Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Karate Kid is the first upcoming Thomas & Friends/MLP:FIM/The Karate Kid crossover to be made by Stuingtion.
Plot[]
Daniel LaRusso, a high school senior, moves with his mother Lucille from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, a neighborhood in the Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley area. As they move here, Daniel meets our heroes. The LaRusso’s apartment's handyman is an eccentric but kind and humble Okinawan immigrant named Kesuke Miyagi.
Daniel befriends Ali Mills, a high school cheerleader, which draws the attentions of her arrogant ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence, a skilled practitioner of "Cobra Kai", an unethical and vicious form of karate. Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang continually torment Daniel, savagely beating him until Mr. Miyagi intervenes and single-handedly defeats the five attackers with ease. Amazed, Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him to fight. Miyagi refuses, but agrees to bring Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo to resolve the conflict. They meet with the sensei, John Kreese, an ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran who callously dismisses the peace offering. Miyagi then proposes that Daniel enter the All-Valley Karate Tournament, where he can compete with Johnny and the other Cobra Kai students on equal terms, and requests that the bullying cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the terms, but warns that if Daniel does not show up for the tournament, the harassment will resume and Miyagi himself will also become a target.
Daniel's training starts with menial chores that he believes only makes him Miyagi's slave. When he becomes frustrated, it is explained that these actions have helped him to learn defensive blocks through muscle memory. Their bond develops and Daniel learns about Miyagi's dual loss of his wife and son in childbirth at Manzanar internment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe, where he received the Medal of Valor. Through Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns not only karate but also important life lessons such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons that Miyagi has taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali.
At the tournament, Daniel surprises everyone by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against a highly skilled opponent. Kreese instructs Bobby Brown (Ron Thomas), one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, severely injuring Daniel and getting disqualified in the process. Daniel is taken to the locker room, with the physician determining that he cannot continue, but Daniel believes that if he does not continue, his tormentors will have gotten the best of him. He convinces Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique to allow him to finish the tournament. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Daniel hobbles into the ring. The match is a seesaw battle, as neither is able to break through the other's defenses.
The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor leg technique to trip Johnny, deliver a blow to the back of the head and give Johnny a nose bleed. Kreese directs Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg, an unethical move. Johnny looks horrified at the order, but reluctantly agrees under Kreese's intimidation. As the match resumes, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and delivers a vicious blow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he observed Miyagi performing on the beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and delivers a front kick to Johnny's chin, winning the tournament. Johnny, having gained newfound respect for his nemesis, takes Daniel's trophy from the Master of Ceremonies and presents it to Daniel himself as Miyagi, Ali, and Daniel's mother all celebrate his victory.
Trivia[]
- The Steam and Pony Rebel Alliance, T.C., Hugs, Sherin, Zecora, Steamy, Puffy, Shai-Shay, Duke, Wheelie and Brains guest star in this film.
- The storyline continues in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of The Karate Kid Part II.