History Film / TheKarateKid1984

* IncrediblyLamePun: Miyagi makes Daniel fall off the rowboat he was balancing on, and when he climbs out of the water, Miyagi laughingly tells Daniel he's still wet behind the ears.

* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: Kreese attacks Johnny after destroying his trophy, prompting Miyagi to give him a [[KickTheSonOfABitch little lesson]]. [[note]] This scene was cut from the film, but was used in [[Film/TheKarateKidPartII the sequel's]] opening montage.[[/note]]

* BrokenPedestal: You can see the shock and hesitation from Cobra Kai members when Kreese [[OrderedToCheat orders them to make cheap shots]]. The beginning of the second movie shows the greater fallout where Kreese bullies his students after the tournament and Miyagi has to intervene, and of course is followed up more closely in ''Series/CobraKai''.

* DeadpanSnarker: Miyagi in the first film especially.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Ali is nice, pretty, the ex-girlfriend of Johnny, and lives with upper-class parents in a BigFancyHouse...and that's all that's really known about her before she's easily written out of the sequel, and it isn't until ''Series/CobraKai'' that we learn more about her.

* TraumaCongaLine: From the summer beach party to the Halloween dance, the Cobra Kai gang puts Daniel through endless humiliation until Mr. Miyagi intervenes.

--> '''Daniel:''' So where'd Franchise/SpiderMan go?

Daniel [=LaRusso=] (Creator/RalphMacchio) has just moved with his mother Lucille from New Jersey to Reseda, UsefulNotes/{{California}}. Daniel is overall a good kid, but his life takes a turn for the worse when he meets a girl that he likes, Ali Mills (Creator/ElisabethShue), only to incur the wrath of her ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Johnny happens to be the prize student of the [[ThugDojo Cobra Kai]] UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} dojo, whose sensei John Kreese (Creator/MartinKove) encourages ruthless aggression. After their first meeting, which ends with Daniel [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown being beaten badly]], Johnny leads his gang into tormenting Daniel whenever possible.

Daniel [=LaRusso=] (Creator/RalphMacchio) has just moved with his mother Lucille from New Jersey to Reseda, UsefulNotes/{{California}}. Daniel is overall a good kid, but his life takes a turn for the worse when he meets a girl that he likes, Ali Mills (Creator/ElisabethShue), only to incur the wrath of her ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Johnny happens to be the prize student of the Cobra Kai UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} dojo, whose sensei John Kreese (Creator/MartinKove) encourages ruthless aggression. After their first meeting, which ends with Daniel [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown being beaten badly]], Johnny leads his gang into tormenting Daniel whenever possible.

* CallingTheWomanOut: When Daniel reaches his RageBreakingPoint, he calls his mother out on how she never thought about his feelings when they moved to California. She doesn't deny this and says that he's right.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: The Crane Kick as depicted in the film is fictional, chosen to be an iconic image over being a realistic technique. The actual crane kick is an advanced move that requires jumping, kicking and landing from the same leg, which no one in the production crew could do.

** The crane stance, which in RealLife could be defeated with a good shove to the chest. Heck, if you pause the movie right before the Crane Kick, you can see that Johnny has a ''clear'' shot to the chin lined up. This becomes a plot point in the sequel where Chozen effortlessly counters it.

*** Somewhat ''justified'' as practical in [[DifficultButAwesome certain]] [[DefensiveFeintTrap circumstances]] while in others it's an [[AllOrNothing all-or-nothing]] [[ArtisticLicenseMartialArts telegraphed attack]]. According to Miyagi, if the crane stance/kick/technique is "done right", then "no can [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish defense]]". The technique works best with a feint, as a CounterAttack, when done quickly and timed precisely, or if the opponent doesn't know what's coming[[note]]as seen with Johnny Lawrence not knowing what to do when he first saw it used against him and with Terry Silver in ''Series/CobraKai'' when Daniel used it as a follow-up FinishingMove after knocking the wind out of him[[/note]].

* IronicEcho: When Miyagi gets Kreese at his mercy due to the above trope, he uses Cobra Kai's creed against him.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Bobby Brown is by far the least barbaric of the Cobra Kai, being the only one who ever worries about taking their abuse of Daniel too far. He later [[Series/CobraKai goes onto become a pastor]].

* LiteralMetaphor: After demonstrating Daniel's lack of balance by toppling him out of the boat, he tells him that he's "all wet behind ear", an idiom for "inexperienced" that also happens to be literally true.

* OneSteveLimit: Bizarrely averted- both the BigBad (John Kreese) and his student TheDragon (Johnny Lawrence) have the same first name, despite there not seeming to be any deeper meaning to it.

* BrokenPedastal: You can see the shock and hesitation from Cobra Kai members when Kreese [[OrderedToCheat orders them to make cheap shots]]. The beginning of the second movie shows the greater fallout where Kreese bullies his students after the tournament and Miyagi has to intervene, and of course is followed up more closely in ''Series/CobraKai''.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Mr. Miyagi has a vintage car collection that would be the envy of any motor enthusiast, but has no driver's licence.

* KickTheDog: Kreese orders his minions to use dirty tactics to injure Daniel (despite their insistence that they can beat Daniel fairly) shows that ''he'' is the source of Cobra Kai's villainy. His students are just impressionable kids.

* ImprovFu: How Miyagi defeats Kreese in the parking lot (in a cut scene used in the opening of the sequel). He simply dodged and made him slash up his own fists after accidentally punching out nearby car windows barehanded.

* KickTheDog: Kreese orders his minions to use dirty tactics to injure Daniel shows that he's the source of Cobra Kai's villainy. His students are just impressionable kids.

* SpoiledSweet: Ali is a rich, popular girl, who loves Daniel- regardless of their difference in social class, and doesn't humiliate him like everyone else does- unlike her RichBitch friends.