Sunday 19 March 2023

Death Battle Predictions: Toph VS Terra

“Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock.” - Will Rogers


Toph Beifong, Avatar’s premier Earthbending prodigy and Blind Bandit.


Terra, perfidious geokinetic powerhouse of the Teen Titans.


Unparalleled talent and potential can be a dangerous thing, especially in the hands of a young, impulsive girl with the power to reshape the earth itself. Having spent their early lives sheltered by high-class parents, both of these two ended up running away from home to find their place in the world. But while they both found new friends who treated them far better than their families ever did, only one of them always ended up using her gifts for good, while the other lost her way and ended up spiraling down a dark path.


The ground will shake when they collide, and only one can walk away; will the Blind Bandit bury Terra forever, or will the fallen Teen Titan prove herself superior to the world’s greatest Earthbender? Let’s find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…


This blog will be specifically focusing on the version of Terra from the 2003 Teen Titans animated series. Given that her mainline comic version can rip the planet in half and her story is uhhhhhhhhh, let’s go with “questionable”, it’s for the best. The cartoon version is more well-known anyhow, and the version that most people are thinking of when comparing her with Toph.


As an aside, we won’t be including any feats or scaling from gag cartoons, so don’t expect to see us bring up Toph’s continent level feat from the Avatar Chibi shorts, or any weird Teen Titans GO! scaling for Terra. That would be very stupid. That being said, tie-in media more closely related to each series, such as the various Avatar graphic novels or Teen Titans 2003’s comic tie-ins, are fair game.


With all that out of the way, let’s rock!

Background

Toph

“There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickity trick that's gonna move that rock. You gotta face it head on.”


Fire. Air. Water. Earth. The four great bending nations of the world were at war. For one hundred years, the tyrannical Fire Nation sought to tighten its iron grip around the world as a whole, while the mighty Earth Kingdom stood strong to oppose them. The only person who could stop the reign of fiery terror was the Avatar, a legendary, reincarnating hero capable of commanding all four elements. But when the world needed him most… he happened to be a bald-headed kid who still had a lot of training to do before taking on the Fire Daddy.


Avatar Aang sought out the world’s best teachers to help him master the other three elements, but found one more difficult to master than the others, for his Airbending was free and fluid, while earth was stubborn and unyielding. Searching far and wide for an Earthbending master that suited him, he finally found the person destined to teach him: a young, blind girl, who would go on to become one of the most renowned Earthbenders in history. The Blind Bandit, Toph Beifong.


Born the daughter of a high-class family, Toph was sheltered from a young age by her parents thanks to being a Daredevil kinnie, but her outwardly mild nature concealed a more rebellious streak within. When she was a little girl, she ran away from home and ended up being taken in by badger moles, an ancient species that had pioneered the art of bending earth to their whims. From them, Toph not only learned how to manipulate the earth around her, but also a new method of vision known as the Seismic Sense, which turned her from a helpless blind girl into an Earthbending extraordinaire.


After returning to her parents and resuming her sheltered lifestyle, Toph put her newfound talents to the test in an underground Earthbending fighting ring known as Earth Rumble, quickly rising through the ranks and becoming the reigning champion. Years later, it was at an Earth Rumble tournament where she would meet Aang and his companions, an encounter which changed the course of her life. Despite her exploits in the Earth Rumble ring, Toph had never known true freedom nor friendship. Presented with a choice between traveling with the Avatar and accepting imprisonment by her parents, Toph chose to run away again, this time for good. She left her old life behind, and became a permanent addition to Aang’s team in his quest to take down the Fire Nation.


Throughout her travels, Toph’s skill as an Earthbender only improved. Even in addition to successfully turning Aang into a skilled Earthbender and helping him end the Hundred Year War, she pioneered an entirely new bending art, previously believed to be impossible: Metalbending. She dueled world-class Earthbender King Bumi to a standstill, opened a school to train talented young Earthbenders of various kinds, and became a founding member of Republic City and its Metalbending Police Force. With achievement after achievement, Toph became a household name across the world, and was considered to be the greatest Earthbender of all time – according to her, at least.


Still, talent as an Earthbender wasn’t enough to make her happy on its own. The decision to leave her parents behind was one that she struggled greatly with, though eventually, she was given the opportunity to reconcile. As an adult, her relationships never lasted long, and she was certainly not the best mother to her children, giving them too much freedom where her own parents had given her none. Eventually, she retired and disappeared from the public eye, her destination unknown to even her closest friends. Toph valued her own personal freedom so highly that her responsibilities to others came second, and she didn’t appreciate her interpersonal relationships until she was already old and grumpy.


Still, flaws and all, Toph was always a force for good, and always cared for the rest of Team Avatar in her own way. Even after Aang’s passing, her friendship with him remained intact across generations, as she helped to train his reincarnation, Korra, and even intervened in a battle against a new threat, the Metalbender Kuvira. She may be old, and has mostly left things to the next generation at this point, but it’s possible that Toph isn’t quite done yet. And even if she is? At the end of the day, she has her freedom, and that’s all she ever really wanted.


Terra

“One by one, I have destroyed the Teen Titans. And with no one left to stop me, I have brought an entire city to its knees. My name is Terra. I have done horrible things. And I have absolutely no regrets.”


Earthquakes. Avalanches. Mudslides. Though she sought to be a hero, to do good, no matter where she went, destruction followed in this young girl’s wake. She was driven away, destined to bring ruin to all she touched, and unable to fit in or find a place to call home. Until the day she met a team of superheroes willing to take her in and call her their friend. These were the Teen Titans, but little did they know, she would soon bring great tragedy and calamity to them as well. Her name was Terra.


Born Princess Tara Markov to the royal family of Markovia, Terra grew up in a castle alongside her brother Brion, and was a particularly hard-headed child, always confused about who she was and what she was supposed to be. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t given much choice in the matter. Her family subjected her and her brother to experimentation, in hopes of giving them superhuman powers, to better protect their kingdom as superheroes. The process was successful, and the children emerged with peerless geokinetic abilities. Soon enough, however, Terra discovered that she could not control her powers, and ran away from home in fear of hurting someone.


After a long struggle to find a new home, Terra ended up running into the Titans, a team of five superpowered teenagers dedicated to the protection of Jump City. Immediately having taken a liking to Terra, the Titans quickly offered her a spot on their team and a home at their tower, but fate had other plans. Terra’s power, though uncontrollable still, was vast and incredibly dangerous, traits which attracted the attention of more than just the Titans. Soon enough, Terra found herself face-to-face with the supervillain Slade, who offered to take her as his apprentice and train her to control her powers. And although Terra distrusted Slade at first, his words and manipulations swayed her quickly. With distrust and personal insecurities fragmenting her relations with the Titans, Terra ran away again, and soon ended up accepting Slade’s offer, becoming his apprentice and joining him in his quest to destroy the team.


At first, Terra was tasked with re-infiltrating the Titans, regaining their trust and discovering their weaknesses. In doing so, she betrayed all of the team’s secrets to Slade, although privately, her guilt gnawed at her, which wasn’t helped by the connection she formed with her teammate Beast Boy. Though she hesitated temporarily, however, her treachery eventually came to light, and upon being met with scorn from Beast Boy, she broke away from the Titans and became a genuine supervillain, consumed by anger and a real desire to do harm to her former friends. With Slade pulling her strings from the shadows, she crushed the Titans and brought all of Jump City to its knees, insisting to herself that she had no regrets.


This, however, proved untrue. As much despair as it brought them to do battle with their fallen teammate, the Titans returned and put Terra on the defensive, forcing her to run away to avoid being defeated. Upon her return to Slade’s hideout, however, Terra was met with rage rather than sympathy. Slade had only ever viewed her as a tool, and only ever cared about her for her powers; he had no use for a pawn that was prone to failure. Taking direct control of Terra’s nervous system, he turned her once more against her former friends, this time by force rather than by words. It was then that Terra fully realized her mistakes, and once more found within her a desire to do good. With sheer force of will, she overcame Slade’s control and turned all of her power back on him. The earth split open, and Slade was consumed in molten stone, a fate that all of Jump City would have shared, if not for Terra.


As the Titans escaped and she said her tearful farewell to Beast Boy, Terra used her powers one last time to stop the eruption that she had caused, an act which caused her body to transform into stone. A fate that seemed permanent, but in truth was merely a transitionary period for her. Eventually, Terra emerged from the stone, and received an opportunity for a new life as an ordinary student; away from the Titans, away from the desperate need to control her powers, and away from all the guilt and regrets that weighed her down. The end of one tale, and the start of something new.


Experience & Skill

Toph


Toph is undoubtedly one of the most skilled Earthbenders in the Avatar world. Trained by the Badger Moles from as early as age 5, Toph’s mastery of the seismic sense allowed her to gain a much more intimate understanding of the earth than other benders, which is a large part of what allowed her to reach levels leaps and bounds beyond most of her peers. By the end of the series, when she was still only 12 years old, she was able to fight Bumi to a standstill, a 112-year-old Earthbending master who was previously considered to be unmatched. As she got older, increasing in training and experience, it would be reasonable to conclude that she surpassed Bumi, definitively becoming the world’s strongest Earthbender as she’s claimed. The Avatar art book also directly backs up her claim, mentioning that she was written to be the best Earthbender in the world.


Similarly, in the comics, she was able to defeat the rest of Team Avatar all at once in a sparring match, including Aang (the Avatar) and Katara (who’s stated to be the world’s best Waterbender). Though Aang’s twinkle toes tripped her up at first in the Earth Rumble ring, later comics have shown her tagging him while airborne, indicating that she has learned to work around the disadvantages of the Seismic Sense.


Toph’s superlative talents are also implied through her development of Metalbending, a brand-new bending art that had been considered impossible for centuries beforehand. Her Metalbending proficiency improved over time after she developed it, as she went from only being able to crumple metal with a touch, to being capable of liquefying and molding it telekinetically from a distance. Similarly, though she initially struggled with finer materials like sand, she eventually improved enough to instantly sculpt a detailed scale replica of Ba Sing Se out of sand – an absurd feat of precision, given that Ba Sing Se is large enough to encompass a large part of a continent.


Though most of it was offscreen, she spent decades working as Republic City’s chief of police, and was well into her 80’s by the time Korra rolled around. With that much time spent honing her bending and dealing with threats to public safety, her skill in her prime should undoubtedly be much higher than it was at any time that we’ve actually seen.


It is worth noting of course that Toph isn’t perfect nor invincible. As previously noted, Aang was able to get the better of her, and Bumi was able to match her in an Earthbending duel. She was also completely helpless against the puppetry of the Bloodbender Yakone, and also outright lost a 1-on-1 fight in the comics against another Earthbender named Yaling, requiring Sokka to step in and help her. Which… is weird, since Yaling was just a rando. It’s possible Toph was holding back, but that’s not actually stated, and Toph says that Sokka “saved her”, implying she couldn’t get out of the situation herself.


Terra


Initially, Terra struggled greatly with controlling her powers, with a lack of skill or precision accompanying her extremely high levels of power. Even at this stage, however, she was capable of outperforming Cyborg in an obstacle course that he designed, and winning a fight against a giant scorpion creature by leading it into a trap. After leaving the Titans the first time and undergoing training with Slade, her precision and control over her powers drastically improved, allowing her to manipulate multiple large boulders at once and perform complex maneuvers with them.


Though most of it was offscreen, she spent a notable period of time acting as a core member of the Teen Titans, during which they were implied to have fought villains and criminals with various superpowers. This likely includes training as well, given that the Titans have been shown to hone their physical abilities and skills during their off-time. Terra also spent this period gaining the Titans’ trust and manipulating them, in order to learn all of their secrets and leave them open to betrayal later on. Her “people skills” and manipulative talents should not go unstated, as she was even able to fool Raven, an empath and staunch skeptic, into trusting her completely, and later use Raven’s emotions and insecurities against her mid-combat in order to get her to lose control. In a similar vein, she pretends to be knocked unconscious at one point, in order to fool Starfire into letting her guard down.


Once she rejoined Slade more openly, Terra demonstrated her physical skills much more explicitly, taking on all five Titans at once and holding her own. With Slade’s counsel and neural link, her control over her powers is increased even more, allowing her to access abilities that she couldn’t otherwise. With this at her disposal, she was able to take on and defeat all of the Titans one-on-one, matching Raven’s telekinetic skill and holding her own against Robin in hand-to-hand. She is a skilled acrobat, making large leaps and performing flips in order to dodge attacks and spring between boulders in combat.


That said, her skill takes a hit without Slade pulling her strings, and she is still prone to losing control - albeit less so than before - as seen when she ended up triggering the volcanic eruption during her fight with Slade. Though she was able to hold her own against the Titans 1v5 (even without Slade helping her), she was unable to maintain an advantage when the five of them were all attacking her seriously, and she was forced to retreat to avoid being defeated.


Equipment

Toph

Meteorite Bangle


Created from a piece of a fallen meteorite, Toph wears this bracelet on her upper arm, and can alter it depending on the situation, allowing her options when bendable material is otherwise unavailable. Unlike normal earth, which is generally more resolute, the extraterrestrial earth composing the bracelet is fluid and malleable, allowing her to bend it into a variety of shapes, such as a key or a buzz saw. It also serves as a homing beacon for other Metalbenders, vibrating when in close proximity of individuals with an aptitude for the art.


Police Uniform


Though Toph only wears it as an adult, this is the armored uniform characteristic of Republic City’s Metalbending Police Force. The armor is made of segmented portions of metal which can be easily detached and reattached at the bender’s leisure, allowing them to attack and defend with its pieces. It is durable enough to survive large impacts and can protect the wearer from pressure point strikes that would otherwise block their chi. Moreover, as shown by Toph’s daughter Lin, the suit comes equipped with extendable arm blades, and the soles of the feet are designed to facilitate the use of the Seismic Sense, instead of dampening it as normal shoes would.


Metal Wires


Developed by Lin, each police uniform comes equipped with extendable metal cables that can be fired from cylindrical spools attached to the uniform, with Toph’s in particular being attached to either hip. The wearer uses Metalbending to extend and retract the cables as needed, typically using them to ensnare a person for law enforcement purposes, or wrap around objects in the environment to pull the user around. They can also be used as a whip-like weapon to cut through or damage a target.


Terra

Goggles


A pair of goggles that Terra sometimes wears to protect her eyes while using her geokinesis. Her first pair of goggles shattered due to her powers running out of control, but she later replaced them with a new pair.


Titans Communicator


Developed by Cyborg and Robin, this communicator was given to Terra during her time as a member of the Teen Titans, signifying her membership in the group. It allows her to contact the other Titans through video calls, send out distress signals, and track the location of other Titan Communicators.


Neural Link Armor


A suit of armor given to her by Slade and worn during their conquest of Jump City. The material that it is composed of is unknown, but parts of the armor are metallic and other parts consist of simple bandage wrappings. In addition to providing body protection like any armor, it links to Terra’s nervous system and allows Slade to take control of her body, aiding her in combat through remote control. This allows her movements to mimic his, and gives her access to new abilities that she would be otherwise unable to use. 


However, Slade does not always maintain control, and he implies that his ability to help is reliant on Terra taking actions on her own. If she does not want to comply with Slade’s orders, he can use the armor to forcibly puppeteer her body, but he cannot prevent her from resisting, and she was able to eventually break free from this control.


Enough time spent wearing the armor caused it to become grafted to her skin and permanently linked to her nervous system, but this was somehow undone after Terra emerged from her stone statue.


Earpiece


An earpiece that Terra wears during her time working for Slade, which allows her to verbally communicate with him and request his assistance when she needs it. It has an “S” logo on it for some reason, because Slade needs his symbol on everything, I guess.


Neural Link Badges


Badges that Terra carries while working for Slade, which allow him to control the nervous system of the people they are placed on. She used several of these to take control over Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload, placing them under Slade’s employ. She also wears one on the chest plate of her own armor, possibly implying that this is what facilitates Slade’s control over her as well.


Abilities

Toph

Earthbending


Being the world’s greatest Earthbender, Toph possesses an extensive and precise mastery over earth, using her movements to telekinetically manipulate it in various ways. She can do so both through physical contact and at a distance, and has developed a deep connection to the earth, with her own Earthbending style unique to her. Compared to the other elements, earth is the most steadfast and unyielding, requiring an equally unyielding bender to command it properly. As such, the most fundamental part of Earthbending is one’s stance, which must be steady and strong.

Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis Style


All benders use real-life martial arts movements in order to bend their element, and Toph is no exception. While other Earthbenders draw from various southern Chinese martial arts (particularly Hung Gar Kung Fu) for their bending, Toph is the only known practitioner of the Chu Gar Praying Mantis style, which focuses on using an opponent’s strength to her own advantage, turning it against them. Utilizing unconventional movements and focusing on counter-attacks, the style primarily makes use of arm and hand strikes, attacking and defending simultaneously with every movement. Kicking techniques are employed much more rarely, and are always kept low to the ground.


This all matches up well with what we see of Toph’s Earthbending, which centers heavily around counter-attacks, and catching opponents off-guard with rapid, unpredictable rhythm.

Neutral Jing


All bending arts utilize the principles of jing, which refers to the various actions one can take in battle. Positive jing refers to attacking, and negative jing refers to retreating or evasion, though according to King Bumi, there are 85 different types of jing in total. Toph in particular is a master of neutral jing, the key to master-level Earthbending, which refers to the act of waiting, listening, and attacking at the right moment. By paying close attention to an opponent’s movements and attacks, Toph waits for the right moment to respond and then counters the target with expert precision. It is this mastery which made her the best possible Earthbending teacher for Aang.

Earthbending Techniques

 

Earth Armor: The user encases their entire body in earth, forming a suit of armor for offensive and defensive purposes. Toph used this technique to encase herself in stone while training Aang, and Aang later did something similar with crystal in a battle against Azula and Zuko.


Earth Avalanche: Earthbenders can displace earth around themselves, causing rock slides if they are near a mountain or cliff face.


Earth Block: One of the most basic Earthbending techniques; the user unearths a block from the ground and launches it toward a target.


Earth Column: User erupts large columns of earth from the ground, which can be used to reposition themself, block attacks, or slam into opponents.


Earth Compression: Earthbenders can crush materials into denser chunks, which can be used to make individual rocks more compact, or combine multiple smaller rocks into one larger one. 


Earth Cuff: User creates stone cuffs and launches them toward an opponent, binding their wrists or feet to immobilize them. Toph used this to lock down Azula during the Day of Black Sun.


Earth Elevator: Earthbenders can manipulate the ground underneath them to create a platform, which can then be moved to act as a makeshift elevator. For instance, Aang and Toph did so in order to scale the wall of Ba Sing Se.


Earth Etching: By touching a surface and tracing her fingers across it, Toph can etch specific patterns into the earth, which she demonstrated during her training with Aang.


Earth Fissures: Toph can split open the ground to create fissures that can unbalance opponents, or cause localized earthquakes to create the same effect. For instance, she did this when she intervened against Kuvira in Korra.


Earth Hand/Gauntlets: Toph can cover her hands and forearms with gauntlets for greater defense and striking strength at close range. The Dai Li could manipulate these gauntlets to seize and attack foes, or grip things with greater strength, and other Earthbenders like Sun have engaged in boxing matches with them. When used by Aang, an earth gauntlet was able to block a blast of Azula’s blue fire, which burns at 2500 - 3000 degrees Celsius.


Earth Impression: Toph can embed her body in earth as easily as if it were a malleable substance, to the point of making something akin to a snow angel in solid rock.


Earth Launch: Toph is able to use the ground beneath her to hurl herself high into the air for greater mobility and attacking airborne opponents. She must be careful when doing so however, considering how much of her fighting style relies on mostly maintaining contact with the ground. Either way, makes her more versatile in combat.


Earth Levitation: Any Earthbender worth their salt can telekinetically lift earth into the air and keep it afloat, either for attack or defense. Even those losers in the live action movie could do it, in the most epic display of Earthbending ever.


Earth Magnetization: Earthbenders are capable of clinging to earth in a sort of magnetic fashion, allowing them to stick to surfaces without normal leverage. Toph has used this herself to run up walls, and Dai Li agents have even managed to stick to ceilings.


Earth Shelter: By pulling up the earth underneath them, Earthbenders can create tents and domes out of rock, whether to serve as a temporary home or to protect from attacks.


Earth Shield: Similar to an earth shelter, Earthbenders can also erect a shield or wall in front of themselves to deflect incoming attacks. Frequently, the shield is then turned into a projectile to attack with.


Earth Shift: By altering the ground beneath the target, Toph can unbalance them or shift their position in a manner advantageous to her. This is notably one of her more commonly-used abilities, having been employed against the Boulder, Azula, and Sokka to name a few.


Earth Sinking: Skilled Earthbenders are capable of sinking their opponents into the ground by force, trapping them in place and potentially crushing or suffocating them. The Earth Kingdom’s General Fong once nearly killed Katara by completely sinking her into the ground.


Earth Smash: By striking boulders or other earth, an Earthbender can pierce or shatter it if they desire, destroying incoming attacks or shattering obstacles. Toph can even do this remotely, pulverizing the Dai Li’s projectiles in midair before they could reach the group.


Earth Tunneling: Earthbenders are capable of tunneling through the ground, allowing them to disappear and pop up in a new location, or produce a larger tunnel to walk through. This is a useful tool for mobility and subterfuge.


Earth Wave: Toph is capable of creating a “wave” of earth to ride on, allowing her to travel across large distances at high speed, with movements similar to skating.


Seismic Sense


Toph’s method of “sight,” which she has been adept in since she was a young child. By sensing the vibrations in the ground with her feet, she is capable of discerning her surroundings in extreme detail similar to sonar. In combat, this allows her to sense the movements of others and predict attacks in advance, perfectly suited to the use of neutral jing. It also allows her to sense things like ambushes before they happen, and perceive the traits of pathways and landmarks before they are within a normal person’s range of vision.


This sense is precise enough to discern the movements of things as small as ants, and broad enough to sense and memorize the entire layout of Ba Sing Se, a country-sized city. She can even detect stationary objects like trees, so long as they are in contact with the ground, and though she claims to be unable to discern what a person’s face looks like, she is still capable of recognizing individuals through her senses, as she recognized Iroh through a door via the sense alone.


Even outside of combat and general sight things, the Seismic Sense has other uses. Through vibrations, she is capable of discerning differences in breathing and heartbeat to determine whether someone is lying, though a good enough liar can still fool her. Additionally, while it seems to be somewhat functionally distinct from the normal seismic sense, she is capable of sensing the location of earthly materials regardless of their location, even if they are airborne and thus do not create vibrations through the ground.


In terms of weaknesses, there are a few, though almost all of them have diminished over time as Toph has continued to improve. Originally, a “light-footed” enough opponent like Aang could fool the Sense by touching the ground without making any vibrations. This never made much sense, given that Toph can sense stationary objects, but even so she has more recently tagged Aang when he was airborne, and thus has clearly improved in this regard. In Book 2 of the show, she explicitly could not see while standing on ice, but later on in the comics she demonstrates that she has learned how to do so. Early in the show, she was similarly unable to see properly on sand, due to the loose and shifty nature of the grains, but she later improved her Sandbending and no longer has an issue with it.


The biggest weakness of the Seismic Sense, and one that has currently not gone away, is that it relies on Toph’s feet remaining undamaged and in contact with the ground. If she is forced into the air or her feet are injured sufficiently, she will temporarily lose the ability to “see” properly.


It also doesn’t work when Toph is wearing shoes (unless they are made of earth or metal), but she gets around this by just not wearing shoes, so it isn’t so much of a problem.


Elevated Senses


In addition to the Seismic Sense, Toph’s other senses like hearing are greatly sharpened due to the fact that she is blind. She has used her sense of hearing, for instance, to detect an opponent swinging down toward her, or Sokka’s boomerang whirling through the air as he attempted to sneak attack her with it. Thanks to this impressive hearing, which is good enough to hear whispers from across a ship, she never forgets a voice, even after hearing it only once.


Sandbending


Though Toph initially had difficulties with the more granular nature of sand, she later trained to master the art and become expertly precise in its use. Though she uses it much less often than more traditional Earthbending, she should have access to several noteworthy sand-related techniques.

Sandbending Techniques


Dust Cloud: By rupturing the ground around herself, Toph can create massive clouds of dust to cover an area and obscure enemy vision, while she herself is unhampered thanks to the Seismic Sense. She can also clear dust clouds away just as easily.


Dust Stepping: Though Toph has never used this technique personally, it is established in the Kyoshi novel that skilled enough Earthbenders can create thin pillars of dust to step off of, and can incrementally increase their height to do things like scale walls.


Sand Compaction: Similar to normal earth compaction, by compressing sand closer together, Sandbenders can do things like anchor themselves to the ground by their feet, or create compact sand projectiles to damage a target with. While attempting to hold up Wan Shi Tong’s library, Toph has notably used this ability to compact sand into something more solid and stone-like, possibly actual stone.


Sand Spout: Sandbenders can create a small tornado-like whirl of sand in order to produce force. A group of Sandbenders used this to propel their sand sailers.


Sand Throwing: Clearly the most unorthodox Sandbending technique, it is in fact possible to launch large masses of sand toward a target to strike them directly. Only the greatest of Earthbending masters could ever hope to perfect such a daring technique.


Quicksand: Skilled Earthbenders are capable of transforming solid surfaces into quicksand, causing an unsuspecting target to get pulled under. Bumi demonstrated this technique during his fight with Aang.


Mudbending


Not so much a “formal” bending art but distinct from other forms of Earthbending nonetheless, Toph has demonstrated the ability to bend mud just as easily as stone or sand. As a child, she notably used it to plug up the Fire Nation’s drill, and more minorly later on in a scuffle with Katara, but her more extensive demonstrations were as an old woman. At this stage, she had adapted her style to be more fluid, a combination of Earthbending and Waterbending principles, and as such made use of a similarly fluid material in her sparring match with Korra.

Mudbending Techniques


Mud Blast: Toph can launch a wave of mud forward to strike an opponent.


Mud Cleanse: After a brief tussle with Katara in a pool of mud, Toph was able to quickly push all the mud off of her body with a single movement.


Mud Surfing: In her fight with Korra, Toph used the mud beneath her feet in order to slide around the area at high speed, outmaneuvering Korra’s Airbending attacks.


Thick Mud: In the Avatar Legends RPG, skilled Earthbenders can use this technique to transform stone into mud. Presumably, they should be capable of doing the reverse as well.


Metalbending


The bending art that Toph invented herself, which was previously believed to be impossible for centuries. Metalbending is more difficult than ordinary Earthbending, as metal is composed of refined and purified ores, and is thus dissimilar from unaltered earth. However, thanks to her Seismic Sense and general attunement to earth, Toph was able to perceive and manipulate the earthly components within the metal, and thus manipulate it.


Toph’s abilities with Metalbending have greatly improved over time as she has refined the craft. Originally, bending metal required physical contact, and Toph could only cause it to twist or crumple, though by the end of the series she could perform some more complex techniques, like creating armor around herself. In the comics, she improved to the point of achieving long-distance proficiency, capable of bending any metal within a normal person’s line of sight. Additionally, she gained precise enough control over metal’s earthly components to liquefy and completely reshape it with a hand gesture, unlike her early days where her alterations were more rudimentary. As an old woman, Toph’s manipulation of metal had become so precise that she was capable of bending traces of liquid mercury poison out of Korra’s blood stream.


It should be noted, however, that Toph’s Metalbending is still not perfect. Despite implications that she is the most skilled Metalbender currently known, she was never capable of bending something as pure as platinum, a metal which is 95% pure (one of the purest) and thus almost completely dissimilar from natural earth. Additionally, the durability of the metal that she is bending plays a role in her ability to reshape it. During the Day of Black Sun, it took many repeated hits to force her way through the wall of the Fire Nation’s metal bunker. Though her Metalbending has since improved, the general rule should still apply, this being that (as makes logical sense) tougher metals are harder to alter and reshape.


Superhuman Physicality


Though Toph’s own direct physical feats are not overly impressive, other Avatar characters whom she should be comparable to have demonstrated superhuman strength, speed, and durability. For example, Aang’s travel speed is faster than wind, various characters have dodged lightning or survived massive explosions, and even non-benders like Sokka can push around giant boulders as though it’s no big deal.

Terra

Geokinesis


Terra possesses powerful telekinetic control over earth and stone, much to the shock of everyone reading, we’re sure. With this power, she can lift, throw, break, reshape, and alter earth in any way she chooses. Originally, she had difficulty controlling this power, leading to many natural disasters, but over time she gained much more control, allowing her to precisely manipulate many targets simultaneously. This does not, however, mean that she cannot lose control again when exerting enough power. It is implied that using her powers puts some degree of strain on her body, as she shows signs of physical exertion when lifting larger masses.


Though she sometimes performs hand or arm movements to manipulate rock, this is not required, as there are multiple instances in which she performs actions without hand motions.

Specific Techniques


Rock Levitation: Terra’s most commonly used ability; she can make rocks float in midair, typically using them as platforms that she can stand on. This can take the form of stepping stones to jump between, or a singular boulder carrying her through the air at high speed. Terra can also levitate earth as preparation for launching it as a projectile, or keep it floating near her as a defensive measure.


Rock Projectiles: Exactly what it says on the tin, Terra can launch earth with immense speed and force, crushing or bludgeoning a target with the impact. This can be used to smash through barriers and machines, or if you catch her in her emo supervillain phase, just hurt an opponent really, really badly.


Rock Columns: Terra is capable of erupting columns from the ground or walls (depending on the area), which can serve several purposes in battle. She has used these columns to move herself around, block attacks, smash through obstacles, inhibit enemy movement, or attempt to crush an opponent by smashing them between the top of the column and a solid surface. Literally leaving them caught between a rock and a hard place.


Rock Barriers: Already alluded to a couple times, Terra can use earth as a physical barrier to defend herself from attacks. This can take the form of a column, floating boulder, or formations erupted up from the ground.


Rock Hail: On a couple of occasions, Terra has broken apart larger rocks into many smaller projectiles, which she can rain down on a target with greater speed and force, kind of like bullets. These have been used to destroy incoming projectiles and wreck the turrets firing them, and can put pressure on an enemy with a rapid barrage.


Rock Spikes: Terra can cause spikes of earth to erupt from the ground, or fashion them from other rock formations. This can have several uses in battle, from skewering an opponent to simply blocking off an area.


Avalanches: Terra has a history of causing avalanches before she could control her powers, and depending on the environment, can make use of this in combat. For instance, in her first encounter with Slade, she caused a cave-in around the two of them, trapping them in an enclosed space where neither could run. She should also be capable of pulling rocks down on top of people with similar ease.


Earthquakes & Shockwaves: Terra can cause widespread quakes and tremors through the earth, bringing about widespread environmental damage or unbalancing opponents, disrupting their footing or knocking them into the air.


Stone Whirlwind: Though she has only done so once, Terra has the ability to create intense whirlwinds by spinning rocks in her vicinity, eventually creating a full-on tornado. This can batter her surroundings, and allow Terra to levitate without a rock to stand on, presumably thanks to the cyclone creating a vacuum effect that lifts her into the air.


Earth Breaking: Terra can carve out portions of earth or crumble it into smaller pieces with her powers. She once did this around Beast Boy’s location, in order to save him from an attack from a giant centipede robot.


Earth Tunneling: Terra is capable of tunneling through the earth, increasing her mobility and allowing her to travel unnoticed to the naked eye. This can allow her to reposition herself without being noticed, avoid attacks, or travel large distances underground.


Earth Fissures: Terra can split open the ground, creating fissures that can collapse large structures or serve as a pitfall for an unsuspecting enemy. She can also close fissures, in an attempt to crush any poor soul who happened to fall into them.


Earth Condensing: Terra is able to crush multiple smaller rocks together to form one larger rock, congealing it into a larger projectile. She could even do this to rock projectiles that had been launched toward her, before launching them back to sender.


Stone Golems: Though she requires Slade’s assistance to do so, Terra can create two autonomous golems out of stone, which can fight alongside her. In addition to their large size and rocky construction making them physically formidable, these golems could tunnel through the ground, and fire muddy sludge-like substances from their hands. Their bodies were also malleable, allowing them to reform themselves from the ground, and bend their bodies in an elastic manner to restrain or attack foes.


Petrified State: When Terra pushed her powers to their limit in order to stop her own volcanic eruption, she was turned to stone, which at the time seemed to be a permanent fate, but eventually was undone through unknown means. Though the exact specifics of what happened have never been explained, the Titans in the comic speculate that the stone form was a defense mechanism, sort of like an armored form. Starfire in particular theorized that it was akin to a butterfly cocoon, and that Terra was undergoing a metamorphosis within, before emerging as a new person.


It is worth noting that whilst in this state, Raven and Cyborg attempted to use magic and science to turn her body back to normal, and neither was effective, indicating that the form is highly resistant to outside manipulation and transmutation.


Mud Manipulation

(Tfw there’s no “kinesis” word for mud)


In addition to earthly substances that are less moist, Terra has shown impressive control over mud as well, utilizing it extensively in her fight against Raven. Not only can she douse a target with it and ride waves of it for greater mobility, but she is also capable of making specific shapes out of mud to attack, like hammers or giant fists. On top of this, she can repel mud from herself to keep herself dry, create bubbles of mud around herself, and quickly solidify mud into dry rock.


With her mud manipulation, Terra was capable of overpowering even Raven’s dark form, which is even more powerful and less restrained than she is normally, thanks to the empathic nature of her abilities, and the fact that she is drawing some degree of power from her father, Trigon.


Psammokinesis


Though she does not do so nearly as frequently as stone, Terra does possess the ability to manipulate sand (or sand-like substances) with her powers, in order to attack or defend. Though her feats with it are not extensive, there is not any reason to assume that her power and proficiency with sand is any less than with stone or mud.


Geo-Thermokinesis


Though she never gained full control over this ability, Terra near the end of her tenure as a supervillain showcased the power to manipulate lava, erupting enormous bursts of it from the ground. Through this ability, she was capable of both triggering and halting a volcanic eruption that would have destroyed all of Jump City. An average volcanic eruption releases energy equivalent to 24 megatons of TNT, 7 of which is directly released by the eruption itself. Moreover, lava reaches temperatures of over 1200 degrees Celsius/2100 degrees Fahrenheit on average, making its heat an incredibly dangerous weapon.


Theoretically speaking, Terra should be capable of manipulating small quantities of lava with similar ease as other forms of earth, but enough to destroy a city is beyond what she can do casually. As such, halting the eruption caused her body to turn into stone.


Cryokinesis


Though never showcased extensively, Terra does possess the ability to manipulate ice as well as earth, telekinetically shifting around the ice in her drink without conscious effort.

Energy Pulses


When using greater amounts of power, Terra’s eyes and hands frequently glow yellow, which is reflective of a broader energy manipulation ability that she has occasionally used for other purposes. For instance, while being controlled by Slade, she was able to emit a yellow energy wave through the ground, rupturing it across an entire city block and disrupting the Titans’ footing. Later, she was shown to be capable of just straight-up firing energy blasts, or emitting an omnidirectional pulse of energy from her body, which could heat and explode the earth beneath herself and Slade.


Superhuman Physicality


Though she does not rely on it as often as her much more impressive powers, Terra is more physically apt than normal humans, and an adept hand-to-hand fighter, especially with Slade backing her up. She has physically fought Robin and Cyborg at the same time, both of whom were strong and fast enough to halt the momentum of a sub-relativistic space probe. Cyborg’s lifting strength is great enough to lift and swing entire buildings, and Terra has just kicked him away like it was no big deal. Her speed is likewise great enough to combat superpowered aliens like Starfire, who have consistently showcased FTL speed, and occasionally even greater.


It is worth mentioning as well that on rare occasions, Terra has shown some light toon force abilities; specifically, in less serious scenes she can recover from cartoonish injuries. When she first met the Titans, she survived getting her bones crunched in a hug from Starfire, and then straightened out her broken arms afterward, with barely any apparent pain. In a later appearance, a similar scene occurs in which her hands and head puff up when Starfire squeezes her too hard.


Support

Toph

None notable. No technology rip bozo.

Terra

Slade

(NOTE: Slade will exclusively serve a SUPPORT role in this analysis, since he is a vital part of Terra’s combat abilities. We are NOT including him as a direct factor in the fight, i.e. accounting for any possibility of him getting physically involved.)


Slade Joseph Wilson. The Terminator. Arch Nemesis of the Teen Titans. The man in the mask gazes upon the world from the shadows and is known by many names, but most commonly he is referred to simply by his moniker… Slade.


…What, you thought it was going to be something else?


For the purposes of this match, Slade can essentially be thought of as Terra’s “man in the chair” (think something akin to Old Bruce from the Batman Beyond Death Battle). He is capable of providing her with advice and verbal assistance through her earpiece, but his primary benefit to her in combat is the ability to enhance her movements through her neural link armor. By linking up with her nervous system, Slade can make Terra’s movements in battle mimic his, essentially granting her combat skill and tactical prowess on his level. See the section on the neural link armor for more details regarding its functions and weaknesses.


This is significant for a number of reasons. To begin with, Slade is a master hand-to-hand combatant, genius tactician, and brilliant manipulator. Being able to mimic his movements and use him as a tactical resource thus skyrockets Terra’s overall capability as a combatant. This has allowed her to match expert martial artists like Robin, take on all five Teen Titans at once, and use her abilities in new ways that she never considered before.


It should be noted however that Slade is loyal only to himself, and only treats Terra well so long as she remains a valuable pawn to him. If she were to lose a fight or show too much weakness in combat, it would be within Slade’s character to respond with rage and abuse, or refuse to continue helping her.


Feats

Toph

Overall

  • Became reigning champion of Earth Rumble ever since she was young

  • Held her own with no issue against entire groups of trained Dai Li agents

  • Instructed Avatar Aang in Earthbending, helping him to master it despite his difficulties

  • Aided in ending the Hundred Year War, taking down several Fire Nation airships during Sozin’s Comet

  • Fought King Bumi to a standstill before their fight was interrupted

  • Pioneered Metalbending, an art previously believed to be impossible

  • Founded Beifong Metalbending Academy; trained Ho Tun, Penga, The Dark One, Sun

  • Founding member of Republic City and chief of its Metalbending Police Force

  • Helped apprehend various criminal threats, including Bender Supremacist Liling and her daughters, the Bloodbender Yakone, and likely more

  • Helped Avatar Korra recover from her mercury poisoning and fear of past enemies

  • Defeated THE BOULDER, Xin Fu, Katara, Sokka, Aang, Korra

  • Made the VS community mald for the last eight years

Power

Speed

Durability

Terra

Overall

  • Largely gained control over her unpredictable powers

  • Became a member of the Teen Titans, assisting them in their battles against various criminals

  • Fully manipulated the Titans into trusting her, including the more cynical members like Robin and Raven

  • Fought and held her own against the Teen Titans 1v5 on two separate occasions

  • Overcame Slade’s control over her nervous system and defeated him, knocking him to his death

  • Saved Jump City by halting the volcanic eruption that she caused, sacrificing herself in the process

  • Defeated Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Dark Raven, Slade

 Power

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses

Toph


Getting the obvious out of the way, yeah, she’s blind. Her eyes are completely useless when it comes to analyzing the battlefield, meaning she’s forced to rely on her Seismic Sense and other heightened senses. Because of this, were she to be separated from the ground or have her feet injured in some manner, it would become extremely difficult if not impossible to understand her surroundings, regardless of her other heightened senses. On top of this, her Earthbending is reliant on specific movements and stances, and can be disrupted if she is rendered unable to move. Some of her abilities also have some specific limitations highlighted in their respective sections (she cannot bend platinum, the Seismic Sense’s lie detection can be fooled, etc.)


It has also been shown that she can be blocked off from bending materials, such as when she was trapped in a metal box near the end of Book 2. Now of course she was able to eventually escape due to the box being bendable metal, but the possibility of her being trapped in something she cannot bend still exists.


Terra


Terra’s level of skill and capability can fluctuate. While she did ultimately improve her abilities significantly throughout the series, there were still instances where she lost control or was unable to maintain an advantage in fights, such as when she had to retreat from the Teen Titans. Furthermore, some of her strongest powers and skill level are tied to the assistance of Slade. Should he leave Terra to fend for herself or decide she has outlived her usefulness, then she will lose access to some of her techniques and skills that she could utilize previously. This could be problematic in the middle of a fight, for obvious reasons.


Furthermore, while Terra is extremely powerful with numerous impressive displays, there is still a limit to how much she can exert. It’s clear that Terra must not overdo it too much, or else the consequences would be quite extreme. This is exactly how she met her temporary fate in the series, as while she was able to stop the volcanic eruption and save the city, the action also caused her to be reduced to a statue. As such, while Terra can fight for extended periods of time and hold her own just fine in extreme circumstances, too much of this will take her down for the count.


Fight Script


For those of you who missed the last blog, we’re implementing an experimental segment throughout our second wave of bonus blogs, in which we include a DB-style fight script to reflect our research and provide a fun scenario. This will spoil our chosen winner, so feel free to skip ahead to the verdict if you would prefer that, or read the fight script first if you would prefer that. Whichever order you want.


Enjoy!


Verdict

Stats


When it comes to power, both of these characters certainly pack a mean punch. Beginning with Toph, it is important to note how impressive she is considered within the Avatar verse itself. She is frequently regarded as one of if not the greatest Earthbender of all time, and she has proven these claims by being able to go toe-to-toe with and exceed world-renowned benders such as Aang’s old friend Bumi, even in spite of the gap in experience.


She is also shown directly matching Aang’s base form in combat, defeating him in a sparring match and fighting alongside him with equal proficiency and success. Her Earthbending is certainly superior to his, as he still had yet to master the art by the end of the series, with Toph herself saying that he could still use some work. Aang, in addition to having many impressive feats of his own, has demonstrated his bending to be on par with many other relevant characters in the series, such as Zuko and Azula, who have both fought Katara (indicated to be potentially the world’s strongest Waterbender), and who have proven themselves a threat to Ozai and Iroh respectively, who are widely regarded as the two strongest Firebenders.


The overall point being that Toph is on par (or stronger) compared to more-or-less all of the strongest benders of her time, including the Avatar in his base form, who has been matched or overcome by other comparable characters. This is completely consistent with the narrative of Toph being the world’s strongest Earthbender, and all four bending styles being relatively on par with one another overall. Because of her status as one of the top dogs, she would scale to or above almost all relevant feats, obviously excluding the Avatar State and comparable threats like the spirits or Sozin’s Comet Ozai.


This likely extends generally to other eras as well. You might initially find it weird that Toph is being scaled to characters from other time periods whom she has never met, but it makes sense when considering her reputation as one of history’s strongest Earthbenders, if not the strongest. To provide more concrete textual evidence for this, we know that some members of ATLA-era Team Avatar, in between ATLA and Korra, fight and defeat the Red Lotus, who are notable villains in Korra’s era, comparable to base Korra and master-level benders of the time like Tenzin.


Toph herself is still around in Korra, and smacks around base Korra pretty effortlessly (though Korra was weakened at the time). Notable characters feat-wise in Korra like Ghazan have also been matched by relatively average Earthbenders like Bolin, whom no one in their right mind would argue is stronger than Toph. There is simply very little reason to believe that the strongest benders in Korra’s era have gotten significantly stronger than in ATLA’s era, and a much greater preponderance of evidence to suggest that they should be “about” the same.


(NOTE since something similar to this was a point of confusion in the last blog: this does not mean that world-class benders from ATLA and Korra are exactly equal to one another, just that they are “relatively” within the same ballpark. If anything though, Toph in her prime is “probably” somewhat stronger than the characters with notable feats like base Korra and Ghazan, considering they are on par with Kuvira and Bolin respectively, Earthbenders who should both likely be Toph’s inferior.)


This pattern is probably also true with past eras, specifically Kyoshi and Roku’s time periods, where there are a handful of impressive feats from non-Avatars and base form Avatars. All Avatars are reincarnations of one another, and though their individual talents can vary, their ability to bend all four elements is all derived from the same power source, Raava. It is probably worth pointing out as well that base Aang, base Kyoshi, and base Roku all have low megaton feats on roughly the same level. Lending credence to the idea that in their base form, fully-realized Avatars are all operating on relatively similar levels. The long and short of this is that being comparable to Aang, Toph would also be comparable to base Roku and base Kyoshi to at least some extent, as well as some world-class normal benders from past eras like Kelsang, whose reputation is similar to hers.


With her scaling clarified, let’s go into Toph’s stats. She has a strong direct feat of keeping up Wan Shi Tong’s Library, requiring energy from 1.2 to just over 18 kilotons of TNT. There are plenty of other low kiloton feats from comparable characters in addition to this, such as Aang stopping a lava flow (25 kilotons), Aang causing a mushroom cloud in the desert (over 30 kilotons), a group of Waterbenders making a large amount of ice (2 to 4 kilotons), and so on and so forth.


But that is not where it ends for Toph, as she can scale higher. Aang in his base form at the midpoint of the series can split a mountain while sleeping, requiring 1.4 megatons of TNT. Given that Toph is Aang’s superior in Earthbending even by the end of the series, scaling her above this would be more than appropriate. And it isn;t like base-tier Avatar characters being that strong is inconsistent either. Avatar Roku’s Earthbending was splitting islands apart when he was a dying old man, showcasing power up to 2.9 megatons of TNT, accounting for the kinetic energy needed to move all that mass so quickly.


Avatar Kyoshi likewise could create a storm reaching all the way to the horizon, yielding up to 1.5 megatons of TNT. For a long time, this was believed to be an Avatar State feat since Kyoshi was manifesting through Aang’s body, but this isn’t the case. Her eyes never once glow during the sequence, and earlier in the series, when Roku channels through Aang’s body in a similar manner, his use of the Avatar State is signified by an eye glow, same as normal. With this in mind, the storm feat was performed through Kyoshi’s own power alone. All of the aforementioned feats, to be clear, like Aang’s mountain split, were performed without the aid of the Avatar State. And to reiterate, though the Avatar in his or her base form is powerful, and has access to more bending styles than other bending masters, they are not unmatched when they are not using the Avatar State. Aang in his base form has lost a fight directly against Toph, clashed evenly with Zuko, and been outright overpowered by Azula. There is no reason why Toph would not be on his level.


And finally, there’s the biggest feat that Toph could feasibly scale to: Ghazan melting the Northern Air Temple with his lava bending, requiring thermal energy equaling 8.8 megatons of TNT. As previously mentioned, Ghazan has fought multiple times against weaker Earthbenders than Toph, such as Bolin, and is a member of the Red Lotus who was previously defeated and captured by Zuko, Sokka, Tenzin, and Tonraq. As such, Toph should scale to him, and the calc’s result would be consistent with feats from other eras like Kelsang’s typhoon. To summarize, Toph should consistently scale to low megaton levels of power.


Unfortunately for her, Terra beats all of that, and her scaling should be a lot easier to explain as well. To start off, she has her own kiloton feats that she either performed or scales to, such as catching Titans Island (4 kilotons), causing an earthquake (72 kilotons), and her brother Geo-Force causing his own earthquake (15 kilotons). While these don’t beat Toph’s highest scaling, it’s important to point out that they beat out her own direct town level feats, with Terra’s earthquake exceeding the library feat several times over. This is going to become a notable trend going forward, where Teen Titans just beat-for-beat has better feats going on than Avatar.


For starters, even average villains-of-the-week like Thunder and Lightning, who the Titans fought and defeated no problem, created a storm that could potentially get up to 2.2 megatons of TNT apiece, exceeding Kyoshi’s storm feat and Aang’s mountain split, as well as nearly matching Roku’s island split. Of course, Roku’s showings in the fight with the volcano are good enough to barely exceed this, and Ghazan’s Lavabending is several times more impressive. But speaking of volcanoes and lava, these feats both don’t quite stack up to Terra’s best direct feat: causing a volcanic eruption that was going to destroy all of Jump City. While plenty of Avatar characters (Aang, Ghazan, Roku) have messed with lava and dealt with volcanic fallout, no one outside of the Avatar State has actually set off an outright volcanic eruption, a feat that gets up to 24 megatons of TNT, and exceeds Toph’s best scaling several times over. 


And then just for fun, and to prove that Terra doesn’t need to statue-fy herself to take the power advantage, Cyborg was able to catch a space-probe moving at a fraction of the speed of light with his bare hands, and Robin was able to hit it so hard with his staff that its momentum was completely halted (peak human am I right). Canceling out that much momentum would require matching an absurd amount of kinetic energy, specifically 36.5 megatons of TNT, which is consistent with the volcano feat.


And yeah, scaling Terra to all of this is completely straightforward, more so than some of Toph’s scaling, because she directly fights all of the people involved in the feats. She’s taken on all five Titans at the same time - with Slade’s help the first time, but without it later on, and held her own remarkably well. She even was able to overpower a bloodlusted Dark Raven; impressive considering Raven in her base form could casually K.O. all of the other four Titans with no problem after getting serious.


So with power out of the way, let’s talk speed. The Avatar series has a large assortment of lightning timing feats that Toph can compare to, the best of which being Zuko reacting to Ozai’s lightning, over 320 times the speed of sound. This could be buffed up a little bit with Korra feats; notably, Vaatu’s dark energy moves across the planet at 666 times the speed of sound (fitting number), and other characters have reacted to his energy blasts. But once again Teen Titans just has better feats. Beast Boy’s lightning dodge against Lightning on its own nearly doubles the Vaatu feat in speed. 


And while Avatar characters react to lightning like it’s their day job, Teen Titans treats actual light just about the same way. The main Titans are able to dodge and outspeed Doctor Light’s beams, which are explicitly stated to move at light-speed, and Starfire and Blackfire both casually throw around statements of being able to move faster than light. Starfire has proven it too, flying out of orbit and out past the moon at incredible speeds over 3 times faster than light, before proceeding to casually take a road trip to other planets through her own flight alone. Thousands of times faster than Toph’s best speed scaling, and this saying nothing of higher arguments, like Blackfire flying between star systems. And again, Terra has matched all of these characters (well, not Blackfire) consistently, even when all of the Titans are coming at her together.


In short, while Toph certainly has impressive power and lightning quick reactions, Terra has a clean edge in the former while being far superior in the latter, making the stat trinity clearly in her favor over the Earthbender.

Arsenal & Abilities


As if having the Earth itself as a primary weapon wasn’t enough for these two, they’ve also both got their own sets of gadgets and unique assets to assist them in battle. 


To start, let’s look at what each of them carries into battle. Since Toph’s primary weapon is the Earth itself, as stated before, she isn’t usually packing a lot of artillery. Her meteor bangle might seem useful in case she gets backed into a corner, but considering its small size made it a perfectly disguised bracelet, there’s no real reason to assume this little tool would be key in overpowering Terra. Next comes her police uniform, and with it, the metal wires/cables. While it is true that Terra cannot bend metal the way Toph can, trying to ensnare Terra with them is another matter entirely. Terra’s been able to use a basic rock column to escape from the talons of Raven’s soul self before, and her superior mobility and speed means it would be difficult for Toph to really get a hold of her, let alone use her arm blades or bracelet.


Terra still suffers from the same problem as Toph, as she also doesn’t usually pack a lot of weapons, due to her arsenal being well… grounded. But just because it’s limited doesn’t mean it’s useless. Her goggles help to shield her in case her powers go out of control, adding an extra mini layer of defense of sorts, and she also comes with her own set of armor. While Toph’s armor lets her use the Seismic Sense with no real issues, Terra’s armor is much more beneficial, as it is linked directly to her nervous system, hence the name “Neural Link Armor.” As long as Terra is still able to fight, the armor combined with her earpiece essentially turns her skill-wise into a female Deathstroke (that isn’t Rose Wilson).


With the relatively minor arsenal discussion out of the way, we move on to their abilities. This is where both of them excel, with several different forms of attack. Toph does hold an advantage in that Earthbending is a lot more precise and controlled than Terra’s Geokinesis, and her fighting style focuses primarily on predicting attacks and countering, which would on paper be effective against a more straightforward and power-focused foe like Terra. On top of this, given that Toph’s fought against plenty of Earthbenders before, Terra wouldn’t be anything new to her, and she’s completely accustomed to dealing with the kinds of attacks that Terra will be throwing out.


…However, it’s not actually this simple when you look closer. For starters, Toph typically waits for an opponent to attack, listening and anticipating the exact correct moment to strike before moving in response. This has worked out well for her in canon, but is completely reliant on the fact that she can react to all of her opponents. Against an opponent like Terra, who’s not just faster than she is but significantly faster, this strategy is only going to leave her open to attack and playing catch-up. Additionally, given that Terra’s raw power exceeds hers, Toph’s ability to block, halt, deflect, or otherwise counter Terra’s earth projectiles in any direct manner is going to be much more limited than in the majority of her fights, where she’s accustomed to having more raw strength than her opponents. Without the strength to counter Terra’s attacks directly or the speed to respond to them and dodge, Toph’s counterattack-focused fighting style will suddenly become much less successful.


Of course, being a much more skilled fighter, Toph should always be capable of adapting her strategy to be more proactive, but a less reactionary combat style is something that she’s much less experienced or comfortable with. Additionally, though Terra is certainly lacking in geokinetic experience comparatively, we’ve seen that she’s able to hold her own against all five Titans at once, and Slade himself, who are all much more experienced fighters than she is, and expert combatants in their own right. Canonically speaking, greater destructive power and battlefield control, coupled with her own natural talents, have allowed Terra to match or even overwhelm much more skilled opponents, and with an overall stat advantage, this would likely be the case here too.


Terra’s flight is also an advantage – though not game-breaking, since I don’t know if you heard, but Toph can feel the earth even if it isn’t connected to the ground. Still, being able to keep her distance and move around the battlefield more quickly gives Terra better options for avoiding attacks and controlling the tempo of the fight.


On the topic of Toph’s sensory abilities, though the Seismic Sense grants superior field awareness, its effectiveness is going to be severely hampered against a much faster opponent. Think about it: Toph’s ability to see is reliant on the seismic waves emitted by the target through the ground, which reach Toph’s position and pass through her body, allowing her to perceive the shape of her surroundings. Terra is considerably faster than these waves possibly could be, even scaling them above Toph’s own combat speed, so Toph’s senses are going to be lagging behind Terra’s movements, making it impossible to consistently keep track of her position and attacks.


Toph’s biggest ace in the hole abilities-wise is Metalbending, since in addition to Terra having no instances of commanding metal substances, she’s also, y’know, wearing a suit of armor and all that. While we don’t know what the armor is made of exactly, there’s no reason to believe it’s anything too out of the ordinary (skin-grafting aside), or as pure as platinum, so there’s not really any reason to say Toph couldn’t bend it. Does this mean she could just crush Terra, Gaara-style?


…Well, no, probably not. It bears mentioning that Toph’s ability to reshape metal with her bending is dependent on the durability of the material she’s affecting. Against the Fire Nation’s reinforced metal bunker during the eclipse, it took her many consecutive hits to force her way through. Given that Terra’s armor has been completely unharmed by attacks from characters who are more powerful than Toph, such as Starfire, it’s unlikely that Toph could crush it with any degree of ease. With enough time? Maybe. But time spent concentrating is time spent leaving herself open, and Terra could crush her with one good attack if she’s not careful.


On top of that, while both possess several of the same abilities, such as Sandbending and Mudbending, Toph’s Metalbending is her only unique weapon going into the fight, while Terra has several additional means of attack that Toph cannot replicate, namely lava, ice, and her energy attacks. Of course, this isn’t a completely overwhelming advantage. Terra has never used ice in combat, and doesn’t have full control over her lava manipulation. Additionally, it is likely that Toph would be able to deal with the lava to at least some extent. Weaker Earthbenders like Bolin have held up against Lavabending with ordinary Earthbending, and earth defenses utilized by Aang have held up against Azula’s blue fire, which is a lot hotter than even volcanic lava. That said, the sheer force of a city-destroying volcanic eruption is a bit above Toph’s pay grade, and if she were to suffer a direct, unprotected hit from Terra’s lava, she would probably just die, lacking the physical heat resistance to withstand it.


Of course, the fact that Lavabending exists in Avatar begs the question of whether Toph can hypothetically do it… and the answer is currently no. It’s well-established in the series that Lavabending is a special trait intrinsic to the user; you either have it or you don’t, and as of now there’s no indication that Toph has it. Of course, they said Metalbending was impossible too; it’s not completely out of the question that Toph could learn how if she “really” put her mind to it, but trying to learn a new style in the middle of a fight to the death probably wouldn’t end very well for her. And it’s entirely possible that she’s just physically incapable of the art.


Jumping back to arsenal for a second, an interesting topic is Terra’s neural link badges, which she can use to forcibly take control of a target’s nervous system and place them under Slade’s puppetry. Toph has never personally resisted mind control, so it’s possible that if Terra gets one of these on her then the fight would just end there.


However, it also might not be so simple. Taking control of a person’s mind and actions through commands is something we have seen in Avatar, specifically the brainwashing employed by the Dai Li, and another character, Jet, was able to break free of said brainwashing through willpower and being reminded of his personal connections. Similarly, Terra herself was able to resist Slade’s neural link via willpower and her desire not to hurt Beast Boy; a relatively one-to-one comparison with Jet’s resistance. Being stubborn and hardheaded by nature, it’s not the biggest leap in the world to say that Toph’s willpower should be similar enough to Jet’s that she could potentially shake off the neural link, if given enough time.


That said, “enough time” is something she probably wouldn’t have. With both Jet and Terra, it took some time to break free from their respective brainwashing, so it’s unlikely that Toph could just immediately shake it off, even assuming she could do so in the first place. Being incapacitated even temporarily could be a fatal issue for her, as it would allow Terra to follow up with whatever she wants. As such, the badges are probably still an insta-win regardless, all things considered.


And while Toph is the only person to ever use the Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis fighting style, she’s never used it much for direct fist-fighting, aside from an occasional earth gauntlet or two. Terra’s no slouch in hand-to-hand combat, especially after Slade jumps in to help her if he feels like it. Being able to go toe-to-toe with Robin and casually kick away Cyborg as if he’s not an insanely strong robot man, Terra should have a considerable advantage up close. And of course, being able to fire energy pulses and create stone golems to aid her gives her some extra fighting options.


To Toph’s credit, this would be a lot more back-and-forth if we were to ignore stats, and she would probably have the advantage, albeit not a massive one like some think. However, in the face of greater speed and geokinetic power, most of her advantages become much less meaningful, whereas Terra has several key advantages that give her easier means of ending the fight quickly.


In the end, although both have impressive sets of tools and skills, when coupled with her overall stat advantage, Terra’s more useful armor, better range, and superior fighting options give her the advantage in this field.


Tertiary Factors


For this section, we’ll be setting the former sections aside momentarily, to focus on their overall effectiveness and skill in combat in a vacuum. In terms of tertiary factors, both Toph and Terra have their own advantages. First off, it should be obvious that Toph has the advantage when it comes to experience. Despite being a sheltered child from birth, Toph secretly trained from a young age in order to master her Earthbending. As a result, she became the world’s strongest Earthbender and still held that title even at old age. It’s due to her mastery over Earthbending that Toph became a teacher to both Aang and later Korra, which proved beneficial to both Avatars. Meanwhile, Terra spent most of her life running away because she couldn’t control her powers. While she did receive training from Slade, it probably amounted to months at most. Even then, she still needs his assistance to be a better combatant. In addition, Toph has experience fighting other earthbenders, while in comparison Terra has only had a few battles against similar ground-related abilities.


Speaking of which, let’s talk about their combat prowess. With Toph, after she mastered her Earthbending, she participated in the Earth Rumble fighting tournament as their reigning champion for many years as The Blind Bandit, where she was able to defeat many other skilled Earthbenders with ease. It’s her skill in combat that caused Aang to seek her out to be his Earthbending teacher. After Toph joined Aang and his friends on their journey, she fought other types of benders including enemy soldiers of the Fire Nation, and directly participated in the war to defeat the Fire Nation.


As for Terra, she wasn’t a skilled combatant until she started teaming up with the Teen Titans. Even then, she wasn’t the best fighter on the team, especially since she didn’t have good control over her powers. However, Terra’s combat prowess greatly improved after she received training from Slade, and she was able to systematically take down the Teen Titans, including Dark Raven and Robin, the latter of which is a skilled hand-to-hand martial artist who was previously trained by Batman and Slade. However, her victory didn’t last forever. When the Teen Titans began to fight Terra more seriously instead of holding back, she was overwhelmed and forced to retreat from the fight. It also doesn’t help Terra that she still needs Slade’s help to be on his level, especially since he can choose not to help her if he wants. So while Terra is more skilled in hand-to-hand combat, the slight advantage in combat prowess overall goes to Toph Beifong.


Finally, there’s combat intelligence. Both girls have received some formal education in their lives, but fights like this will obviously focus more on how smart they can be on the battlefield. Despite being childish and carefree, Toph is surprisingly smart for her age, at least when it comes to fighting. Her training and ability to sense seismic waves allowed her to overcome her blindness and use it to her advantage. With this ability, Toph can predict enemy movement which would allow her to counteract with a more effective strategy. With her Sandbending, Toph can blind her opponents to give them a taste of what it's like to be blind, especially when those opponents aren't skilled in Seismic Sense like her. Toph was able to use Earthbending and Metalbending to create makeshift armor for protection against Firebenders. Lastly, her taunting can make opponents lose self-control, making themselves very predictable. It also helps that Toph became wiser as she grew older.


As for Terra, she has proven herself to be smart in combat. She was able to take down the Titans, though did require stealing insider knowledge and an unknown amount of prep time with Slade. Still, she was able to use her friendship with the Titans against them, leveraging the fact that they didn't want to hurt her and were trying to reason with her during their first battles. However, she's also shown to still need Slade’s knowledge to help her on the battlefield, which he could refuse if she starts to fail him. It also doesn't help that Terra is emotionally unstable. Slade’s taunts and criticism have caused her to lose control of her powers. While she did receive training to control them better, she can still become reckless and out of control if her emotions get the better of her. A great example was when she accidentally triggered that volcanic eruption in a fit of rage while trying to fight Slade. It's more than likely that Toph’s taunts could cause Terra to lose control in a similar fashion. In terms of combat intelligence, the advantage goes to Toph.


So while Terra is a better fighter in terms of hand-to-hand combat and Slade’s assistance would make up for her lack of skills and experience, on her own, she's inferior to Toph’s greater experience, training, and overall combat prowess and intelligence. 

Conclusion

"I am the greatest Earthbender in the world! Don’t you two dunderheads ever forget it!"


Advantages:

  • Superior geokinetic precision and control

  • Greater training and experience, especially against other geokinetics

  • Seismic Sense and earth sensing grant superior field awareness, and allow her to track Terra while airborne (she can feel the earth, EVEN IF IT ISN’T CONNECTED TO THE GROUND!)

  • Metalbending grants her an area of control that Terra cannot replicate

  • Could potentially target Terra’s metal armor, though her ability to damage it is questionable

  • More level headed fighter, and more likely to get under Terra’s skin than vice-versa

  • Has demonstrated greater control over fine particles like sand and dust clouds, which she could potentially use as subterfuge to obscure Terra’s vision

  • Given that similar earth defenses can withstand Ghazan’s Lavabending and Azula’s blue fire, her earth armor should be able to hold up against the temperature of Terra’s lava attacks

  • Scaling to other Avatar characters like Jet who have resisted brainwashing, could potentially break free from from the effects of the neural link badges, similar to how Terra herself did

  • Is the MELON LORD!

  • Bending options


Disadvantages:

  • Earthbending is inferior power-wise to Terra’s geokinesis

  • Physically weaker, slower, less durable

  • Has fewer showings of direct hand-to-hand fighting

  • Despite some good movement options, lacks the mobility that Terra employs with her flight

  • Cannot manipulate lava, ice, or the yellow energy bursts that Terra can produce

  • Reliant on specific movements to control earth; damage to her hands or feet could inhibit her Earthbending and/or Seismic Sense

  • Would still be temporarily affected by the neural link badges

  • Mfw homeless swamp lady

  • Wishes she could see… the look on your face


"You can't control me anymore!"


Advantages:

  • Superior geokinetic power and range

  • Physically superior in all three categories

  • More capable in direct hand-to-hand

  • Superior mobility with multiple flight options

  • Lava manipulation, ice manipulation, and general energy projection grant her several areas of control that Toph cannot replicate

  • Slade’s assistance could compensate for her relative lack of skill and experience; has regardless kept up with more skilled and experienced opponents before, even in groups

  • Ability to create golems to fight for her could give her a numbers advantage, allowing her to attack and attempt to overwhelm Toph from multiple angles at once

  • Even if Toph could eventually resist and break free from their effects, the neural link badges would still inconvenience her temporarily

  • Not reliant on specific movements to control earth

  • Somehow has a less fucked up love life

  • ACTUALLY can see the look on your face


Disadvantages:

  • Geokinetic abilities are overall less precise and controlled

  • Less well-trained or experienced compared to Toph

  • Cannot manipulate metal the way Toph can

  • Her metal armor could be a weak point

  • More likely to lose her cool against Toph’s taunting than vice-versa

  • Toph could potentially obscure her vision, which would inhibit her powers somewhat

  • Main focal point of the series finale of all time

  • Joke about comics or something idk


At an initial glance, this fight definitely is not clear cut. That should be obvious looking at just how many advantages and disadvantages the two actually have here.  On one hand, Toph should be an overall better and smarter fighter, even if Terra is respectable in her own right. She’s more experienced both in terms of using her powers and fighting people like Terra. And unlike Terra, she’s not as reliant on outside assistance. But on the other hand, Terra takes an edge when it comes to abilities and equipment. She has better defenses and more overall variety with her better armor, fire and ice related abilities, and so on. While Toph would more than likely be better at earth-related stuff specifically, Terra has more to throw out overall.


In an equal stats scenario, this could definitely go either way, more than likely result in Toph taking the win in all honesty. But remember what we said before: at first glance. In terms of sheer power Terra has a noticeable advantage over Toph. While it is not a major one, meaning Toph can likely still hurt Terra, it is still a significant barrier for Toph to overcome. A wall that she will never get to climb unfortunately due to the massive disparity in speed. Simply put, Avatar’s plethora of lightning timing and around hundreds of times mach speeds simply just do not compare to Teen Titans’ plethora of relativistic and lightspeed feats. Doctor Light’s lightspeed energy beams, Kid Flash crossing continents, Starfire and Blackfire exceeding the speed of light and flying through space, they are all just too fast for Toph to remotely compare, and much too consistent and blatant to ignore.


While Toph is certainly capable and would definitely be able to match Terra’s abilities and skill, the gap in strength and especially speed are what ultimately do her in. I guess you can say Toph had a Terra-ble experience against an opponent who was just too Toph for her.

Kill me.


The winner is Terra.

Final Tally

Team Toph (1) - Rina (She’s more based than the rest of us combined)


Team Terra (13) - Blue Igneous, AgentRedhead, MKF4, Pidge, TexasRoastingOnAnOpenFire, VampyreNVRmore, Js250476, Retro, SoMaShadow, Speedy, Bee🌸🌸, RedHeadedElf, Andrex


(Art by ohfifteen)

Next Time…



Additionally, though it isn’t part of our “main” wave 2 lineup and is instead a personal group project led by one of our members, Arceus VS Aslan will also be releasing soon, and will be posted to the G1 blogger whenever it is finished, so be on the lookout for that as well.
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