#lin and toph

[linbeifongandtenzin-fightme]

Lin Beifong got told to get over her problems with people so they could complain about her to HER! She got told to be the bigger person by everyone who hurt her she could’ve been the antagonist and I still would’ve chose her side. She is the bigger person. And she shouldn’t be called a bitch for knowing that and distancing herself from the assholes who hurt her. Period.

[kilo-charlie7]

UPDATE!

I’m really happy to be reblogging this post about my miscarriage to share that I gave birth to my first baby boy this past December! We are all happy, healthy, and grateful.

The loss I feel from my first miscarriage will always be a part of me, but many new and good things have grown around it now too.

This drawing of Toph and baby Lin is modeled after a photo of me and my son. ♥️

This is going to be my first personal blog post ever. Don’t worry, it will be short. Haha. But I’ve decided it might be a good outlet for me to write about some recent experiences I’ve had!

Last year I started drawing a lot of stuff like this:

I had a lot of fun drawing the Gaang with their babies because my husband and I had decided to try and have a baby of our own! I got pregnant in September but ended up having a miscarriage at 10 weeks. I know some of you reading this understand how difficult and isolating it is to experience a miscarriage. This has definitely been one of the hardest things I have ever gone through. I fell into a major depression and also avoided looking at my art or even wanting to draw or be creative at all.

Lately though, thanks to great friends and my awesome husband, I feel like I’ve finally come up for air. Now, when I look back at these drawings I feel some hope for the future when it comes to having a kid of my own. I’m really thankful for the outlet I have with art and drawing!!

Thanks for reading. That’s all. :)

[beifong-brainrot]

People will go on about how "Katara's story is a tragedy" because she... ended up marrying the guy she loves, having children and grandchildren which she was always excited about and literally becoming a master waterbender and rising to the top of her field as a healer.

Yes, Katara's story has tragic aspects to it. And there are certainly flaws in how she is written in tlok (Though I will argue that there are actually more issues with how Toph and Zuko are just plopped in there for no reason in later seasons). And her storylines aren't perfect, for example her resolving her trauma around the murder of her mother being more used to prop up Zuko than her own internal turmoil. (Most of TSR is from Zuko's perspective and I hate that actually)

"Katara's story is a tragedy" Why do you have such a hard on for this woman's misery? Let her be happy, man.

You know what gaang girlie's life is an actual onscreen tragedy?

Toph's!

People will fucking downplay Toph's childhood abuse because she wasn't physically hurt, but her childhood was a never ending carousel of abelism, misogyny, neglect and isolation. The way Toph describes her parent's treatment of her as "pressure and pain" is heartbreaking.

Toph's only escape was Earth Rumble and earthbending, but despite her skills, she remained the perfect little lady her parents always wanted her to be. She's never known a different life, and she was only able to be her real self in secret.

And when Toph finally opens up to her parents, when she finally lays her real self bare in front of the people who are supposed to love and care for her?

She is met with what may be, in my opinion, the cruellest rejection in the show.

Despite this, even when Toph runs away, she still cares for her parents' approval. Hell, she's even lured into a trap due to her getting a forged letter from her mom and getting excited because it looked like her mom was finally accepting her.

It's also important to note how determined to be self sufficient and to prove herself Toph is. We can especially see this right after she joins the Gaang, where she refuses to participate in splitting with the rest of the group, insisting on "pulling her own weight". This isn't Toph being a brat, or spoilt, this is her wanting to prove that she can handle herself because people have handled and understimated her her entire life.

Eventually, Toph starts to learn to trust the members of the Gaang and this is a step in the right direction. She's literally making friends for the first time in her life I'm so proud of her.

However, I was genuinely upset when Toph's life changing field trip with Zuko didn't work out. When Toph was trying to connect with Zuko and he blew her off (I'm not blaming him tho they had shit to do), I couldn't help but remember the rejection Toph suffered from Lao.

Post canon, Toph continues to try and prove herself, starting a metalbending school and training new metalbenders.

She also reconciles with her father. Not before Lao disowns he rmultiple times and calls her a rude, ungrateful thing. And while he eventually comes to understand Toph and cherish her, that type of trauma sticks with you.

So it's no wonder really that Toph, someone who went her entire childhood seemingly without even speaking to someone her age, would have trouble forming connections. She has children with two different men, neither of which seem to stick around.

Toph tries to do right by her daughters and gives them the freedom she never got. Sadly, the pendulum swung too far to the other side, since it seems that she started to neglect her daughters, which led to them developing a sleugh of issues of their own.

Toph becomes the cheif of police, which kind of makes sense. Republic City was only slowly emerging as an actual metropolis. Toph took on a role as a protector, and probably as a way to prove herself. But as Republic City grew, Toph probably realised that she became something she hated. A cog in the machine, and started to despise her job.

Searching for a semblance of the freedom and happiness her travels afforded her in her childhood, Toph leaves the city and takes up the life of a hermit in a swamp. She managed to fix her relationship with Suyin to some extent, but still seems reluctant or simply unable to connect with her daughter or grandchildren. Since she apparently hasn't seen Opal, a grown 20 year old woman since she was a little girl.

On the surface old Toph doesn't seem terribly dissimilar to young Toph, still tough and spunky. But she is more jaded, depressed and pessimistic. She comes out to save Suyin from immediate harm and manages to somewhat reconcile with Lin, but then she fucks right back off to the swamp where she seems to literally hide until Wu and Korra straight up force her to come with them.

Toph's story began with her alone and it seems to end with her alone as well. It's a story of a girl who grew up isolated and handled by others, and was woefully unprepared for the real world, which only jaded her further. She lives with the guilt of fucking up her daughters' lives and a belief in the pointlessness of life.

Toph started off longing to experience the world and ended up willingly isolating herself from it.

If that isn't a tragedy, I'm not sure what is.

Mind you, this is not the trauma olympics. I'm not saying that Toph has suffered more than Katara or that Katara's trauma is not as valid as Toph's. Katara and Toph's experiences are completely different, Katara being a victim of genocide and war, Toph being a victim of child abuse. I'm just saying that, objectively, Katara had a happier 'ending' than Toph.

[orsanedraws]

Beifongs I did couple of months ago for the ukrainian Avatar fan artbook!

[knightofthenewrepublic]

[i-need-of-a-hobby]

katara (to bumi): what do we say to drugs and alcohol? bumi: no zuko (to izumi): what do we say to war crimes and genocide izumi: no

toph (to lin): what do we say to illegal bending arenas? lin: *sighs* get mom tickets toph: thats my girl katara: NO

[roseeycreates-blog]

✨ Beifongs never cry ✨

Saw this trend on TikTok~ And yes, those are tears (hinting at the scars). It started out as fun and games, but then I decided to add a bit of foreshadowing... and now it’s a little sad and creepy. 😅

[yukaro353]

I had this scene in my head and I had to get it out.

Lin had an awkward conversation about how babies are made after this (Spoilers: Lin already knew how they were made)

🪨

I don't think Toph is bothered by her daughter making out with other boys, It just took her by surprise that the first one was, well, Lin

This would end with Toph joking so much about her daughter not dying a virgin to the point that Lin has to add it to her list of "Moments I would pay for not having lived"

[dejectedduck]

when they’re making a new series but that means my literal wife is dead

[whatifitookalilnap]

Toph: I love all of my grandchildren equally. Opal, Korra………*tries really hard to remember the other names* Well, Wong, Hula Hoop, and uhhhhhh, Butter Jr.?????

Suyin: seriously Mom? You only got one grandchild’s name right! Korra’s not even one of my kids!

Toph: well duh, I know that. She’s Lin’s

Lin: the hell are you talking about? I don’t have any kids. I can assure you the Avatar is not my daughter-Korra don’t play with Naga on the street you’ll get run over!

Toph: not your daughter. Right.

[zukkaart]

Headcanon that the gaangs kids learn about Zuko’s misguided quest to capture the avatar and subsequently make a game out of it.

Bumi steals an air nomad necklace from his dad and whoever wears it becomes the “avatar” for the duration of the game. The “avatar” is given 100 seconds to hide.

When they “capture the avatar” the winner must shout “I have restored my honor!”

Zuko is mortified, everyone else thinks it’s endlessly hilarious.

[linbeifongandtenzin-fightme]

To be honest, Toph and Su Beifong seem like they blame Lin for what happened between her and Tenzin. Like you can’t tell me Su told her she should’ve just gave him kids and she wouldn’t be heart broken and Toph 100% percent was probably like, “You’re father would be so disappointed with who are.” Type shit which is worse since she refused to tell her daughters who their fathers were.

[kashiomi-art]

Lin Beifong

[beifong-brainrot]

One thing I love about tlok more as I age, is that it actively veers away from pitting women against each other.

While atla wasn't awful on this front, Toph and Katara's arguments often took on the flavour of Toph talking down to Katara for her percieved feminine qualities. Pairing this with Toph's insults towards male characters, specifically Aang, often having an emascualting "Don't be such a girl" type of vibe, it paints a good picture of Toph's strained relationship with femininity, and other girls, most likely due to her past, both in her family and in the ring. Katara and Toph's tale in Ba Sing Se was a nice step away from that rule, but the Runaway sorta circled back towards this argument. As much as Toph seems to secretly enjoy "feminine expression" she will still talk down to it in public.

But we can talk about Toph's internalised misogyny later. We see the phenomenon of women tearing each other down elsewhere in atla too, especially in the relations of the Fire Nation girls, like in how Mai and Azula lash out at Ty Lee in the Beach.

And I'm not saying it's bad that atla portrayed these interactions, they're a part of life and many of us are trained to talk down to other fem folks.

But it is so refreshing to see tlok subvert that trope in B1. For all the complaining about the love triangle, I really love the arc it gives Korra, who has probably barely interacted with girls her age.

When she first meets Asami, she's a little intimidated, but falls a little into that 'not like other girls' streak.

With Korra falling into more of a 'tomboy' category, similarly to Toph, it wouldn't be very unexpected for her to be portrayed with a more tumultuous relationship to femininity and people we percive as fitting into it better. This is something a lot of girl, women and fem folks go through irl.

Korra: [To Asami as she swims over to her; somewhat dismayed.] So, what do you have planned for us today? Let me guess, shopping, makeovers ...

We see that Korra has a set idea of what Asami is like based on her presentation and mannerisms, and doesn't think she can find a common language with her. But this expectation is quickly subverted when Korra and Asami race together and we see that they do get along very well.

And I like that Korra not only apologises for writing Asami off, but also attempts to partake in something feminine, makeup, showing that she's become more open to finding a 'common language' with girliness, something she previously saw as alien.

Korra: I gotta admit, I had you pegged wrong. I thought you were kind of ... prissy. [Raises hand; quickly.] Eh-No offense!

And throughout the show, although there is plenty of drama, Asami and Korra stay on relatively good terms, which is a relief. A lot of shows tend to stoke drama between its female leads, but Korra and Asami stay friendly, and more, throughout the show.

Korra: [Chuckles in relief.] Well, whatever happened with Mako, I'm glad it hasn't come between us. I've never had a girlfriend to hang out with and talk to before, except for Naga. This is nice.

And it's not just Korra and Asami's relationship that fosters an air of women supporting each other. Tlok shows us many women of different backgrounds helping each other become stronger, encouraging them to realise their potential, comforting each other in dark times and so forth. I also think it's nice to see so many older women who support and encourage younger women, as atla did not deliver on that front.

And I know it feels like such a low bar, but I think it's so important to highlight in shows, especially shows starring women and female characters.

[haunting-jane]

well

[dalekofchaos]

Ways Legend Of Korra could've paid tribute to Suki instead of acting like she never existed

Suki is the cop, not Toph. Suki would have formed the Republic City Police, in this case. The Republic City Kyoshi Guard. Suki enforcing the rules and law makes way more sense than Toph. Lin would be Sokka and Suki’s daughter and would have a brother named Hakoda in honor of Sokka’s father and both would be in charge of the police after Suki’s retirement. Lin always wears the Kyoshi Warrior make up to honor her mother and Hakoda inherits his father’s boomerang and cunning mind. Toph “fuck the rules” Beifong would never in a million lifetimes EVER be a cop. I find it hard to believe Toph, the rebel who hates rules would become the very institution she despised, if anything Toph would be the Founder of Pro-Bending or a nomad Earthbending/Metalbending master and a hermit. Suyin would be her daughter and The Duke or Teo would be the father.

Suki leads a new generation of Kyoshi Warriors that helps train Korra non-bending techniques to counter the Equalists Chi-Blocking techniques.

Just giving Suki a statue in Republic City. Literally anywhere.

One little mention to her existence. Bumi mentioning he was trained by uncle Sokka and aunt Suki would've been enough.

In The Red Lotus Society's attempt to steal Korra, Sokka and Suki died protecting the Avatar

I came up with 5 near perfect scenarios that could've paid tribute to Suki. All Bryke did was act like she never existed or didn't matter. Fuck you, Suki deserved better.