Trivia

The character of Toph Bei Fong was originally written as a male, specifically a 16 year old teenage boy. The earthbender in the intro was Toph's original design. The character was initially designed to be a foil to Sokka, with Toph being a muscly jock to Sokka's nerdy personality. The writers then toyed with the idea of making Toph, the world's greatest earthbender, into a 12 year old little blind girl, which would have been funnier to them. Creators DiMartino and Konietzko were initially not fond of the idea but grew to like it after several discussions with the writers. Toph's prototype design was reused for minor characters like The Boulder, her opponent in the earthbending wrestling ring, and Sud, Avatar Roku's earthbending teacher. See more