Miguel Diaz

Template:Charact

> There's no honor in being merciless.
>
> Miguel Diaz to John Kreese, Take a Right

**Miguel "Miguelito" "Miggy" Diaz** is one of the main characters in *Cobra Kai*.

He is Johnny Lawrence's bullied teenage neighbor and Winston Grayson's best friend who convinces the former karate champion to train him. Miguel quickly becomes the top student at the newly reopened Cobra Kai Dojo and is responsible for the influx of students that followed. Miguel's path while under the leadership of Johnny takes many turns, as he falls into the classic Cobra Kai mindset of "*no mercy*".

Despite being briefly corrupted, Miguel is able to correct the error of his ways thanks to Johnny's amendment of the "no mercy" mentality. However, when he does show mercy during an intense fight against Robby Keene, it results in a spinal injury. Miguel is rendered comatose for weeks until he awakes, ready to rebuild his life. Following his recovery, he sides with Johnny against John Kreese and becomes a part of Johnny's new dojo, which eventually merges with Miyagi-Do Karate in order to defeat Cobra Kai.

## Personality

Miguel initially appears as a naïve, good-natured, kind-hearted teenager. He is depicted similarly to Daniel LaRusso in the *Karate Kid* series before the latter joined the Cobra Kai. Miguel becomes much like a hybrid of Johnny and Daniel from the first *Karate Kid* film, and the change of character he goes through is significant. Initially, Miguel will only fight for those he cares about, for example defeating Kyler and his gangs after they insult Sam. He goes from being a nice kid who was incessantly bullied to an aggressive karate champion who makes his former tormentors afraid to be around him. More negative tendancies begin when he is convinced that his girlfriend, Samantha, thinks he's not worthy of meeting her family, or was secretly seeing someone else instead (Robby). Miguel proceeds to show more aggression and less sportsmanlike behavior in the All Valley Tournament. It is suggested that Miguel's transformation from a mild-mannered and pleasant person into a vicious and obsessively competitive individual represents the way that Cobra Kai's "strike first" and "no mercy" rules corrupt innocents and turn them into antisocial bullies.

> We're not all dirtbags.
>
> Miguel Diaz to Robby Keene, Lull

Despite becoming indoctrinated into Cobra Kai's "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy" code in the end of season 1 and during the tournament, he being corrected by Johnny seems to calm Miguel down. He's still a nice kid that respects his sensei and stays loyal to his friends. This is also later shown where he initially rebuffs Kreese's teachings, realizing that's not what Johnny wants them to learn. After discovering that Hawk vandalised the Miyagi-Do dojo and stole Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor, Miguel defeats Hawk in combat, takes the Medal and goes to Sam's house to return it, showing his decency, honor and understaning the value of the Medal, despite his prior actions and Cobra Kai's ruthless mentality. Although initially still interested in getting back together with Sam at the beginning of season 2, Miguel soon meets a new Cobra Kai student named Tory, and the two start dating, and Miguel manages to bring out Tory's softer side. When he and Sam kiss at Monn's party, he knows it is wrong and still shows his loyalty and connection to Tory by worrying about her whereabouts in the ensuing panic when the arrival of police breaks up the party. At the end of the season, Miguel reveals that he adopted Johnny's adapted code of showing mercy in the fight against Robby during the school brawl, but this does not save him from being badly injured.

Miguel blames Johnny for being in his situation (hospitalized and not able to walk), and he feels hopeless about ever walking again. However, with Johnny's encouragement and training, Miguel recovers and is able to walk again. After returning to school, he rekindles his friendship with Sam, and shows disappointment in Winston and Hawk's latest behavior and actions, completely turning his back on Kreese's old methods for Cobra Kai and embracing Johnny's modified teachings. He soon rekindles his relationship with Sam and becomes a part of Johnny's new dojo, as well as learning to reconcile what Johnny has told him with his new understanding of Daniel LaRusso upon meeting him for the first time. During his fight with Kyler at Sam's house, he is losing most of the time due to him not being back to full form, but after remembering Johnny's encouraging words, he gains his confidence back and defeats Kyler, revealing his determination and strength. The seasons ends with Johnny's and Daniel's dojos merging into one, making Miguel a part of Miyagi-Do.

## Fighting Style

 File:MiguelFight.gif

> Yeah, it all happened so fast. Everything just came together. I was blocking. I anticipated. I slithered.
>
> Miguel Diaz to Johnny Lawrence, Counterbalance

After he begins his karate training with Johnny, Miguel develops into a solid all-around fighter. Not as flashy as Eli Moskowitz, Miguel favors simple, effective techniques and combinations. His defensive skills, movement, and timing are excellent; he can wait out an aggressive opponent and pick the right moment for a counter, as seen in his match with Xander Stone. Like any true Cobra, however, he can turn on the offense when he needs to. He is also skilled against multiple opponents, as displayed in his lunchroom fight with Kyler's gang.

When his anger gets the better of him, Miguel fights more aggressively and underhandedly, evidenced during his fights with Robby at the All Valley Tournament and school brawl, though he also knows when to fight a fair fight and show mercy. Miguel has fought underhandedly, evidenced at the All Valley Tournament, where he aggressively attacks Robby's injured shoulder (in a manner not too dissimilar to Johnny Lawrence underhandedly attacking Daniel LaRusso's injured leg in the 1984 All Valley Tournament), and even yanks it in the finals.

Miguel's biggest weakness is letting his guard down, which allows his opponents to attack him by surprise and beat him. After gaining the upper-hand on Tory in their sparing match, he ends up dropping his guard by offering Tory his hand, who uses this opportunity to flip him over and beat him. After seemingly beating Robby in the school brawl, he drops his guard by letting Robby go. However Robby then viciously attacks Miguel, who is unable to defend himself due to dropping his guard, resulting in Robby unintentionally rendering him unconscious and severely injuring his spine.

While Miguel defeated Robby in the All Valley tournament in season 1, their match was basically even despite Robby's injured shoulder putting him at a disadvantage. Miguel resorts to attacking the shoulder to win, indicating that he may not have won if he hadn't fought dirty, and that Robby may have won if he had not been injured. Their fight and the result suggests that Miguel was an inferior and less skilled fighter than Robby. In the school brawl in season 2, however, Miguel successfully pins Robby to the ground without fighting dirty, showing that Miguel is a more skilled fighter than he was in season 1, as well as that he was the better and more skilled fighter than Robby at that time. Arguably, however, Robby was angry and not focused because Miguel said that Sam loves him more than Robby, which is what gave Miguel the upper-hand on him.

Miguel's physical strength has come a long way since he began his training. Near the end of the school brawl, he dented a metal railing when he attempted to kick Robby.

In season 3, he doesn't start training until later on due to his injury in the season 2 finale. When he starts walking and training again, his kicking is weak and he almost hurts himself, due to his legs not being back to full strength. Since his legs are not back to full form, this puts him at a disadvantage in his fight with Kyler, until he regains his confidence, with the latter then allowing him to defeat Kyler.

## Trivia

* Miguel can speak fluent Spanish and English.
* He has an asthmatic condition that requires the use of an inhaler in the early part of season one, though it is implied that training strengthens his lungs and the condition loses severity for him.
* Robby and Miguel have fought each other twice, and both have won once through unethical tactics:
	+ Miguel won by attacking Robby's injured shoulder, which includes him yanking it when the latter attempts to help up him by offering his hand.
	+ Robby won by attacking Miguel and kicking him off the railing after the latter released Robby from a hold and apologized for their skirmish.
* Hawk nicknamed him **El Serpiente** ("the snake") for his first-place victory in the All-Valley tournament.