The Tomb Raider Icon: What Defines A Hero?

I recently came across a very interesting piece of artwork by someone who had created a male version of Tomb Raider. It was posted for discussion on the PlayStation community on Google+. What ensued after in comments brought up a lot of interesting questions to me. I think in particular since the new Lara Croft was revealed in Tomb Raider 2013, a lot of people have had opinions on the change in her appearance. Looking back at the Tomb Raider of the past and the Tomb Raider of today, it is interesting to see how her appearance can affect the character itself.

The birth of an icon.

The original Tomb Raider was created in 1996 by Toby Gard and Core Design, and the sexy, rebellious, smart, and kick-ass personality of Lara Croft ignited instant mass-appeal. Tomb Raider was the first to introduce a female character as a lead, as well as the first to feature a third-person perspective. 

Her original appearance was disproportional and voluptuous, to say the least. She sported tight little shorts, and a tight fighting t-shirt that accented her oversized breasts. According to IGN,

“While making test adjustments to her girlish figure, a slip of his [Gard] mouse turned an intended 50% increase to her breast size into a 150% gain. It met with instant approval from the team before he could correct it.”

Darn those mouse slips. I know every time I work on configuring the size of women’s breasts, I slip up by 100%, and everyone always happens to be hovering literally over my shoulder so that before I can touch another mouse button they shout out “No, stop!”. Because it’s not as if a group of people who are able to create a main character using 540 polygons, redefine games graphically, and do this for a living in general don’t often slip up by such a large margin when by-standers are hovering on a daily basis. I’m sure that’s normal.

Sarcasm aside, Gard has said he wanted Lara to not be the normal, generic women that were thus far found in video games–bimbos and other stereotypical females. He wanted a character with much more depth. To his credit, when the Tomb Raider phenomenon escalated into a global pop-icon, he left Core Designs. Gard wasn’t happy with the way Core was capitalizing on the sex appeal of Lara. To Gard “the Lara Croft he invented wouldn’t pose nude for anybody, and wasn’t some airhead fashion model. She was cool and refined, confident, sharp witted and exceedingly deadly.”

Lara Croft Reinvented

Tomb Raider 2013 hit the gaming world almost as hard as its first original predecessor did. We were presented with a whole new take on the Lara Croft look. Based on an actual person–actress Camilla Luddington–this new look is real, beautiful, gritty, and vulnerable. Well upgraded abilities in technology and graphics certainly had a hand in this, but a lot has to do with the developers taking a different approach to the icon. For once in her history, Lara Croft’s appearance actually looked more like her personality.

Gone were the days of tight-fitting and illogical clothing attire. Today’s Lara sports cargo pants, boots, a belt, a tank top, and a ponytail. This is pretty much what I could imagine a would-be archaeologist wearing on a trip. Her weaponry also received a more realistic approach, and she gained a climbing axe and a bow, as well as picking up guns eventually from enemies. Her twin pistols are forgotten by the need for survival. As sexy as those hip-holsters were, if I had a climbing axe with my gear and needed to defend myself, I would damn well use it.

How important is appearance?

Let’s analyze what I said a bit, shall we? How can someone look like their personality? After all, we can’t exactly choose our DNA, now can we. Yet, there are ways a person’s character can come out in their appearance. Lara absolutely has a more realistic body type in this version, and instead of that being controlled by DNA that’s controlled by bits and some very talented human beings. Yes, she still has a very attractive body type, but it’s more realistic than her past incarnations. There is nothing wrong with her being attractive, either. What girl doesn’t want to be beautiful and strong? Just as I imagine most guys wouldn’t have a problem with being devilishly handsome and tough-as-nails. There is a difference, however, between being sexy and being sexualized. 

What if we turned Tomb Raider into a male version?

You were wondering what that image I spoke of looked like, weren’t you? This was the discussion and image that was presented on the PlayStation community on Google+. It was created by a DeviantArt artist named Ulysses0302. What if we took what we know of Lara’s appearance (prior to 2013), and applied it to a male character? Well, someone out there thought it would be an interesting experiment. It certainly makes you think. Is this picture an acurate reversal of female to male, or is this going beyond the appearance of earlier Crofts? 

I think most can at least agree, such a character would cause many gamers pause when playing a game. There are some who might argue that to them that the character’s appearance wouldn’t matter, but it is easy enough to claim when you aren’t faced with an actual game, advertisements, trailers, screenshots, and more with the character. 

The fact is, appearance does matter.

It matters in the sense of being apart of what defines a character, and it matters in the sense of how a gamer views the character. It matters when, booting up a PC or Xbox, you ultimately are playing games that are influenced by society. People like attractive people. In many ways, we are driven by sex. Our reproductive sensors mess a little too much with our heads, and this in turn messes up our ideals of physical appearance. Yet, we are also capable of so much more, and that has been reflected in Lara Croft from the begining too.

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.

Time and time again, no matter her appearance, Lara has always had a similar personality. It’s rather miraculous that in the midst of her birth and throughout her adolescent gaming life she should retain characteristics that are not only worthy of hero status, but immortal. As society changed, her looks changed; but the core of her–a unique woman who was smart and tough–always remained the same. With the coming of Tomb Raider 2013, it seems as if Lara has finally reached a maturity even she would be proud of.