Why Miguel's Training Has Cobra Kai Fans Puzzled
The main goal of Cobra Kai Karate is to be the best, and that goal doesn't change when the dojo moves from The Karate Kid to Netflix's Cobra Kai series. There's one clear metric by which The Karate Kid-Cobra Kai universe defines exactly what "the best" is, and that's the All Valley Karate tournament. Of course, the tournament had to be present in the new iteration of the universe in order to set up the tension between Johnny, played by William Zabka, and Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio. The tournament becomes the goal of the Cobra Kai and Myagi Do students in the new storyline as well.
Johnny's protégé and first student at the new Cobra Kai dojo Miguel, played by Xolo Maridueña, goes from zero to slightly popular as his training in karate progresses, turning him into a badass by the end of the first season — you know, when the All Valley Tournament takes place. Miguel wins in the signature dirty style his sensei once used against Daniel, securing his place at the top of the high school karate food chain. Miguel certainly trained hard to get to this point, but for how long?
Did Miguel go from nobody to black-belt badass overnight? Did he spend years or months or days or minutes in the dojo? Cobra Kai doesn't really make the timetable clear, and it has some fans absolutely puzzled.
So, how long did Miguel's Cobra Kai training take?
In the thread "Cobra Kai continuity errors?" within the Cobra Kai sub-Reddit, u/Ysabelmq wishes the timeline was easier to figure out. "I do wish they'd be more explicit about some timeskips. Like when Miguel trains and becomes better," the user comments. "How long did that take? What else was going on in the meanwhile?" And, u/Ysabelmq has a fair point. Cobra Kai mixes in a lot of elements from the '80s, and let's be honest, montages were as overplayed back then as romantic vampire stories were in the '00s and '10s. Montages are there to crunch time and can make it difficult to know exactly how much time has passed.
U/M10BE, says, "All I can say for sure is that Miguel trained for approximately 10 months before the tournament."
U/AlphaTenken disagrees with the time estimate, saying that the All Valley Tournament took place in December, and "Miguel meets Johnny in like May." A different user corrects him, saying the tournament actually takes place in May and not December.
The entire first season takes place within the same school year, and since Miguel attends a Halloween dance in episode 3, we know his training started early in the year. At the All Valley Tournament, Johnny even tells him, "You've trained all year for this." We might not know exactly how long Miguel's training took, but we know it was most of a school year. But, you know fans: They want to have the timeline down pact. Unfortunately, time skips are part of the show. So, if they bother you, as Johnny tells Miguel in episode two "Strike First," "you can leave your asthma and your peanut allergies and all that other made up bulls*** outside," metaphorically speaking, and just enjoy the show.