Cobra Kai, which recently released its fifth season on Netfix, has come a long way, and so have its characters. When the show first spun out of the Karate Kid movie franchise with episodes on YouTube, some fans expected the villains would be at the center of the story. While that is true to an extent, the series demonstrates that even the antagonists are layered characters who might be the heroes of their own stories.
With Cobra Kai’s move to Netflix after its second season, the show has added more new characters and more familiar faces from the movies, expanding the showcase of different personalities who find their strength and solace in martial arts. It continues to do so in season 5. Though so many of the characters are able to evolve as a result of their experiences with karate, they are all so different from one another, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a great tool for fans to examine those different personalities.
Miguel: ISFJ
Someone who falls under the ISFJ type is introverted, observant, feeling, and judging. They’re also known as the Defender due to their tendency to stand up for those they care about. Even though they are introverted, they tend to be very good with other people; they just might have to expend more energy than an extrovert in social situations.
Someone like Miguel might not always be the life of the party, but he works hard, has a strong sense of responsibility, and is extremely loyal. Most of Miguel’s ISFJ characteristics are on display when it comes to his relationship with Johnny Lawrence. Though he might become angry with his sensei more than once, Miguel never turns his back on him, and always tries to make the most of Johnny’s teachings.
Sam: ESFJ
Sam and Miguel have a lot of their personality traits in common, though she’s an extrovert to his introvert. More commonly, she’s known as a Consul. Like Miguel, she’s got a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility.
Even though she doesn’t stand up for Aisha right away when her new friends bully her old friends, Sam feels immense guilt, and eventually tries to make things better for Aisha. Sam is good for a motivational speech as well, and is instrumental in bringing Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang students together, attempting to form a sense of community against a shared enemy.
Amanda: ENTJ
While Sam and her mother might both be extroverts and have judging aspects to their personality, Amanda is more intuitive and a thinker than Sam is. Sam is more reactive to situations she observes, but Amanda looks below the surface and formulates long-term plans.
The audience can really get a feel for Amanda as the Commander personality type when she’s in action at the car dealership as her husband spends less time there, but also in how she deals with Tory bullying Sam. Amanda seeks Tory out, thinking she needs to strong-arm the teenager into leaving her daughter alone. When she realizes her plan is the wrong one, she becomes a confidante for Tory, someone Tory can go to for advice instead.
Aisha: ISFP
Aisha might only be a main character in the first two seasons, but the fan favorite does return to offer up some advice for Sam in season 4. While she is an introvert at first, her observing, feeling, and prospecting traits mean that she is an Adventurer among the MBTI® types.
Adventurers are those who always stay true to themselves and express themselves accordingly. Aisha gains the confidence to do that more openly thanks to her involvement in Cobra Kai, but she’s someone who never changes to fit in with the popular kids, even when she doesn’t have the confidence to stand up to her bullies in season 1.
Hawk: ESFP
While Aisha is more of an introvert, Hawk is an extrovert. The audience doesn’t get a feel for that when he’s first introduced in the series because he’s been masquerading as an introvert for so long to avoid bullies. Like Aisha, Hawk gains his confidence through Cobra Kai, and demonstrates that he’s an Entertainer.
Entertainers are charming, and can’t help but draw people to them. That’s the case even when Eli hasn’t yet become Hawk, and has Miguel and Demetri as his small circle of friends. They live in the moment, and as Hawk, Eli does just that, finding a relationship with Moon, getting a tattoo, and allowing his emotions to lead him into some intense situations.
Demetri: INTP
Demetri might be one of the easiest Cobra Kai characters to type because he is initially presented as the stereotypical nerd in pop culture. A lot of those exaggerated characteristics, like him being an introvert despite his nature to lecture on any topic that interests him, make him a Logician.
Logicians can often get lost in their own heads, but it’s usually because they’re following a train of thought that no one else around them is. Demetri is very good at explaining just why he doesn’t want to do something or why something scares him, and he's easily one of the most intelligent characters in Cobra Kai.
Tory: ESTP
The extroverted and observant part of the ESTP personality are definitely huge influences on how they approach life. Known as the Entrepreneur, ESTPs might be big thinkers, but they prefer to discover things by doing rather than talking.
They thrive as the center of attention, and Tory is no exception as she commands the dojo the moment she enters and throws Miguel to the mat in her first interaction at Cobra Kai. Tory also takes big risks as an Entrepreneur, fixing her mistakes after the fact instead of trying to avoid them altogether.
Daniel: ENFJ
It’s fitting that Daniel is an ENFJ since his character is the one to kick off the Karate Kid franchise, and this personality type is known as the Protagonist. They’re idealists who want to make the world a better place.
Daniel thinks he’s doing that through his love for karate and by teaching the next generation the practices of Mr. Miyagi. Protagonists are natural leaders, so it makes sense that Daniel often takes control of situations, even when a class is supposed to be in Johnny’s hands.
Robby: INFP
It’s not surprising that Robby and Daniel get along so well when Robby first meets the LaRusso family. Because Robby is an introvert, he naturally defers to the extroverts around him in social situations. With them both being intuitive and feeling personality types, they’re able to find a lot of common ground.
Of course, in Cobra Kai, Robby also finds himself caught in the middle a lot when it comes to the opposing personality types of his mentors, which also makes perfect sense because his personality type is the Mediator. Robby is incredibly empathetic and an idealist, but he’s also able to see the points of view of others. When someone hurts him, they hurt him deeply, and it takes time for him to forgive them.
Johnny: ISTP
Johnny and Daniel not getting along is not surprising when looking at their personality types — they are exact opposites. Though Johnny might present himself as an extrovert, he’s actually more comfortable keeping to himself.
Johnny is the personality type better known as the Virtuoso. They aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Like all Virtuosos, Johnny is more likely to do things on his own, by trial and error, and see how things shake out instead of taking the advice of others or making an extensive plan.