Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra thread. [WARNING: SPOILERS]

[LT Sandpaw]

Bah.

Bah black sheep have ye any wool?

[Hickory]

All hail the mighty Splork.

What I didn't like was the massive amount of platinum. I mean, holy snot! There's not even that much platinum in the world as it is, let alone possibly making pieces of that size and thickness! *Goes off into a metal-obsessed rage.*

But they aren't on our Earth.

[The Skarzs]

*Mumbles something about arc-smelting.*

[Hickory]

...

[Lady Ashenwyte]

All hail the mighty Splork.

What I didn't like was the massive amount of platinum. I mean, holy snot! There's not even that much platinum in the world as it is, let alone possibly making pieces of that size and thickness! *Goes off into a metal-obsessed rage.*

But they aren't on our Earth.

*Points at Toph* *Points at Omashu gates*

[Hickory]

Your point is...

[LT Sandpaw]

"Not even the strongest metal bender In the world could bend platinum!"

*Random earth bender turns ground underneath mecha into sand. Mecha sinks into sand. Earth bender turns sand back into stone. Walks away whistling.*


Earthbenders could be so OP and I don't think the series ever covers just how OP they could be.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

"Not even the strongest metal bender In the world could bend platinum!"

*Random earth bender turns ground underneath mecha into sand. Mecha sinks into sand. Earth bender turns sand back into stone. Walks away whistling.*


Earthbenders could be so OP and I don't think the series ever covers just how OP they could be.

Earthbenders can't change the properties of things. That's what Alchemists do.

[LT Sandpaw]

Sure they can, like Lava Bending, that's quite a change.

[Hickory]

Sure they can, like Lava Bending, that's quite a change.

But lava bending is a special ability, that needs a lot of experience to learn. Toph only learned metal bending through practice (and pressure). Same for bloodbending and concussive blasts.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

NOATOK AND TARRLOK WHY OH WHY

[Rusvul]

   Earthbenders are shown turning stone into sand and vice versa... The episode where Toph is training Aang comes to mind.

[Banya]

It was shown in the episodes that took place in the desert that Toph had no control over sand.  Still, there were sand-benders who were able to manipulate the sand to traverse the desert.  It seems that either sand is a specialization of earth-bending, in which case an earth-bender might be able to learn to harness it, or sand-bending is a separate sub-category of earth-bending, in which sand-benders cannot control earth (rock, metal, etc.) and earth-benders cannot control sand.  I lean toward the latter possibility.

[Rusvul]

   Hmm... Actually, this seems to be an inconsistency. Toph can bend a sand-city on a beach (and didn't complain about visibility there), but can't see properly in a desert. She can also slide her hands in and out of stone (presumably by transmuting it to sand, though maybe not.)

[Banya]

For the sake of continuity, I imagined that the Fire Nation beach was made of coarser earth particles, not fine sand like in desert.  That may not be true, and it isn't addressed.  It could be an explanation for its lack of effect on her visibility.  I hadn't considered that she would have turned rock into sand to move through it, for when she tunnels underground (outside the outer wall of Ba Sing Sei), she is shifting earth and rock, not transforming it.