Toph

Toph using her Earthbending on metal (a feat which was said multiple times over the course of the series to be entirely impossible) to escape a metal cage, using the same "impossible" skill to trap her captors in their own cage, triumphantly yelling the completely accurate statement of "I am the greatest earthbender in the world!", and then riding away on a gigantic wave of ground. That was just too kickass my fellow tropers...

Mai

Mai's Big Damn Heroes moment in "The Boiling Rock,"

^{single-handedly dispatching an entire squad of prison guards with her arsenal of knives, thus saving the heroes and their party. "What are you doing?" "Saving the jerk who dumped me."}

 ^{spoiler - click to reveal}

^{"You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."}

 ^{spoiler - click to reveal} Such an awesome line it pushes Azula down the road to her Villainous Breakdown.

Toph

Toph kicking the asses of an entire team of Professional Earthbenders in the episode she was introduced in. Double points because it took place right after this exchange:

Lao Bei Fong: My daughter is blind! She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile! She cannot help you.
Toph Bei Fong: (pulls her hand free) Yes. I can.

Note that she did that by herself because she wanted to: "Wait! They're mine!" ...and you're not having any.

Toph

^{Metalbending a door into a full-body suit and using the contents of an airship's control room to take out the crew, all while dodging fireblasts and jumping around the metal cockpit like Spider Man. The awesomeness really comes from the fact that to do what she does in that scene, she has to be metalbending with every motion. To repeat, she has to perform, with perfect dexterity, a feat that was thought to be impossible before she invented it, EVERY SECOND!}

 ^{spoiler - click to reveal} Tony Stark would be proud. Oh, and she started this by knocking "Shave And A Haircut".

Zuko

Both Zuko's first successful redirection of lightning and Calling The Old Man Out were pure, utter win. Don't believe us? Watch it here.

Azula

Azula single-handedly taking over Ba Sing Se in under 48 hours. Okay, she did have a couple of handmaidens for backup... powerless ones... who were a year older than her 14 at best...

Which also brought about this gem of an exchange:

Long Feng: You've beaten me at my own game.
Azula: Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.

Katara

Katara's

^{defeat of Azula, binding her after she goes insane. Made even better by the fact that she does it without landing a single offensive blow. And FREEZING BOTH of them in ice!}

 ^{spoiler - click to reveal} Pure pwnage by the primarily defensive Waterbending style. Bear in mind that Katara was facing

^{at worst the third most powerful Firebender in the world, on a day that Firebenders' powers are vastly enhanced. And Waterbending is weaker during the day.}

 ^{spoiler - click to reveal}

Suki

In "The Boiling Rock", Suki  ^{spoiler - click to reveal}

^{vaulted off the heads of numerous participants in a Fire Nation prison riot before scaling the walls like Spiderman, using the tips of her feet to somersault up to a higher platform, taking out several Fire Nation prison guards in less than a second, baseball sliding under the last guard and blocking the warden's attack to twist him around tying and gagging him, again, in less than a second}

. She wasn't even out of breath.

Iroh

Iroh demonstrating just why he's called the "Dragon of the West" in "Crossroads of Destiny"

Iroh: Did I ever tell you how I got the nickname the "Dragon of the West?"
Zuko: [Just smiles, as if to say "This is gonna be so badass.]
Azula: I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle...
Iroh: It's more of a demonstration, really.

He then casually gets up and breathes fire at Azula and her guards, allowing him and Zuko to escape.

Avatar Aang Vs. Phoenix King Ozai

All it needs is some Star Wars lightsaber fighting music to be perfect.

Especially after Aang hit his wound on a rock, unlocking the chakra and letting him go into the Avatar State, where he grabs Ozai's beard YES THE BEARD and gives him a Repeat Cut of him getting slammed into a pillar.

He then pulled off a spectacular display of Toph-O-Vision and retaliated against Ozai with his back turned.

Then he "Spiritbended" Ozai and took away his firebending! Perhaps Heart isn't so lame after all.

To top it off, the last time we see bending in the series is him pulling in the ocean to put out the fires, and bringing it back out, as the comet leaves and Momo returns. Signifying that, yes, the war is finally over.

Sokka

In the Grand Finale:

• Diverting the crew of an airship to the bomb bay by telling them it was a crewmember's birthday and then ejecting them.
  • Bonus points for it actually being one of the crew member's birthdays.
• Then taking out the entire armada of Fire Nation air ships. AIRSHIP SLICE!
• And then saving himself and Toph from a bunch of Firebenders with one hand (the other keeping Toph from falling) and a broken leg, sacrificing Boomerang and Space Sword to do so.

Bumi

King Bumi's Flashback to waiting for the right moment during the day of black sun, when he single-handedly pwned all the Fire Nation soldiers in the city. Oh, and he breaks a half-dozen Fire Nation tanks and stacks them all on top of each other. Without even looking in their direction.

Iroh

Iroh preparing to bust out of jail while hiding behind Obfuscating Insanity.

After hearing it on some forgotten website long ago, this troper has always referred to Iroh's workouts as "Irohbics".

Katara

In the first season, Katara takes on the male chauvinistic Master Pakku and, while she doesn't win, gives him one hell of a fight and, from what we see of later episodes, heralds a sea change in the Northern Water Tribe regarding girls and combat Waterbending.

Iroh

Iroh stepping in during the North Pole invasion ("Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold! Let it go now!")

Iroh's forgiveness of Zuko. Considering he'd been tossed in a filthy jail cell with cruel guards, due to the selfishness of someone he dearly loved, then had to work hard for weeks in order to bust himself out, the reunion scene is just all the more incredible. It's not a flying-acrobatic-combat sort of awesome, but that doesn't mean it doesn't fall under "awesome".

Sokka

When Sokka knocks giant owl spirit Wan Shi Tong unconscious with a heavy blow to the head with a book.

Wan Shi Tong: (about to attack Katara) I've studied Northern Water Style, Southern Water Style, even Foggy Swamp Style!
Sokka: (falls from the ceiling and knocks him out): That's called Sokka Style! Learn it!

Katara

Pretty much the  ^{spoiler - click to reveal}

^{entire sequence where Katara went after her mother's killer: "She was protecting the last waterbender...ME!", followed by her STOPPING ALL THE RAIN MIDDAIR, making giant icicles and flinging them at the guy... but having enough control to stop in midair, deciding he was Not Worth Killing. Her speech and attack reduced the man to TEARS.}

Zhao

Admiral Zhao, who was usually best at awesomely screwing up, in the first season finale. Hahn charges onto the deck of his ship intending to assassinate him. Without turning around, with no fuss, no warning, no acknowledgement whatsoever, Zhao casually throws him overboard, and without missing a beat, then says to Iroh, "As I was saying..."

The Grand Finale. The entire Grand Finale.

Azula

"I am a 400 ft. tall purple platypus-bear with pink horns and silver wings." More specifically, Azula being able to say that without giving Toph any sign that she's lying.

Even more awesome is that it's Truth In Television. Sociopaths are so accustomed to lying and faking normalcy that they can pass a polygraph - and it seems Toph uses some of the same physical cues as a lie detector does to reach her conclusions.

The Track Team deserves a special mention. The music of this series is spectacular, especially the music for Zuko’s and Azula’s Final Battle.

Zuko Vs. Jet

Zuko's Sword Fight with Jet: "You want a show? I'll give you a show!" He doesn't even need his Firebending to be awesome.

Suki

Proving that, like most of the things Sokka loves, she always comes back... piloting a crashing Airship, saving Sokka and a Toph who had accepted death.

Zuko

The Showdown At High Noon in Zuko's Day In The Limelight. It starts with him taking out his first opponent without even fully removing his sword from the sheath, and ends with a classic My Name Is Inigo Montoya moment.

Zuko

In a sick twisted way, Zuko's totally unexpected subversion of the Heel Face Turn in "Crossroads of Destiny." No fictional character should have the power to make real people feel so angry, shocked, dismayed, saddened, sickened, enraged, and betrayed.

Monk Gyatso

The scene where his body is discovered, along with the bodies of at least half a dozen Fire Nation soldiers. He went down fighting.

• Made all the better knowing that said soldiers were operating with the power of Sozin's Comet.
  • Don't forget that of all the bending disciplines, Airbending is specifically said to have no lethal finishing strike like the other three.

Azula

From Azula's second ever appearance in the season two opening episode

Azula: You said the tides would not allow us to bring the ship in. Do the tides command this ship?
Captain: No, princess.
Azula: And if I were to have you thrown overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing you against the rocky shore?
Captain: No, princess.
Azula: Well then, maybe you should worry less about the tides who have already made up their mind about killing you, and worry more about me, who's still mulling it over.

• For some reason, a few people have considered this a Dethroning Momentof Suck. This Troper personally doesn't get why, though.
  • Because threatening to throw the ship's captain overboard because he is wary of the very real threat of the tides being unsuitable for the ship, is both incredibly unwise and stupid.
    • Considering that we're treated to a Surrounded By Idiots moment by this very same captain it's reasonable to assume that Azula was being sarcastic when she claimed ignorance over the tides especially since the ship did land completely safely and knew then from her Captain's warning that he's really stupid. Thus making her threat both a Kick The Dog moment and a warning for him to just shut up and follow orders before he messes up which he 'did' in same episode.

Sokka

Sokka when he killed Combustion Man. Pure, unadulterated win. "Yeah, Boomerang!"

The finale of season one: Aang enters the Avatar State and merges with the spiritual embodiment of the ocean. The result is an awe-inspiring, gigantic Leviathan, which proceeds to annihilate hundreds of fully armed enemy warships in the span of a few minutes. The characters only refer to 'The Avatar State' as such because they lack the Genre Savvy to call it by its true name: "Crowning Moment of Awesome State."

Azula

Azula being able to swiftly avoid and evade simultaneous bending attacks from Aang and Toph without even breaking a sweat during the Day of the Black Sun when she was rendered POWERLESS.

Zuko

Zuko first won the eternal loyalty and respect of fans by defeating Zhao — a smug, experienced commander at least twice his age — in an Agni Kai and clinched it with the proceeding Sword Over Head moment. As an added bonus, it was a Shirtless Scene.

Iroh convincing the guys who have captured him to tighten his handcuffs, then breathing on them with his Firebending skill and pressing a soldier's hand down on the red-hot metal. Then he rolls down a cliff while his hands and feet are still chained together. Very badass for a guy who appeared to be just a comic relief character until then.

Katara

With Toph being a jerk, Aang depressed over Appa being kidnapped, and Sokka high out of his mind from cactus juice, she was the only character capable of competent leadership when they were forced to walk across the desert on foot.

From the season one finale - it may have been a lot more low-key than most Moments of Awesome, but Aang staring down Koh the face-stealer with a completely emotionless expression throughout his Nightmare Fuel tirade. Especially considering that he's a hyperactive twelve-year-old.

Aang

In The Headband where he performs a dance with Katara — which in turn evolves into what looks like a very skillfully played Capoeira game— that leaves his schoolmates staring in awe and Katara panting and sweating in his arms.

Appa

After spending weeks separated from Aang, enduring horrible physical and mental stress, imprisoned in an Elaborate Underground Base for who knows how long, Appa's first act after being freed in "Lake Laogai" is to swoop down on the Mooks surrounding the heroes, scaring all of them off, then chomping down on the resident Smug Snake's leg and effortlessly tossing him into the eponymous lake. Cue Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as he is finally reunited with Aang. Go Appa!

Keep in mind that said bite's mark was the Final Nail in the coffin for said Smug Snake.

Katara's "talk" with Zuko at the end of "The Western Air Temple". It was at that moment when this troper realized how far we had come from the beginning of the series, when Katara's waterbending skills were quite poor. Two seasons later, she's standing in front of the man who raided her village and making it clear on no uncertain terms that she will strike him down without mercy if he even thinks about hurting Aang - and she has the skills to back up that claim, too. It was awesome beyond words.

Katara: You might have everyone else here buying your "transformation", but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something right now. You make one step backward, one slip up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I will make sure your destiny ends, right then and there. Permanently.

The Blue Spirit

How'd we get this far without mentioning that embodiment of awesomeness? Zuko, under the guise of the spirit, infiltrates and rescues Aang from a heavily-guarded prison fortress, filled with Firebenders and Yu Yan archers (who took out Aang himself earlier) and he does it entirely without using his powers. Also without even saying a single word.

Bonus points for holding Aang hostage at the end. Followed by the reveal, which is when Zuko changed from Wangsty emo-boy to a true Bad Ass in the eyes of many viewers.

Azula

If there was any doubt whatsoever about Princess Azula's Magnificent Bastard status after she demonstrated her ruthlessness and her Dangerously Genre Savvy in the second season finale, the start of the next season removed them:

Azula: You seemed so worried about how father would treat you because you hadn't captured the Avatar. I figured, if I gave you the credit (for killing him), you'd have nothing to worry about.
Zuko: But why?
Azula: Call it a generous gesture. I wanted to thank you for your help, and I was happy to share the glory.
Zuko: You're lying.
Azula: If you say so.
Zuko: You have another motive for doing this. I just haven't figured out what it is.
Azula: Please, Zuko. What ulterior motive could I have? What could I possibly gain by letting you get all the glory for defeating the Avatar? Unless somehow, the Avatar was actually alive. All that glory would suddenly turn to shame and foolishness. But you said yourself that was impossible. Sleep well, Zuzu.

Keep in mind that that scene opened with Zuko barging into her bedroom demanding to know, "Why'd you do it?" Her response? "You're going to have to be a little more specific." Because she's currently working on so many diabolical plots against Zuko, she can't possibly be expected to know off the top of her head which one he's referring to.

Azula

In "The Southern Raiders" when Azula recovers from falling down a cliff by using firebending to reach a cliff and stopping with a hair pin. Leaving her hanging off the face of cliff, with her hair billowing in the wind. This also constitutes Azula's Crowning Moment Of Sexy.

The Yu Yan Archers in "The Blue Spirit" were pure awesome, despite not even being benders of any kind: Aang, pursued by them, jumps down a cliff to escape. After all, he's an airbender, so he can slow his fall. The Yu Yan Archers aren't - but without even a moment's hesitation they jump after him, shoot arrows with ropes tied to them at trees below them WHILE FALLING, and then use those ropes to swing down to the ground without breaking their pace. Oh, and they quickly proceed to capture the Avatar, something that even very experienced benders have great problems with. Unfortunately, you don't get to see them again.

Sokka Vs. Piandao

Sokka's fight with Piandao at the end of the "Sokka's Master", and the dialogue leading up to it.

Aang uses the ultimate insult, thus so enraging Zhao that he incinerates his own ship!

Aang: I don't know why, but I thought you'd be better than Zuko!

How about the class of fire nation children covering for Aang as he escaped, by all putting on red headbands - his only distinguishing feature at that point - so he could sneak through the crowd?

Iroh

Even though we didn't see him break out of prison on-screen  ^{spoiler - click to reveal}

^{he tore through Ba Sing Se's wall like it was toilet paper, and ends the siege by burning the flag of the Fire Nation hanging in the palace.}

The irony being that in his heyday when he was a famed General working for the Fire Nation, he couldn't pull it off (granted, he didn't have Sozin's Comet then and only retreated because his son died, but still). And now years later, he accomplished this in less then a day (ousting Azula's 48-hour takeover). Maybe fighting for something he really believes in helps.

Zuko

Hello, Zuko's reunion with Iroh. It has to take guts to face a guy after you betray him, especially when you feel like shit about it, not to mention when you know that same guy apparently PHYSICALLY broke through the bars of his prison and took out ALL the guards in order to escape. I mean, even if it's not a Crowning Moment of Awesome, it definitely applies as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. This troper knows she was crying out with pure fluff-fan joy.

Katara

"The Siege of the North" when Katara, Yue, and Sokka catch up to Zuko after he kidnapped Aang at the Spirit Spring.

Zuko: (assuming a firebending stance): Here for a rematch?
Katara: (beginning to waterbend): Trust me, Zuko, it's not going to be much of a match.

She then blocks a fireball that enters the screen just as she finishes her sentence while Sokka and Yue look on from Appa's saddle. She sends a shock wave of ice hurtling towards him. When it reaches Zuko, she encases him in a pillar of ice that she raises up high, then drops. Zuko falls to the ground unconscious.PWN!

The Bloodbending fight in "The Puppetmaster," which included the line "My bending is more powerful than yours"

Toph

The number of Mooks Toph takes out in droves — whether they end up impaled to the ceiling on columns of Earth or bowled over by earthquake — when the Gaang storm the Earth King's palace.

Sokka

Sokka making Zuko look like an idiot (in an otherwise completely one-sided fight) in the second episode when his boomerang came back and nailed him in the head.

• I would say the very fact that Sokka was fighting at all was a CMOA. I mean, he is a single non-bender standing his ground against an entire warship. And he literally stands his ground while a huge metal ship bears down on him until the ground itself moves! Sokka is badass!
  • Throughout the whole series... for a 'comic relief,' he repeatedly shows, beyond shadow of a doubt... HE. HAS. BRASS. ONES.

Zuko's Agni Kai with Azula, followed by his Awesome Moment Of Crowning.

Sokka

This was the birth of the most badass Fire Nation soldier ever to walk the Earth.

Aang showing us a glimpse of his real power by stopping an exploding volcano dead in its tracks - without entering his nearly all-powerful Avatar State.

• And mind you, his predecessor died while attempting a similar feat. Although the circumstances were quite different at that time, granted.

Aang

The way Aang ended the fight against Azula on top of The Drill, underscored by a rather awesome Theme Music Power Up.

Sokka's his willingness to take on Ozai if Aang couldn't get there in time. Let's recap, shall we? He was willing to take on OZAI, the Big Bad at the height of his power, who posed a serious challenge to even the Avatar, and Sokka is a Badass Normal at best. And he was willing to fight him. Alright, he would have had backup from fellow Badass Normal Suki and Memetic Badass Toph, but that takes some straight up testicular elephantiasis.

The episode "The Painted Lady" climaxed in one long Crowning Moment of Awesome for Katara, starting with the line, "No! I will never, EVER turn my back on people who need me!"

Ty Lee's: during The Drill, when an Earth Kingdom general sent out an "elite platoon of Earthbenders" to stop the Fire Nation's advance on Ba Sing Se. They do indeed prove to be formidable, destroying a decent amount of tanks initially... and then Ty Lee shows up and essentially defeats them all in a matter of seconds.

The Warden of the Boiling Rock when he demonstrates just how dedicated he is to his job. Bonus points for having boasted about it in the first part of the episode, showing he puts his money where his mouth is.

Masters Pakku and Piandao fighting against Firebenders ON ICE!!!! Piandao's performance was doubly badass, given that the Firebenders were all powered up by the Comet, while he has no powers at all.

Katara

Breaking out of a jail cell with her own sweat, followed by a Big Damn Heroes shoving an ice pillar onto Combustion Man's head.

Zuko

The Flashback that shows the reason why Zuko got his scar. Too bad villains don't appreciate courage, loyalty, or respect for the sanctity of human life...

Zuko Vs. Azula

The airship battle in "The Southern Raiders."

Avatar Kyoshi (the Avatar before the Avatar before Aang): more-or-less the only scene she gets, showing us just how powerful a fully realised Avatar is. In the space of a few seconds, she humiliates the tyrant she is fighting, splits off part of the mainland, and uses airbending to blow it out to sea, creating Kyoshi Island.

Azula

In "The Boiling Rock" when Azula started flying, using her firebending to turn herself into a small rocket.

Sokka

Sokka defeating a mook by running up onto his mount, using his new sword to cut the guy's spear in half the long way◊, then kicking him off to take his ride.

Mai: Her very first scene where she chases the Gaang, who take out all her family's guards but not her. Aang collapses a scaffolding in her path that still fails to stop her, leading to an Oh Crap moment after one of her throwing stars nearly impales him.

That black sword of Sokka's is probably the coolest weapon ever shown on children's television. His duel with his teacher is one moment for me.

Remember when Sokka sailed over a reef, with no actual experienced sailors. Pure smarts.

In "The Headband", Aang is undercover at a Fire Nation school and defeats the school bully in a fight in which all he does is dodge and side step the bully's attacks (well, he technically used his ''bum'' once).

Azula even as she was losing, then forfeiting, her duel with Zuko. We hear Iroh's lessons about the generation of lightning requiring total calmness and dispassion/serenity in season two. So of course we see Azula, in the middle of a full-blown psychotic break, do it anyway.

To be fair, it was the day of Sozin's Comet...This Troper sees that enhancement as allowing her to lightning-bend without perfect balance. Any other day, it would have blown up in her face.

The thing about lightning requiring total calmness and serenity could simply have been Iroh's own interpretation of how it should be done. After all, Ozai was still able to generate lightning and blast it at Zuko in Day of Black Sun despite the fact that he was absolutely FURIOUS that Zuko was standing up to him. In The Avatar State episode, Azula also still managed to generate lightning even after being infuriated that one hair on her head fell out of place during her training. Also, master firebenders have been proven wrong before in their interpretation of the elements, such as in the case of Jeong Jeong. In his first appearance in The Deserter, he claimed that firebending caused nothing but suffering and destruction. In The Firebending Masters, his statement was proven incorrect when both Aang and Zuko discovered that firebending also contained the essence of life after their encounters with the Sun Warriors and the dragons.

• That's probably true but it still must require incredible concentration and skill or anyone would be able to do it so it still qualifies as a CMOA that she was able to pull it off in during her breakdown.
• To put it in the most practical terms, she could probably do it simply because she was so used to doing it. Sort of like riding a bike. At first you're dedicating much of your concentration to keeping upright, but after a while you do it without really thinking about it. Crazy as she was at the time, Azula's proficiency with the technique would cause her to unconsciously focus on the task, even if her conscious mind was in turmoil.

The Comet-powered Jeong Jeong hovering in the air with firebending jet-feet while using huge waves of flame to crash about two dozen Fire Nation tanks into big functionless pileups.

Katara's fight with Azula in "The Crossroads of Destiny".

Master Pakku demonstrates exactly why he is called "master" on an unsuspecting group of Fire Nation soldiers in The Siege of the North. It involves a water-spout.

During Bumi's fight with Aang, Aang tricks Bumi into sending a boulder flying at himself. Bumi then turned the boulder to dirt when it came in contact. Without. Moving. An Inch. He then proceeds to hurl a huge chunk of the stadium at Aang, but Aang sends it flying back with a tornado. Bumi then splits that piece in half as it comes at him, again without moving an inch. However, Aang uses this as an opening and makes his move! But wait! We then see that Bumi used the movement of sticking up his hand to hang a rock right above them both.

Sokka shaking down Azula for information. Having her by the throat and bellowing out pure, distilled rage. "WHERE...IS...SUKI?!"

Aang

In "Nightmares and Daydreams", Aang, after having multiple nightmares about facing Ozai, turns the tables on him. Cue C Mo A and Crowning Moment Of Funny:

Ozai: Do you really think you can take me down? You're not even wearing pants!

Aang: [After falling for it once before] No, Firelord Ozai. You're not wearing pants!

Ozai: [Looks down and screams, covering his shame] My royal parts are showing!

Sokka

It's a relatively minor, but his reaction when Aang accidentally burns Katara shows how much he cares for his sister; he tackles and gives a furious lecture to the avatar!

Azula

Azula's firebending in general. From her blue flames to the tricks and abilities she has at her possession, whether it's creating discs of fire(Return to Omashu) or creating a flame shield around her that can BLOCK four simultaneous bending attacks all at once(The Chase).

How about Piandao at the end of the episode "Sokka's Master"?

Sokka is fighting for his life against a master swordsman. And Piandao? Piandao is critiquing his technique.

Combustion Man's first fight, where he relentlessly pursues the Gaang and continuously blows up whatever they throw at him, be it a huge mass of water, deluge of rock, or stone pillars.

Aang

Aang channeling Roku's spirit in Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice Pt.2), where he turns several incoming fireballs into a swirling fire shield, then gathers it all into a massive fire wave that knocks back the mooks (and Zhao) and melts the chains binding Katara, Sokka, Zuko and the rogue fire sage, WITHOUT BURNING A SINGLE ONE OF THEM. He then melts several floors of the temple, reaching the magma chamber, and causes the whole thing to start erupting with one hand.

While Azula's capturing of Ba Sing Se and Long Feng's complete and utter fail has already been mentioned, I feel this excerpt deserves it's own CMOA:

Azula: I can see your whole history in your eyes. You where born with nothing. So you have had to struggle, conive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule? Its something you're born with!

When Aang's fighting Combustion Man in the rock field and uses airbending to deflect an explosion with one hand, and then blows straight through a pillar he's sent flying into. Also, later when he covered himself in rocks and used one of the explosions to rocket away and escape.

In "Return to Omashu", the Fire Nation captures the titular city with the intention of holding all its citizens hostage. Sokka invents a plague using make-up and tells everyone to act like they're deathly ill. The Fire Nation soldiers not only release all of the hostages, but help escort them out of the city out of fear of the disease.

Order of the White Lotus

When they recaptured Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth Kingdom. Azula doing it in 48 hours? They did it in under an hour.

Pretty much the last third of the episode "Warriors of Kyoshi" with Kyoshi Warriors galore and Sokka taking on the Fire Nation troops Zuko. But things change when Aang figures out he's the reason their little peaceful island is being burned to the ground, and so he decides to leave to allow Zuko to follow him and leave the island alone. But not before Aang jumps off of Appa in MIDAIR and into the water to ride a giant dragon that he ran from in the beginning of the episode just to put out the fires and douse Zuko and his calvary. It ends with Aang noting how stupid the act was to Katara and her agreeing, but also with her giving Aang a big hug, obviously glad that he survived the ordeal. Good Stuff.

Tyro (Haru's dad) telling the warden from Imprisoned not to worry about drowning because "cowards float."

A more gentle one. While the rest of the Order of the White Lotus are busy taking back Ba Sing Se, Iroh sits on a pillar in front of the Earth Kingdom palace. With one hand he shoots a bit of fire at the Fire Nation banner hanging over it. More symbolic than awesome, but still good in this troper's opinion.

• It's awesome symbolism: This is his ultimate redemption. For most of his life he's been defined by his military exploits, and most famous for the failed siege of Ba Sing Se. Now, he's not taking over Ba Sing Se, he's taking it back... and this time, he's not failing.

Azula: Princess Azula won this troper over during "Crossroads of Destiny" for becoming pretty much the physical embodiment of Dangerously Genre Savvy.

During the last fight. Aang realizes Katara and he can't beat Azula, Zuko and the Dai Li without some serious power. Aang goes into the Avatar State and rises into the air, encased in a pillar of light. Katara looks on with admiration and awe, the music gets upbeat and seriously epic, and it looks like we're about to see a repeat of the Book One finale...and then Azula fries him with a bolt of lightning, in the middle of the transformation sequence. While everyone else just gawked, she hit Aang with her most powerful attack, at the exact moment he was most vulnerable. It's nightmarish and shocking (even the soundtrack sounds stunned and frightened), and it's exactly what a cunning, dangerous villain should do. Bravo, Princess.

The Earth King

In his titular episode: "I've been a fool." It takes a true man to admit that.

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In the Grand Finale with Ozai's Nice Job Fixing It Villain moment. Just as it seems Ozai has Aang cornered and is about to kill him, he blasts him into a rock, unlocking the last chakra point that Aang was missing to go into the Avatar State. Aang blasts him back easily, then rises into the air with a sphere of air swirling around him. Then he lifts up a stream water, then a stream of fire, then a bunch of twirling rocks. Cue a curb stomp of epic proportions.

Zuko and Iroh

It's only a short sequence, but who could forget in "The Desert", when the Rough Rhinos ganged up on Fire Nation fugitives Zuko and Iroh, that Zuko could still chop an arrow in half IN MIDAIR and shoot a fireblast through the bow string, and that Iroh kicked aside a CANNONBALL on a chain and caused it to wrap around a rhino's leg. Did I mention that they were both weary and half-starved at the time?

Katara:

After being instructed in bloodbending by Hama who, by the way, spent more than 50 years perfecting the technique and still required the power of the full moon to do it, Katara uses it on the leader of the Southern Raiders. On an ordinary night. Also qualifies as High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

• No... it was a full moon.

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