What it comes down to is that Toph (or the writers, if you wanna get meta) believes he has the potential, which kind of settles the matter for me.
At some point, if you're willing to dismiss Toph's (and therefore the writers') appraisal of Bolin's potential, you should ask why you're so unwilling to believe Bolin could possibly do something that has become as common as metal bending. This isn't an RPG, each character doesn't get a skill tree whereby they pick a 'sub-element' and are stuck with just that element.
Bolin will probably have a very steep learning curve, and will probably need a remarkably insightful teacher to help him, but it doesn't seem unreasonable that he'd eventually learn to metal bend. It doesn't matter what he'd do with it, it doesn't matter whether it'd replace lava in his skill set; just that he could, and whether that would happen.
So, getting back to the original question, Team Korra is still young, so I expect it'll be some time before he gets around to it, but I forsee him maybe going to Toph to finally master metal bending. I have this headcannon in which she shuts him down completely, telling him Korra understands him far better, and should be his teacher (which would be great development for Korra, tbh).
Which I wish we could get maybe a one or two-episode special on it, I hope we get to see Bolin learn it in the comics. It should be a hilarious affair.
Okay, but by that metric, why didn't that metalbender do the same thing?
1. I'm not.
2. It's not that common if the rule of thumb is that 1/100 metalbenders accomplish it.
3. Why aren't people questioning why "Toph says so" is supposed to settle the matter? Toph has never been infallible.
Blasphemy! Toph, the greatest earthbender who ever lived, is infallible!
But yeah, I was thinking 2 and 3 and qualifying 1 as Toph not necessarily being Word of God exposition, but was too lazy to post.
I mean, if she asks, obviously I said she's always right.
Anyway, my sentiments on a hybrid metal/lava bender, including Bolin, are not easy to communicate. I don't think it's a bad idea, but I don't necessarily think it's a good idea either.
Well, we've seen Toph in only two phases of her life: as a pre-teen and an octagenarian, and only one of these is after decades of teaching, law enforcement, and general life experience. As such, it's not wrong to lend her opinion a little more wegiht; she'd know something about teaching dense people.
At any rate, Toph certainly may not be infallible, as Suyin insists the only limitations on one's capacity for metal bending are self-imposted, implying that while only 1/100th of earthbenders are metalbenders, more are completely capable of doing so... again, with a steeper learning curve.
But you're making the mistake of giving the concept a bad idea/good idea dichotomy. The writers have made plenty of decisions we wouldn't have made ourselves, but worked out fine narratively (more or less).
But expert bias is a thing. It is possible to know so much about a topic that you greatly overestimate what others are capable of understanding. Which I think she does if she thinks you haven't "really 'got' metalbending" unless you reach a level that only 2 people seem to have reached.
Like I say, probably, but why does this have to be framed in terms of whether it's possible or impossible? What about plausibility?
Yeah? Obviously you can look at a plot point from multiple perspectives, but I think it's fair to say that people can weigh those perspectives & at least advance a claim that the idea was overall good or bad.
I didn't say that any idea I would do is automatically good & any I wouldn't is automatically bad.
So it's important that we entrtain the plausibility of Bolin not being a metal bender, but the plausiblity that Toph, with all her experience, is right (and Bolin can metal bend)... that's less than relevant?
Mrsunrider wrote: So it's important that we entrtain the plausibility of Bolin not being a metal bender, but the plausiblity that Toph, with all her experience, is right (and Bolin can metal bend)... that's less than relevant?
Can/cannot is a false dichotomy. I can be a brain surgeon in theory. It's probably not happening.
I've spelled this out over & over again.
Oh, pardon me, but I beg of you to spell it out for this poor pleiban in finer detal.
I mean, all this time it seemed you were arguing the likelihood: the likelihood against Bolin metal bending, such that it's not enough to warrant entertainment.
However, Toph seems confident he could do it, but the likeihood she'd be right, well, let's just dismiss that.
Where, sagacious poster, did I miss the point? Why is the one unlikelihood more worthy of your consideration than the (consspicuously opposed) other likelihood?
Getting snotty with me is sure to get me to revoke any insult to your intellect that I didn't make.
I've explained why Toph's word doesn't really clarify anything, noted that the probability is estimated in-universe at 1%, talked about what study methods he may or may not have tried yet, posted what techniques he would use if he did learn it, & even said making him a dual lava/metal bender could be a good story move, provided it wasn't done for pure fanservice.
If you seriously think I haven't "entertained the possibility," where didn't you miss the point?