On the contrary, I have a bit more education and background than most for character analysis so I can see it more clearly, but I think most fans would agree with me on Toph. The thing is, your little gotcha won't work. Toph's not a main but rather a supporting character, which like a villain uses a different ruleset than main character heroes, and she can be appreciated (I do enjoy seeing her there) in that role. If they tried to make a Legend of Toph spinoff I suspect it would fail badly because she hasn't the depth to be the main character. Korra would also work well as a supporting character but doesn't work as a main for similar reasons.
Now you're changing your tune. A moment ago your were saying you get a kick out of her being "humbled". That's not enjoying a character, and no, most fans aren't with you on that. Fans cheer at the moment Toph declares that she's "the greatest earthbender in the world!" If your education and background gets you to this kind of attitude, that's not "seeing more clearly", it's made you into a stick in the mud.
The "Three Experienced Firebenders" I did answer when I pointed out Aang defeated zero experienced firebenders in his first episode and only one in his second. Korra was "cool" because she was doing all these extreme badass things in her first five minutes onscreen in a rush to show how awesome and cool she was, bending all these elements and sticking it to those old fogies who couldn't appreciate her awesomeness and running away from home which Katara mysteriously supported even though, with what Katara remembers from Aang running away, she should have been dragging Korra back home by the ear berating her the whole way. Whether Aang also ever defeated three firebenders (yes) is less relevant given we're talking about how the character is introduced and their attitude, and I've mentioned I'm not hung up on raw power levels.
How is beating three "experienced", but unnamed, firebenders an "extreme badass thing"? Extreme how? You say I'm hung up on power levels but you're the one using the language of "extreme" when it's peanuts compared to what Aang did. You continue to conflate Korra being introduced at a
different point in her training and having a
different attitude than Aang with being
better than Aang. Words have meaning.
And Korra running off to try to train with Tenzin is more akin to Katara running off to try to save Aang from Zuko after they first met, if anything. She was resolved to do it with or without her grandmother's approval, because she felt it was her responsibility. Also, there was more context about why Korra was held in the compound and how it was unjust. The Avatar traditionally leaves home to travel the world to train when they're 16, that's considered the age of adulthood in the Avatar world. Korra is 17 at the start of the show, not 12 like Aang. If she felt she had the responsibility to go train with Tenzin, the White Lotus had no right to hold her against her will. And it was never Aang's desire for his successor to be holed up in a compound like that anyways.
This is all important context, but for someone who claims "more background than most for character analysis" you don't seem very big on context.
The first industrial steam engine used for work was built by Thomas Savery in 1698, one hundred fifty years before the 1850s. We were playing with steam engines as early as the first century and suspect there were numerous working steam engines centuries before Savery engine, f'rex Taqi ad-Din describes building a turbine engine he used to turn spits in the mid 16th century.
It's not an especially valid criticism in my mind though, Avatar technology is going to be a bit wonky with bending physics, they appear to have invented the tank and zeppelin before the train and automobile somehow so they're not going to follow our timeline very closely. The bigger issue isn't "Is it realistic for this tech to advance" (We can't tell either way because bending's going to change how they advance and in what direction), but "Is it suited to tell stories in the world of Avatar?" A lot of people don't feel the aesthetic just doesn't work for a world of elemental sorcerers who use martial arts and have to be attuned to their environment to prevent spirits from going berserk on them for cutting down too many trees or polluting a river.
Yes, sure, humans were experimenting with steam power long before the industrial revolution hit and it actually became widespread. But when I say the Fire Nation had steam power, I mean that they already had a fleet of metal steam powered warships at the outset of the Hundred Year War. That's way, way ahead industrially and technologically than the our world circa 1750, both in power generation and metallurgy.
Whether or not it's an aesthetic suited for the stories in the world of Avatar is more in the realm of opinion and personal taste. If you don't like it, you don't like it. Me, I liked it from the outset. And it's worth noting that the post-series ATLA comics do a lot to show the industrialization of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom and the conflict that brings (including conflict with spirits) in the years following the end of the war.
And I can see now that it's pointless to argue with you, because you just refuse to accept any criticism of the show or its main character.
