The Big Bad Hippo

"earth"

- Hippo happy to see Blind Bandit!

The Big Bad Hippo was initially an earthbending wrestler in an underground earthbending tournament, but later became a soldier for his country when he, along with The Boulder, participated in the Invasion of the Fire Nation.

During his days as a wrestler, he was one of the most recognizable fighters in the Earth Rumble tournaments, due to his extremely large size and unique way of communicating. When he spoke, he left out determiners and articles, turning "Hippo mad!" into his catchphrase. Just as The Boulder, the Hippo only referred to himself in the third person.

History
Team Avatar first saw The Big Bad Hippo in action during the first round of the sixth edition of the popular Earth Rumble tournaments, where he faced off against The Boulder. The Hippo displayed his unique fighting style by catching the rock that The Boulder threw at him between his teeth, chewing it up, and spitting it out, before commencing his signature move, called "rocking the boat." This move proved to be highly effective, forcing The Boulder to stagger backwards, almost falling out of the ring. At the last moment, The Boulder managed to regain his footing, however, hurling a large slab of earth at the Hippo. The latter possessed an enormous physical strength, as he was able to endure that direct hit, seemingly unharmed. Despite all this, The Boulder managed to defeat the Hippo nonetheless by lifting him and the earth he stood on, and throw it out of the ring.

After Aang had won the tournament by easily knocking Toph out of the ring with his airbending, Xin Fu was convinced that the two had cheated and set out to recollect his prize money. The Hippo and the other wrestlers supported him in this endeavor. When the group managed to corner Aang and Toph, the Hippo threw a metal cage over each one of them, successfully securing them.

When Toph's parents had paid the ransom to free their daughter, Sokka and Katara wanted to free Aang as well, but were thwarted in this attempt by the band of wrestlers. The Hippo proceeded by taking Aang's metal cage on his shoulder, wanting to leave the arena to collect the bounty from the Fire Nation for capturing the Avatar. However, Toph challenged him and the other fighters, threatening to beat them all again in an earthbending battle, in case they refused releasing Aang. Engaging in a battle with all the wrestlers at once, Toph successfully managed to take every single one of them out. The Boulder, the Hippo, and the Headhunter were the last fighters to remain. The Hippo defended himself by swinging around a large, earthen model of the Earth Kingdom's national emblem. Tag teaming with the other two, the Hippo charged the blind earthbending girl. However, by shifting the earth they all stood on, Toph was able to defeat them easily.



Months later, the Hippo and The Boulder were part of the group of friends and allies who were recruited by Sokka to participate in the Invasion of the Fire Nation. Although enemies in the ring once, the Hippo hugged Toph before the battle started, expressing his joy over reuniting with the "Blind Bandit." During the invasion, the Hippo and The Boulder proved to be very powerful earthbenders as they took down a battlement together, and another along with Toph. In the end, however, the invasion turned out to be a failure, and the Hippo, along with the other adults of the invasion force, was captured by Fire Nation forces and send to prison.

The Big Bad Hippo was eventually freed from his captivity when the War ended, and was last seen at Prince Zuko's coronation as the new Fire Lord, where he sported Toph on his shoulders.

Abilities
The Big Bad Hippo's fighting style was unique; he tossed handfuls of rocks into his mouth, chewed them up, and spat them at his opponents, and his signature move was called "rocking the boat", where he would shift his enormous mass from side to side, literally rocking the ring and knocking his opponent off balance. Aside from his bending, he was also shown to be quite durable, easily shrugging off being struck by a large slab of rock.

Trivia

 * The Big Bad Hippo was one of the few characters to have underarm hair.
 * The Big Bad Hippo's gaped front teeth resemble that of a hippopotamus' mouth.
 * In "The Blind Bandit" ", one of the boys Katara beats up has the same hairstyle as The Hippo does. On the DVD, the creators said this is because he is a fan.
 * Hippo, Tyro, and the lion turtle shared the same voice actor, Kevin Michael Richardson.
 * Hippo is very similar to the punch out video game character [|King Hippo]