#Toph is the greatest

[jjkyaoi]

toph isn’t cis just because she was so deeply delighted by a big burly man playing her in the ember island episode. and also, jusf because i said so?? get off my back what are you a cop?

[jn3m0]

Was practicing some more, and I bring you..

TOPH BEIFONG!!!

Process below the cut:

Reference:

It's one of Toph's iconic scenes. I figured it would be good to use this as practice since the pose is relatively simple, and I get to try my hand at not only foreshortening but HANDS.

Sketch:

I struggled a lot with the left arm, trying to put it into a position I was satisfied with. The hands turned out better than I was expecting myself to make.

Lineart:

Base Colors:

Shading, lighting, and all those little details:

Adding the background:

Transparent BG Images:

[discordiansamba]

(zuko and toph in the zuko time travel AU, after getting separated from the rest of the Gaang and Chong's troupe in The Cave of Two Lovers)

zuko: ...so. you know the way out of here, right?

toph: Sure do. Thought you'd never ask!

[marlynnofmany]

Hey, has anyone in the ATLA universe invented braille? That last post about Toph made me wonder. It seems like something particularly easy for an earthbender to do: write on stone tablets, raising little dots with each tap of a fingertip, then brushing them clear at the first sign of a mistake.

[boypurse]

it has come to my attention that fortnite added toph katara and zuko as skins one, the katara hate i’m seeing is GAGGING and where the FUCK is SOKKA

[original-sheepsandwich90]

Subconsciously resisting Toph.

"Alright that's it...."

[toptophat]

Zora be like: "Kids gonna die tonight!"

The prize for the sole winner: the label of G.O.A.T!

The winning district receives a full week at a resort with luxurious features

Not to mention the showers!

[this-acuteneurosis]

Chapter 31

It was just supposed to be a quick stop. For a couple of rocks. Not this.

[zakk-attack]

Okay, so I was walking around barefoot outside and began to wonder, “huh, how would Toph walk around without shoes on all those roughy surfaces? Calluses only do so much.” Then it clicked. She’s just bending the ground she is stepping on! Why worry about sharp pebbles when you’re the greatest earthbender?

[lyriumsings]

i’ve decided i’m going to bed after tophs episode because she’s one of my favorite characters to ever exist too she’s so fucking cool and she’s like 11 the 7 yr old in me is still looking up to her to this day

[lovegrowsart]

there are rly ppl that sincerely defend the treatment of katara's character post-atla like i'm sorry,,,but you will never catch me giving br/yke that much credit and benefit of the doubt lmao

[4upz]

tags.

[muzsmoux]

What I love about Toph the most (besides being arguably the funniest cutest bamf on the show) is she's the best at what she does because she's blind, NOT despite it.

There's this narrative in real life of "overcoming your disability!" and "not letting it stop you!" that irks me, because people's disabilities DO stop them sometimes. Being on sand, swimming, and flying are disorienting and awful for her.

But being blind helps her be connected to the earth in ways people with average vision can't be, like the badgermoles who originated the art and taught her directly. Her blindness is part of why she's the greatest earthbender of her generation, if not the greatest ever.

And that just makes me happy.

[windtowee]

Toph as your older sister headcannons

Tw! Beating up

Gender neutral! Earthbender! Reader

Platonic

She will teach you everything she knows

You’re her partner in crime

She protects you from everything

You’re the second greatest Earthbender in the world

You’re the only one who doesn’t fall for the, ‘I see it’s jokes

She drags you around everywhere

Katara is definitely your tired mom

She tries to draw you as a joke

She puts her feet on you too to “See” you

Absolutely hates that her parents used to make you take care of her because she’s blind

She feels kinda responsible for you since she’s older

She makes you watch her beat up Aang 👍

Whenever you’re around she shows off a little since she wants you to think of her as “The cooler older sister”

When she’s training you, she’s a bit more gentle because you’re her baby sibling but she’s still brutal

She takes you to all of her underground fights

She’s sometimes a good example but most of the time, she’s a chaotic example

Zuko’s kinda weary of you because of Toph herself

[sapphic-agent]

Why & How Katara is the Strongest Waterbender

The ATLA fandom is funny. Because if there's one member of the Gaang whose skills are continuously doubted, it's Katara's.

No one hesitates in saying that Toph is the strongest Earthbender in the world. Aang has always been maintained as a natural prodigy. Sokka's strategic intelligence and cleverness are never in question. Most people are positive that Zuko would have beaten Azula if she hadn't targeted Katara and hail him as a swords master.

But for some reason, it's always Katara whose proficiency is either called into question or severely downplayed.

Some are skeptical about the legitimacy of her becoming a master in a short time. Others are certain that her victories are due to plot manipulation. Both of these arguments that ATLA is a kids' show which pushed it into giving her the win.

(Funny how ATLA is the greatest piece of media ever read until it comes to anything pertaining Katara's character lmao)

So I wanted to take a minute to talk about the progression of her waterbending skills and how she became Master Katara.

Pre North Pole

The first time we really see Katara practice waterbending is in The Waterbending Scroll when she decides to show Aang her limited very skill set. She noticeably has a difficult time with her bending, whereas he seems to pick it up rather quickly.

As we know, Katara has never met another waterbender before. She has no idea what their bending is supposed to look or feel like. And that's reflected in the moves she shows Aang.

I want to draw attention to Katara's stance here. She's stiff, even a little awkward. She's standing where more like an Earthbender. We see this repeated when she's practicing the Water Whip.

Even later when she does perform the Water Whip correctly, there are still traces of this.

You know how Iroh learned to redirect lightning watching Waterbenders? Well, my assumption (at this point I'm 80% sure it's meant to canon) is that Katara learned most of her bending by watching Aang and the Earthbenders they met around the world.

It makes sense, right? They would have been the closest thing to Waterbenders she could have learned from. She even asked Aang to teach her in the first episode. So the start of her bending began with incorporating the forms of Air and Earth.

And we see the results of that in her fight with Pakku.

Fighting Pakku

Katara's fight with Pakku is a great demonstration of his visually. He's a master, so he's already proficient at "push and pull." Katara is not. She's done it before, but it's not her go-to style when she's fighting. And we can see it in this fight.

Again, her stance is firm. She either blocks his attacks or bats them away. She doesn't reinforce and redirect them like he does hers. She isn't fighting like a Waterbender, she's fighting like an Earthbender.

Not to say this is a bad thing. Pakku himself even admits that she's good even though they both know she can't beat him.

Why am I bringing this up? Because one thing about Katara that's overlooked is her adaptability. When she didn't have a waterbending teacher, she made do with observing Earthbenders. She picked up Pakku's teachings even better than Aang had. And going forward from here it really begins to shine in her bending.

She completely dominates Pakku's other students and Zuko (twice). Why? What makes her so special compared to men who have been training their whole lives?

Because water is the element of change. By being so proficient in adapting (not just in her bending, but openly embracing different things and experiences and people), Katara unknowingly embraced the mentality of her element.

(It's actually a funny twist of fate because you could make the point that the North held its other Waterbenders back by being so bound to and unflinching in their traditions. It would explain why none of Pakku's students even stood a chance against her)

If you think about it, you could draw parallel to Yue explaining the history of Waterbending to Katara to the Sun Warriors explaining fire as an element to Zuko. In both cases, you can see that they're able to see and understand their element in a new light. Although it's more of a realization moment for Katara as she already knew about pushing and pulling and it's more of a lesson for Zuko who was taught something completely different.

Katara vs Azula (Round 1)

You know how I said people attribute her wins due to plot manipulation because ATLA is a kids' show? Well it seems like Katara vs Azula is the scene they focus on the most for that.

But let's be real, this isn't a fluke. The show purposely draws attention to Katara prowess and skills during this fight.

Azula is someone who's always in control. She's someone who goes into fights with full confidence. But she is completely thrown off by Katara's abilities here.

And this is something that persists throughout the entire fight. Katara completely overpowers her. At no point during the fight did Azula have the upper hand against her.

And remember, this is Azula's fight. She's the one who imprisoned Katara and Zuko. She's the one who attacked Katara and Aang to begin with. Sure, she was probably counting on her manipulation of Zuko working and him backing her, but there was no guarantee that he would be able to get away from Aang long enough to help her.

And right after this, Aang really struggles against Azula. He doesn't own the fight nearly as well as Katara does.

So, we know it isn't a fluke. The creators intentionally made Katara outclass Azula here. She's canonically the superior bender between the two of them. And that's not a small feat by any means. Azula at this time is one of the best Firebenders alive, probably fourth (after Ozai, Iroh, and Jeong Jeong (she could possibly be above Jeong Jeong)).

So what was the reason for this? Why was Katara able to outclass Azula so effortlessly?

Well here's where Katara's mastery of the meaning of her element comes into play again. She understands and excels in the concept behind water. Always changing, always adapting. She embraces water to its fullest capabilities (which also includes incorporating other elements into it; water would actually be the best element to do this with). The entire fight, she's switching stances and forms and keeping Azula on the evade. Whatever Azula throws back is dealt with without an issue.

And as we know, Azula (and most Firebenders) misunderstand fire as an element. She uses it solely as a destructive force, but it's also energy, life, and passion. This is also part of the reason Zuko lost so easily in the Northern Water Tribe; he also had the same issue. Katara's proficiency in water as not just a weapon, but an element, gave her the advantage over Azula she needed.

Katara vs Hama

A debate that comes up a lot is who's the better bender between Katara and Amon. To that I have always said Amon was taught Bloodbending, Katara just did it.

Let me reiterate: NO ONE TAUGHT KATARA BLOODBENDING. Hama explained the concept to her, yes, but never actually taught her. In fact, she did not expect her to pick it up without guidance. In her own words, "You should've learned the technique before you turned against me."

This was a technique that took Hama decades to learn. Tarrlok and Noatak were trained relentlessly. And Katara just... Did it. No guidance and no build up. This supports that Katara's adaptability and versatility in her bending is unmatched. She's able to comprehend and perform advance concepts with no training or teaching.

Now that we got that out of the way, this fight is so comprable to Katara vs Pakku. This is the second time she's fought a master and we can see how much she's improved. So much so that she doesn't even struggle against Hama.

At this point, she's mastered "push and pull." She's able to take everything Hama throws at her and send it right back with little to no effort.

But she takes it a step further.

Instead of redirecting, Katara completely stops Hama's onslaught. This undoubtedly is something she picked up from Earthbenders. It certainly isn't a Waterbending technique, yet somehow she made it into an effective move.

Look at Hama's face. She's completely thrown off by this. This was not something she ever expected out of any Waterbender. She was completely unprepared for Katara to be able to outmatch and overpower her.

Katara completely surpassed her, solidified by using the technique she invented against her.

I was going to talk about Katara and Azula's second fight, but there isn't much to add there. I already compared the difference in their skills talking about the first fight, and the Agni Kai is an escalation of that. The outcome of the Agni Kai was already decided and confirmed in the catacombs.

And that my friends is how and why Katara is the best Waterbender in the world

[original-sheepsandwich90]

Toph with her hair down!