The play continues in this fashion, with my friends being thoroughly disappointed in their characters. Even Zuko, who everybody thought would be showcased properly since he was the Fire Lord's son, was butchered. His scar was on the wrong side of his face, and he was a complete softy, doing everything his uncle said and drinking tea all the time. Momo the flying lemur was turned into a cat-monkey ventriloquist dummy, Suki was a girly-girl, and some king they once fought was a crazy old man with a killer rabbit. But, so Sokka tells me, they got that guy spot on.
Zuko even complained that they didn't even get the history of the story right. At one point his character captured Aang and some Blue spirit saved him, but Zuko told me that he was actually the Blue Spirit and a general captured Aang.
Katara buried her head at a part with her and another guy they had met, Jet. She told me that he was a psychopath who did more harm than good by fighting the Fire Nation. But in the play, they make it out to be that he did everything for Katara. The two were smitten onstage.
The funniest part came right before the intermission, with Sokka kissing the Moon Spirit good bye and Aang stomping all the Fire Nation ships to the ground at the North Pole dressed as a deranged blue fish spirit. Just the irony of it all was hilarious.
And don't get me started on the special effects. I mean, party streamers for the bending? But then again, they don't exactly have laser light shows in this time period.
"So far, this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko grumbles after we step out onto the balcony.
"Apparently the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time," Storms Sokka gnawing on a stick of jerky.
Suki smirks. "Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics."
"I know!" Sokka agrees.
Aang sighs. "At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you. That woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all!"
"I don't know," I shrug.
Toph finishes my thought. "You are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys."
The Avatar rises with a groan.
"Relax, Aang," Katara soothes. "They're not accurate portrayals. It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving over-emotional speeches about hope all the time." We all stare at her. "What?"
"Yeah, that's not you at all," I laugh.
"Listen, friends, it's obvious that the playwright did his research," Toph crosses her arms. "I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up there on that stage is the truth."