It was a badly conceived plot device. The basic idea was that Toph has some credibility with the higher-ups -- she's leading Terra Team at this point -- and has a mini cult of personality going for her since she's lasted for so long on the front lines and was the first metalbender. When it becomes clear that they're going to lose the Outer Wall in the Fire Nation's next offensive, Toph, being the only command-level person not from Ba Sing Se, doesn't adhere to a Ba Sing Se taboo about never knocking down walls.
So, with Ba Sing Se on the verge of defeat, Toph convinces the desperate army leadership to intentionally collapse a mile-long portion of the Outer Wall. With twenty thousand members of the Earth Army holding onto the wall as it collapses, directing the energy of earthbending the fall into a rolling avalanche attack on the Fire Army. The siege would end in a rout of the Fire Nation, with Iroh being captured and eventually executed.
...And by writing that out, I'm once again struck by how terrible an idea it was.
There were several smaller bad ideas that got hammered out during the beta process, most of which had to do with making Toph less a Jerkass Stu.
One idea that I really liked, but was impossible to do in five chapters, was that Lu Ten becomes Fire Lord and purposefully dismantles Ozai's family so that it isn't a threat to him. Azula ends up scarred and exiled, with Ursa playing Iroh to her (and becoming the Blue Spirit) and Ozai later joining them in exile. Zuko would be co-opted by Lu Ten, who uses his sense of honor against him, and becomes the Fire Lord's most trusted lieutenant.
But that Lu Ten stuff was more of a concept in search of a plot, and it didn't even fit with what Full Metal Bitch became. The parallel plots of Ursa/Ozai/Azula and Toph would only have been useful if Toph's character arc was centered on her family. By the time of FMB's start, she's pretty okay with hating her parents' guts. So plotwise there's no need to reinvent the backstory wheel. The REAL plot turned out to be in Toph's damage from fighting in the Siege of Ba Sing Se and how her sense of morality contrasted with Aang's.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-12 12:35 am (UTC)So, with Ba Sing Se on the verge of defeat, Toph convinces the desperate army leadership to intentionally collapse a mile-long portion of the Outer Wall. With twenty thousand members of the Earth Army holding onto the wall as it collapses, directing the energy of earthbending the fall into a rolling avalanche attack on the Fire Army. The siege would end in a rout of the Fire Nation, with Iroh being captured and eventually executed.
...And by writing that out, I'm once again struck by how terrible an idea it was.
There were several smaller bad ideas that got hammered out during the beta process, most of which had to do with making Toph less a Jerkass Stu.
One idea that I really liked, but was impossible to do in five chapters, was that Lu Ten becomes Fire Lord and purposefully dismantles Ozai's family so that it isn't a threat to him. Azula ends up scarred and exiled, with Ursa playing Iroh to her (and becoming the Blue Spirit) and Ozai later joining them in exile. Zuko would be co-opted by Lu Ten, who uses his sense of honor against him, and becomes the Fire Lord's most trusted lieutenant.
But that Lu Ten stuff was more of a concept in search of a plot, and it didn't even fit with what Full Metal Bitch became. The parallel plots of Ursa/Ozai/Azula and Toph would only have been useful if Toph's character arc was centered on her family. By the time of FMB's start, she's pretty okay with hating her parents' guts. So plotwise there's no need to reinvent the backstory wheel. The REAL plot turned out to be in Toph's damage from fighting in the Siege of Ba Sing Se and how her sense of morality contrasted with Aang's.