History Characters / TheKarateKidToryNichols

* HairTriggerTemper: Clearly one of her worst traits, Tory's easily provoked into a physical (or verbal) conflict. [[spoiler: Her CharacterDevelopment from season 4 onwards leads her to grow out of this.]]

* InsaneEqualsViolent: Tory does seem to meet most of the criteria for [[UsefulNotes/PersonalityDisorders Borderline Personality Disorder]] and her aggressiveness and obsessive behavior has led to a few characters to believe that she is rather unhinged, which she takes '''real''' personally. Her violence, however, comes more from her unforgiving situation and that no one is looking out for her aside from Kreese, who ''encourages'' her volatile tendencies. [[spoiler: Notably, when [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Amanda]] [[NiceGirl [=LaRusso=]]] gets involved in Tory's life, her positive influence, coupled with setting Tory up with a good therapist, soon helps the latter improve her psychological and emotional health.]]

* {{Yandere}}: In the Season 2 finale, she calls out Sam to a vicious fight after seeing her sharing a kiss with Miguel at a party. Even after Miguel breaks up with her out of anger towards her unstable personality, she still has a sense of entitlement towards him, to the point [[spoiler:of taking a gang of students to assault Sam and her Miyagi-Do peers in the [=LaRusso=] house because she and Miguel worked together to save the All-Valley tournament, without solid proof they're romantically involved.]]

* CallBack: She introduces herself as [[MyNaymeIs "Tory with a Y"]], calling back to how Ali introduced herself to Daniel.

* ArchEnemy: To Sam. Tory absolutely hates Sam for not only stealing Miguel away from her, but also having the privileged lifestyle that Tory never had in her lifetime. Whereas Sam on the other hand looks down upon Tory due to her vicious attitude, and actually fears her (for a time being) given Tory started the school fight and put Sam in the hospital (by lacerating her flesh). The rivalry starts to cool down one-sidedly when Tory receives assistance from Amanda in Season 4, [[spoiler:then finally gets put to rest in Season 5 when Sam finally views Tory's terrible home life and hears of how abusively the Cobra Kai senseis have been treating her.]]

* CallBack: She introduces herself as [[SpellMyNameWithAnS "Tory with a Y",]] calling back to how Ali introduced herself to Daniel.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Tory is usually seen in workout gear or tank tops, flannel, hoodies, and stretchy jeans. However, she goes all out for junior prom with a [[NavelDeepNeckline down to here]] and [[LegFocus up to there]] leopard print dress that really puts the double-sided tape to work. It has more than a touch of MsFanservice as Tory deliberately seductively dances with Robby.

** She’s very protective of her little brother Brandon and does her best to care for him once their mother is bedridden. [[spoiler:This is the catalyst for her CharacterDevelopment in season 4, as after learning Brandon will end up in the custody of their EvilAunt if their mother dies, Tory begins shaping up so she'll be eligible to raise him.]]

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/{{Peyton List|1998}}

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: A very realistic version as Tory was sexually extorted by her creepy landlord, who was threatening to blackmail her if she defended herself and might have even met his demands to "pay her rent" if Kreese hadn’t intervened. Tory also stated that she's had to defend herself at work from sleazy costumers. The toll it's taken on her is another contribution to her mental health taking a severe hit.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Tory is usually seen in workout gear or tank tops, flannel, hoodies, and stretchy jeans. However, she goes all out for junior prom with a down to here and up to there leopard print dress that really puts the double-sided tape to work. It has more than a touch of MsFanservice as Tory deliberately seductively dances with Robby.

** [[spoiler: She develops this for Anthony [=LaRusso=] of all people in the Season Five finale, by protecting him while he uploads footage of Silver's bribery onto Cobra Kai's [=YouTube=] channel.]]

* HatesRichPeople: Owing to her impoverished background, Tory has a strong dislike for the affluent for not having had to go through the hardships she did. Sam being an UptownGirl from a rich family influences her initial dislike before their romantic rivalry for Miguel exacerbates matters. Her disillusionment with Cobra Kai later starts when Kreese brings in the uber-rich Terry Silver into the fold, [[spoiler:which is compounded further upon learning he bribed the ref at the All-Valley Tournament. Likewise, her initial refusal to accept Amanda's help, beyond the dented pride she feels being helped by her rival's mother, is rooted in an unwillingness to accept aid from someone wealthy.]]

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the TroubledTeen. She starts off very aggressive, competitive and violent which comes from a troubled home life. She heavily despised the rich and privileged since she had to grow up poor. But when people ''do'' see the situation she's in and actually help her, it softens her personality a lot. These needed domestic changes gave Tory a wake-up call and allowed her to let go of her aggression, making her realize that the people she's surrounded with (ie. Cobra Kai) aren't making her a better person and are rather very toxic and abusive. But she’s in too deep with the wrong crowd, who refuses to let her leave. By halfway through Season 5, her allegiance to Cobra Kai (especially with Silver and Kim) is broken and she tries to take them down with the help of Johnny and Daniel's students.

* BoobsOfSteel: She's one of the more dangerous fighters in the entire show, with only fellow [[TheAce aces]] like Miguel, Robby, and particularly Sam able to give her a hard time. She's also one of the bustiest females in the whole series thus far. Her NavelDeepNeckline prom dress shows that her prominent chest is due in part, as the Analysis for this trope points out, to developing her upper body strength. Compared to Sam being shorter and more slender, it shows their contrast in Tory being UnskilledButStrong and Sam being WeakButSkilled, with Sam winning their fights only when Sam can bring superior technique to bear. When she can't, due to trauma in Season 3 and Tory working hard to close the skill gap in Season 4, Tory has the advantage as the larger, stronger, more powerful fighter.

* DarkChick: Tory is more traditionally feminine than Aisha yet is far more aggressive and quickly becomes a {{foil}} to Sam in Miyagi-Do.

* BeingGoodSucks: Good lord, she rides this straight into TheWoobie territory in Season 5. [[spoiler:She becomes resolved to take down Silver and Cobra Kai for bribing the ref and ruining her tournament victory. To do this, she becomes TheMole at Kreese's request to try and sabotage Cobra Kai from underneath. However, it's quite clear that the girl is absolutely terrified of Silver, and then Sensei Kim, and quickly gets in over her head. On top of that, she loses her relationship with Robby because of her affiliation with Cobra Kai and she can't salvage it without blowing her cover. She agonizes over seeing Devon slowly corrupted by the dojo, Kreese seemingly abandons her when it becomes clear he cannot get out of prison legally (it was a misguided attempt to help her), she deserts a competition against Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang to join Sekai Taikai upon realizing Silver bribed the ref again, and then both Silver and Sensei Kim push her to her literal breaking point by forcing her to shatter a stone dummy with her fists, leaving her right hand in an absolute mess by the end of it. It's only Sam finally forgiving her for all her past transgressions that allows her to break out of this and accomplish her goal but she goes through absolute hell to get here.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: She goaded a hesitant Hawk into breaking Demetri's arm in Season 3, leaving Demetri crying in pain. In Season 5, Sensei Kim forces Tory to break her hand as punishment and leaves Tory on the mat in tears of pain. [[EarnYourHappyEnding Subverted]] due to Tory realizing the kind of person Cobra Kai was turning her into and trying to be a better person.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Tory has the deepest voice of the recurring female characters by a pretty wide margin and is also by far the most lethal.

* EvilSoundsDeep: To emphasize how she's Sam's DarkerAndEdgier [[EvilCounterpart counterpart,]] compare her [[ContraltoOfDanger husky voice]] to Sam's pitchy baby voice.

** [[spoiler: She develops this for Anthony LaRusso of all people in the Season Five finale, by protecting him while he uploads footage of Silver's bribery onto Cobra Kai's YouTube channel.]]

* HatesRichPeople: Owing to her impoverished background, Tory has a strong dislike for the affluent for not having had to go through the hardships she did. Sam being an UptownGirl from a rich family influences her initial dislike before their romantic rivalry for Miguel exacerbates things. Additionally, her disillusionment with Cobra Kai begins when Kreese brings in the uber-rich Terry Silver into the fold. [[spoiler:Likewise, her initial refusal to accept Amanda's help, beyond the dented pride she feels being helped by her rival's mother, is rooted in an unwillingness to accept aid from somebody wealthy.]]

** [[spoiler: She develops this for Anthony LaRusso of all people in the Season Five finale by protecting him while he uploads footage of Silver's bribery onto Cobra kai YouTube channel.]]

* FatalFlaw: Resentment, which you'll find here nestled neatly halfway between {{Wrath}} and {{Envy}}.