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Hah. You know I ship both Taang and Tokka, so I'm kindof not the best person to give you inside information on the Taangian mind... but here goes.

I ship Toph and Aang together simply for the following reasons. They're about the same age. They're about the same maturity level. They have really, really good dialogs and interactions. Both have mega-impacts on each other, even just as friends. I won't go into any of the corny s**t about how Toph "completes" Aang and whatnot, nor will I breach upon the subject of element at all. As personalities go, they are different and similar in all the right places.

Wow. That really didn't make much sense. Ehh, whatever. That's my garbled Taang rant for the day.


(Did you know Taang is also the name of a records company? Learn something new every day. I less-than three you, google. )

Yeah. Most ship arguments would work in both a platonic fashion as well as a romantic one.

I don't think that either Taang or Tokka could ever become canon, personally. I say this about Taang because there isn't enough time for Aang to ditch his retarded crush on Katara and replace it with one for Toph. As for Tokka, the only way it's possible is if Suki is dead. I don't think there's enough time in the series for Sokka to recover from the news of Suki's death and develop a "thing" for Toph.

Fanon prevails.

I'm going to put a little grain of salt here and say: Age difference/similarity doesn't prove or disprove anything. It's more about the mental maturity of the people involved than just the number of times they've gone around the sun. Now, there are infinite different scenarios in real life, but it's a little bit more straightforward with fictional characters.

To put it blatantly, in real life, anyone with enough maturity can hook up with anyone whose level of maturity interests them (In a kind of idealistic way, because of course, there are mentally unstable people and ***** and general psychos); in short, it's completely plausible for a thirteen years old to hook up with a seventeen years old (It might not be in your taste, but who is with who -as long a it’s consensual- is not really your business). Though with teenagers, it can get to be more superficial than that, but I'm not taking that into account right now, because the social environment in which IRL people live is different than that of the show.

For the show, the basic of that is applied, coupled with the current situation and culture, and made subjective by the fact that the characters are open for interpretation (because of course the characters aren’t going to be as complex as real people). That’s from a shipping point of view; who ends up with who is completely up to the creators.

In conclusion “They’re the same age, LOLZ :B” or "He/she is to old for him/her DUURR" is not enough of a good argument.

I woke up not that long ago so let's see if I can remember everything I was hoping to write.

First of all, age and opposite elements, skip them. Those are weak arguments when they stand alone anyway otherwise one could "justify" Hama x Iroh. Age doesn't play that much of a factor to me with shippings unless there is a major age difference (for example, Toph x Iroh).
Now on to what I can remember.

Toph became an instant favorite for me which probably helped in my supporting Taang from the get-go.

My major reason for supporting Taang has to deal with Aang freeing Toph from her secluded life. She was being overprotected and considered helpless by her family and her teacher. Her only outlet at the time was when she was the Blind Bandit. Still, she was stuck with only two settings: being the powerful Blind Bandit in the Arena or the helpless daughter at home. When Aang came along, she finally had an opening to leave and explore the world. More importantly, she now had a reason. Let's face it, Toph could have left home and the arena in a heartbeat but what would she do after that? Because of Aang, Toph now had a reason to leave which I believe gave them a strong connection at the start.
I would also like to point out that because of Aang giving Toph the option to leave, Toph had to decide between giving up everything and entering the unknown or she could have stayed and lived the life she knew. She made her decision and Aang won.

Another reason I support Taang is a small scene in the Blind Bandit episode. Aang is ready to leave and Toph's parents have discovered her secret but won't let her leave. Toph is sad that her parents still won't let her go. If you watch all of Season 2 and what we have seen of Season 3, that is that only time Toph has ever said Aang's name instead of Twinkle Toes. That is also the only time I recall Toph crying. I am pretty confident in this "fact" about her nickname for Aang but there is still a chance I could be wrong. If there were times when Toph said Aang's name and not his nickname, see when she said it. If it was in a battle, of course Toph would say Aang instead of Twinkle Toes. In those situations anyone would be dealing with their instinct to survive, not romance, and skip the longer nickname when giving advice/commands/info. To me, her giving and using a nickname on Aang is like the classic elementry school "tuck on the pigtails" sort of romance. You do it but you don't know why until much later.

My third reason deals with a greater degree of speculation than the other two and does go into the realm of "opposites attract." The opposites in this case are there personalities. In short, Aang is an easily amused, fun-loving, clean-living kid and Toph is a "sophisticated" child with a quick-temper and one or two dirty tricks up her sleeve. Overall, to be the Avatar, Aang needs to grow up a little and become more mature. Toph needs to calm down, sit back, and play like a child again. Both Aang and Toph can learn and have learned to do some of that after hanging out with each other. I believe that if the two of them were somehow separated from the group momentarily, they would grow and develop more because of each other.

Now because I know some people will say, "Toph is like that around Sokka," I do have something to fight back with. Toph and Sokka DO have similarities in their personalities. To me, some of them seem too similar. True, they get along quite nicely and there are times when Toph/Sokka will do something funny and the other will take the cue and follow appropriately. They would make a fun comedy duo. However, Toph is still acts like her old self around Sokka and doesn't really grow. Ever since she meet Aang, she learned to calm down, understand how her teaching skills need to adjust (and thus look at how she does things), and to have fun without having to smash someone all the time.
One argument people could make here is who helped Toph learn to open up more to people? Aang or Sokka?

And that is my argument for Taang.

Lemon: Hm, I dunno. Whatever's up is what's there. Maybe check the scraps?
I know, that's one of the little things about Toph and Sokka's relationship (even friendly) that I like: although Toph is small, young, and blind, Sokka never seems to even realize it, and thinks of her as strong. She IS obviously, but... y'know. His obliviousness makes me happy.

Negi: Hm. Let me think for a moment, sir. *delves into Tokka VS Taang directory in mind*

(By the way, Toph has cried on two other occasions that I can recall: Tales of Ba Sing Se with Katara, and The Runaway with Sokka.)

As far as, "Who helped Toph open up more," there are (obviously) two sides to this argument.

Here's my point-of-view on the whole thing.

While it is true that Aang was the one to make Toph join the Gaang, I believe that at this current time in the plot, Aang isn't the one she is closest to. Think about it; she's opened up to Katara and Sokka, but the only time she's opened up to Aang was when she first met him, and she hadn't gotten a chance to know him. She took a gamble with her path in life, but, ultimately, Aang wasn't her chief motivation: it was a desire for freedom and choice. While it is true that she has a bond with Aang because of their initial bonding, I think that the long-term bonding with the other members of the Gaang (chiefly Sokka in my arguments) has made her closer to them than with Aang.

Another thing, on the flip-side of the closeness of the members of the ships: Who is more open to Toph? I think Aang's found a good strong support in Katara, and doesn't really open up to Toph much. Sokka, on the other hand, has opened up to Toph, with something he'd never told anyone before. Although it isn't an EXTENSIVE list, I think Sokka considers Toph closer than Aang does.

I will concede to accept your arguments of Aang 'calming Toph down' and the thing with 'Twinkletoes' (reflectively, she doesn't call Sokka 'Snoozles' nearly as much).

Honestly Negi, I'm not hoping too much on Tokka happening in the show. I'm thinking maybe, MAYBE it'll happen in an epilogue, and that's only if Suki has moved on from Sokka, or they broke up, or she died. I agree whole-heartedly that Sokka doesn't like Toph *like that*, which is really too bad, but I'm not going to make up some BS to try and prove it.

I think, if Tokka does happen, it'll happen later. The two of them will grow up and be close buddies, and at some point they'll realize what they have.

But with 12 year-old Toph and 16 year-old Sokka? No.

I'll say I don't ship Taang. It just feels like Zutara's kid brother. It's the "Oh Aang can have Toph" mindset that makes it unattractive in my eyes. Taang doesn't get enough recognition as itself as a ship.

Also the vibe that they are just friends is given off. We can go on about their age and opposites attract but that doesn't really matter seeing as they both have eyes for the water tribe.