History Fridge / CobraKai

** Kreese and Silver's living situations are extreme opposites; Kreese is homeless (and implied to now be living out of the Cobra Kai dojo) whereas Silver has a luxurious BigFancyHouse with a personal chef and several maids. In contrast, Johnny and Daniel have living arrangements that can be seen as more "balanced", or at least do not lean too far to one extreme. Johnny lives in a rather cut-rate apartment complex though every now and then he can afford some luxuries, while Daniel also lives in a BigFancyHouse, though with a more suburban design and location compared to Silver's extravagant bayside residence, which can be seen as Daniel's acknowledgment of his humble origins.

* Daniel also wins the fight without taking a single hit, just like his old mentor, which solidifies him as the new generation's Mr. Miyagi. It's taken him a long time and a lot of struggles, but he has achieved the balance and skill to truly step into his shoes.

** He claims it was because they don't have a roof, swag, or "any chicks" (other than Sam), as well as not being called "Penis Breath". However, both dojos actually do have roofs/roofed structures, although the Miyagi-Dos admittedly usually do their martial arts training outside. Which, if Mitch were a little more insightful, he might realize is very good training for the real world--sometimes you do have to fight in extreme outdoors conditions.

*** Also the most popular females from the school (Yasmine, Sam and Moon) ended up with Miyagi-Do/Eagle-Fang students (Demetri, Miguel and Hawk respectively). What's more, all of them ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold even Yasmine]]) ended up with said guys because they proved to be not only badass [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan but also gentle and nice]] specially after their CharacterDevelopment. Mitch is both terrible at pick-up lines and obnoxious, meaning that even changing dojos might have not help him at all at.
*** It's also worth noting that Mitch is flat out [[CannotTalkToWomen too socially awkward to talk to women]], explicitly shown when he tries to explain about the Sekai Taikai to a group of girls coming to Miguel and Robby's party, even though they have no idea what it is and only showed up because it was something fun that Moon invited them to. Hawk is very well aware of this, and even Miguel manages to charm one of them! Earlier in the episode when the Miyagi-Fangs are at Silver's flagship dojo, Mitch expressing admiration on the group of female Cobra Kai students comes off as very creepy — and something the girls are clearly not amused by.
*** Worse of all, Demetri is also nerdy and often pretty awkward himself. However, his newfound confidence in himself not only helped him a lot in his life as a whole, but Demetri remains very true to himself in a healthier way. Mitch [[YouWereTryingTooHard tries too hard to come up as a nice pick for women that ends up looking like an idiot.]] Demetri might not be quite the cassanova in the traditional sense, [[BeYourself but because he doesn't pretend to be someone he's not]] he instead becomes EndearinglyDorky. Demetri took the philosophy of Miyagi-Do to simply become a better version of himself which is the reason why his love life has dramatically improved, as did the equally shy Eli (albeit after having to cut back on the Hawk persona). Mitch however is so superficial he can't even see that and thinks cheap swag would suffice.

** And at the Pizza Party, Mitch complains that the Miyagi-Fangs don't have enough students compared to the Cobra Kais. That's really the point of the Miyagi-Fangs, especially as Chozen spells it out for him during one of his lessons: they don't need a ''franchise'' of dojos with hundreds of students to be that good. Case-in-point, all of their fighters are pretty much {{Mook}}s at this point, with their best being Kyler, Devon, Kenny, and Tory, the last of whom is already feeling disillusioned by the dojo and eventually defects to the Miyagi-Fangs herself. The Miyagi-Fangs have two All-Valley champs (Miguel and Eli) ''and'' two All-Valley runner-ups (Robby and Sam) in their arsenal, in addition to a recent All-Valley semifinalist (Demetri). Not to mention that Chris took out Mitch himself with little effort twice in the school and arcade fights. They're pretty much stacked compared to the other dojo with only Tory as the All-Valley champion (granted, with Silver's bribery), whereas the rest of the three aforementioned best fighters (Kyler, Kenny, Devon) were curb-stomped in the quarterfinals (with Devon being curb-stomped again during the Sekai Taikai qualifier).
** Aside from the fact that he clearly never asked his fellow students not to call him Penis Breath, did he really think Kyler and his crew ''weren't'' going to be nasty to him? Especially since Kyler ''was'' the one that got him kicked out of Kreese's Cobra Kai when he showed absolutely no mercy to Mitch during a sparring session.
** When all is said and done, Mitch is nothing more that a petty, UngratefulBastard who clings on to what he perceives as better out of personal greed. Sure, Silver's Cobra Kai may have won the tournament (albeit through Silver's cheating), has the nicer facilities, more female students, swag sponsored by Champion sportswear, and more food options for Mitch to hunker down on it. But the students in the Miyagi-Fangs still value him as a close friend — namely Chris, Bert, and Nathaniel, more so than the likes of Kyler and Kenny. And unlike Silver, the three Miyagi-Fang senseis don't need to buy their way to victory when it comes to a competition, as shown when they also qualify for the Sekai-Taikai, Johnny's Cobra Kai winning the All-Valley despite cheap shots from his students (though it was all legalized), and Hawk winning the boys' division for Miyagi-Do in the 51st All-Valley despite Robby having the leniency advantage. Additionally, almost every large-scale brawl between the dojos so far (Season 2's mall and school fight, Season 3's house fight, Season 4's prom fight) has ended in a draw or victory for the Miyagi-Dos/Miyagi-Fangs, with the one exception being the arcade fight in Season 3, and that would almost certainly have been a draw or victory if not for Sam's panic attack. Mitch being knocked down on the ground during the climactic moments of the FinalBattle in Silver's flagship dojo and ''himself'' feeling betrayed by Silver's dishonesty were nothing short of well-deserved.

** With Miguel: Even prior to his fall and paralysis, he was already questioning Kreese's way of teaching — as it contrasted with what Johnny had taught him after Miguel himself became a brute in the All-Valley that resulted in him losing his relationship with Sam and being punished by Johnny during the next class. As such when he recovers from his paralysis, the impact Johnny had on his life was enough for Miguel to remain loyal to ''him'', not Cobra Kai, as he helps Johnny form Eagle Fang and distances from Cobra Kai entirely. Mitch never questioned Kreese's ruthless teachings and only joined Eagle Fang because it was a convenient dojo for him to continue training after Kreese kicks him out. Like everyone else down the list, Miguel remains loyal with his own dojo even as Cobra Kai underwent numerous changes with their senseis. Mitch on the other hand uses Silver's open-mindedness as an opportunity to re-join Cobra Kai when given the chance.
** With Hawk: He was a meek, bullied student before he joined karate — but the trauma he endured from past bullying basically had him embrace the "No Mercy" mindset and become a bully himself. Mitch on the other hand doesn't have enough backstory to convince the audience he didn't just join Cobra Kai because it was getting popular. And unlike Hawk (and many other students) who defected out of disillusionment with the dojo and their own actions, Mitch was simply kicked out due to Kreese's Darwinistic mindset when it comes to his students. Which meant even if the more open-minded Silver took over the dojo, the dark atmosphere coming out of Cobra Kai is enough for Hawk to keep his distance from the place, whereas Mitch would use this as an opportunity to be welcomed back with open arms. Hawk also made the effort to atone for his past misdeeds by designing the sparring deck, rejoining Miyagi-Do after having been humiliated, and winning the boys' tournament; Mitch did not show any similar level of dedication.

** With Robby: He joined due to having very understandable issues with Daniel, Sam, and Johnny, and being preyed upon by Kreese, an expert manipulator, when he was at his lowest point. Even at first, Robby was distrusting of Kreese when the latter visited him in juvie due to his relationship with his former sensei (Daniel) going south; he only joined because he felt he had nowhere else to go and wanted to get back at Daniel, Sam, and Johnny. However, even ''he'' had his moral values unlike his Cobra Kai teammates. Mitch’s motives to join Cobra Kai are far pettier than being turned into juvie, cheated on, and abandoned for years.
*** Additionally, the contrast between what Robby and Mitch actually did as members of Cobra Kai and afterwards is very revealing. During Kreese's tenure as Cobra Kai sensei, he wanted a male champion, and Robby has the skill set and All-Valley experience that made it convenient for him (especially after Hawk defects in the [=LaRusso=] house fight); Mitch on the other hand is nothing more than a {{Mook}} with a good set of lines that isn't even ''needed'' in Cobra Kai's expanding franchise (especially given that Kenny is the male champion and Kyler previously beat his ass during a trial exercise), and who is never seen winning a fight by himself. When Robby joined Cobra Kai as their male champion, he made good use of their time there by kicking everyone's ass ''without a single fair hit'', teaching them Miyagi-Do moves (which contributes heavily in the tournament), successfully recruiting Kenny despite Kreese's doubts, and making it to the finals — nearly defeating Eli in Sudden Death. What did Mitch do after he revealed his allegiance? Nothing, except leaking the Miyagi-Fang's infiltration plan (which only ended up backfiring, as it meant all the Cobra Kais were there to watch the video clip and then see their sensei get trounced by Daniel) whining about being called Penis Breath, [[UngratefulBastard ranting about how the Miyagi-Fangs don't have much compared to Cobra Kai]], and ultimately lying on the floor after losing to Chris. After rejoining Miyagi-Do, Robby mentored Anthony and helped encourage Daniel to lead the fight against Silver; Mitch only went along with whatever the team was doing. What really underlines the difference is that Robby walked back into Cobra Kai and announced that he should've taken everyone else with him; Mitch walked back into Cobra Kai and attempted to rejoin the gang.
** With Devon: It's an interesting case. After Eagle Fang closes down due to Johnny honoring his bet with Kreese, she needs to find another dojo to train — as such, Topanga becomes available to her. ''However'', Topanga is taken over by Silver's Cobra Kai, and Devon ends up with sticking around out of pragmatic reasons of wanting a dojo to continue training in. She didn't join the plot until midway through Season 4, so unlike Mitch, she didn't know how toxic Cobra Kai could be. Then the FinalBattle happens, and Devon sees just how fucked up the dojo is when she witnesses [[KickTheDog Sensei Kim abusing Tory]], prompting her to make a moral decision to switch sides at the last minute. Does Mitch do that when his (former) friends are in trouble? No, he does not.

** Kreese and Silver's living situations are extreme opposite; Kreese is homeless (and implied to now be living out of the Cobra Kai dojo) whereas Silver has a luxurious BigFancyHouse with a personal chef and several maids. In contrast, Johnny and Daniel have living arrangements that can be seen as more "balanced", or at least do not lean too far to one extreme. Johnny lives in a rather cut-rate apartment complex though every now and then he can afford some luxuries, while Daniel also lives in a BigFancyHouse, though with a more suburban design and location compared to Silver's extravagant bayside residence, which can be seen as Daniel's acknowledgment of his humble origins.

** Furthermore, when Robby strikes Kenny for the winning point in the last round of their fight, instead of his kiai being [[{{Catchphrase}} “aits”]], it’s [[BorrowedCatchphrase “ass-ah”]], which is Silver’s kiai.

* Many have questioned how Rickenberger and Mikey could stomach working together with Robby when he beat both of their asses in Season 2 at the mall and at the school. Maybe they actually simply couldn't, which is at least partially why they quit Cobra Kai after the house fight. Of course, the real out-of-universe reason was because the stunt team switch in Season 4 prevented John Cihangir and Chris Schmidt Jr. from reprising their roles as Rickenberger and Mikey, respectively, but them being unwilling to team up with their enemy Robby could be considered an in-universe reason for why they quit (getting beaten up during the house fight may also have something to do with it).

** Kreese is offered tofu at Silver's party and sneers at it, refusing to even try it. Johnny and Daniel have (brought in homemade) lunch together and try each other's food, thinking it is delicious, even though it is something they usually wouldn't eat.

** Kreese and Silver's living situations are two opposite extremes; Kreese is homeless (and implied to now be living out of the Cobra Kai dojo) whereas Silver has a luxurious BigFancyHouse with a personal chef and several maids. In contrast, Johnny and Daniel have living arrangements that can be seen as more "balanced", or at least does not lean too far to one extreme. Johnny lives in a rather cut-rate apartment complex though every now and then he can afford some luxuries, while Daniel also has a BigFancyHouse though with a more suburban design and location compared to Silver's extravagant bayside residence, which can be seen as Daniel's acknowledgment of his more humble origins.

** Especially since, now that Silver's in jail, it's probably still going to be difficult for the former school owners to buy back their schools.
* Silver and Kreese's sensei was Master Kim Sun-Yung. Sun-Yung's granddaughter is named Kim Da-Eun.

[[UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea Gee, who do those names remind you of?]]

* Silver and Kreese's sensei was Master Kim Sun-Yung. Sun-Yung's granddaughter is named Kim Da-Eun. [[UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea Gee, who do those names remind you of?]]

*** This too makes a lot of sense. Tory had a sucky home life and, as far as we know, never had any kind of paternal figure. So of course she latches on to Kreese as the parental role model she desperately needs. Meanwhile, Hawk mentions that both of his parents are active in his life. He joined Cobra Kai not because he needed a place to belong or a role model as much, but because Johnny's teachings helped mould him into a better version of himself (before that was hijacked by Kreese). Hawk is loyal to Johnny, to Miguel, to Demetri. And even though Kreese poisons those relationships, deep down Eli knows what's right, and eventually throws his lot in with his friends.

* Chozen's comment that Cobra Kai does not have the same focus on teamwork as Miyagi-Fang may seem odd, given that Kreese (and to a lesser extent, Silver) emphasized military-style teamwork. '''However,''' in Cobra Kai, Kreese and Silver regularly have the students beating one another up in training. On the other hand, Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen's exercises often have the students working in pairs or groups, and when they spar, there's no "punish the loser" mentality. It's no surprise that the latter school has a stronger feeling of cohesion and loyalty to one another.

* Silver and Kreese's sensei was Master Kim Sun-Yung. Sun-Yung's granddaughter is named Kim Da-Eun. [[UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea Gee who do those names remind you of?]]

* Silver and Kreeses' sensei was Master Kim Sun-Yung. Sun-Yung's granddaughter is named Kim Da-Eun. [[UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea Gee who do those names remind you of?

** When Robby attacks Johnny and spars with Silver, he's almost all offense, having lost himself to Cobra Kai. While the skill and experience gap does play a part, neither time is he able to come close to laying a finger on his opponent, who manhandles him easily. By contrast, at the beginning of Season 4, even though he's solidly Cobra Kai his Miyagi-Do background is enough that ''not a single Cobra Kai student'' is unable to land a hit on him until he drops his guard.

** When Johnny and Daniel first fight Silver, as noted below, Silver takes advantage of their emotional weaknesses, and in Johnny's case a surprise attack, to defeat them (and even then, both make him work for his victory, particularly Daniel). At the end of Season 5, when they're on guard and focused, Johnny's able to take on almost all of Silver's teachers single-handed, only needing a little help from Mike and Chozen. Meanwhile, Daniel's second duel with Silver is a CurbStompBattle on the other foot, not allowing Silver to get in any hits and taking advantage of openings to use the [=QuickSilver=] method against him.

** Furthermore Ali admits that while she wasn't actually in love with the UCLA football player she did egg Daniel on just to make him mad. She did the ''exact same thing'' with Daniel to Johnny, openly flirting with him just to piss Johnny off.

!!Fridge Horror

!!Fridge Brilliance

** To sum up: With the exception of Chozen, Sam, Anthony, and Demetri, every one of the Miyagi-Fang students and teachers has at some point defected from Cobra Kai, either being expelled by Kreese or leaving voluntarily. With those four, each of them has seen secondhand how toxic the dojo can be--Sam and Anthony regarding their father's personal experience and being a target from their respective rivals (Tory for Sam, Kenny for Anthony), not to mention how Sam watched Miguel go from a sweet-natured kid to an obnoxious bully. Demetri saw his best friend Eli turned into a vicious brute and got punched in the face by Kreese. Meanwhile, Chozen is very familiar with the Way of the Fist, enough to recognize it after only moments of watching Silver spar, heavily implying that he's seen Kim Sun-Yung's teachings offscreen. None of them ever showed any interest in joining Cobra Kai. Of the ''entire cast,'' the only ones who ever experienced Cobra Kai firsthand, left/were forced out, and then wanted to return were Johnny, Stingray, and Mitch. Ever since the beginning of the series, Johnny has made a deliberate effort to redeem and improve Cobra Kai, which eventually culminated in the creation of Eagle Fang. As noted above, Stingray rapidly sees the problems with Cobra Kai and throws his lot in with Miyagi-Fang when given the chance. Mitch makes it clear that he doesn't recognize any of the problems with Cobra Kai, and makes no effort to change anything other than which side he fights for.

* Why didn't Mr. Miyagi teach Daniel the pressure point moves of Miyagi-Do? Because they are used for aggression and disable an opponent for a kill, and Mr. Miyagi's philosophy was about defense and showing mercy. So he wouldn't want to pass it on to his student.

** Episode 3: Miguel leads Cobra Kai in the hijacking of the Miyagi Do demo at Valley Fest. Once again Sam just looks sad. The Miguel that hijacks the demo just looks like a headcase and someone with a large ego in her mind. Not the nice humble boy that defended her from Kyler.

*** Worse of all, Demetri is also nerdy and often pretty awkward himself. However, his newfound confidence in himself not only helped him a lot in his life as a whole, but Demetri remains very true to himself in a healthier way. Mitch [[YouWereTryingTooHard tries too hard to come up as a nice pick for women that ends up looking like an idiot.]] Demetri might not be quite the cassanova in the traditional sense, [[BeYourself but because he doesn't pretend to be someone he's not]] he instead becomes EndearinglyDorky. Demetri took the philosophy of Miyagi-Do to simply become a better version of himself which is the reason why his love life has dramatically improved. Mitch however is so superficial he can't even see that and thinks cheap swag would suffice.

** And at the Pizza Party, Mitch complains that the Miyagi-Fangs don't have enough students compared to the Cobra Kais. That's really the point of the Miyagi-Fangs, especially as Chozen spells it out for him during one of his lessons: they don't need a ''franchise'' of dojos with hundreds of students to be that good. Case-in-point, all of their fighters are pretty much {{Mook}}s at this point, with their best being Kyler, Devon, Kenny, and Tory, the last of whom is already feeling disillusioned by the dojo and eventually defects to the Miyagi-Fangs herself. The Miyagi-Fangs have two All-Valley champs (Miguel and Eli) ''and'' two All-Valley runner-ups (Robby and Sam) in their arsenal, in addition to a recent All-Valley semifinalist (Demetri). Not to mention that Chris took out Mitch himself with little effort twice in the school and arcade fights. They're pretty much stacked compared to the other dojo with only Tory as the All-Valley champion (granted, with Silver's bribery), whereas the rest of the three aforementioned best fighters (Kyler, Kenny, Devon) were curb-stomped in the quarterfinals (with Devon being curb-stomped again during the Sekai Taikai qualifier). Secondly, while Cobra Kai is all about quantity — expanding the dojos for more and more students to learn the art, the Miyagi-Fangs are all about quality — making them a much more unified unit with better chemistry among the students. This pays off in the FinalBattle where they win by successfully exposing Silver to the Cobra Kais after utilizing Chozen's lesson on teamwork.

** To sum up: With the exception of Chozen, Sam, Anthony, and Demetri, every one of the Miyagi-Fang students and teachers has at some point defected from Cobra Kai, either being expelled by Kreese or leaving voluntarily. With those four, each of them has seen secondhand how toxic the dojo can be--Sam and Anthony regarding their father's personal experience and being a target from their respective rivals (Tory for Sam, Kenny for Anthony), and Demetri in how his best friend Eli turned into a vicious brute (not to mention being punched in the face by Kreese). Meanwhile, Chozen is very familiar with the Way of the Fist, enough to recognize it after only moments of watching Silver spar, and even Sato ''before'' the events of the second movie loathed the style. None of them ever showed any interest in joining Kreese/Silver's Cobra Kai. Of the ''entire cast,'' the only ones who ever experienced Cobra Kai firsthand, left/were forced out, and then wanted to return were Johnny, Stingray, and Mitch. Ever since the beginning of the series, Johnny made a deliberate effort to redeem and improve Cobra Kai, which eventually culminated in the creation of Eagle Fang. As noted above, Stingray rapidly sees the problems with Cobra Kai and throws his lot in with Miyagi-Fang when given the chance. Mitch makes it clear that he doesn't recognize any of the problems with Cobra Kai, and makes no effort to change anything other than which side he fights for.

** It's also worth remembering that Johnny was originally trained in the Way of the Fist, and Chozen is familiar enough with the style to recognize it almost immediately and demonstrate it to Daniel. However, neither Silver, Kim, nor any of their students have ever trained in Miyagi-Do or Eagle Fang. Thus, Johnny and Chozen are at an advantage in that they know their opponents' style, but their opponents aren't familiar with theirs.

** Then in 3x08, Robby catches Sam with Miguel at Miyagi-Do, and they're flirting, play-fighting, and about to kiss, and because he's now seen it with his own eyes he can't really deny it anymore. He's forced to confront the fact that Sam doesn't mind and doesn't regret what happened at Moon's party. It would be one thing if it truly was a drunken kiss that Sam regretted but it's not. Sam was okay with what happened when she was impaired. She might have regretted the circumstances surrounding the kiss...but she doesn't regret kissing Miguel. And because Robby is in love with Sam, that hurts him. Robby's pain tends to manifest as anger, and when Miguel physically gets in between Robby and Sam, Miguel is, in a way, forcing him to see the painful truth again, just like he did during the school fight. And since Robby lashes out when he's hurt, he gets angry and tries to take a swing at Miguel.

** To sum up: With the exception of Chozen, Sam, Anthony, and Demetri, every one of the Miyagi-Fang students and teachers has at some point defected from Cobra Kai, either being expelled by Kreese or leaving voluntarily. With those four, each of them has seen secondhand how toxic the dojo can be--Sam and Anthony regarding their father's personal experience and being a target from their respective rivals (Tory for Sam, Kenny for Anthony), and Demetri in how his best friend Eli turned into a vicious brute (not to mention being punched in the face by Kreese). Meanwhile, Chozen is very familiar with the Way of the Fist, enough to recognize it after only moments of watching Silver spar. None of them ever showed any interest in joining Kreese/Silver's Cobra Kai. Of the ''entire cast,'' the only ones who ever experienced Cobra Kai firsthand, left/were forced out, and then wanted to return were Johnny, Stingray, and Mitch. Ever since the beginning of the series, Johnny made a deliberate effort to redeem and improve Cobra Kai, which eventually culminated in the creation of Eagle Fang. As noted above, Stingray rapidly sees the problems with Cobra Kai and throws his lot in with Miyagi-Fang when given the chance. Mitch makes it clear that he doesn't recognize any of the problems with Cobra Kai, and makes no effort to change anything other than which side he fights for.
* In the second episode, Chozen easily takes down the seven "best senseis in the valley" in less than two minutes, often with a single hit each... Because his opponents are trained in ''sports'' Karate while Chozen is trained in the original combat art. Even if they were trained for full contact sports Karate, they don't have the conditioning and habits to take on an opponent using the real thing, so they fall to Chozen's illegal techniques. The punches to the face are especially evident:

** Most Americans start martial arts training around ten years old or later. Even those who start younger often come and train for two or three hours a week and then have school, sports, other extra-curricular activities, etc the rest of the day. Chozen, having been raised by Sato, has probably been training and conditioning himself for hours every day since he was just a few years old.