Toph Beifong has always been known for her earthbending skills, but there's more to her than just a good fighter. She's also the queen of insults.
Faans are unsure about the upcoming live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender, coming from Netflix (although without an official release date yet). Previous live-action takes on the franchise haven't gone down well, and there's a lot that it needs to get right from the original. From Aang's innocence and good-hearted desire to help people to Katara's depth to Zuko's incredible redemption, the series has many incredible protagonists that are remembered for more than just pushing the plot along.
But one character, who is often recalled only as a blind fighter with extraordinary bending skills, deserves more recognition than she often receives. Her quick wit helped the team often and really did help them get out of some jams. But it also proved to be essential to helping add some levity to the show. It's why some fans on Ranker compiled a list of the best Toph insults.
After a training session with Aang ended in Katara getting hit by a boulder, the waterbender shouted at Toph, who didn't exactly respond kindly. Given Toph's general temperament and distaste for prissy behavior, this was an extreme insult dedicated to tearing Katara apart entirely.
Related: The 10 Worst Things Toph Ever Did
Had it been delivered by anyone else, this insult likely wouldn't have been as painful as it was. But, after so long spending time with Toph, Katara knew what the phrase really meant, and it hit hard. There was nothing Toph disliked more than fussy-britches, and everyone around knew it.
As the strongest female character in Avatar, Toph had to prove herself time and time again, both as a fighter and a bender. After being told that she couldn't be the greatest earthbender if she couldn't bend metal, she invented an entirely new style of bending, reshaped metal, and trapped her captors without even breaking a sweat.
This insult goes to show both Toph's determination and her extraordinary self-confidence. Rather than arrogant, Toph was just a brilliant bender who understood her limits (or lack thereof). Set against some arrogant benders herself, she schooled them both, called them dunderheads, and went about her way like the warrior she was.
While Twinkle Toes was a nickname Toph gave Aang when they were both kids, the insult followed them into adulthood, even when Aang protested against it. Even when Aang was one of the best Avatars to ever live, Toph wasn't afraid to talk down to him or remind him of their relationship.
It just goes to show more of Toph's confidence. She never needs to be afraid, because she is well aware that she can beat any bender she comes across. It also shows that her friendship with Aang persisted through the years, even if she continues to show it with her typical gruff style.
While it's an insult Toph often resorted to, that doesn't mean it didn't pack a punch. After Zuko arrived to offer his services to Team Avatar, he was summarily rejected by the whole of the team. Well, the whole of the team save for the greatest earthbender to ever live.
Related: 5 Ways Toph's Ending Is Fitting (& 5 Why It Makes No Sense)
Pointing out that Zuko was the best firebending teacher they would find, Toph proclaimed that she was the only one who wasn't really blind around them. In a way, it was true. She was the only one seeing the reality of the situation when the others were too caught up in their disdain for Zuko. It also showed Toph's wisdom, even if she didn't put it very kindly.
The biggest badass in Avatar, Toph proved to be an extraordinary metalbender, but she often found herself disappointed in her daughters. Though they both proved to be incredible metalbenders who served to rejuvenate cities and control entire police forces single-handedly.
But Toph found their skill lacking. Though they were skilled, they couldn't fill her shoes. After discovering that they left a metal poison in Korra's body, Toph remarked that none of them picked the skill up well enough — despite them proving themselves a thousand times over. It just shows her maddeningly high standards, which no normal person could really match up to.
In one of Toph's best episodes of Avatar, she took down an incredible earthbending champion without even breaking a sweat. But, before her victory, when he proclaimed that he didn't want to hurt a little girl, Toph mocked him and claimed that he couldn't possibly have earned the name "The Boulder". Instead, he was nothing more than a pebble.
It proved her quick wit and her skill in getting under the opposition's skin. With one little nickname, she changed the Boulder's entire mood and made an enemy for life. If that isn't an extraordinary insult, nothing is.
Though she only knew one other Avatar, after meeting Korra and discovering her inability to solve her own problems, Toph immediately proclaimed that Korra was the worst Avatar she's known. Given that Korra was trying to live up to her identity as an Avatar, that was an extraordinarily impactful insult, and it's likely Toph intended it to be.
Related: The Last Airbender Characters Least To Most Likely To Win Squid Game
Still, Toph's insults and help were enough to get Korra back on her feet and working to resolve her trauma and difficulty bending. So, while it may not have been the kindest way to deal with the issue, it was a necessary intervention that probably saved Korra's life.
After Team Avatar set off looking for the Great Library, Toph had to remind the team that she couldn't do anything to help spot it. Trapped in a desert and in the air, where her earthbending was practically useless, she spent the entire episode desperately trying to serve the team, despite her power being stripped from her.
While this is a funny insult by Toph, it also serves to help reveal her mindset in the middle of these episodes, and it's a tragic revelation. With so little for her to do, she must have felt incredibly alone and useless — which is the furthest from the typical blustering Toph that Toph could possibly be.
As a blind character, there was nothing that was worse for Toph than when her friends completely ignored her blindness. After Toph earned a spot on a Fire Nation wanted poster, Katara showed her the wanted poster and waited to see her reaction. Poor Toph was left to remind her of her sight.
It goes to show just how frustrating it was for Toph that her friends rarely remembered her blindness. The constant reminders had to get annoying, and the fact that her friends should have known already must have made her feel even more alone.
After being presented with the wanted poster by Sokka, Toph sharply explains that she can't actually see the paper, and they're all wasting their time by not explaining it to her, prior to waving it in front of her face.
While it was a funny moment, it also reminded young viewers that Toph did need accomocations sometimes and that there was nothing wrong with that. It was also an incredibly hilarious way of making that point, which was very in line with the portrayal of Toph's character.
Next: 10 Most Hated Avatar Characters, According to Ranker
Lukas is a recent graduate of the Macaulay Honors College in New York City. A lover of somewhat obscure Marvel comics, Lukas is also a fan of books, films, and TV shows, and writes most of his articles with a cat on his shoulder.