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I’m gonna alter this question slightly because and I’m a terrible human being and I’m 99% certain I’ve already answered it. Instead I’ll give you what I feel is the most underrated moment.
So many people forget this moment exists. It’s so quick, so understated and yet so completely essential to understanding the pairing. It gets overshadowed because of what happens 3 minutes later, but almost equals it in significance. The reason for its importance is the small matter that it quite literally signifies the moment Katara realizes she wants to be in a relationship with Aang.
The music in the scene is not a dramatic crescendo signifying the unveiling of hidden passions, it’s just a small and subtle bell of realization. It underscores the fact the issue was never whether she had romantic feelings for Aang, but instead whether she was ready to enter the sort of commitment those feelings entailed. The way the camera spins, despite just being nice animation and cinematography, is also possibly a reference to the scene in 1x14 where Katara recognises the potential romantic aspect of her relationship with Aang. In contrast to her shock and intrigue in 1x14, there’s now just a small smile and a look of complete contentment.
People sometimes complain we didn’t get an ‘I love you’ moment (we did actually, 2x01, 2x12, 2x19) but that’s because the main focus wasn’t whether Katara loved him, it was whether she wanted to be in a relationship with him. This is the exact moment she decides, yes she does, and that makes it pretty awesome.
1. The animators think they are well funny and original.
That’s right people. In perhaps one of the most important and climatic scenes of the show where Aang becomes a fully realized Avatar, some overworked and underpaid person though it would be hilarious for the word ‘GAY’ to appear in the receding water.
2. Toph gets in everyone’s pants, no matter the version of ATLA.
A quite well known piece of Avatar trivia, but important none the less. Toph was originally designed as a dude. Her character in Ember Island Players references both her personality and alludes back to her original character plans.
But what a lot of people don’t know is that Toph was also originally a love interest for Katara. Early production notes state that Toph was supposed to complicate the Aang/Katara romance because Katara develops feelings for Toph and Aang gets a bit jealous. But then Toph was switched to a girl and everything changed.
Totally different.
3. Iroh was freed and had weird sexual chemistry with multiple Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.
Remember that nice prison guard who showed compassion towards Iroh?
Voiced by sporting megastar and all round HBIC, Serena Williams.
4. Nickelodeon will never ever learn from their mistakes.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I’m not sure why some of you still have jobs. Fool me four times, no wait guys, seriously who’s running things up there?
People think Nickelodeon have messed up a few times concerning Korra, what with episodes being uploaded online before they were aired and general sloppiness in terms of spreading information. This is nothing, NOTHING, compared to what happened during Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Episodes were frequently uploaded online before they aired, different countries got episodes ahead of America leading to a massive spoiler fest, DVD’s were released with episodes that hadn’t aired yet and of course perhaps the weirdest fuck up, the release of a graphic novel that gave away the entire finale.
That’s right. This short illustrated book was released WEEKS before the finale (Avatar Aang) was aired on television and gave away everything. At least we got to the Korra finale not knowing Amon was Noatak. This book gave away everything, energybending and final pairings galore. I suppose you can’t really blame Nickelodeon for this, (or can you?) but it does just show the general point of how weird and chaotic it is being an Avatar fan.
(Sidenote: One of my favourite moments as an Avatar fan came when about 1000 posts were made about how this book was a massive fake and that it was just a conspiracy against Zutara fans. To be fair, Katara is dressed wrong and it does seem as if Aang has had a lobotomy.)
5. Iroh’s a really great and inspirational character. Wrong. He’s a massive asshole. Or at least he could have been.
Another gem out of the production notes was the idea that Iroh would be a bit of a dickhead. Instead of joining Zuko on his exile voyage out of the good of his heart and a wish to steer his nephew towards a path of good, Iroh was planning to ruin the fuckers life.
Iroh was originally going to teach Zuko a faulty form of Firebending that would totally ruin any chances of him capturing the Avatar. The idea of Iroh teaching Zuko Firebending made it into the final cut of the show, but of course without the general evillness and family backstabbing.
What a shame, I think if anything, Zuko was really missing a source of angst and despair in his life.
Problem is, it just becomes ridiculously long. Very pretty, but too long for tumblr to show it in full size.
credit @ bryankonietzko
The Promise Part 3 — A.K.A, Aang and Katara hold each other a lot.
I adore how sarcastic/snarky Katara is here. Her face in the second panel just epitomizes ‘you wish bitches.’
art by naomi565
inspired by |x|
Fanfiction vs. Reality
I never disliked her, but the moment I went from thinking ‘oh yer, decent female character’ to ‘where is a statue builder’ was around about here:
I mean, Pakku was a master waterbender. Trained for decades while Katara was only working off instinct. A culture she has idealized for years turns out to be the embodiment of sexism and she tackles it straight on. She’s not frightened at all despite knowing there’s absolutely no way she can win. She’s doing if for herself and for the women of that tribe, and from this single fight she manages to fundamentally alter the way the Northern Water Tribe operates. Get in.
Aang and Katara — Concept Art of Family.
I’m just gonna do the main points that really stuck out to me cause no one wants to read a long rambly essay. 
Overall I would say it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be based on early reviews. But it’s kinda mediocre bordering on tedious. A few moments of brilliance scattered between endless pages of meandering plot.
I think this is what people were talking about. I’ve got to say I’m not surprised, I don’t have overwhelming confidence in Gene Yang’s writing and it seems neither does this reviewer.
Kataang family bits by Aleina-chan
