History Characters / TheKarateKidToryNichols

* EvilIsNotAToy: Her principal character arc in Season 5 is learning this lesson in a horribly painful manner. [[spoiler:With her father figure/previous sensei Kreese behind bars and her love interest Robby leaving Cobra Kai in disgust at what he's become to Kenny during the tournament, Tory is left only with the dojo's ethos stripped down to its basest elements. Her loyalty to Kreese leads her agreeing to function as his mole in Silver's dojo under the impression they'll set things back in order once they regain control, only to learn too late that she's fallen for his manipulations once he bails out on their plans and unknowingly discards her. Once Sensei Kim Da-Eun enters the picture, it gets aggravated further as she's put through physical and psychological torture – similar to and worse to what she herself before inflicted on Sam. In spite of Silver's defeat and reconciling with her friends and enemies by the season's end, she still is a bit strung out by the trauma left behind.]]

* EvilIsNotAToy: Her principal character arc in Season 5 is learning this lesson in a horribly painful manner. [[spoiler:With her father figure/previous sensei Kreese behind bars and her love interest Robby leaving Cobra Kai in disgust at what he's become to Kenny during the tournament, Tory is left only with the dojo's ethos stripped down to its basest elements. It's aggravated further once Sensei Kim Da-Eun enters the picture and puts her through physical and psychological torture, similar to and worse to what she herself before inflicted on Sam. In spite of Silver's defeat and reconciling with her friends and enemies by the season's end, she still is a bit strung out by the trauma left behind.]]

* EvilIsNotAToy: Her principal character arc in Season 5 is learning this lesson in a horribly painful manner. [[spoiler:With her father figure/previous sensei Kreese behind bars and her love interest Robby leaving Cobra Kai in disgust at what he's become to Kenny during the tournament, Tory is left only with the dojo's ethos stripped down to its basest elements.]]

** She also develops this towards Anthony [=LaRusso=] in the Season 5 finale, as she helps protect him so he can upload footage of Silver's match fixing scandal.

* 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. Subverted due to Tory realizing the kind of person Cobra Kai was turning her into and trying to be a better person.

** It is revealed at the end of Season 5 Episode 5 that she was the one who sent Daniel the note that led him to Stingray. Unfortunately Silver catches on to this and gives Daniel a [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Beatdown]] which sends him into a [[HeroicBSOD HeroicBSOD]]. Tory in the next episode feels [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilty]] for what happened.

** It is revealed at the end of Season 5 Episode 5 that she was the one who sent Daniel the note that led him to Stingray. Unfortunately Silver catches on to this and gives Daniel a [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]] which sends him into a [[HeroicBSOD]]. Tory in the next episode feels [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilty]] for what happened.

* 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. Subverted due to Tory realizing the kind of person Cobra Kai was turning her into and trying to be a better person

* 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.

** 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 realizing 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.]]

** She also develops this towards Anthony Larusso in the Season Five Finale as she protects him so he can upload footage of Silver's match fixing scandal.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Tory is usually seen in workout gear or tank tops, 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.

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

* AxCrazy: Her response to Sam kissing her boyfriend is to attack her in school and hit her with a spiked necklace wrapped around her fist. Miguel flat out tells her in Season 3 that she needs some help with her mental health, and given Tory's response, he's not the first one.

* 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 actually softens her personality a lot. These needed domestic changes allowed Tory to let go of her aggression and also make 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 of 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.

** She becomes this for Anthony Larusso in the Season Five Finale as she protects him so he can upload footage of Silver's match fixing scandal.

** [[spoiler:Season 4 finally puts a stop to this in the form of [[{{Irony}} her rival's mother]]. Amanda [=LaRusso=] finds out how hard Tory has had it and decides to help her out and admits she had her own struggles as a teen, which puts Tory on the path to healing. Taken further in Season 5, where Tory is put in a difficult position due to being unable to leave Cobra Kai and trying to bring down Silver. She's ultimately willing to confront Sam of all people regarding her plan and the two, along with the other Miyagi-Fang students, work together to expose Silver.]]

** It winds up being deconstructed in Season 4, making it clear that while her past doesn't excuse her actions, just dismissing her problems outright only leads to more harm than good and Tory does have legitimate reasons for her anger and having fallen in with Cobra Kai as Kreese was one of the few adults to show her sincere compassion and understanding and actually help her out, due to having grown up in similar circumstances. [[spoiler: Amanda taking notice of Tory's issues and providing actual advice and resources to solve them in a constructive manner, as well as showing her genuine concern and kindness which no adult except Kreese ever had, allows her to finally heal and become a better person. Sam is also taken aback when seeing what her circumstances are really like and becomes more understanding]].

** Quite a few of Tory's criticisms of Sam, that Sam often doesn't know how to leave things alone as well as pointing out that Sam has no idea what Tory's life has been like so is no position to judge or dismiss her struggles, are also pretty accurate.

* 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.

** She does genuinely love her mom and younger brother, and works several jobs to ensure they can stick together as a family.
** Amazingly, she becomes this to ''Kreese'' of all people. He sympathises with Tory having to cope with her mother's illness, sorts out her issues with her predatory landlord and confronts Amanda over accidentally getting her fired. But while all of these actions could be dismissed as Kreese simply wanting to secure the loyalty of a talented fighter, he proves that he genuinely cares about Tory in the Season 4 finale [[spoiler:when he learns from his mistakes with Johnny and allows Tory to fight how she wants against Sam rather than [[OrderedToCheat ordering her to cheat]] the way Silver does, finally putting his student's well-being ahead of his ego and desire to win.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Okay, she still has to deal with the very real threat of her mother's terminal illness, but after finally putting aside her grudges and breaking away from the dojo rivalry, and focusing on those she does care about, things finally go well for her after hitting an admittedly difficult bump in the road. She's back in school and can hopefully make a better future for herself and Brandon, she and Robby get back together, she finally buries the hatchet with Sam, and even manages to mend fences with Devon.]]

** [[spoiler:Season 4 finally puts a stop to this in the form of [[{{Irony}} her rival's mother]]. Amanda [=LaRusso=] finds out how hard Tory has had it and decides to help her out, which puts Tory on the path to healing. Taken further in Season 5, where Tory is put in a difficult position due to being unable to leave Cobra Kai and trying to bring down Silver. She's ultimately willing to confront Sam of all people regarding her plan and the two, along with the other Miyagi-Fang students, work together to expose Silver.]]

** It winds up being deconstructed in Season 4, making it clear that while her past doesn't excuse her actions, just dismissing her problems outright only leads to more harm than good and Tory does have legitimate reasons for her anger and having fallen in with Cobra Kai. [[spoiler: Amanda taking notice of Tory's issues and providing actual advice and resources to solve them in a constructive manner, as well as showing her genuine concern and kindness which no adult except Kreese ever had, allows her to finally heal and become a better person. Sam is also taken aback when seeing what her circumstances are really like and becomes more understanding]].

* BlindedByRage: Seems to be a recurring thing with her -- Tory can actually be clairvoyant about resolving her situations in a nonviolent way, but when feeling angry or vengeful, she has a ''bad'' case of tunnel vision on whoever she perceives as the offending party, whether it's Sam for "stealing" Miguel or an inconsiderate customer haranguing her about their waiting order. Her biggest transgressions (both a result of her jealousy of Sam and Miguel's relationship) are when she started the school brawl that got her expelled and put on probation and when she leads an assault on Daniel's house would have undoubtedly have her arrested had Daniel reported it.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: All the more sympathetic when this hits her in season 5 because this stems from her [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished trying to do good in a dojo run by a psychopath]]. [[spoiler: With Sensei Kim watching her every move, Tory [[CorporalPunishment pays heavily]] whenever she strays from the Dojo's creed in order to do something right.]]

** She also has become protective of [[spoiler: Anthony [=LaRusso=] of all people, as Tory defends him alongside Sam and Devon while ensuring he uploads the video incriminating Silver to the rest of Cobra Kai.]]

** Tory starts to let go of this throughout Season 4 and it's virtually gone by Season 5 -- except when Sensei Kim punishes her for skipping out on the Sekai Taikai tryouts by having her punch a stone dummy, poorly disguised as exercise to gauge her resolve. After several attempts to break it, Kim derides Tory for being soft and not truly giving her all, which Tory angrily denies and strikes at Kim herself, this time breaking through the dummy's head after Kim casually sidesteps the attack.

* PetTheDog:
** Despite the fact that Robby put her boyfriend in the hospital, Tory shows him sympathy for his difficult background and goes out of her way to make him feel welcome when he joins Cobra Kai.
** When Kenny joins Cobra Kai, she takes a liking to him and assists Robby with being a mentor to him, even letting Kenny hang out with them outside of class.

* ArchEnemy:
** After Sam drunkenly kisses Miguel at Moon's party, Tory quickly develops a very [[ItsPersonal personal]] hatred towards her. In Season 3, Tory goes out of her way to antagonize Sam during the laser tag fight and later breaks off during Cobra Kai's raid on the [=LaRussos=]' house specifically to terrorize her. 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.]]
** By Season 5, Sensei Kim Da-Eun has eclipsed Sam as Tory's most hated enemy. Kim quickly forms a dislike for Tory upon arrival, skeptical of her commitment and ability to represent Cobra Kai well despite her formidable skills as a fighter. She puts Tory through escalating TrainingFromHell that even surpasses Kreese's own methods, while having none of his affection. Doubting Tory for being American, Kim begins grooming the also Asian Devon as the dojo's new star pupil, while her favoritism derails Tory's attempts to coax Devon out of Cobra Kai. Kim's cruel tutelage heavily incorporates CorporalPunishment, often beating Tory with a stick for not hitting harder and being too "soft". This reaches a head after Tory bails on the Sekai Taikai tryouts, to which Kim responds by making her hit a stone dummy until she shatters it and her hand, simultaneously mocking Tory's love for and break-up with Robby before leaving her alone on the mat in tears of pain. Hurting her in ways Sam couldn't and wouldn't, Kim and Tory's enmity shows Tory just how trivial her grudge against Sam is while also instilling real fear in her.

** After Sam drunkenly kisses Miguel at Moon's party, Tory quickly develops a very [[ItsPersonal personal]] hatred towards her. In Season 3, Tory goes out of her way to antagonize Sam during the laser tag fight and later breaks off [[spoiler:during Cobra Kai's raid on the [=LaRussos=]' house]] specifically to terrorize her. [[spoiler:The rivalry starts to cool down one-sidedly when Tory receives assistance from Amanda in Season 4, then finally 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.]]
** [[spoiler:By Season 5, Sensei Kim Da-Eun has eclipsed Sam as Tory's most hated enemy. Kim quickly forms a dislike for Tory upon arrival, skeptical of her commitment and ability to represent Cobra Kai well despite her formidable skills as a fighter. She puts Tory through escalating TrainingFromHell that even surpasses Kreese's own methods, while having none of his affection. Doubting Tory for being American, Kim begins grooming the also Asian Devon as the dojo's new star pupil, while her favoritism derails Tory's attempts to coax Devon out of Cobra Kai. Kim's cruel tutelage heavily incorporates CorporalPunishment, often beating Tory with a stick for not hitting harder and being too "soft". This reaches a head after Tory bails on the Sekai Taikai tryouts, to which Kim responds by making her hit a stone dummy until she shatters it and her hand, simultaneously mocking Tory's love for and break-up with Robby before leaving her alone on the mat in tears of pain. Hurting her in ways Sam couldn't and wouldn't, Kim and Tory's enmity shows Tory just how trivial her grudge against Sam is while also instilling real fear in her.]]

* DontYouDarePityMe: This is her default response to any perceived charity or kindness from those she dislikes, seeing it as pity and condescension, rejecting any help Amanda tried to offer. She grows out of this in time and becomes more willing to accept help, improving things for her considerably.

** It winds up being deconstructed in Season 4, making it clear that while her past doesn't excuse her actions, just dismissing her problems outright only leads to more harm than good and Tory does have legitimate reasons for her anger and having fallen in with Cobra Kai. [[spoiler: Amanda taking notice of Tory's issues and providing actual advice and resources to solve them in a constructive manner, as well as showing her genuine concern and kindness which no adult except Kreese ever had, allows her to finally heal and become a better person and Sam is taken aback when seeing what her circumstances are really like and becomes more understanding]].

** It winds up being deconstructed in Season 4, making it clear that while her past doesn't excuse her actions, just dismissing her problems outright only leads to more harm than good and Tory does have legitimate reasons for her anger and having fallen in with Cobra Kai. [[spoiler: Amanda taking notice of Tory's issues and providing actual advice and resources to solve them in a constructive manner, as well as showing her genuine concern and kindness which no adult except Kreese ever had, allows her to finally heal and become a better person]].