- "It looks like karate boy wants to throw down."
- ―Shawn to Robby Keene[src]
Shawn Payne is a recurring character in Cobra Kai. He is portrayed by Okea Eme-Akwari.
Shawn is Robby Keene's former bully in juvenile detention. But he and Robby end up parting ways on good terms with a new-found respect towards each other. Shawn was sentenced for attacking a former friend to defend his younger brother, Kenny.
Biography
Early Life
Shawn was born to a US Army Soldier and an unnamed mother. He has a younger brother named Kenny who is very different from him. He likely was a street fighter for most of his life. The reason he was sentenced to Juvenile Detention at SJDC was for defending his little brother from being attacked by a former friend of his that was stealing money from his family, it is possible that Juvenile Detention made him a bully.
Cobra Kai
Season 3
In Now You're Gonna Pay, Shawn first appears and taunts a cellmate about the cellmate's mother sending him empanadas, a Spanish food and taunts him about the word 'Empanadas' overall. He tells the cellmate to move from a table he was sitting at and when the cellmate ignores him, he gets tempered and smacks the cellmate's head on the table causing him to bleed. Robby checks if the cellmate is ok, eyeing Shawn, who asks what he's looking at.
Shawn appears again with his gang and he notices Robby watching the TV on the fundraising for Miguel's surgery and Samantha presenting in it. Shawn approaches him and asks Robby if that is his girl. Shawn taunts him about Sam having a taste of 'horchata' (referring to Miguel), and Vanilla (referring to Robby) not being her type anymore which causes Robby to snap at him and tells him to shut up and leave him alone. Shawn then gets angry and makes fun of Robby by declaring that he wants to 'throw down'. He then challenges him to fight. Robby tells him that his karate is for self-defense, to which Shawn replies 'Well, let's see how that works out.'
Shawn throws the first few punches and Robby blocks them. One of his goons tries to attack Robby but he kicks the goon and blocks repeated punches from Shawn. Robby grabs Shawn's hands and kicks him in the stomach, but one of the goons slams him on the table and punches him in his stomach, the other goon kicks him and Shawn then grabs Robby and puts him in a tough headlock and punches him repeatedly in his ribs, shoving his head against the metal locker throwing him across the floor. He stomps on and kicks him repeatedly with his goons until the prison announces a lockdown and for the inmates to get back to their cells. Robby seethes in pain after being punched again.
The following night, which is Robby's first night in the prison, Shawn and the same goons that beat him up wait for him. Shawn takes his pillow and calls him a 'soft ass bitch' and walks back to his bunk with the goons. Another day when the SJDC Juveniles have to do Community Service at the Homeless Food Bank and have to cook for them, Shawn witnesses Johnny sneaking in, pretending to be a homeless man just to see Robby after the failed visitation the previous day. After Johnny makes a reference of Robby putting Miguel in the hospital, Robby grabs the soup tray but Johnny goes a step further and grabs his arm, causing Robby to spill the soup which causes a huge scene and catches the attention of Shawn and his friends who laugh at Robby and Johnny. The following night, Shawn and his other gang of goons wait for Robby, he taunts him and says that his father hates him and his girlfriend (Sam) left him, and that he's got no one, which deeply upsets Robby and reminds him of the betrayals he's experienced. Shawn then vandalizes Robby's bed, takes his bedsheets and tears the pages of his book. An officer arrives and orders Payne and his gang to go back to their bunks after witnessing Shawn and his gang bullying Robby. Shawn makes a lieutenant wave to the guard and Robby.
Another day, Robby goes on the computers to email Sam and attempts to tell her he's having a hard time in juvie but Shawn switches his computer off and unplugs it, telling Robby that he hopes he didn't lose anything important. This causes Robby to get up and tell Shawn to leave him alone, but Shawn insists that will never happen and warns him that he will be looking over his shoulder constantly. Their confrontation is interrupted by a guard who orders everyone to go back to their bunks. Robby walks away but Shawn simply believes he got lucky. Robby looks back, but walks away. Shawn laughs at a guard on the way out.
Later, Robby goes inside the evening recreation room where Shawn makes a fake friendly gesture to him and says, "What's up?" to which Robby doesn't respond. Shawn and his goons laugh with his back turned and belittles Robby and shakes his friend's hand. Robby hears this, sprinting towards the gang. Now applying Kreese's Cobra Kai lessons, he strikes first by kicking Shawn in the face, causing Shawn's two goons to attack him, only to be beaten easily by Robby. Shawn gets up and attacks Robby, and the two have a drawn-out fight.
At one point, Robby does a wall run when Shawn tries to ram his head into the wall, causing Shawn to hit his own head on the wall instead. At another point, Robby does a wall jump kick to Shawn's face. The fight later moves to the hallway and attracts the attention of the fellow juveniles, who cheer Robby for fighting the biggest juvie bully. Having most of the upper hand, Robby takes Shawn down, and lands a punch to his face, but the fight is broken up by two guards, who separate them and pin them down roughly. Shawn makes a loud, intimidating noise to scare Robby, but Robby laughs him off.
After they are seen by the warden, Robby asks Shawn why he didn't talk, to which Shawn says he is not a snitch; Robby replies that he isn't either, and Shawn nods, knowing that snitching on Robby for instigating the fight could land Robby in serious trouble. Shawn and Robby part with mutual respect; with that, Shawn leaves him alone from that point. Shawn isn't seen after this, as he leaves Robby alone and presumably talks with his friends.
Season 4
While Shawn was supposed to end his sentence and get out the next summer, he was given an extra month after spitting in a guard's face. Shawn receives a visit in juvie by his younger brother Kenny, who is being bullied at school. He references that one of his bullies knows karate, which makes Shawn laugh. He tells Kenny that he knows just the person he should see - Robby Keene.
Season 6
Once Robby attempts to rekindle his relationship with Kenny at Golf N' Stuff, Shawn gets in the way of Robby, revealing that he has been released, after he attempts to convince Kenny to join Miyagi-Do Karate to show him a better way alternative to what Silver taught him. Upset that Robby brought Kenny into Cobra Kai and left him there, he tells Robby to leave Kenny alone, despite Robby's explanations that he was trying to make it up to him. Shawn then goes on to tell Robby that he had his chance with Kenny, and if he didn't leave, they were going to have issues with one another. Afterward, the brothers walk away from Robby.
While in the batting cages, a persistent Robby again attempts to talk to Kenny, and Shawn again angrily tells Robby to stay away from them. Robby attempts to explain that if Kenny continues to hold the merciless teachings from Cobra Kai, it will end up backfiring on him and that Kenny will end up in juvie. Shawn rebukes this by saying that it isn't for Robby to worry about. Robby continues to protest, and Shawn's impatience reaches a climax, eith him angrily pushing Robby. Robby tells him that he does not wish to fight Shawn and he refuses to throw the first strike. Kenny attempts to persuade Shawn to just leave, but Shawn ignores this. Shawn then goes on to attempt to punch Robby, which Robby dodges, and punches Shawn in the stomach simultaneously.
Kenny attempts to strike Robby, with Robby easily blocking his attack and knocking him down. Shawn throws more punches at Robby, with Robby dodging and blocking all of them. He then grabs Robby and throws him against the fence. Before Shawn can get to Robby to fight him more, Miguel Diaz comes in and delivers a sweep to Shawn's legs, knocking him down. Kenny then gets up and attempts to attack Miguel, with Miguel easily blocking all of his attacks. After Kenny is knocked down again by Miguel, he attempts to grab a bat from the ground, but is prevented from doing so by Tory Nichols, who steps on it. Kenny angrily tells Tory to get out of his way, but Samantha LaRusso also intervenes and tries to convince him to join Miyagi-Do, but he still refuses. Kenny attempts to walk away but Tory and Sam block his path. Shawn also attempts to fight Robby and Miguel, but gets his fist caught in the fence while doing so. After Shawn sees Kenny fighting with Tory and Sam, he ceases the fight, and tells Kenny to stop. Kenny is insistent on not leaving, but Shawn alerts him that security is on their way, so they both leave Golf N' Stuff.
While Kenny is letting out his rage by punching his bag, Shawn compliments him about his prowess in karate but reminds him that he couldn't get past Tory and Sam. Kenny responds to this by saying that those girls - along with Robby and Miguel - are “assholes”. Shawn rebuts this statement by saying that despite them having several opportunities to land hits, they chose not to. He also tells him that Miyagi-Do is the right dojo for him and that he should give Robby another chance. When Kenny reminds him of Cobra Kai’s philosophy, he says that it is not true and reminds him that if he is still corrupted, he will end up in juvenile hall like him and Robby, causing Kenny to realize Shawn is right.
Personality
Shawn is a dangerous bully that hurts people and is not forgiving to anyone. When Robby had asked him to leave him alone, Shawn told him he messed with the wrong person and he will always look over his shoulder. He does not care how severe the person is hurt, such as how he bruised Robby's eye on the side by shoving him against the metal locker. Shawn is an aggressive, hot-headed, tempered brawler that; targets vulnerable juvenile offenders such as hurting an innocent kid who was silent and minding his own business by playing cards and then later targeting Robby who he thought as a vulnerable newbie. But he is surprised by when Robby strikes first and becomes aggressive.
Following Shawn and Robby's fight, they both tell each other they are not snitches with Shawn giving Robby a nod of approval and respect, as he realizes Robby is being honest. Overall, Shawn seems to find himself to be better than people who cannot defend themselves from him, therefore proving that he is a very arrogant individual.
Shawn also seems to be fascinated by the words and names of Spanish foods and beverages, such as "Empanadas" (who he had referred to another juvie inmate, who he was bullying). He is also fascinated by the word "Horchata" who he had referred to Miguel Diaz when taunting Robby in their first confrontation about Sam having a thing for Miguel, who he had referred to as, and he seems to refer to people as beverage flavors, such as saying that "Vanilla" (Robby) is not Sam's taste anymore and calling Robby the flavor vanilla.
When Kenny tells him about how he is being bullied and Anthony LaRusso knowing karate, Shawn shows his new-found respect for Robby when he talks to his brother about karate lessons.
It's revealed that Shawn possesses a deep sense of familial loyalty, as he had attacked a former friend who was stealing money from his family to defend his little brother, who his former friend had tried to attack after being discovered.
Despite Shawn's aggressive personality, he has a soft side towards Robby and Miguel. He told Kenny that their dojo was the best for him because Kenny's corruption was a result of Cobra Kai's "no mercy" philosophy, that the look in Kenny's eyes was the same one which landed Shawn in juvenile hall, and Shawn did not want Kenny ending up there.
Fighting Style
Shawn appears to have no formal training, but he is a tough, ruthless and an experienced brawler. He usually fights with his friends backing him up, but even alone, he is very formidable. He knows how to use his size and strength, and he can take numerous full power strikes and keep coming. During his final confrontation against Robby, the latter gains the upper hand, but Shawn holds his own, as opposed to his friends, who were defeated easily. Shawn's last fight against Robby is an indication that he is a formidable fighter that will not go down so easily; he can get into common grappling positions and knows how to use his size and strength on the ground.
Utilizing previous knowledge, it can be concluded that Shawn was one of the most dangerous opponents Robby has ever faced, until Axel Kovacevic came into the picture, as Robby himself has even stated that Shawn is the toughest guy in juvie due to their short stint of hatred towards one another. He is also the only person to ever hold his own against Robby for a long period of time even when Robby was not holding back at all. He was also to briefly hold his own well fighting Miguel and Robby. He was also able to throw Robby to the fence with just one arm in Peacetime in the Valley.
Shawn is considered to be one of the strongest teenage fighters in the whole current modern-day Karate Kid (Cobra Kai) universe, and he is above most of the teenage fighters in the whole current modern-day Karate Kid (Cobra Kai) universe. Such as Kenny Payne, Demetri Alexopoulos, Anthony LaRusso, Aisha Robinson, Devon Lee, Chris, Mitch, Bert, Nathaniel, Kyler Park, Brucks, Edwin Caldwell, Big Red, Little Red, Abe, Cara McAllistar, Piper Elswith, Chung-Hee, Min-Seok, Wing, Dre Parker, Cheng, Liang, and Wu Ping.
However, the only teenage fighters that can defeat him are Robby Keene, Miguel Diaz, Axel Kovačević, Eli Moskowitz, Vlad, Kwon Jae-Sung, Yoon Do-Jin, Connor Day, and Li Fong.
Appearances
Season 3
Season 4
- First Learn Stand
- Then Learn Fly (Mentioned)
- Minefields (Mentioned)
- The Fall (Mentioned)
Season 5
- Bad Eggs (Mentioned)
Season 6
- Peacetime in the Valley (his very last appearance on the show)
Trivia
- He has made nine appearances in Cobra Kai; five physical and four through mention.
- He appeared in season 3 more than the proceeding one and none after the latter season.
- He returned in Season 6, the final season of the series.
- However, he returned in the first episode of Season 6 in Part 1 but not Parts 2 or 3.
- As most juvenile detention centers don't allow inmates over the age of 18, and Shawn is Kenny's older brother, that would indicate Shawn is in between 17 and 18 years old.
- Since Shawn didn't return in Parts 2 and 3 of Season 6, this makes Peacetime in the Valley his very last appearance on the show.
