History Characters / TheKarateKidMiguelDiaz

* TheKirk: To Hawk's [[TheMcCoy McCoy]] and Demetri's [[TheSpock Spock]]. He knows Johnny well enough to take and leave his life advice so he doesn't use karate as a first resort when confronted with problems like Hawk (who took Johnny's flip the script to heart), but it's not Miguel's last resort like Demetri (who learned at Miyagi-Do because he couldn't take Johnny's "strike first" approach seriously).

* TheAce: Thanks to being Johnny's only student for the first half of Season 1, Miguel became this due to having Johnny's undivided attention. Johnny himself tells Miguel he's his best student when he says Miguel is his best chance at winning the All-Valley tournament. In fact, Miguel never loses a fight when going all out, even if he has to resort to dirty tactics to win. Aisha and Tory got the better of him in their sparring sessions but only after Miguel relented his attacks, and Robby only got the final attack after Miguel showed him mercy instead of breaking his arm in the Season 2 finale school brawl. [[spoiler:Even his fight with Kyler in the final episode of Season 3, which mostly consists of Miguel receiving a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, ends in Miguel winning with a single blow after his HeroicResolve kicks in.]] In Season 4, Demetri mentions Miguel never lost a fair fight.
** Zigzagged through Seasons 3 and 4 as [[spoiler: Miguel's injuries from the school fight that almost left him paralyzed didn’t heal completely. This prevented him from completing his fight with Hawk at the All-Valley and for the rest of the tournament in general in Season 4. It was also during this season his relationship with Johnny was wavering, causing him to start to losing focus and inner peace.]]
** Played straight during Season 5 when [[spoiler:he found closure about his biological father after meeting him, reconciled with Johnny and accepted him as his true father, mended his grudge towards Robby, improved his relationship with Sam, and being healed more emotionally and physically.]]

* CoolLoser: Kyler and his gang bullying him and coming from a poor environment are the reasons why he is unpopular. But apart from that, Miguel is good-looking, friendly, proficient in graphic illustration, and has an EncyclopedicKnowledge in certain subjects. He sheds the "loser" aspect after he beats Kyler and his gang in the cafeteria, to the applause of the other students.

* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler:Over the course of Season 2, he is one of the only Cobra Kai students to take Johnny's new thinking to heart and resists Kreese's influence. In stark contrast to Hawk, Miguel becomes less bloodthirsty without becoming softer, going as far as to beat up Hawk to retrieve Mr. Miyagi's stolen Medal of Honor and even showing mercy to Robby after pinning him in the final brawl. Sadly, it is this latter act which lands Miguel in the hospital. But in Season 3, he completely distances himself from his friends in Cobra Kai upon finding what they've been doing under Kreese's leadership. This earns him a second shot at a relationship with Sam, who is happy to see him back to his old self again.]]

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/XoloMariduena

* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler:Over the course of Season 2, he is one of the only Cobra Kai students to take Johnny's new thinking to heart and resists Kreese's influence. In stark contrast to Hawk, Miguel becomes less bloodthirsty without becoming softer, going as far as to beat up Hawk to retrieve Mr. Miyagi's stolen Medal of Honor and even showing mercy to Robby after pinning him in the final brawl. Sadly, it is this latter act which lands Miguel in the hospital.]] But in Season 3, he completely distances himself from his friends in Cobra Kai upon finding what they've been doing under Kreese's leadership. This earns him a second shot at a relationship with Sam, who is happy to see him back to his old self again.

* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler:Over the course of Season 2, he is one of the only Cobra Kai students to take Johnny's new thinking to heart and resists Kreese's influence. In stark contrast to Hawk, Miguel becomes less bloodthirsty without becoming softer, going as far as to beat up Hawk to retrieve Mr. Miyagi's stolen Medal of Honor and even showing mercy to Robby after pinning him in the final brawl. Sadly, it is this latter act which lands Miguel in the hospital.]]

** Subverted with Tory. In Season 2, she shows her kinder side around him, helping him to get over his breakup with Sam and starting out as a seemingly decent girlfriend. But the truth is that Tory is largely only dating him because she wants to make Sam jealous. When Miguel tries to dissuade Tory from following Kreese's teachings, she rejects his advice, and she takes a very violent EntitledToHaveYou attitude towards him when she sees him cheat on her with Sam. When he's subsequently injured during the school brawl, Tory dumps him without a second thought and has no qualms about bringing a gang to assault him and Sam when she finds out they're dating again.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: His most drastic moment of devolution from NiceGuy to the BrokenAce occurs after he gets drunk at the Cobra Kai beach party, gets belligerent towards Sam and Robby when the latter escorts the former there and takes a swing at Robby... [[spoiler:[[EpicFail that promptly misses and hits Sam.]]]]

* TheDreaded: Downplayed but Miguel appears as this to Kenny in Season 5. Every time a confrontation involving Kenny occurs and Miguel shows up, Kenny is always visibly scared at the prospect of fighting him. It is as though among the Cobra Kais that Miguel should not be messed with if he is the only one who can definitively defeat their best student
and leader [[TheAce Robby Keene]] '''AND''' be perhaps the only teenage character that '''[[ArrogantKungFuGuy KYLER]] [[DumbMuscle PARK]]''' actively avoids like the plague.

* MadeOfIron: Miguel can quite a lot of punishment, and suffers a beatdown at least OnceASeason.

** To Robby Kenne. Robby initially resents Miguel for the time and tutelage Johnny gives him but eventually gets over it. Ironically, by this point Miguel has developed a hatred of Robby because he (incorrectly) believes Robby stole Sam from him and Robby is now his mentor's biggest rival's student. However, the rivalry shifts from a petty karate grudge to true enmity after Robby accidentally kicks Miguel off the second floor of the high school in the brawl in the Season 2 finale, as Miguel hates Robby for nearly killing him, while Robby resents Miguel for being seen as a hero despite having escalated a fight Robby was trying to stop, and getting everything Robby wanted: his dad, his championship, his freedom, his girl, his dojo, and the respect of the [=LaRussos=]. By this point, the two can barely be in the same room without coming to blows, and it takes a no-holds-barred blowoff fight and frank discussion of their issues in Season 5 for them to bury the hatchet.

* ArchEnemy: To Robby. Robby initially resents Miguel for the time and tutelage Johnny gives him but eventually gets over it. Ironically, by this point Miguel has developed a hatred of Robby because he (incorrectly) believes Robby stole Sam from him and Robby is now his mentor's biggest rival's student. However, the rivalry shifts from a petty karate grudge to true enmity after Robby accidentally kicks Miguel off the second floor of the high school in the brawl in the Season 2 finale, as Miguel hates Robby for nearly killing him, while Robby resents Miguel for being seen as a hero despite having escalated a fight Robby was trying to stop, and getting everything Robby wanted: his dad, his championship, his freedom, his girl, his dojo, and the respect of the [=LaRussos=]. By this point, the two can barely be in the same room without coming to blows, and it takes a no-holds-barred blowoff fight and frank discussion of their issues in Season 5 for them to bury the hatchet.

** Played straight during Season 5 when [[spoiler:he found closure about his biological father when meeting him, reconciled with Johnny and accepted him as his true father, mended his grudge towards Robby, improved his relationship with Sam, and being healed more emotionally and physically.]]

* ArchEnemy: To Robby. Robby initially resents Miguel for the time and tutelage Johnny gives him but eventually gets over it. Ironically, by this point Miguel has developed a hatred of Robby because he (incorrectly) believes Robby stole Sam from him and Robby is now his mentor's biggest rival's student. However, the rivalry shifts from a petty karate grudge to true emnity after Robby accidentally kicks Miguel off the second floor of the high school in the brawl in the Season 2 finale, as Miguel hates Robby for nearly killing him, while Robby resents Miguel for being seen as a hero despite having escalated a fight Robby was trying to stop, and getting everything Robby wanted: his dad, his championship, his freedom, his girl, his dojo, and the respect of the LaRussos. By this point, the two can barely be in the same room without coming to blows, and it takes a no-holds-barred blowoff fight and frank discussion of their issues in Season 5 for them to bury the hatchet.

* AllForNothing: Miguel spent the final episode of season 4 and the first two episodes of season 5 traveling all the way to Mexico to find his biological father. [[spoiler: He realizes too late that Hector is EvilAllAlong and leaves Mexico in tears. And the real kicker, when Sam calls him out for leaving without telling her, they immediately break up, though ultimately make up and get back together.]]

* TheAce: Thanks to being Johnny's only student for the first half of Season 1 Miguel became this due to having Johnny's undivided attention. Johnny himself tells Miguel he's his best student when he says Miguel is his best chance at winning the All-Valley tournament. In fact, Miguel never loses a fight when going all out, even if he has to resort to dirty tactics to win. Aisha and Tory got the better of him in their sparring sessions but only after Miguel relented his attacks, and Robby only got the final attack after Miguel showed him mercy instead of breaking his arm in the Season 2 finale school brawl. [[spoiler:Even his fight with Kyler in the final episode of Season 3, which mostly consists of Miguel receiving a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, ends in Miguel winning with a single blow after his HeroicResolve kicks in.]] In Season 4 Demetri mentions Miguel never lost a fair fight.
** Zigzagged through Seasons 3 and 4 as [[spoiler: Miguel's injuries from the school fight that almost left him paralyzed didn’t heal completely. This prevented him from completing his fight with Hawk at the All-Valley and for the rest of the tournament in general in Season 4. It was also during this season his relationship with Johnny was wavering and he started to lose focus and inner peace.]]
** Played straight during Season 5 when [[spoiler:he found closure about his biological father when meeting him, reconcilled with Johnny and accepting him as his true father, mending his grudge towards Robby, improved his relationship with Sam, and being healed more emotionally and physically.]]

* AllForNothing: Miguel spent the final episode of season 4 and the first two episodes of season 5 traveling all the way to Mexico to find his biological father. He realizes too late that Hector is EvilAllAlong and left Mexico in tears. And the real kicker, when Sam calls him out for leaving without telling her, they immediately broke up.

* ChickMagnet: The entire school brawl of season 2 happens because Sam and Tory were fighting over him. Note that Sam was dating Robby at that point. In season 5, when Sam decided to go on a break, Miguel barely needs to do anything (aside from a little help from Hawk) to attract a random girl's attention, who starts making out with him. Even in season 1, Sam seemed to be attracted to him and the only reason she decided to not date him initially was because of what Kyler had tried to do to her. Her NotADate with him ends with her [[UnusualEuphemism striking first]] and initiating a BigDamnKiss. Even Tory actually started hitting on him first while he was still trying to win Sam back, [[ObliviousToLove not even noticing the other girl was practically throwing herself on him]].

* CombatPragmatist: Johnny trains him in karate to embrace this, [[JerkassHasAPoint on the fairly strong logic that neither life nor most street fights are fair.]] Miguel ends up getting good enough at this philosophy to defeat the entire bully gang at his school. The dark side of this later shows up, as Miguel is fully willing to use dirty tricks and unsportsmanlike ruthlessness [[spoiler:to defeat Robby in the tournament]], and in spite of Johnny's discouragement of such things, leading to him ironically being more personally ruthless than even Johnny was when he was young.

* CoolLoser: Kyler and his gang bullying him and coming from a poor environment are the reasons why he is unpopular. But apart from that, Miguel is good-looking, friendly, proficient in graphic illustration, and has an EncyclopedicKnowledge in certain subjects. He loses the "loser" aspect after he beats Kyler and his gang in the cafeteria, to the applause of the other students.

** To his arch-rival, Robby Keene. Both were raised by single mothers, but while Miguel's mother is affectionate and [[MyBelovedSmother overprotective]], Robby's is a GoldDigger who neglects him. Miguel is Johnny's surrogate son with whom he has a postive relationship, while Robby is Johnny's biological son who he has failed. Miguel starts out as a NiceGuy who learns karate to defend himself, but ends up going down a dark path thanks to the flaws in Cobra Kai's teachings, while Robby is a troubled delinquent who finds balance in his life thanks to Miyagi-Do. Both end up in terrible circumstances at the beginning of Season 3, but while Miguel forgives Johnny despite his advice to show mercy leading him to be hospitalized and overcomes his paralysis with his sensei's help, Robby [[NeverMyFault blames Daniel]] for him going to juvie and [[spoiler:makes a FaceHeelTurn by joining Cobra Kai under Kreese.]]

** And of course Johnny is at his best when it comes to his relationship with Miguel. He tries to give him good advice, tries to keep him on the right path and does what he can to raise the money for Miguel's family while he's in hospital. Even if he is directly told to Johnny never gives up on him.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: He's on a pretty standard heroic journey in the first half of the first season, one that resembles Daniel's, in fact. But once he successfully defeats his school bullies, he gradually begins to step into their vacated spot, and eventually, his changes in attitude and philosophies lead to him losing Sam as a girlfriend and [[spoiler:violently beating Johnny's son Robby with dirty tactics during the tournament]]. Fortunately, he has yet to demonstrate the sadism that Kyler has or that Johnny had at his age. Eventually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] [[spoiler:as he is against Hawk's stealing of Miyagi's Medal of Honor, trashing the Miyagi-Do dojo, and he decides to offer mercy to Robby after remembering Johnny's lecture at the last second. He then embarks on a RedemptionQuest in the latter half of Season 3.]]

* ChickMagnet: The entire school brawl of season 2 happens because Sam and Tory were fighting over him. Note that Sam was dating Robby at that point. In season 5, when Sam decided to go on a break, Miguel barely needs to do anything (aside from a little help from Hawk) to attract a random girl's attention, who starts making out with him. Even in season 1, Sam seemed to be attracted to him and the only reason she decided to not date him initially was because of what Kyler had tried to do to her. Her NotADate with him ends with her [[UnusualEuphemism striking first]] and initiating a BigDamnKiss. Even Tory actually started hitting on him first while he was still trying to win Sam back [[ObliviousToLove not even noticing the other girl was practically throwing herself on him]].

* CoolLoser: Kyler and his gang bullying him and coming from a poor environment are the reasons why he is unpopular. But apart from that, Miguel is good-looking, is friendly, proficient in graphic illustration and has an encyclopedic knowledge in certain subjects. He loses the "loser" aspect after he beats Kyler and his gang in the cafeteria, to the applause of the other students.

[[Characters/TheKarateKidDanielLaRusso Daniel [=LaRusso=]]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnnyLawrence Johnny Lawrence]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidJohnKreese John Kreese]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidTerrySilver Terry Silver]] | '''Miguel Diaz''' | [[Characters/TheKarateKidRobbyKeene Robby Keene]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidSamanthaLaRusso Samantha LaRusso]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidEliMoskowitz Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidToryNichols Tory Nichols]] | [[Characters/TheKarateKidDemetriAlexopoulos Demetri Alexopoulos]]\\