Characters / The Karate Kid: Johnny Lawrence

The Karate Kid Main Character Index
Daniel LaRusso | Johnny Lawrence | John Kreese | Terry Silver | Miguel Diaz | Robby Keene | Samantha LaRusso | Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz | Tory Nichols | Demetri Alexopoulos | Kyler Park
Dojos and Others
Miyagi-Do and Associates | Cobra Kai and Associates | Eagle Fang and Associates | The LaRusso Family | Other Characters

Johnny Lawrence

"I wasn't always the badass sensei that I am today. Just like a cobra, I had to shed my loser skin to find my true power. And you guys will too."

^{Click here to see him as a teen}
"You couldn't leave me well enough alone, could you little twerp! Nah, you had to push it. And now you're gonna pay."

Played By: William Zabka, Owen D. Stone (1979 flashback), Thomas Parobek (early 1970s flashback)

Appearances: The Karate Kid (1984) | The Karate Kid Part II | Cobra Kai

"My whole life was haunted by one stupid kick. I thought if I could go back in time, do things different, dodge it, block it, my life would be fixed. The kick wasn't the problem. I had to stop focusing on what was behind. Start looking at what was in front of me."

The Badass.

Ali's ex-boyfriend and Cobra Kai's #1 student, who serves as Daniel's rival of the first movie. 34 years after his defeat against Daniel LaRusso, Johnny's life doesn't seem like it could be worse, but that's all about to change now that he's bringing back Cobra Kai, his beloved dojo.

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A-F

• The Ace: As the two-time winner of the 1982 and 1983 All-Valley Karate Tournaments, he was obviously Cobra Kai's #1 student. Seemed to be Daniel's superior in nearly every way but honor. It's more impressive that he's able to surpass his own sensei, Kreese in combat skill 34 years later (even though the latter is at an advanced age). Season 5 further enforces this by showing Johnny not only beat an MMA champion in Mexico, but he defeats Kim Da-Eun's handpicked senseis at Terry Silver's house by himself... despite being both savagely beaten down and still quite drunk (though Mike Barnes helped him finish the last two off).
  • It's not just martial arts he excels at; Johnny is also a very skilled driver and surprisingly adept at infiltration (just look at how many times he got into the high school undetected). He's also proven to be a very good teacher. He's also very Street Smart and can catch a con a mile away (hey, Robby had to get it from somewhere).
  • Subtle, but by Season 5, likely due to living with Carmen, Rosa and Miguel, he seems to have picked up Spanish. He may not speak it fluently, but he can understand it fine, as demonstrated in conversations with Rosa.
• Action Dad: By the time of Cobra Kai, Johnny has a teenage son named Robby. By Season 4, he's all but officially Miguel's stepfather. By Season 5, he has another kid on the way.
• Age-Gap Romance: At 51, Johnny is about 17 years older than Carmen, who is in her mid-30s. She was either an infant or not even born during the events of the original movie.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: On Bobby's advice, Johnny swallows his pride and begs Sid for help paying Miguel's hospital bills.
• The Alcoholic: Johnny apparently kept drinking straight from 1984 to the current day, with it even being clarified that his being so drunk he completely missed Ali's birthday was the reason for their breakup in the original movie. Like smoking, it's Truth in Television that people who start in high school often continue. It's played fairly straightforwardly, with even his students acknowledging that Sensei has alcohol issues.
• All for Nothing: All of Johnny's work towards the next All-Valley across seasons 2-4 end up fruitless. Between his students feuding with Miyagi-Do, his whole relationship with Kreese, losing Cobra Kai, his students turning on him, having to start a new dojo, and (of course) his never ending feud with Daniel, he is unable to pull it together. Ultimately, all of his current students at the time are knocked out of the tournament before the final round of both divisions. In fact, in an ironic twist of fate, the winners of the boys' and girls' divisions turn out to be one of his students who left for Miyagi-Do, and one of his former students who was Kreese's student for way longer respectively. Even worse, some of his actions near the end of the season only served to alienate Miguel from him. That being said, he does end up repairing his relationship with his son, Robby, which gets better by Season 5.
• The Alleged Car: Further reinforcing his Disco Dan attitudes, Johnny's car has clearly seen better days. To be fair though, the 1991 Pontiac Firebird was a pretty sweet car in its day; a fun street racer known for its speed, handling, cornering, and engine power while also being affordable. It's not hard to see why Johnny is so attached to it.
• Amicable Exes:
  • Johnny reconnects with Ali in Season 3 and despite learning that she was separating from her husband, he chooses not to try and pursue her again and Ali, in turn, encourages Johnny to find his future with Carmen.
  • He and Shannon seem to be becoming this in Season 3, though anything would seem more amicable compared to the way they were before. They fully become this by Season 5; although they do not get back together, they now share equal custody of Robby and Shannon is genuinely happy for Johnny when she learned he's expecting a child with Carmen, even helping him get started with gig-working.
• Animal Motif: Eagles. Eagles are known to symbolize courage, strength, and honor, traits that have been consistent with Johnny even when he is at his most brutish and uncouth. Johnny also watches Iron Eagle religiously and later christens his new karate doctrine as "Eagle Fang".
• Anti-Hero Substitute: He's like Miyagi in that he mentors young people... but he's also a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • He confronts and questions Hawk and Miguel their reasons for using underhanded tactics during the All-Valley Tournament. The two students can only glance at each other, confused, in response.
    Johnny: Hawk. Did you attack your opponent when his back was turned?
    Hawk: [hesitantly] ... Yes, Sensei?
    Johnny: Diaz. Did you purposely attack your opponent's injury?
    Miguel: [confidently] Yes, Sensei.
    Johnny: Think that makes you badass?
    [Miguel and Hawk glance at each other in silence]
    Johnny: What's the matter, too tough a question? Maybe you need some help.
  • Johnny voices his disapproval over Miguel finishing off a helpless Hawk during the "Red vs. Black" battle at Coyote Creek while also questioning whether or not he wants to revolve his life around Kreese's "no mercy" ideology.
    Johnny: What was that? That's not how I taught you to fight.
    Miguel: That's what Sensei Kreese taught us. This isn't a tournament, this is real life.
    Johnny: Is that how you want to live your life?
• Arch-Enemy:
  • To Daniel in The Karate Kid (1984), being his bully and main rival leading up to the 1984 All-Valley. His jealousy of Daniel charming Ali away from him is why Daniel decides to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi, ultimately leading up to Johnny's defeat and eventual downfall. When Cobra Kai comes around, Johnny (in his 50s) still harbors resentment towards Daniel, now that the latter has lived up to his All-Valley success by having the rich lifestyle that Johnny himself couldn't maintain after his loss. Their animosity eventually becomes mutually re-ignited when Johnny triggers Daniel's bad memories by re-opening Cobra Kai and Daniel himself re-opens Miyagi-Do in response — to the point where it leads to catastrophic results coming from their students by the end of Season 2. While they continue to clash in karate philosophies despite having positive moments together, they finally come to an accord for good in Season 4 and 5 — especially when they have a mutual enemy like Kreese and Silver to deal with.
  • However, no one elicits more hatred from Johnny than his Evil Mentor, Kreese, who easily surpasses Daniel as Johnny's worst enemy. Case-in-point, the man was arguably responsible for his downfall after nearly choking him to death for losing in the All-Valley — resulting in Johnny himself losing all respect for his sensei and seeing the match in a different perspective. Johnny clearly wants to steer Cobra Kai away from Kreese's influence after seeing what it did in his life, but this becomes more personal when Kreese himself reappears in Johnny's life and seizes the dojo from him after getting on to Johnny's good graces as his co-sensei by pretending to be a changed man for the better. Johnny has fought against Kreese multiple times throughout the series, even proving himself to be the better fighter, but ultimately losing — either because he was showing a little too much mercy in their first bout, or that he was distracted while he was tending to Robby in their second bout.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: As a kid but even at his worst, he was far less so than Kreese or Silver.
• Ascended Extra: He goes from the franchise's one-off Starter Villain to one of the main protagonists in Cobra Kai, sharing the spotlight with Daniel LaRusso.
• The Atoner: At the end of Season 3, understanding he screwed up big time by resurrecting Cobra Kai and giving Kreese the opportunity to corrupt a new generation of teenagers, he merges his dojo with Daniel's so their students can win the All-Valley and get rid of the two for good.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After Johnny has spent most of the series tormented about his failure to be a good dad to Robby, the Season 4 finale finally has Robby needing comfort and Johnny able to provide it, without anyone or anything else getting in the way.
• Bash Brothers:
  • Johnny and Daniel's search for Robby during Season 3 leads them to a confrontation with a gang of carjackers in an abandoned chop shop. Despite having the numbers and using weapons (chains, pipes, and automobile tools), the two former All-Valley karate champs make quick work of the criminals and even perform a few sync moves and combos with one another.
  • The Season 5 trailer shows him and Chozen taking on Cobra Kai members together.
• Beauty Is Bad: A more conventionally handsome kid than Daniel, yet a bully. Downplayed in Cobra Kai, when Johnny is still pretty good-looking for a man in his 50's, but has mostly outgrown the bullying ways he exhibited as a teen.
• Berserk Button:
  • Anything to do with Daniel LaRusso serves as this, even before Cobra-Kai makes a comeback.
  • Damaging his car is even worse than pushing any of his other buttons as it'll drive him into a rage.
  • And using dirty tricks and cheap shots to win a competition? He might let it slide that day, but there will be hell to pay in the morning.
  • Hurting, or even making mention of bringing pain towards Miguel and his family (and even Robby as well). Kreese's attempts to gaslight him simply stop working because he continues to bring up Miguel.
  • This also extends to his allies being brainwashed or hurt, especially when he sees Devon training with the Cobra Kais, and him threatening to kill Silver after he finds out the latter seemingly kills Chozen with a deep slash.
• Big "SHUT UP!": His preference is a loud, abrupt "QUIET!" that works every single time he uses it.
• Book Dumb: Johnny must've forgotten a lot of things from his school years, such as mongooses existing, or he never bothered learning that stuff anyway.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Johnny clearly wants to do this, but it's not an easy thing to do. With an absent father, a distant, cruel stepfather and Kreese as a father figure, he's had nothing but bad examples. He wants to be a good father to Robby, and sees Miguel as a surrogate son, but constantly muddles through by trial and error, clearly not understanding the best way to be nurturing and supporting, and his lifetime of bad habits and poor coping mechanisms frequently cause him problems. To his credit, he never gives up trying, even while recognizing his own flaws.
• Breakout Character: No doubt the most popular of the Cobra Kai students. Enough to even star in a series that is a Distant Sequel to the film series.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Spends the first episode undergoing this. He is fired from his job as a handyman after a misunderstanding with a customer straight out of Not Always Right, he is maced and arrested after trying to stick up for a neighbor who is being beaten up, his stepfather writes him off as a lost cause, his car gets smashed and towed to his old rival Daniel LaRusso's auto shop, and then he learns that Daniel's daughter was involved.
  • Once his backstory is revealed, you can't help but feel bad for Johnny even in the original films. He didn't have a father and was forced to cope with an abusive step-dad. He then joined Cobra Kai to escape his abusive life, and thanks to the friends and respect he'd earned, he regarded Kreese as the only father he's ever had, much like Daniel and Miyagi. You can only imagine how much emotional damage he had to endure after losing the '84 tournament.
• Broken Pedestal: By the end of Season 2, he becomes this for Hawk, Tory, Mitch, and several of the other Cobra Kai students. They blame him for Miguel's hospitalization because Miguel was following his teachings on mercy. That being said, it's clear that the problem is with them, not Johnny, as they are scapegoating him so they don't have to admit to themselves that they did anything wrong. See Rebuilt Pedestal for more.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Is the Brooding Boy to Carmen's Gentle Girl when they become a couple in Season 3.
• Brutal Honesty: If Johnny wants to say something, he will say it regardless of how rude or hurtful it will be. At times this out of love, since he wants to see his students do better from his point of view. However, others have pointed out that this approach can just end up pushing people away and so he makes an effort to lessen his bluntness somewhat.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Alcoholic and crass but he is a great sensei and his lessons work. Kreese points out it's a miracle he could train a bunch of outcasts and nerds into All Valley champion material.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Johnny's last visit to his stepfather's in Season 1 has him return money given to him by the latter, now that Cobra Kai is in a financially stable position. Sid claims his stepson will be back for more... only for him to quip that he no longer needs to rely on his stepfather for financial support, and smugly leaves, while Sid is left speechless.
  Johnny: I never needed your money. It's just the only thing you had to give. Goodbye, Sid.
• Casanova Wannabe: Downplayed. Johnny still seems to think he's a smooth-talking ladykiller, while a lot of women (particularly younger women) tend to disagree.
  Johnny: [trying to sound suave] Hey.
  Jogger: [glares at him and jogs off] Creep.
• Cassandra Truth: In Season 3, he tells Hawk and the other Cobra Kai loyalists that Kreese only sees them as pawns and he doesn't actually give a shit about any of them, only for them to blow him off. By the finale, though, Hawk realizes he's right.
• Character Catchphrase: "Badass" and ("Don't be a") "pussy". Also "QUIET!"
• Char Clone: It's likely a coincidence, but Johnny has so many similarities to Char you have to wonder if it's at all intentional. He's blonde, was the ace rival of Daniel who now acts as a mentor to a younger generation of karate students, leads a revived version of the antagonist faction from the original Karate Kid film has some unresolved issues with Daniel over a Love Triangle they were both in, drives a customized vehicle (a Dodge Challenger painted in the Cobra Kai colors) and has a relative among the opposing side (his son Robby). The only things he's lacking are a Cool Mask and a red mobile suit (and a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder).
  • As mentioned, young Johnny was similar to Char, but Johnny has a lot of similarities to Char when Char was Quattro as an adult. Johnny's attempts to be a good mentor to Miguel and later others is similar to Char being a mentor to Kamille, both mentors struggling due to their own personal issues. Even at their worst, their students still consider their mentor's input. Once Johnny tries to change the mindset of Cobra Kai, Kreese comes back and tries to get Johnny to bring back the old Cobra Kai, and Daniel takes a lot of convincing to see Johnny is changing for the better. This is similar to how people wouldn't let Char just be this new person Quattro, or improve in any positive way. Daniel's struggling to immediately accept Johnny and Johnny not helping issues by being a bit of a hypocrite is also similar to how Char essentially told Amuro to "get over it". Quattro's big speech about taking in Katz and then abandoning him fits Johnny's earlier teachings as a sensei, where he somewhat ignored some students and focused a lot on Miguel. Johnny and Quattro/Char, even at their lowest as mentors, have good intentions but tend to flub when it counts. This is where they differ, however, the WHY they have an issue with empathy. Johnny has a lot of trauma and spent a lot of time isolating himself, he is capable of great empathy but it took a while for his gruff exterior to let that show. Quattro/Char, meanwhile, is a sociopath trying to do his best to empathize with others, and can at best explain why they're feeling the way they do but not caring or even being able to give feedback that feels appropriate to the situation. Miguel and Kamille both call their mentors out on this, and while it leads to character development for both, Quattro's is about how he's frustrated because he just doesn't understand. If one considers Zeon to be the Cobra Kai to an Earth Federation Miyagi-Do, when Johnny becomes disillusioned with Cobra Kai and doesn't want to be part of Miyagi-Do, Eagle Fang is his Neo-Zeon or AEUG. Unlike Neo-Zeon and more like AEUG, Eagle Fang is however not an evil group and focuses on Johnny's newfound perspective on both himself and some of Cobra Kai's teachings, focusing on being badass.
• Character Development: Johnny entire arc is about reconciling with the past and learning to live for the present. Restarting Cobra Kai sets him on a path of a having a real and fulfilling career, building new relationships, atoning for past mistakes, and finding inner peace and closure. After regarding Ali as The One That Got Away in the years since the original film and the first two seasons, Johnny reconnects with her in Season 3 and realizes that, as great as their relationship was, it was in the past and what he really needed was closure. Thus, he departs with her as Amicable Exes and chooses to pursue Carmen instead. In Season 5, despite losing his ability to be a Sensei and Cobra Kai taking over the Valley, it's quite clear that Johnny is at peace with himself more than ever. He's able to completely mend the bond he has with Robby, retrieve Miguel from Mexico, and have a very loving relationship with Carmen, with a baby on the way to boot. He's even able to get Miguel and Robby to finally bury their own long-standing hatred, while also going the entire season keeping his friendship with Daniel without having their typical Once a Season blowup. It's telling that he doesn't even enter the massive conflict during the season until halfway through. He does have a drunken rage moment as per usual, but one could argue it was goaded out by both Chozen and Mike's own drunken rage moments.
• Combat Pragmatist: His philosophy, which he passes on to his students, is that when you find yourself in a real fight you should do everything and anything to win. When he takes on Silver's Elite Mooks in the Season 5 finale, he uses tactics like kicking his opponent in the groin and smashing glasses on them in addition to his karate training to defeat them.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Johnny believes that it was dinosaurs that built the pyramids, as he commented "I knew it" after finding a fake news website with "proof" of it while surfing the web for the first time.
• Cool Car: Johnny's 3rd generation Pontiac Firebird was a pretty sweet whip for its time, being relatively affordable and capable of some high performance riding. After it's destroyed, Johnny chooses a more conventionally stylish and modern '09 Dodge Challenger from one of Daniel's trade-ins. Season 2 has him give it an exceptionally badass matte black and gold, Cobra Kai-themed paint job. Even his Dodge Grand Caravan with its absurd Eagle Fang graphics can count for a taste in "cool."
• Cutting the Knot: Fitting the nature of Cobra Kai and his own attitude, Johnny tends to brute force his way through problems when things don’t work out. When first trying to visit Miguel in ICU disguised as a doctor, he realizes quickly that it won’t work and beats his head in until he’s injured enough to be admitted. Similarly, after attempts to beg Sid for money for Miguel’s surgery fail, he just snatches one of Sid’s art pieces to pawn off.
• Dare to Be Badass: The ethos of Cobra Kai, and later Eagle Fang; Johnny's goal is to help kids who are unconfident, lost, or weak into becoming badass, gaining outer and inner strength in the process. While this philosophy unintentionally turns them into the violent thugs he and his friends once were, he later makes efforts to instill the philosophy of strength and awesomeness without resorting to bullying others.
  Johnny: You see that? It doesn't matter if you're a loser, or a nerd, or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass!
• Decoy Protagonist: At the start of the series' premiere, Johnny is unquestionably the main character, as it centers around him struggling to adjust to life after his 1984 All-Valley defeat, to finding new purpose by training Miguel and reopening the titular Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel is introduced in that same episode, but he's portrayed mainly as a Foil to Johnny and an opposing force to the show's main subject (Cobra Kai gaining relevancy as a haven for bullied students to learn karate). Things gets a little complicated when Daniel's Miyagi-Do becomes more and more prevalent to the series — effectively having Daniel share the spotlight with Johnny. However, after Kreese usurps Cobra Kai from Johnny and Johnny aligns more with Miyagi-Do, Daniel become more and more the central character of the show — which reaches its peak when he's the one finishing off Terry Silver in Season 5.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed. After losing to Daniel, he shows sportsmanship by personally handing his rival the trophy and tells him, "You're alright LaRusso, great match." He seems grateful after Mr. Miyagi saves him from Kreese, and Ali confirms that after the tournament, the two left each other alone for the rest of their time at school. However, Cobra Kai shows that there's still some bad blood between him and Daniel, although it's mostly on Johnny's end (at first) as Daniel greets him like an old friend when he sees him at the dealership.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: While he initially tries to impersonate a doctor to see Miguel, that plan is abandoned when someone sees right thorugh his disguise in the restroom. He instead headbutts a paper towel dispenser to try and fake an injury to get himself into the ICU. As it turns out, though, Johnny actually had a lot more injuries that did merit ICU examination.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • By the end of Season 2, Miguel is hospitalized, Carmen blames him for Miguel's injuries and never wants to see him again, and he's lost his dojo and his students to John Kreese, leaving him all alone and with nothing else to do but to drown his sorrows in alcohol by the beachside. However, things are looking up for him in the next season.
  • Similarly, at the end of season 4 his dojo is hanging by a thread, Cobra Kai is poised to take over the valley, and Miguel runs away to try and track down his birth father. The only thing keeping him from falling completely in despair is Robby showing up and the two reconciling.
• Determinator: When he's committed or inspired, Johnny doesn't let anything keep him down. His revival of Cobra Kai and getting Miguel to walk again are just two examples that Johnny has achieved largely due to his own perseverance. It's in fact one of his life's virtues, which he best gets across when he visit Miguel again following his surgery.
  Johnny: 'Never', 'can't', those are just words, they're meaningless! It's time for you to get out of that bed and do something. You're not a kid anymore. The world isn't just gonna hand it to you. You want something, you're gonna have to crawl across the floor. Use your damn teeth if you have to!
• Dirty Coward: Defied. The day after the All-Valley Tournament, he lectures his entire dojo on what Cobra Kai really stands for, and has zero tolerance whatsoever for using underhanded tactics (which he dismissively labels "pussy moves") to defeat opponents unable to fight back.
  Johnny: Cobra Kai is about being badass. And the baddest badass is the one who beats his opponent when he's at his strongest. Not when his back is turned. Not when he's injured. That means no more cheating. No more fighting dirty. From here on out, those are pussy moves, and you don't wanna be pussies, do ya?
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Johnny says he never knew his real dad (and apparently never discussed it with Laura). Sid makes a couple of remarks to the effect of "at least I stuck around." It's later revealed in Season 4 that wasn't entirely the case. Johnny's dad left when he was in kindergarten, with a young Johnny keeping a box of his things, including a period-accurate Coors beer can. Johnny does imply to Miguel that he could track him down, but that's all the information we get.
  • Played with for Robby. Johnny's something of an estranged Generation Xerox case, despite having his son's picture on the fridge and keeping his drawings, but at least Robby and Shannon know where to find him. See My Greatest Failure.
• Disco Dan:
  • Johnny is stuck in an 80s stasis and still drives an old Pontiac Firebird, listens only to "hair metal" bands, prints flyers for his dojo in the same style as the original Cobra Kai, and watches ultra-80s classic Iron Eagle as his go-to movie of choice.
  • The comic spin-off has a Running Gag of Johnny trying to use an 80s based metaphor to explain something or motivate his students, only for it to flop due to them being unaware of the context.
  • He also shows a distressing ignorance of social media, seemingly preferring to use a flip phone and doesn't have a Facebook profile (not extremely unusual by itself, but he also doesn't even know what it is until Daniel shows him).
    Johnny: What's a Facebook?
    Daniel: Wow. Really, Johnny?
    • Although he ended up getting a old Windows laptop and later upgrading to a smartphone (until he throws it out in rage at the beach in S2 finale, although he ended up getting another smartphone in S5) and also creating a Facebook account for the first time.
  • Overall, while major life-events have clearly occurred for him (having a son) it’s clear that The '80s are a familiar bubble he is unwilling (or perhaps unable) to break out of.
  • In another episode, Johnny has an Erotic Dream about Carmen where she mimics Tawny Kaitain from the music video for "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake.
  • A part of his Character Development is learning to leave his familiar Eighties bubble to live in the present and look to the future.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Like Kreese, Johnny adopts this style for training his own students, before eventually shifting to a bit softer teaching method.
• Drink-Based Characterization: Is rarely seen drinking anything but a Coors Banquet, an inexpensive American beer that matches Johnny's blue-collar lifestyle and Eagleland tendencies to a T. Best shown in "Pulpo" where Daniel, Carmen, and Amanda all order fancier cocktails and he sticks with the Coors, sticking out like a sore thumb. Even at the Christmas party at the Encino Hills club, Johnny seems to be drinking Blue Moon with an orange slice, which is about as formal as beer can be in a fancy social event like this.
• Drives Like Crazy: Johnny's driving makes you wonder if he has any DUIs or suspended licenses on his record. In one scene alone, he drives fast, intentionally runs stop signs, rocks out to music on busy city streets, and the fact his car smells like beer implies he may have driven drunk or at the very least had an open can of beer in the car which is still illegal.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Comes with being The Alcoholic. You can pretty much expect any time a situation involves Robby, he’ll be doing this. Some notable moments include the aftermath after bringing an injured Miguel back to his angered mother, Johnny's reaction to his son being a student of Daniel, and the last moment of Season 1. His worst comes in Season 2 after he's unable to locate Robby and finds out the boy is living with the LaRussos. Carmen has to help him inside and get him sobered up. Happens again in Season 4 after Terry Silver lures him to the old Cobra Kai building and kicks the shit out of him there. Miguel later finds him at his apartment on the floor, completely plastered and surrounded by beer cans, having even pissed himself.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: An undercurrent of Johnny's resentment towards Daniel comes down to the fact that Johnny's entire legacy in Karate ultimately got defined by his narrow defeat at the hand of Daniel. It didn't matter that he was a former Two-Time champion himself, Cobra Kai became known as thugs and cheaters and since Johnny was effectively The Face of the dojo, his previous accomplishments got downplayed. Daniel finally tried to make right by this at the tail end of Season 4 by having Johnny publicly recognized as a Two-Time Champion as well.
• Dumb Blonde: He's a reckless manchild who's ignorant to modern times and believes karate is American, a mongoose is not an animal and eagles have fangs. He can still be pretty sharp when he needs to, though.
• Eagleland: A mild Type B, being crude and boorish, but still a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Besides being an 80s Disco Dan, Johnny near-exclusively drinks Coors brews, drives American muscle cars, and assumed Miguel's family were illegal immigrants. It extends to his practice of karate, which he thinks of as American and superior to "foreign" arts like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo. Though he occasionally falls into type A as he instills positive American qualities in his students like personal empowerment, anti-victimhood, standing up for yourself, confidence, persistence, and passion. This is symbolized by the American flag on his wall in the Cobra Kai dojo.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Well... sorta. He does end up in Silver's crosshairs after joining Daniel and Chozen's campaign against him, but Season 5 shows a man who's fully healed from his downward spiral as he is introduced in Season 1. He's maintained a loving relationship with Carmen (with a baby on the way), fully repaired the damages he had with both Robby and Miguel (even better, end the rivalry between the two boys), moved past his rivalry and even formed a camaraderie with Daniel, and even gone as far as to clean his apartment. It's really telling in Season 5's fifth episode when Daniel comes into Johnny's apartment as a hot mess, while Johnny on the other hand has maintained peace and healing in his life. That being said, he still has the Sekai Taikai to deal with, alongside his worst enemy now out of prison.
• Eccentric Mentor: The sheer depth of his Disco Dan tendencies, Book Dumb ignorance, and Testosterone Poisoning, all while drinking enough booze he just qualifies as a Functional Addict, provides a significant amount of comedy to the series, with his students sometimes pulling double duty as the Cloudcuckoolander's Minder... but in spite of all of that, Johnny is a damn good sensei.
• Eskimos Aren't Real:
  • Throws Miguel's inhaler against the wall after he tells him he has asthma, declaring that made up problems such as asthma and peanut allergies and the like don't exist in Cobra Kai.
  • He names his new Karate school Eagle Fang^*due to eagles being able to kill snakes because he believes that mongooses are a fictional animal.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Teenage Johnny's introduction to the series has him leading his crew on motorbikes to a beach party. One of his friends offers him a beer, which he declines and declares his intent on cleaning himself up for his senior year. From this, Johnny is shown to be an adrenaline junkie and social alpha with subtle hints to a Hidden Heart of Gold. When his friend Tommy points out his ex Ali getting friendly with the new kid Daniel, Johnny is visibly vexed and goes to interrupt their socializing, further showing that he's a hot-head who is willing to fight for what's "his".
  • Middle-aged Johnny's first onscreen appearance in the series is him waking up in the morning visibly hungover and takes a sip of some stale beer (he spits out some before finishing the bottle anyway). When Miguel introduces himself as his new neighbor, Johnny nonchalantly assumes him to be an immigrant. Johnny then drives to work in his vintage but shoddy muscle car while listening to 80s hair metal.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • It's hinted in the first film (and outright confirmed in Cobra Kai) that while Johnny is aggressive and competitive, he doesn't like using dirty tactics in tournament fights and prefers fighting fair. When Kreese orders Johnny to target Daniel's wounded knee by performing a leg sweep, Johnny appears shocked that he's being ordered to do something so dishonorable (even though leg sweeping is a perfectly legal move in competitive Karate). Presumably, this is due to the fact he's taking advantage of an injury which Kreese, himself, ordered inflicted. It's also clear from both his actions during and right after the tournament to his dressing down of Miguel and Hawk, as he calls cheap shots "pussy moves". He makes clear to Miguel afterwards that there's a big difference between showing no mercy in a fight and showing no honor outside of it.
  • Since Johnny's trying to be a better person, he doesn't quite qualify for "evil", and either way his reaction to Aisha testifying what cyberbullying is like fills him with disgust; at least when he was a bully, he always did it to his victim's face instead of hiding behind a screen like a coward.
  • Played for Laughs when he teaches the Cobra Strike to Miguel and mentions that if he hits the throat, he can severely damage someone's trachea. It's worth noting he was still preaching "no mercy" but even back then, he doesn't want Miguel to kill his bullies.
    Johnny: Obviously, that's only for extreme situations.
  • It's also shown that while he sees nothing wrong about guys harassing girls until they agree to go on a date, he also believes that if a girl doesn't want to do anything physical then the guy should back off.
  • When he and Carmen coincidentally end up at the same restaurant on separate dates, he overhears Carmen's date on a phone call to a friend, telling said friend that he intends to just get Carmen into bed and sleep with her a few times before dumping her. This enrages Johnny to the point of beating up Carmen's date and telling him to never go near her again.
  • He is disgusted to learn that one of his students vandalized the Miyagi-Do dojo and he puts all the students through vigorous conditioning drills to make the culprit confess.
  • While he may have some ignorant and insensitive assumptions about certain nationalities such as assuming Miguel was an immigrant when they first met, Johnny is not racist. When he considers naming his new dojo ‘Kobra Kai Karate’ (‘Triple K’), Miguel points out its unfortunate implications to a certain political group and he immediately drops this idea. He also corrects Kreese on Miguel’s ethnicity.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Johnny's not a bad man, per se, but is certainly rough hewn and insensitive, with more than a few bad habits. He resents all of his past father figures (with good reasons), but still clearly cares deeply about his mother Laura, even years after her death.
• Failure Hero: Johnny may be the protagonist of Cobra Kai, but his personal life is a mess and over the course of the first four seasons he fails in almost every objective he has.
  • Although he coaches Miguel to victory in the first season's All Valley tournament, this is a Pyrrhic Victory as it comes at the cost of turning Cobra Kai into the exact kind of Thug Dojo they were in the original films.
  • In Season 2, he lets his rivalry with Daniel get completely out of control, which leads to Miguel being hospitalized and Kreese stealing his dojo.
  • In Season 3, he does succeed in helping Miguel overcome his paralysis, but his relationship with Robby deteriorates to the point that he ends up making a Face–Heel Turn and joining Cobra Kai, and Johnny loses his climactic fight with Kreese and has to be rescued by Daniel.
  • In Season 4, he fails to put aside his differences with Daniel until it's too late, gets the crap beaten out of him by Terry Silver, drives Miguel to run away from home, guides Eagle Fang to a distant third in the All Valley and fails to coach Sam to victory in the final against Tory. However, he does get a bone thrown his way when he manages to reconcile with Robby at last. Even then, this is mostly due to Robby independently having a Heel Realization rather than anything Johnny did to earn his respect.
  • Finally subverted as of Season 5, as Johnny manages to repair his relationships with Robby and Miguel and their relationship with each other, and overall becomes the more well-adjusted hero of the show as Daniel starts to fall off the deep end thanks to Silver's manipulations. However, he still impulsively participates in an insane plan to attack Silver in his own home, and only saves himself from certain death with one hell of a Heroic Second Wind.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Johnny's blind spot when it comes to Kreese ends up being the catalyst to all major issues that occur in the second season. Despite everything that happens, Johnny still sees Kreese as a father-figure and projects his own desire to become a better person onto him. This is despite literally everyone telling Johnny what an awful idea letting Kreese teach again is. Despite his own concerns with Kreese's teaching style, he continues to allow Kreese to teach and influence his students unchecked. This builds to the point where Kreese's Cobra Kai becomes the Gang of Bullies that Daniel kept accusing them of being and Johnny wanted to avoid them becoming.
  • Jealousy, plain and simple. His first scene in the first movie shows him planning to turn himself around and fly straight, immediately followed by him seeing Daniel with Ali, causing him to pick a fight, which was the catalyst for the entire film's plot (and thus influencing the rest of his life). A lot of his worst tendencies in Cobra Kai come out of a result of jealousy. In Season 4, it's part of the reason the dojo merger blows up as he can't stand Daniel getting closer to Miguel and this ends up preventing the two from beating Cobra Kai at the All Valley tournament.
• A Father to His Men: As harsh as his training methods are, his speech to the All-Valley Tournament committee and behavior during the tournament itself prove that he does genuinely care about his students, wants them to succeed, takes pride in seeing them grow, and takes his role as a mentor very seriously. It's why several of the current and former Cobra Kai students decide to join his new dojo in Season 3.
• The Fettered: He advocates for striking first as part of the Cobra Kai philosophy, but abhors utilizing underhanded tactics to gain the upper hand against a disadvantaged opponent. He goes further in this once he forms his "Eagle Fang" school, where he adds that one is to not be a bully (but still be badass) and to never start the fight.
• Flat Character: The original 1984 Karate Kid movie portrays him as a generic bully who antagonizes Daniel over his interactions with Ali. It isn't until the events of Cobra Kai that his characterization is fleshed out such that it portrays him as a troubled person one can sympathize with.
• Foil:
  • Despite their similarities in their love of karate and Determinator attitudes, Daniel and Johnny's personalities, upbringings and lives since they left high school make them as different as night and day.
    • Both were raised by single mothers, having lost their own fathers at a young age (Daniel's father died, Johnny's abandoned him and his mother). They both turned to karate and found a mentor and father figure there, and both of those mentors had a huge, lasting impact on their lives and psychological development. How they ended up says a lot about the effect those mentors had.
    • Johnny was a rich kid growing up due to his wealthy stepfather while Daniel had been a poor kid whose mother had to work several jobs. Ironically, these roles are reversed for them as adults, as Daniel grows up to become a rich and successful owner of a car dealership (which is number 1 in the Valley) and lives in a big house while Johnny now lives in a run-down apartment in Reseda and bounces between various menial jobs before becoming a sensei.
    • Johnny has has gotten in trouble with the law multiple times and has ended up in jail while Daniel has never had any law trouble and never was in jail.
    • Though both dated Ali Mills in the past and have had several relationships since, Johnny's failure to move on from Ali has ruined all of his relationships until he gets together with Carmen. Daniel, on the other hand, has been Happily Married to Amanda for many years. Johnny has neglected his son Robby his whole life, leaving him to be raised by his mother, Shannon, as a single parent, while Daniel has been around for Samantha and Anthony their whole lives and is a very devoted father to them in a traditional, stable family.
    • Johnny is completely stuck in The '80s and ignorant of modern culture, while Daniel has done a much better job of keeping up with the times, being a huge fan of Game of Thrones and expressing shock at Johnny not knowing what Facebook is.
    • Daniel is a polite and cultured man, while Johnny is a rude, boorish slob. This is demonstrated through their drink orders when they talk at the bar in "Different but Same". Daniel orders a fancy Ketel Martini, while Johnny orders a Coors Banquet, an inexpensive American beer.
  • To Chozen. Both are former rivals of Daniel who are now his teammates, but there are many differences in their personalities. Chozen trained in the pacifistic style of Miyagi-Do, but has a much more aggressive interpretation of it than Mr. Miyagi, while Johnny trained in the aggressive Thug Dojo Cobra Kai, but balances their style with his own sense of honor. Johnny is a hot-tempered, boorish American, while Chozen is a calculating, cultured Okinawan. Johnny is a functional alcoholic, while Chozen generally doesn't drink. While both are more aggressive than Daniel, Johnny tends to fight first and think later, while Chozen is more tactical in where and when he chooses to fight. Johnny utilizes a rough brawling fighting style, while Chozen prefers efficient, precise strikes. Johnny uses anything he can get his hands on as a weapon, while Chozen always carries his signature pair of sais.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Enforced by Daniel. Johnny approaches Robby after the finals of the All Valley Tournament and apologizes to him for Miguel using dirty tricks to win Cobra Kai the tournament. Robby, who has already been imparted enough forgiveness from Daniel by then, calmly lets the issue slide and departs without further animosity at that moment. However, the beginning of Season 2 shows that Robby is still angry at Johnny and working on forgiving him. Eventually, their relationship improves until Robby critically injures Miguel, serves time in juvie for it, and joins Kreese's Cobra Kai since he no longer trusts Daniel and Johnny.
• Freudian Excuse: The show reveals that Johnny wasn't just some spoiled rich kid, but rather an emotionally abused youth. He was bullied at home by a cruel stepfather, and Kreese's Cobra Kai dojo was the only place he found any kind of acceptance and mentorship, as twisted as it may have been.
• Freudian Trio: Among Daniel's former rivals, he's the Id. Johnny is the most impulsive and tends to be rather reactive at any real or perceived slight inflicted on him. Post-redemption, he's the one that struggles the most with his vices, but beneath his grouchy behavior he's also very passionate. He demonstrates some positive aspects as he's very honest with what he feels and believes, and tries to improve himself and the people around him over time while also eventually open to learning from his mistakes.
• Functional Addict: Pretty much a textbook example. After more than 30 years of seemingly constant drinking, he does it so he won't go into withdrawal. His sky-high alcohol tolerance means a drink or two doesn't affect him nearly the way a more casual drinker would, which is how he manages to stay functional enough to teach karate and drive competently (mostly). He still has a few major breakdowns and ends up in completely shitfaced The Alcoholic territory, though.
• Future Loser: Johnny's life hit the skids after high school. He's no longer rich (the money belonged to his stepdad and they don't really talk anymore), he performs odd jobs as a handyman and he's mostly stuck in the past.

G-N

• Gendered Insult: He has no problem deliberately addressing guys with terminology that refer to the opposite sex. He also seems visibly disgusted at the very concept of "gendered insults". "Pussy" is basically his students' catchphrase, thanks to him.
  Johnny: Striking first is about being aggressive. Right? If you're not aggressive, then you're being a pussy. You don't want to be a pussy; you want to have balls.
  Miguel: Don't you think you're doing a lot of genderizing?
  Johnny: ...What?
  Miguel: Oh, uh, sorry. Don't you think you're doing a lot of genderizing, Sensei?
  Johnny: No, what the hell are you talking about?
  Miguel: Oh, uh, my guidance counselor says that certain words perpetuate the sexist world view that can trigger—
  Johnny: QUIET! From now on, you won't listen to your guidance counselor. You're going to listen to me. Is that understood?
  Miguel: Uh, yes, Sensei.
  Johnny: Good. Now stop yapping like a little girl and give me fifty push-ups on your knuckles.
• Generation Xerox: Zigzagged.
  • For the first half of Season 1, he's this to Mr. Miyagi, being the maintenance man turned unorthodox karate teacher to a bullied youth (granted Johnny is a more jaded and cynical version of Miyagi).
  • By the second half of Season 1, after Cobra Kai starts gaining more students, Johnny becomes one to Kreese, a Sensei for Scoundrels, despite his best attempts to avoid this. This bit in particular is zigzagged, because unlike Kreese, he isn't large and intimidating or conspicuously malevolent looking. It doesn't help that Kreese was in his prime while Johnny is just over 50 and beset with all the physical problems of aging (along with his years if not decades of copious alcohol consumption), and he hasn't practiced his art in decades due to real life getting in the way. Also, Johnny has more comedic moments due to his lack of tech-savviness and being at least twenty years out of date. Amusingly, Johnny's attempts to talk tough sound like he's channeling his whiny teenage voice.
• Global Ignorance: Despite being a sensei, he thinks karate comes from America. He even advertises it as such to prospective students.
  Johnny: All this new-age crap, like jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, they're all just cheap knock-offs of karate.^note This is a demonstration of his historical ignorance as well, as Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu are at least as old as Karate, if not older.
• Good Counterpart: To John Kreese. Two Johns who are practitioners and teachers of Tang Soo Do (being senseis of Cobra Kai). Both had rough childhoods before being taught (and eventually betrayed) by an evil mentor (Kreese from Captain Turner, Johnny from Kreese himself); as such, both eventually fight their evil mentors during the climax of Season 3. Both had it rough after their defeat from Mr. Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso, and by Season 4, both happen to be their poorer counterparts of their co-senseis (Johnny to Daniel, Kreese to Terry Silver). But while Johnny is all about turning bullied students into becoming better versions of themselves and teaching them how to be "badass" (but in a more merciful way), Kreese is all about recruiting and indoctrinating bullies into worse versions of themselves and showing no mercy by all means.
• Good Is Not Nice: Johnny is earnestly trying to do better with his life, he genuinely cares for his students, and he loves his son. Doesn't mean he'll be particularly gentle or polite about any of those things.
• Good Parents: Becomes this in Season 3, just not to Robby. He helps Miguel recover from his injury and supports him every step of the way. He becomes a great Parental Substitute to Miguel, but his relationship with Robby is still a mess, as he makes several critical blunders that lead to Robby joining Cobra Kai.
  • He becomes this completely in Season 5, with his relationship with Robby being the best it's ever been, and regaining Miguel's love and respect (though he didn't lose much of it to begin with). Good timing too since he now has a new baby on the way.
• Graceful Loser: After losing to Daniel in the tournament, he accepts his loss fairly calmly and willingly hands him the trophy.
  Johnny: You're alright, LaRusso. Good match!
• Hard Work Fallacy: Johnny occasionally suffers from this. He's a dedicated and dogged hard-worker when truly commited, but his ignorance and lack of worldly awareness tend to derail his efforts at making things better for himself, such as his Cobra Kai having a pretty delayed revival because of Johnny's antiquated ideas on advertisement and abrasive teaching methods that drove away many of his first batch of students and being unable to realize that Kreese hadn't changed his ways despite having plenty of reasons to at least be suspicious and eventually having his dojo stolen from him.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Prone to anger and violence, Johnny is highly aggressive when he feels provoked especially with Daniel and Kreese.
• Hates Their Parent: He holds his stepfather, Sid, in contempt because of his emotional abuse towards him since childhood.
• The Heavy: While he's the one who antagonizes and bullies Daniel, it's mostly because of Kreese and Cobra Kai's influence. As Mr. Miyagi explains, the teacher's guidance is ultimately responsible for the student's actions and the later films make it clear Kreese is the true Big Bad.
• Heroic BSoD: At the end of Season 2, after his son injures Miguel in the school brawl, all he can do is get in an elevator with Daniel and share a quiet BSOD.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In his very first scene, he turns down Tommy's offer of a beer because he wants to be ready for the first day of school the next morning.
  • We never see him study or practice any kind of religion, but he knows enough about Christianity such that he correctly reminds Bobby that one of the core principles of the faith is showing forgiveness towards others for their past misdeeds. Unfortunately for Johnny, this doubles as a Horrible Judge of Character moment, since Kreese hasn't changed.
  • While certainly Book Dumb, his lengthy Facebook message to Ali in Season 3 reveals that he did go to college to study a scientific subject, but was expelled after starting a fire.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Johnny takes his loss against Daniel in the tournament with dignity and even presents him with the trophy while telling him it was a good match. Also earlier, when ordered by Kreese to use cheap shots and dirty tactics to defeat Daniel, Johnny is visibly shocked.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Him putting his faith in his former Cobra Kai sensei ultimately becomes his own undoing, for Kreese swipes control of the Cobra Kai dojo along with the loyalty of his students, following the events of the school brawl.
• Honest Advisor: For someone who is ignorant and out of touch with his surroundings, he offers some good advice when others turn to him for help.
  • Miguel, in a pickle with his relationship with Sam, turns to Johnny for input on how he should approach the situation. Johnny advises Miguel to just be upfront with her.
    Johnny: How about the truth? We all get shit wrong sometimes. Some of us get it wrong a lot. But if you own up to your mistakes, you always have a shot at making things right. You don't have to have it all figured out. Just be honest with her. See where it goes from there.
  • With the wedge in the relationship between Amanda and Daniel, he confides in Johnny, who doesn't have much to offer when it comes to familial conflict resolution other than reminding him to "keep [his] head out of [his] ass."
• Hopeless with Tech: Johnny has never owned a computer before, and after buying one for the first time, he is incapable of even turning it on without help. He eventually uses a combination of an Internet for Dummies book and calling the pawnshop owner whom he bought the laptop from for help.
  • He even upgrades from a flip phone to a smartphone, although he is still frustrated with it due to his smartphone beeping unnecessary alerts (such as software updates and import contacts). He ended up getting rid of it by throwing it at the beach in Season 2 finale but ended up getting another one in season 5.
  • Season 3 has him think his laptop is broken after its battery ran out, believing that it being wireless meant he didn't have to plug it into a wall socket.
• Horrible Judge of Character: One of his Fatal Flaws, as the major events of the second season showed. He allows Kreese back into his life under the belief that his former sensei has changed his ways for the better, except it works against him as Kreese remains the same ruthless sensei as he was back in the '80s, performing and showing acts of kindness only to get in his former star student's good graces and eventually claim control of Cobra Kai from him.
• Hot-Blooded: As a teen, Johnny was nothing if not a hot-tempered hot shot. As an adult, he's a bit less so due to jadedness, but is still prone to acting quite aggressively when riled up. Kreese even lampshades when they reunited after 35 years that Johnny still had his hot temper.
• Hunk: As an adult, Johnny's no longer the Pretty Boy he use to be. Though apart from some wrinkles as pointed out by his old friend Bobby, Johnny still has some rugged handsomeness going for him. Funnily enough, several people that have only seen or known Johnny as an adult assumed that he was quite the heartthrob.
• Hypocrite:
  • In season 1, he tells Daniel to get his house in order when Johnny isn't even taking care of his family. It's Daniel who's taking care of Johnny's family by paying for Shannon's rehab and Robby's lawyer. For goodness' sake, Johnny is a grown adult who still relies on his stepfather’s money!
  • Johnny was angry about Daniel being a father-figure to his son, even peeing on the LaRusso license plate of his car in retaliation, even though Johnny constantly neglected Robby his whole life. It's huge hypocrisy since Johnny pays more attention to Miguel and feels as if it's different. He attempts to fix this later on and fully acknowledges his hypocrisy when he reconciles with Robby in the season 4 finale.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Johnny tells Daniel to get his house in order after the latter mentions Kyler being on good terms with his daughter. While Johnny's own family situation isn't that much better, he's not wrong for pointing out that Kyler isn't the type of guy Sam thinks he is (he knows Kyler as a bully, and at this point, Kyler is also putting on an act for the sake of getting into Sam's pants).
  Daniel: Just stay away from my daughter's friends.
  Johnny: Your daughter's friends? Yeah, that makes sense. Nice company she keeps.
  Daniel: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
  Johnny: It means that those friends of hers were whaling on a kid half their size. Now, maybe you don't know your daughter as well as you think you do. Get your house in order, LaRusso.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: His constant reminiscing of his Glory Days as the Valley's best karateka (and well on his way for state or even national recognition) strongly implies he feels this.
• Idiot Hero: Johnny's not a complete idiot, but he is very Book Dumb and impulsive, which often gets in the way of his attempts to do the right thing and leads to a lot of frustration from his allies.
• Ignored Epiphany: In his first scene, Johnny declares that he's leaving behind his degenerate behaviour and turning over a new leaf as he starts his senior year. Moments later, he sees Daniel and Ali together, his Green-Eyed Monster takes over and he completely forgets about this vow for the rest of the movie.
• Inadequate Inheritor:
  • Inverted, tragically. While Johnny is trying to recreate Cobra Kai to be a better organization and philosophy than it was under Kreese, he inadvertently ends up not only recreating its original ethos as a bullying haven, but his emphasis on Combat Pragmatist thinking leads his star pupil to be even more ruthless than he was in his heyday. Kreese even returns to congratulate him on such an accomplishment.
  • However, it's also inverted in that, from a pure technical standpoint, Johnny is actually a better karate instructor than Kreese is. Johnny was able to turn his students from a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits with little to no athletic ability into them being formidable fighters strictly through his instruction and training methods which eventually helped Cobra Kai into being the most outstanding karate dojo in the Valley despite it being forgotten for decades. Kreese, on the other hand, just resorts to bringing in a bunch of established athletes and teach them karate moves, and several of them wind up losing to Johnny's students in the Season 3 brawl.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Johnny questions Eli if he's one of those "challenged kids", the latter comments that he might be on the (autism) spectrum, according to his doctor. Unfamiliar with neurological conditions, Johnny simply tells Eli to "get off it."
  Eli: My doctor said I could be on the spectrum.
  Johnny: I don't know what that is, but get off it, pronto.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • He lambastes Aisha's tormentors for being a "bunch of pussies" for bullying her behind a screen, while at the same time upholding face-to-face bullying as honorable.
    "Back in my day, if you wanted to tease someone, you did it to their face. There was honor, respect. These geeks hiding behind their computers — what a bunch of spineless losers."
  • Light beer, vegetarian burgers, and automatic transmissions on vehicles are, at least to Johnny, not qualifiers for manliness.
    "All your life, the world's been trying to make you less of a man. Light beer? Veggie burgers? Automatic transmissions? Might as well let another dude bang your chick!"
• Internal Reformist: On top of bettering himself as a person, Johnny works to change Cobra Kai's ways for the better such that they don't adhere to the "no mercy" mindset.
  Johnny: Cobra Kai needs to change. What you taught didn't work back then and it doesn't work now.
  Kreese: Well, whaddya want to change it to? Something nice and snuggly like a blanket?
  Johnny: No. Cobra Kai will always be badass. But there's a difference between no mercy and no honor.
• The Internet Is for Porn: After getting his first PC (ever), the first thing Johnny tries out is web searching "hot babes". Johnny however considers girls hotter "on the page", and has since mainly used the web to look up information on how to deal with many his situations such as how to break it to Miguel that he was in a relationship with his mother and basics on baby-rearing (the former of course redirects him to more porn because of how Johnny worded his search: "how to tell my student I'm banging his mom?").
• It's All About Me: Johnny falls into this hard in a lot of the second half of season 4. The worse of it is during the season 4 All-Valley where he tells Miguel, who was just in tremendous pain from pulling a muscle and didn't want to keep fighting, to go back out there and stick it to Daniel by beating Eli. The fact that he brushed off Miguel also not wanting to fight his friend with "he made his choice" (remember that Eli was also Johnny's student for a long time), only further proves Johnny has completely lost sight of his students and especially Miguel's wellbeing in favor of (once again) his rivalry with Daniel. Unfortunately, Johnny is only snapped out of this by Miguel running away from the All-Valley (and later to Mexico), much to Johnny's regret.
• Jaded Washout: A former teen karate champion now a middle-aged down-on-his-luck handyman living paycheck to paycheck.
• Jerk Jock: In the first film, he was a much more popular, better looking, and tougher kid than Daniel.
• Jerkass to One: It's worth noting that while Johnny was antagonistic to Daniel in the first film, he's not shown to be that way with anyone else at their school and the few onscreen interactions he has with others outside of his gang, like the guy in the bathroom at the Halloween dance, indicate that he's well-liked by the rest of the student body.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite being a jerk occasionally, he is often times right in his accusations, criticisms and observations.
  • In regards to his fight at the strip mall, he tells Daniel, "I didn't beat up any teenagers. I kicked the shit out of a bunch of assholes who deserved it." He is not wrong; Kyler and his friends were assaulting Miguel, a kid half their size, over Miguel accidentally blowing their cover, and they started a fight with Johnny when he tried to intervene. Johnny is also right to tell Daniel that he should keep an eye on who his daughter is hanging out with and that he is not as knowledgeable about Sam's activities as he thinks he is.
  • As harsh of an instructor as he is, and at times quite degrading, his methods are effective at teaching. He is absolutely right when he says fair fights don't exist in a street fight. In "Quiver," Demetri tries telling Johnny that his harsh insults are socially unacceptable, only to have Johnny point out that some people don't give a damn about what society says is or isn't okay to do; when Demetri keeps up with the snark, Johnny proves his point by getting in the the kid's face and putting him on the floor.
  • When he confronts Daniel, while he might be wrong about Louie and his friends having been ordered by Daniel to wreck his car, he's not wrong about the potential consequences of their impulsive acts; lighting a car on fire is likely to cause the fire to spread, especially having been carelessly splashed with gasoline. It wouldn't have taken much for the flames to travel to a building.
  • Additionally, his critique that Daniel can never leave well enough alone is completely accurate. Throughout season one, Daniel goes out of his way to hinder Johnny's efforts to revive Cobra Kai while Johnny was content to let him live his life (though it must’ve been because of the defaced billboard, which caused Daniel to believe that Johnny was still the same bully he knew him as in high school). It gets worse in season two when Daniel decides to revive Miyagi-Do to combat Cobra Kai's influence in the Valley and creates a Rival Dojos scenario that ends in an all out war between the teens that ends with Sam and Miguel in the hospital. In the aftermath, Amanda calls him out on this as well.
  • While he himself is a deadbeat dad, when Johnny calls out Shannon on being a crappy parent as well, he is correct that her neglect of Robby plays a direct role in his turn to drugs, crime, and general delinquency.
  • Johnny resents Daniel for the water hose stunt he pulled at the Halloween dance in 1984, pointing out to Miguel that he hadn't bothered the guy in weeks (though Johnny still lied since he and his friends were constantly harassing Daniel). Later on, when Miguel and Daniel talk about the feud and Miguel brings up the water hose incident, Daniel does reluctantly admit that was on him.
  • He's right that Sam and Demetri's sparring match isn't very productive training if the two of them are just going to walk in a circle and keep waiting for the other to throw the first punch. Their tournament opponents won't be nearly as patient and they need to practice blocking and striking.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a rude and crude Politically Incorrect Hero, but he's trying to become a better person and is honestly trying to help his students.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In a deleted scene, Johnny nearly gets in a physical altercation with a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor after trying to poach his students. He calls it off when a police car shows up so he won't violate his probation.
• Laughably Evil: Although he’s not evil, Johnny’s blunt insensitivity and crudeness lead to some of the funniest moments in the series.
• Lethal Chef: Johnny's dedication to manliness unfortunately means he's inexperienced in "womanly" pursuits like cooking, with comically unappetizing results.
• Literal-Minded: Not usually, but when Miguel tells him to fight the ban against Cobra Kai from the All Valley Tournament, Johnny gets in his head to head down to the committee and beat them up.
• Little "No": Shown silently mouthing this and shaking his head when Miguel grabs Robby's leg and prepares to target Robby's shoulder again during the tournament, cementing Johnny's failure as a mentor and father figure to both boys.
• Loser Protagonist: His life has gone downhill since losing the 1984 All-Valley Tournament, going from the troubled rich kid of the Valley to a down-on-his-luck handyman with alcoholism challenges. Even after reopening Cobra Kai 34 years later in a quest for self-redemption, the events that follow afterwards rarely play out his way.
• Lower-Class Lout: He starts the series as an alcoholic divorced handyman and quickly becomes an alcoholic divorced ex-handyman.
• Made of Iron: Perhaps one of the best traits he has is his physical fortitude, even well into his early 50s. Best shown in Season 5, despite the severe beating by the Cobra Kai senseis, once fueled enough Johnny is immediately able to stand up and return the pain against them.
• Malaproper: Being rather simple-minded and lacking in awareness, Johnny has a tendency to mix up and misuse certain words and metaphors.
• Manchild: Well into middle-age at the start of the series and still stuck in a teenage mentality. He also never quite grows out of his fixation on being "badass", even when it does more harm than good.
• Manly Tears: If you thought a hospitalized Miguel wasn't enough, Johnny listens to a voicemail he missed earlier on the same day from Miguel requesting his help, and is unable to hold back his tears.
• Martial Arts Headband: He wears his black headband from The Karate Kid (1984) again when he restarts Cobra-Kai. He later reveals that it was actually a gift from Ali.
• The Mentor: An abrasive one, but he still has the best intentions and his advice is more often than not actually very good.
• Mirror Character: Despite their many differences, Johnny and Daniel are revealed to have had very similar upbringings. Both lost their fathers at a young age, both turned to their karate senseis as a new father figure, and both considered Ali Mills to be their First Love. They also both consider high school to be their Glory Days, listen to 80's music, and constantly bring up old karate triumphs. Every time they talk, it becomes clear they have a lot in common, right up until circumstances put them back at each others' throats. Season 3 has Ali return, and she blatantly tells Johnny and Daniel they're more similar to one another than they care to admit, and that they see parts of themselves in each other that they don't like.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Johnny slowly starts to go through this during the tournament, seeing his students repeat his mistakes when he was under Kreese's tutelage, and even at one point sadly stares at a picture of Kreese, realizing their parallels. It doesn't get any better when the first season ends with Kreese's return.
  • Shares this with Daniel at the end of Season 2 due to the school brawl.
  • Johnny also realizes that bringing back Cobra Kai was a serious mistake, so he decides to branch away into his own dojo, the Eagle Fang. He also plans to rectify his mistake by joining his dojo with Daniel’s in order to shut down Cobra Kai for good.
  • After Miguel doesn't come back to finish his fight with Hawk and disappears in the season 4 finale, Johnny realizes that it's his fault for disregarding what Miguel wants all season.
• My Greatest Failure: He gets choked up telling Miguel that he missed Robby's birth, and promises he'll always be there for him. Miguel's hospitalization after Season 2 then sends him straight into a Heroic BSoD.
  Johnny: I failed my kid on his first day in this world.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Johnny's mentoring of Miguel is in his eyes his way of making up for failing Robby. Season 5 gives him one better when not only is his relationship with Robby getting much better, Carmen announces she's pregnant with his child. Not only does this give him a new lease on life, but it helps him repair the relationship between Miguel and Robby.
• Necessary Fail: Johnny's loss to Vidal in the 1981 tournament encouraged him to work harder so that he would never lose again.
• Never My Fault: In the first season, Johnny recounts the events of the original film, and in both instances he downplays his own aggression towards Daniel to make himself out to have been the victim and Daniel the antagonist. He gets over this attitude when Ali reunites with both men and forces them to acknowledge that they both bear some responsibility for what happened.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Letting Kreese teach at Cobra Kai again ruins his efforts to encourage his students to be less violent and aggressive and eventually leads to him losing both them and the dojo to Kreese.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Upon hearing how bad Kreese's life has gotten, he forgives him for the past and tries to help him back on his feet. Turns out Kreese was manipulating Johnny to steal his dojo from under him.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Ali delivers this to him and Daniel, and pretty succinctly gets to the root of their entire rivalry.
  Ali: And the truth is, you guys are more alike than you want to admit. Maybe you recognize parts of yourselves in each other, and maybe you don't always like what you see.

O-Y

• Odd Friendship:
  • He gets along surprisingly well with Daniel's wife Amanda. It helps that both are Deadpan Snarkers, though he obviously disliked her initially since he said Daniel's whole family is rotten to the core and she obviously initially disliked him too, resenting how he was bringing out the worst in Daniel. It wasn't long after that, though, that whenever they hang out, Amanda (and Carmen) invariably ease the tension between him and her husband. In the third season, she even hugs Johnny after a night of fun with him, Daniel, and Ali.
  • In season 4, Johnny also develops a surprising friendship with Daniel's daughter Sam. While they butt heads at first when Sam is forced to train with him, she grows to respect his methods as a sensei (as his teachings made her a more well-rounded fighter against Tory), even to the point of sticking up for Johnny when the latter's alliance with Daniel breaks. Johnny, in turn, became as caring and supportive of Sam as he did for any of his other students.
• Official Couple: After the ambiguity of their relationship status in the previous season, in Season 4, after a few misunderstandings, Johnny finally stops beating around the bush and confesses his love for Carmen, which she reciprocates. As of Episode 3, they're properly together. By season 5, Carmen is pregnant with their child.
• Only Known By His Nickname: He does introduce himself formally to the All-Valley board as "John". Other than that, his name may as well really be Johnny.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: His incredible lack of tact is probably second to Kreese, the thing that causes the most problems in his life.
• Papa Wolf:
  • For Miguel, and Robby, despite the latter's dislike of him. When he finds Miguel battered and bloodied from the fight at the LaRusso home, Johnny immediately heads off to confront Kreese. When he finds Robby wearing a Cobra Kai gi, he promptly starts whaling on his old sensei. He grows to become this for his students as a whole; messing with any of them when he's around is NOT a good idea. This even extends to the Miyagi-Do students once he and Daniel decide to join forces.
  • When he and Chozen visit Cobra Kai to confront Terry Silver, he sees that Devon (one of his favorite Eagle Fang students) has been indoctrinated by Silver. He's immediately prepared to single-handedly rush the dojo and beat the shit out of everyone there with his bare hands to get her away from there. The only reason he doesn't is because he knows there's too many ways it could go wrong.
  • Becomes even stronger when Carmen announces she is pregnant with his child. When Terry's Elite Mooks have him at their mercy, the picture of their unborn baby gives him one hell of a Heroic Second Wind. Johnny will not die when he has a chance at a full life with his family again.
  • Almost goes Leeroy Jenkins when he sees Devon in one of the new chapters of Cobra Kai.
• Parental Substitute: After spending so much time training with Miguel, the kid begins to see Johnny as a father figure and frequently turns to him for advice on topics such as dating girls, dealing with people, and how to navigate the world. It's reciprocated, as Johnny takes an active interest in Miguel's life and is always trying to steer him in the right direction. After Miguel awakens from his coma, Johnny tells him he'll always be on his side and helps him learn to stand and walk again. It's clear from Season 5 that Miguel and Johnny see each other as father and son, especially after Miguel's... disappointing experience with his biological dad.
• Perma-Stubble: In the first episode, he possesses the unkempt down-on-your-luck variety. He shaves it off once he decides to resurrect the Cobra Kai dojo. It comes back in full force at the beginning of Season 3, which Johnny also eventually shaves off when he gets back to rebuilding his life after losing his dojo to Kreese.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Often Bully characters are portrayed as treating their lackeys with contempt, but Johnny appears to genuinely consider the former Cobra Kai gang his friends and is always respectful to them.
  • After the All-Valley Tournament wraps up, Johnny approaches his son and apologizes to him over his own students using underhanded tactics to gain the upper hand. Robby lets it go and leaves with Daniel without further animosity.
  • In the season 2 finale, Johnny tells Robby that he isn't going to hide that Sam got drunk as Daniel has a right to know as her parent. This shows that for all their animosity, Johnny is willing to be reasonable with Daniel when the situation calls for it.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: He's aware of the #MeToo movement enough to try threatening Sid with exposing some of his older misdeeds, while still thinking a hashtag is called a hashbrown.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Definitely. Politically incorrect? One of the first things he does is make judgmental remarks about Miguel based on his ethnicity, and shamelessly uses Gendered Insults against guys. When a contestant makes a speech about tolerance and acceptance before a competition, Johnny encourages Miguel to kick him in the face. Hero? When Kyler and his goons attack Miguel, a kid he doesn't know, he steps in and delivers a righteous ass-kicking. That being said, Character Development later kicks in and he corrects Kreese about Miguel's ethnicity in Season 2; he's also a lot more open about letting female fighters join his team than he was in Season 1.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: He and Chozen go to the newly acquired Topanga Karate to confront Cobra Kai, and encounter Sensei Hyan-Woo, who tells them that adult classes run on Wednesday. Johnny is instead about to throw down with him, but not before swearing to teach him a lesson.
  Hyan-Woo: Adult classes are on Wednesday.
  Johnny: We're not here to take a lesson; we're here to teach you one.
• Pretty Boy: As an adolescent, Johnny was a quintessential 80s knockout. He's lost much of it as he got older, though some adults still consider him rather handsome for his age (Amanda and Terry Silver explicitly called Johnny "pretty boy").
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Inverted. Perhaps from Kreese's view Johnny is this, but Johnny takes Cobra Kai's brutal doctrine and tries to teach in a way that is more positive and tolerant. He eventually breaks away from Kreese completely after it become clear that Kreese is determined to keep Cobra Kai as the degenerate Thug Dojo it had been.
• Quick Nip: When he and Daniel stopped at Daniel's old apartment while test-driving Johnny's soon-to-own Dodge Challenger, Johnny passively mentions seeing a bar around the corner and ropes Daniel into getting a drink with him. See Functional Addict.
• Rags to Riches: Downplayed. Starts off this series as a handyman living paycheck to paycheck and needing his rich stepfather to bail him out with money when needed. By the end of the season, he's doing well enough that he can pay back all the money his stepfather ever gave him.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: By the end of Season 3, Hawk, Mitch, Bert, and a few others have returned to his tutelage after dealing with Kreese's mistreatment and realizing everything Johnny told them about the man is true. The end of Season 4 leading to Season 5 has Robby reconciling with him after the latter realizes how much hate has damaged him.
• Reformed Bully: Downplayed. Johnny is still a bit of a crude and ignorant jerk, but he is legitimately trying to do better with himself.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: Johnny may have turned over a new leaf by the time of Cobra Kai, but he's as brash and confrontational as ever.
• The Resenter: Downplayed. He's initially this ways towards Daniel due to being a down on his luck handyman versus Daniel owning several car dealerships. However, once he turns his life around and becomes financially secure, he loses the resentment and even points out he would've left Daniel to live his own life, had he not tried to ruin Cobra Kai.
• Riches to Rags: Johnny no longer has a trace of his privileged life as a teenager in this show. He's not too concerned about it as a Freeze-Frame Bonus of his drafted Facebook message to Ali reveals that he was never comfortable with the lifestyle in the first place. Miguel lampshades it when he finds out the truth from Daniel in Season 3.
  Miguel: (incredulously) Sensei was a rich kid?
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In Season 4 of Cobra Kai, Johnny ends up being in the right in continuing to insist on the students of Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang learning both styles when the return of Terry Silver spooks Daniel into insisting on just Miyagi-do. However, he later admits the primary motive for this insistence was an unfounded jealous fear that only learning Miaygi-do would push Miguel into viewing Daniel as a father figure over him.
• Rotating Protagonist: Shares the protagonist role with Daniel in Cobra Kai, and most of the series follow their respective Character Development.
• Rule of Cool: Invoked. Johnny's life decisions all boil down to the ones that look or sound the most badass (which in his mind, firmly includes everything from The '80s). However, his choices often makes him come across as Totally Radical, such as using antiquated cultural references and outdated slang and naming his new karate school the garish "Eagle Fang".
• Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: In the 34 years between The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, Johnny Lawrence has hardly gotten any nicer. Worst of all, he's now all too aware of it. Johnny's main motivation in the beginning is to turn his dojo around and finally make something of his life, and he does gradually soften up and let his Hidden Heart of Gold peek out from time to time.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: He tears up and discards a check given to him by his stepfather, stating that he'd rather be homeless than accept financial support from someone who's been nothing but abusive to him. Later on, however, Johnny retrieves the same check and uses it to fund the opening of the new Cobra Kai dojo (after he starts making a stable income with the dojo, he returns all the money Sid ever provided for him).
• Self-Made Man: Downplayed. Though he had help in the form of his stepfather's check, Miguel's web savvy and the viral video of the lunchroom brawl with Kyler's posse, he managed to get Cobra Kai back up on pretty much nothing else. And it won the All Valley Tournament!
• Sensei for Scoundrels: Deconstructed in that although he doesn't intend to be an Evil Mentor, he is still unconsciously reiterating what his own mentor Kreese taught him, with predictable results. Eventually, he sees the errors of his ways, and when he opens Eagle Fang Karate, he makes a point of impressing on his students to be badass but not to be bullies, and to never be the one to throw the first punch in a fight unless you know it's absolutely necessary given your opponent.
• Shadow Archetype: It's clear that Johnny and Daniel both see each other as this. Johnny sees Daniel as the embodiment of his failure in the 1984 All Valley, which caused Kreese to turn on him and started the chain of events that led him to become a broken mess of an adult, while Daniel sees Johnny as a reminder of the bullying he suffered at his hands in high school, and of his own seduction by Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid Part III. With both men associating each other with so many painful memories, it's almost impossible for them to admit how similar they really are.
  Ali: And the truth is, you guys are more alike than you want to admit. Maybe you recognize parts of yourselves in each other, and maybe you don't always like what you see.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: In the most literal way possible. He subjects his students to an intense training regimen and expects them to survive it on their own and without help. When trying to teach Miguel to use his legs he ties his hands and actually throws him into a pool so he can only use his legs to keep himself from sinking.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Underneath his cantankerous and abrasive attitude, Johnny is shown to be deeply unhappy with his life and full of self-loathing at the beginning of the series since his bitter falling out with Kreese after the '84 tournament. Being The Alcoholic doesn't do him any justice.
• So Proud of You:
  • While he never uses the words, Johnny clearly feels this way towards Miguel, when he hears about the latter successfully beating up Kyler and his gang. He demonstrates it by giving Miguel the uniform he used to wear when he started training.
  • Taken up a notch by Season 3. He's far more open with his affection for Miguel, hugging him in the open multiple times. Also his Facebook account is almost primarily filled with moments with Miguel. It definitely shows how much Johnny has taken a parental role with him.
• Soccer-Hating Americans: When he sees Bobby watching soccer on TV in the hospital, he jokes that Tommy's illness is clearly worse than he thought.
• Spanner in the Works: When Johnny first joined Cobra Kai, Season 5 reveals that he unintentionally foiled Terry Silver's plan to expand the dojo worldwide, since John Kreese wanted to put the idea on hold so he could put Johnny first and mold him into the greatest martial artist in the Valley. Maybe that's why Silver hates him so much!
• Stating the Simple Solution: He tries, but sometimes Johnny's "solutions" just expose his ignorance. When Eli brings up that he could be on the autism spectrum according to his doctor, Johnny tells him to "get off it". Johnny also tells him not to have a weird lip if he doesn't want to be addressed as "Lip". Wow, to think that that's all it would take.
• Supporting Protagonist: While Johnny is still a main character, the story shifts its focus from him to Daniel starting from Season 5.
• Surpassed the Teacher: Johnny manages to beat Kreese twice, once at the beginning of Season 2 (while drunk no less) and again at the end of Season 3, showing that he has decisively surpassed his former sensei in terms of fighting capability.
• Testosterone Poisoning: Not as exaggerated as his student Hawk later becomes, but Johnny still practices the idea of dealing with everything in life "like a badass".
• Took a Level in Kindness: Starting up his own Cobra Kai dojo begins this process in Johnny, as he begins to care for and express compassion towards his students, becoming more tolerant and attentive in the process. When he undergoes a Heel Realization in Season 1's finale as History Repeats during the tournament, he adjusts and tries to become an Internal Reformist in an attempt to pull his students back from being in a Thug Dojo. Unfortunately, he also allows Kreese back in, thinking he's reformed...
• Trademark Favorite Drink: Coors Banquet. For food, Johnny seems to favor meaty finger foods like sliced ham and beef jerky.
• Troll: Has Miguel open the tournament with the Crane Kick solely because he knows how much Daniel will hate seeing the kid use his signature move. Likewise, he admits to Daniel that he organized the Cobra Kai demonstration just to upstage Miyagi-do.
• Two Decades Behind: He shows a shockingly high amount of ignorance about the internet for someone his age, not even knowing what Facebook is. His initial reaction to Aisha wanting to join the dojo also implies he isn't aware the US Army has allowed women to participate in combat.
• Two First Names: Lawrence is a common male given name.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • He doesn't thank his stepfather for bailing him out of jail, instead bluntly questioning what he's doing in Johnny's apartment. Though the fact that Sid is a classic Abusive Parent also has something to do with this.
  Johnny: What the hell are you doing in my apartment, Sid?
  Sid: Oh, that's some "thank you".
• Unknown Rival: Robby, mind you his own son, clearly hates Johnny after years and years of abandoning him out of shame, and this only gets worse when Miguel enters in both of their lives. Johnny on the other hand, regrets everything he did for Robby and had made strides to improve his relationship with him (which succeeds by the end of Season 4 and throughout Season 5), even going as far as to discipline Miguel and Hawk for making cheap shots at Robby during the tournament. This is especially shown in their Season 3 fight when Robby fuels all of his rage toward his father, who isn't even trying to attack him, and only has nothing but sorrow for what he has become under Kreese.
• Unreliable Narrator: Johnny tells Miguel his version of his first encounter with Daniel, painting himself the victim and Daniel the villain, conveniently leaving out the other details of the encounter. In Season 3 when Miguel finally gets a chance to talk with Daniel, he fills in the blanks of what Johnny left out.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A flashback shows that before joining Cobra Kai, Johnny was a shy kid who didn't have any friends and suffered verbal abuse from his stepdad on a daily basis. The dojo was the first place where he found acceptance, and taught him to adopt a tough and aggressive persona to protect himself.
• Villains Never Lie: While he's not necessarily a villain, Johnny freely admits to all of his antagonistic actions during the course of the series like drawing the dick on Daniel's billboard or attacking Anoush to get information about Robby.
• Villainous Valor: Johnny looks down on cyberbullying, believing that if you're going to pick on someone, you should do it to their face.
• Villain Protagonist: Downplayed. He goes from the central antagonist of the original film to one of the main protagonist of the sequel series, but he bounces between Anti-Hero on his better days and Well-Intentioned Extremist on his worse days.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Played With. It's shown on multiple occasions that if he and Daniel could put their differences aside, they'd get along like a house on fire. However, a combination of Poor Communication Kills and their inter-school rivalry means that any moments of friendship end up being fleeting at best and they go back to being enemies. They finally become this trope in earnest at the end of Season 3, when they bury the hatchet and join forces to defeat Kreese together.
  • Season 4 zigzags this; Johnny and Daniel start by attempting to bond and get an understanding of one another. They even exchange their respective students for some cross-discipline training, and their animosity has simmered to the point they're willing to be in the same photo for their dating children. However, they still cannot let bygones be bygones, and their egos get the better of them, culminating in a long-awaited karate rematch between the two. This leads to them separating their efforts before the All Valley, running Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang as two separate teams. During the tournament, though, they once again put their differences aside for Samantha's sake, and Daniel requests Johnny be announced as a mutual sensei for her when it becomes clear she is using both their teachings to forge her own path. Regardless of their falling out, it's clear they still respect each other, and are finally willing to put their grudges aside for the sake of their students, especially their own children.
  • This is dropped completely in Season 5, albeit in an unexpected way. That being there simply isn't any vitriol in the relationship anymore. When Daniel comes to him in a drunken rage, trying to conscript him to join the karate war and attempting to push his known Berserk Button, Johnny instead calmly asks him what's going on and sits him down to talk. Daniel is almost immediately snapped out of the funk he had been in due to the act. For the entire season, the two don't really mouth off to each other, and Johnny remains a constant pillar of support for Daniel through an incredibly harsh time.
• Wax On, Wax Off:
  • An interesting example. Johnny makes Miguel clean the dojo, not with the intent of secretly training Miguel, but so the dojo can pass inspection. That said, all the manual work that Miguel had to do did seem to help Miguel get into shape for proper training.
    Miguel: Hey, Sensei, is there any particular way you want me to wash these windows?
    Johnny: Nah, I don't give a shit.
  • Johnny's biggest deviation from Mr. Miyagi is his aversion to this. His training methods are harsh but he always makes sure to explain exactly what their purpose is to his students. As the All-Valley Tournament shows, it did them plenty of favors in the long run.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Season 2 makes it clear that as much as he fears and detests Kreese, he still places a lot of stock in his old sensei's approval.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He genuinely wants to help his students overcome their problems, but echoing Kreese's methods turns them into the same types of bullies that he once was.
• Won't Get Fooled Again: To Johnny's credit, after his misplaced trust and forgiveness of Kreese backfires and results in Kreese usurping Cobra Kai from him, he wises up and refuses to listen to any of Kreese's further manipulations and attempts at reconciliation thereafter.
• The Worf Effect: Besides his loss against Daniel in the All-Valley, Johnny has never lost in a fair fight. That all changes when he faces off against Terry Silver, the latter of which wins in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Working-Class Hero: Johnny left his wealthy stepfather and is working as a handyman by the time of the Cobra Kai premiere. He has also become an Anti-Hero Reformed Bully by this point.
• Worthy Opponent: Proves to be a far better person than his Evil Mentor.
• Would Harm a Senior: He doesn't hesitate to attack Miyagi after he steps in to defend Daniel. Miyagi, however, makes short work of Johnny and his friends. Same can be said with Kreese and Silver, though to be fair, they are both deranged war veterans that pose a serious threat to the valley.
• You Are What You Hate: When Johnny has Kreese in a chokehold during their fight, he immediately has flashbacks to when Kreese did the same thing to him after losing the championship to Daniel all those years ago. The realization that he's acting like his old Evil Mentor causes him to let go of the hold, although Kreese repays his mercy with a cheap shot.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • He is shocked to discover that one of the teenagers who totaled his ride was Daniel LaRusso's daughter, and later, when he learns that his son chose to learn karate from his old enemy instead of him.
  • Johnny is also shocked that a kid Miguel's age has never heard of Guns N' Roses.
  • His actual words when he finds out Robby has been training with Daniel, and that Robby has more respect for Daniel than he's ever shown for Johnny. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: All he can do is look at Kreese, his former mentor, in complete silence when the latter compliments him for restoring Cobra Kai back to its former glory after winning the All Valley Tournament.

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"QUIET!"