Developing Toph further in Fighter Factory made me feel like she was fighting me every step of the way, but it was only beneficial. I originally planned her to be another Raven with the feel of her combat, but many times there was an issue where there'd normally never be one, and I wasn't sure where the source of the problem stemmed from. The result was a more Earthy feel of gameplay, as if Toph was saying, "If you're going to make me, you're gonna do it my way. And that's not how you Earth Bend. You do it like this!"
Her last special was even impossible for me to do for a bunch of reasons I never would have foreseen, because they were never problems with previous characters. I ended up scraping the special anyway, and came up with something far more practical so Toph could deal with mid-ranged threats more easily. After all, I had a move just like it regardless and needed something to serve a unique purpose. If I had tried to make Toph a couple of years ago, I would have had a really hard time since almost every rock she bends is not a projectile, but a helper. I've never worked with so many helpers before, but I'm VERY familiar with them now.
Originally I wasn't going to differentiate the smoke and rock sprites' palettes either, but since there's rocks flying everywhere during a mirror match, I need the player to be able to tell the difference with who's rocks belong to whichever Toph. The result was a firebending looking Toph and a waterbending looking Toph. Another happy surprise for everyone invested. Her code is pretty much done after a couple of days of uploading her video demo, which turned out to be yet another 24 hour struggle where it shouldn't have been an issue at all. Stubborn Toph.... hopefully she won't refuse being released on Christmas 2023 haha