Why Everybody Loves Toph (And Who Wouldn't?)

Toph - The Blind Bandit - The Greatest Earthbender In The World

One of the all time fan favorite characters in one of the most beloved cartoons of all time - Avatar : The Last Airbender. She's a champion, a teacher, a master, and an icon for representation. So we're going to talk about her.

[hey_olivia]

A couple folks in the comments are comparing Toph to Bumi as who would be stronger, but Toph doesn't declare she's the strongest Earthbender. She said she's the greatest Earthbender. Similar vocabulary, entirely different connotations.

Bumi might've been able to one-up Toph on physicality and just decades of experience, but the fact that Toph: a twelve year old blind girl who was consistently underestimated and had her agency revoked in a world that refused to accommodate her as a disabled person to the point she learned to fight and "see" from animals, all demonstrates a degree of fortitude that is on par with Aang, Zuko and Katara bearing the weight of their cultural heritage.

[cillianthestupendous]

since you were confused why people contest the "strongest earthbender who ever lived" part, there´s actually a really funny scene in one of the comics where she and bumi almost duel before the finale of the show. it even aknowledges that one is a child while the other is like the oldest person alive. we never get to see the fight, and neither of them would have been in their prime at the time, so a lot of specualtion of who is stronger kinda arose from that. I personally think it´s a moot point, but understandable some people would disagree with your position.

[alphamorion]

Changing Toph's character from the original idea (a tough dude with a rivalry with Sokka) to the charatcer we actually got, was a stroke of *pure*, inspired genious.

[costelinha]

Gotta love how in a way, Toph is not strong despite being blind. She's strong in part BECAUSE she's blind.

[FromOrbit]

I think there's a legitimate argument about who is the strongest earth bender to ever live between Toph and Bumi. Leaving out the avatar state (Kyoshi earth bends a fucking continental shelf), both of them have the most insane feats of earthbending power and skill we ever see. Personally, I lean on the side of Toph because metalbending is a crazy game-changer and gives her an enormous, lasting impact on the bending form as a whole, but I don't think its a mean-spirited question to ask. Its complicated by the fact that we don't really see Toph or Bumi in their prime, and literal child Toph is on par with oldest person on earth Bumi. In short: kind of a tossup, Toph's probably the greatest, we're all Toph lovers here.

[gabriellevalentine]

I want to comment to add just how tragic Toph’s story is. Her parents thought she was incapable of caring for herself. On top of that, her family was nobility. This means that Toph was taught to be a proper lady while not having any friends in her parents’ effort to protect her. She effectively spent most of her childhood sitting still and being quiet because of how much her father spoke for her. At least the character Mei occasionally hung out with her friends, away from her controlling parents. She also got to through knives when she was alone. Toph didn't have that luxury. Her parents were so overprotective that she didn't get to have any friends. The whole world, save for a few other nobles, didn't know she existed. Toph’s only escape was running away because everything in her life was set up as a prison. The life she was born into didn't have an escape like Mei’s did. It's so miserable.

[Wince_Media]

When people heard you said toph was technically forced diversity to fill a quota (she was. The reason she was a girl was to have more girls in the cast), people thought you meant she was poorly written, which is completely false.
I hate how whenever a minority character is badly written, people blame diversity as the problem when diversity and character quality are two separate elements. If a character is bad, they are bad, and their identity doesn't have anything to do with it

[chaosvii]

Hilarious fighting in the comments is exactly what Toph would have wanted. May we all strive to follow her example.

[ShineDark]

I think the main reason for why Toph can be a rude and abrasive character yet still be so beloved whereas others are hated is largely because she IS a teacher/mentor character in a combat story. It’s what’s expected of such figures in stories.
Whereas those who aren’t mentors yet act that same way are just being jerks.

[cesarmillan]

What I did like about Toph’s introduction into the Aang Gang is the fact that she didn’t initially subscribe to the group’s customs, like helping set up camp, and was called out for it, by Katara no less. But when she decided to leave the group, only to meet and receive Iroh’s wisdom and realized that compromise isn’t such a bad thing, went back to reconcile with the group instead of abandoning them over her pride. THIS is character growth, even when the character’s power level is through the roof. Toph acted, suffered the consequences, but ultimately learned from her mistakes. Unlike a character who does no wrong because of who they are like we see so way too often now, especially in the MCU

[kylegonewild]

People don't really talk about just how absurdly honed her seismic sense is when we meet her. She isn't just seeing where people are and responding. She repeatedly reacts with pinpoint precision to projectiles hurtling through the air at breakneck paces towards her despite being completely blind. She's either consciously or subconsciously calculating trajectory, exit velocity, displacement over time, and judging how much effort will be needed to stop or redirect those projectiles on the fly based on nothing but her opponents' movements and the way the earth shifts when those projectiles are ejected from the rock or the ground. Bumi could *maybe* pull out a win on her in a straight up duel thanks to a century of experience and his Bruce Lee level of physique at his ancient age, but it's inarguable who the "Greatest Earthbender in the World" is and would be. She single-handedly reshaped the entire world of Earthbending after thousands of years of stagnation.

[starmaker]

This may be me rambling, but I think Toph being blind shows what really need for earthbending, it not vision, but rather sound given stuff like earthquakes, feeling the dirt and how underground is well dark.

Earth bending requires sensing it, not seeing it, which is the main thing that most earth benders struggle with at first, not with toph as she well blind so she can get into the rhythm of earth blending faster, That my headcannon/interpretation of it(unless they said in the show, but it been a while since I watch Avatar)

[ScripulousFingore]

14:17 Toph isn't framed as being in the right for tearing down Aang. Toph failed to teach Aang because of it and only succeeded when she took Katara's advice

[MadameTamma]

Yeesh, sounds like the original idea for Toph (making him a tough guy with a rivalry with Soka) would have been a joke that got really old really fast and also not fit very well with Soka's character arc trajectory (learning that he and everyone around him can do so much more by bucking the expectations that come with traditional gender roles), an arc he was already pretty far into by the time season two came around.

[DAMDO]

Toph is so great that even as an old lady she remains consistently loved by all fans

[justsomejerseydevilwithint]

5:16 The sheer WILLPOWER in making that precise, PERFECT face after doing something she'd normally laugh at to aang is just so funny to me. "What, did something happen? I'm just a prim, normal highborn girl"

[dukefan]

i wonder what toph herself thought of the tweet...




oh yeah

[PaulPower]

One little point I'd add in the Bitter Work section: Toph does end up taking Katara's advice about positive reinforcement on board by immediately praising Aang and encouraging him to earthbend when he does finally stand his ground (also a couple of times earlier in the episode, like when she says his technique is now perfect but his mindset's all wrong).

Other than that, I mean you're not wrong, she's a great character :)

[dydx_]

I really can't believe how it has been 7 years since I first heard people lose their shit about this so called "wokeness"...
Avatar is truly a masterpiece of the ages, it's awesome to see such a great story in an animated form in such vast length. Never truly knew how special this show was as a teen.

[Joey]

"Toph's disability is still played for laughs throughout the series, because ATLA at its heart is a nickelodeon cartoon"

OUCH. Never would have expected such a positive, upbeat video to go straight for the jugular like that lmao