He participates the Coyote Creek training exercise where he's placed in Kreese's team with Hawk and Aisha while Miguel, Tory, and Mitch are on Johnny's team. He wins by lying in wait and attacking Miguel from behind when everyone else believes the game is over following a duel between him and Hawk.
Stingray appears at Moon's party, as he attends with his Cobra Kai friends and girlfriend, Fawn, and greets Bert. He watches Samantha LaRusso and Tory do a drinking contest. When things are getting tense for the rival dojos later that night, he encourages a fight between the Miyagi-Do's and Cobra Kai's until the police arrive and break up the party forcing everyone to flee.
Stingray decides to quit his job at the hardware to work as a security guard for West Valley High School, but during an interview with Principal Lopez, he is turned down for lack of experience. He attempts to demonstrate his competency to the principal (who was going to have the security arrive while the fight's going on) by defeating several members of Miyagi-Do Karate.
Following the school brawl, he joins Hawk, Tory, Mitch and other Cobra Kai students as they turn against Johnny (whom they blame for Miguel’s injury in the fight) and embrace a new loyalty to Kreese.
Season 3[]
Although Raymond does not appear in this season, he is mentioned during the PTA meeting, when one of the parents asks about Raymond. One school board member answers that while Raymond made an application to be a school employee and was interviewed by Principal Lopez, his application was ultimately disapproved (and he was never on the school payroll).
It is also said he was arrested while participating in the brawl; the charges are never specified, but is likely for assault or assault of a minor. Raymond was sentenced to an unspecified term of probation, as well as being bound to a restraining order where he's not allowed to have contact with minors. As a result, Raymond was forced to relinquish his Cobra Kai membership. For his mother, this proves to be the last straw; finally fed up with his antics, she kicks Raymond out of her house.
Season 4[]
Raymond appears in the Season 4 episode "Party Time" and is shown to be staying at his sister's house while she is out of town.
Raymond also has to deal with his irritating and irritable neighbor Greg Hughes (who is greatly disgusted by Raymond); Greg tells him his sister doesn't want him there and she only took pity on Raymond while calling him an "unemployed man baby on probation". Raymond corrects him, saying he's actually off probation now.
When Raymond says he doesn’t have time to talk about his Aerobies because his dojo needs him, Greg remarks he likes to “hang around with a bunch of kids and play kung fu all day”; Raymond corrects him again, saying it’s not kung fu, it’s Cobra Kai. When Raymond is about to tell Greg his nickname, Greg interrupts with, “Stingray. Yeah, I know. And as much as you try to clean your life up, you still stink, Ray” before calling him “Stink-Ray”, which he can’t help laughing about in his own way, while adding how appropriate he finds it to be. Raymond then replies by telling Greg to tread carefully before adding, “You mess with a Cobra, you get the fangs.”
However, Raymond shows he’s unaware of what’s happened since the school brawl when he enters the Dojo expecting to be welcomed back with open arms (showing he hasn’t learned from the incident despite being arrested, being on probation and being kicked out of his mother’s house). Since the dojo is now fully under Kreese’s control, Raymond approaches Kreese, saying he requires no thanks for “taking one for the team.” But Kreese cruelly and vehemently says he was never a part of the team — a statement that visibly shakes Raymond, who meekly responds, “But, Sensei, I’m... one of the guys” (showing his lack of self-esteem). Kreese then cruelly calls Raymond a buffoon, a disgrace and an embarrassment, and says he has no value in the dojo or anywhere. Devastated and clearly on the verge of tears, Raymond struggles to hold himself together, telling himself, “It’s a test I won’t fail you, Sensei” before he turns and leaves the dojo in misery.
Refusing to give up and finally face the harsh realities of adulthood, as well as desperately wanting to be with his former friends, Raymond tries to find ways to get back in the dojo, so he visits the West Valley High School junior prom (an Extremely high risk manuver considering the trouble he got into), and finds Bert there; when he asks Bert how he can re-join Cobra Kai, Bert says he’s not in Cobra Kai anymore (much to Raymond’s puzzlement). When Raymond asks if it’s true the prom’s original afterparty was canceled (which Demetri had said was because the host Logan Wang’s little brother had gotten into some middle school fight), Bert confirms it. Raymond then says he wants Bert to tell everyone that he's hosting a huge afterparty at his sister’s house, which Bert does.
Stingray’s party is very well attended by the students. When Greg tries to shut down the party, insults Stingray in front of everyone, and threatens to have all the students arrested for underage drinking and disturbing a lot of neighbors, Stingray knocks him out, causing all the partygoers to cheer and chant his name for standing up to the neighbor, allowing the party to continue. Outside, a fight later breaks out between Miguel and Sam and Tory and Robby. Stingray then appears and thinking that this is part of the festivities after hearing a splah, he does a cannon ball into the swimming pool, which is then joined by others to have fun.
Stingray returns to the Cobra Kai Dojo to ask Terry Silver, instead of Kreese, if he can rejoin the team, while still thinking that Kreese was testing him. Silver, heavily intoxicated, drunk, and is going on a downward spiral, brutally attacks the defenseless student. After delivering a beating, he promises to make him a student if he does something for him first (which is naming Kreese as the attacker). He finishes the beating by delivering a powerful blow to the head that puts Stingray in a coma. Sometime later, he wakes up in the hospital and names the person who attacked him as John Kreese when questioned by the detective. By lying about his attacker, he secures a spot in Cobra Kai. Meanwhile, Kreese's arrest allows Terry Silver to take over Cobra Kai as the sole sensei. Disgusted with himself, Raymond bursts into tears. But he is simply too desperate to be back at the place that made him feel young again.
Season 5[]
Stingray has been able to recover from his injuries and Silver officially lets him rejoin the dojo. After he left the hospital, Silver rewards Stingray for his role including: a new apartment, television, PlayStation, and Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai themed 2009 Dodge Challenger, that he abandoned, which also contained a gi with Stingray’s name on it. He is later visited by Daniel and Chozen Toguchi, who confront him for lying to the cops about Kreese assaulting him and wants the truth from him. Stingray refuses to talk and Daniel loses his temper and becomes aggressive which leads Stingray's PlayStation getting destroyed. This results Daniel to be taken away by Chozen.
Later, he is visited by Bert, Demetri, Miguel, Hawk, and Sam as they track him down and beg him to tell the truth. Stingray once again refuses, but he ultimately confesses Silver's plan by using his new Dungeons and Dragons (which he names Dungeons and Dojos) storyline to explain. When it becomes clear for the Miyagi-Fangs on what really happened and Miguel asks him on why he doesn't go the police to tell them the truth, Sam believes that Stingray does not want to lose everything Silver gave him but the man confesses his fear that Silver could beat him to death if he went to the cops and snitched on him.
Ultimately, he ends up having a change of heart, and he heads to the LaRusso Family home to give Amanda LaRusso and Carmen Diaz a ride (after receiving a text from Cobra Kai about Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang, and Tory's plan to break into Cobra Kai to find evidence that will expose Silver) to Daniel’s location, where he was abandoned earlier by Johnny, Chozen and Mike Barnes. After picking him up, the four of them head towards the Cobra Kai Dojo in Encino to save the teens, where a fight between the Cobra Kais and Miyagi-Fangs is occurring. Stingray took out some students along with Big Red who were blocking the entrance and the four headed inside, where the fight is still happening until Demetri, Eli, and Anthony LaRusso succeeded in showing a video of Silver revealing to Tory that he had bribed the referee in the All Valley to ensure Cobra Kai's survival, shocking all Cobra Kai's and leading them to quit.
After Daniel defeats Silver in a fight, Stingray tells the truth to the Detective about Silver assaulting him before watching Silver being arrested, put in a car, and transported to jail for his crimes.
Despite helping save the day, Raymond could in trouble for lying to the law in the first place.
Season 6[]
Despite everything, Raymond's obsession with Cobra Kai continues. Only this time he takes to extreme by appointing himself a sensei. He sends Johnny a message, to meet him at Coyote Cree, which the latter mistakenly thinks that its Kreese, who's on the run after breaking out of prison. Johnny ends up going to Coyote Creek to meet the mysterious person who texted him and overhears Kreese. It turns out to be Stingray playing a recording of Kreese’s teachings to a very young group of students. Stingray tells Johnny that he heard about the Miyagi-Do naming debate after getting a text from Bert, and encourages him to reclaim Cobra Kai as his own since it’s his legacy. Johnny refuses and he decides to stick with Miyagi-Do as the official name.
Personality[]
Raymond is a complete man-child, desperate to attain the unrealistic goal of getting his youth back, and dreads adulthood and the prospect of being viewed as old, as well as growing old. He's portrayed as outlandishly immature, disgustingly irresponsible and ridiculously gullible, as well as naive and devoid of common sense and ignorant of social norms.
Raymond tries to present himself as happy-go-lucky and a joker, all in a vain attempt to prove he's still a youthful, upbeat, energetic person; however, he's usually seen as boorish and irritating by others, namely Daniel and Johnny, as Raymond is deep in his thirties, and still trying to behave like a teenager. The only known adult who seems to tolerate Raymond to some degree is Kreese, who was seen looking at him in approval when he was the winner in a "red vs. black" combat class.
Raymond lives in the past and is desperate to reclaim his youth, choosing to live vicariously through the Cobra Kai dojo students. He desperately wants to be part of something that will give him a purpose, as opposed to what he views as a meaningless job; he also responsibility at all costs, and prefers the company of those significantly younger than he is, both in keeping with his delusions and desperation to avoid acknowledging his own age; in one instance, when he first met Johnny, he said the 80's rocked, but quickly said he'd been only 5 at the time to cover up his age.
He engages in juvenile activities, such as playing Metallica music very loud, and shows he enjoys making Internet videos of himself dressed as a Ninja Turtle (in a Season 5 deleted scene).
His general manner could be considered a more pronounced version of Johnny's fate. Like Johnny, Raymond seems to be living in the past and focused more on enjoying life than earning a living; however, Raymond has never seemed to come to grips with his own issues, while Johnny sometimes gives self-reflection on how far he has fallen at certain points.
Raymond seems to prefer blue-collar jobs, but has not shown much desire to excel in those (likely to avoid too much responsibility that would come with a promotion). It's quite clear he was in no rush to grow up and had no desire to either; he also dreads the thought of being viewed as old.
He ends up joining Cobra Kai because he is a big fan of karate. However, he can come across as overexcited and even immature; ultimately, this may come across as annoying or funny.
Raymond's cluelessness as an adult and great incompetence as a man in general becomes very apparent in the last two episodes of season 2; at Moon's party, he idiotically taped bottles to his hands and then tried to run from the police. He did have sufficient self-confidence to woo a girlfriend; however, she did remark to Raymond when being invited to Moon's party on why the guests were considerably younger than them. His irresponsibility also shows up when he was ready to see Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai fight rather than attempt to break it up.
A heavily recurring example of Raymond's ignorance and incompetence is that he seems to have no true understanding of consequences a man his age can face (especially from assaulting minors or supplying alcohol to minors).
Raymond is also devoid of self awareness and truly believes his behavior, humor and personality to be likable and endearing, while completely oblivious to the fool he makes of himself in the process.
While it seemed Raymond was able to be competent to some degree in a blue-collar job as he worked at the hardware superstore, he lacked the ability to handle himself in a professional setting when he was being interviewed by Principal Lopez at the high school, although this may have been due to a first attempt at trying for a professional, white-collar job.
By the end of the season, he is revealed to be one of the handful of Cobra Kai students that is corrupted by Kreese's teachings, as he is training with Kreese and has betrayed Johnny.
Despite being instrumental during the school brawl, he is viewed as a danger to minors. Because of his age, he was arrested, resulting in a restraining order being placed against him, and is no longer doing karate, as well as not getting hired at West Valley High School.
Raymond also seems intent in forcing his "ideas" on others; one example is when he tries to turn Dungeons and Dragons into Dojos and Dragons, causing his fellow players to call him the worst Dungeon Master.
While Raymond doesn't like being viewed as a loser, it's quite obvious he dislikes being middle-aged and his childhood memories gone even more. Despite being a failure, his family and neighbors animosity towards him, and whatever humiliation and injury he endures, He simply always sees adulthood and old age as the far worse fate.
Deep Down, Raymond is in fact greatly miserable at the fact that no matter what he tries, says or does, he will simply never have his true desire: Literally become a Teenager again and relive his teen years.
In Season 5, Raymond proves himself to be cowardly, and his childishness shows even more. As Chozen puts it, Raymond "is no Stingray. He is turtle" (because Raymond constantly withdraws from life's pressures and problems instead of courageously facing them head-on).
Fighting Style[]
Though he believes otherwise, Raymond barely has any true martial arts skill if any. He is in very poor shape and has a glass jaw. After adopting Kreese's ruthless teachings, Raymond becomes an aggressive fighter; this is evidenced in the school brawl, where he aggressively attacks several Miyagi-Do students. He even uses his hip to attack the students in order to assist Hawk. While hosting an afterparty, he kicks his neighbor after insulting him. After arriving at Cobra Kai to stop the fight between Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do, Raymond alone beats up Big Red and a few Cobra Kai's. He proves that he can be a strong striker. Overall, however, he pales in comparison to experienced fighters such as Terry Silver, as Silver easily beats him senseless; he was floored almost instantly and was incapable of executing any form of defense or counterattack during the beating.
Trivia[]
- His favorite era is the 1980s.
- Before joining Cobra Kai, Stingray always wanted to learn karate, but his mother wouldn’t let him.
- He is the oldest amongst the Cobra Kai students.
- In Season 5, Raymond’s last name is revealed to be Porter.
- It is unlikely that Stingray can participate at an All Valley championship due to his age.
- Stingray could not appear in Season 3 because his actor, Paul Walter Hauser, was busy working on the Disney film Cruella, which allowed the writers to have Stingray placed in probation after the school fight.
- Raymond is implied to be the black sheep of his family, given the fact neither his mother or sister bothered to visit him in the hospital.
External Links[]
- Raymond "Stingray" Porter on the Karate Kid Wiki.
- Raymond "Stingray" Porter on the Villains Wiki.
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The Karate Kid (1984) | ||