Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider.
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Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider.
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Lara Croft is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around the world.
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Lara Croft modified the character for subsequent titles, which included graphical improvements and gameplay additions.
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Lara Croft has been voiced by six actresses in the video game series: Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins, Jonell Elliott, Keeley Hawes, Camilla Luddington, and Abigail Stahlschmidt .
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Lara Croft has further appeared in video game spin-offs, printed adaptations, a series of animated short films, feature films, and merchandise related to the series.
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Lara Croft has been licensed for third-party promotion, including television and print advertisements, music-related appearances, and as a spokesmodel.
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Lara Croft holds six Guinness World Records, has a strong fan following, and is among the first video game characters to be successfully adapted to film.
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Lara Croft is depicted as an athletic woman with brown eyes and reddish-brown hair, frequently kept in a plait or ponytail.
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Lara Croft's backstory has changed dramatically over the course of the series.
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Lara Croft was raised as an aristocrat and betrothed to the fictitious Earl of Faringdon.
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Lara Croft attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and a Swiss finishing school.
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Lara Croft published books and other written works based on her exploits as a mercenary, big-game hunter, and master thief.
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The plane crash was changed to when Lara was nine years old, and with her mother, Amelia Croft.
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When Lara Croft was young she travelled with her parents on many of their archaeological expeditions which helped to shape the woman she was becoming.
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Lara Croft ended up meeting her best friend, Samantha Nishimura, during her time at UCL.
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Lara Croft initially envisioned a male lead character with a whip and a hat.
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Lara Croft cited Virtua Fighter as an influence; Gard noticed that while watching people play the game, players selected one of the two available female characters in the game almost every match he saw.
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Lara Croft came to regard a female lead as a great hook and put faith in Gard's idea.
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Lara Croft settled on a tough South American woman with a braid named Laura Cruz.
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Eidos management preferred a more "UK friendly" name, and it is claimed that "Lara Croft" was selected from similar-sounding British names found in an English telephone directory in Derby, where the Core Design developers were based.
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Lara Croft sacrificed quick animations in favour of more fluid movement, believing that players would empathise with the character more easily.
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Excess content, missed production deadlines, and Eidos' desire to time the game's launch to coincide with the release of the 2003 Tomb Raider film resulted in a poorly designed game; Lara Croft was brought back to life without explanation and the character controls lacked precision.
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The designers updated Lara Croft's move set to make her movements appear more fluid and continuous.
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The voice actor for Lara Croft was initially rumoured to be Rachel Weisz, but the role was eventually given to Keeley Hawes.
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The developers kept Lara Croft's hair tied back because they felt a real person would not want it flying around while performing dangerous manoeuvres.
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In late 2010, Square Enix announced a franchise reboot titled Tomb Raider; the new Lara Croft would be a darker, grittier reimagining of the character.
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In examining the character, Crystal Dynamics concluded that Lara Croft's largest failing was her "Teflon coating", and that it needed a more human version that players would care about.
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Lara Croft changed the character's wardrobe, focusing on what it believed was more functional and practical.
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Lara Croft further commented that Lara Croft is thrust into a situation where she is forced to kill, which will be a traumatic and defining moment for her.
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Lara Croft reprised the role in two sequels: Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider .
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Lara Croft primarily appears in the Tomb Raider video game series published by Square Enix Europe .
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Lara Croft first appeared in the 1996 video game Tomb Raider, in which she competes against a rival archaeologist in search of an Atlantean artefact.
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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a downloadable game that is set in a Central American jungle, and features an ancient warrior who works with Lara Croft.
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Lara Croft appears as a playable guest character in the fighting game Brawlhalla.
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Additionally, Lara Croft makes a cameo appearance in the PlayStation 5 game Astro's Playroom.
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Lara Croft had not been a fan of the character, but considered the role as a "big responsibility", citing anxiety about fans' high expectations.
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Lara Croft felt that Croft's video game proportions were unrealistic, and wanted to avoid showing such proportions to young girls.
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Lara Croft first appeared in a crossover in Sara Pezzini's Witchblade, and later starred in her own comic book series in 1999.
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Lara Croft stated that Eidos primarily focused on game development and viewed such promotion outside video games as exposure for the character.
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Lara Croft has appeared on the cover of multiple video game magazines.
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Lara Croft's likeness has appeared on French postage stamps, PlayStation memory cards, and trading cards as part of a collectible card game.
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In October 1997, Eidos held an art exhibition titled "Lara Croft Goes Art" in Hamburg, Germany to promote Tomb Raider II.
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Lara Croft was the first model Eidos allowed to portray Lara Croft outside posing for photography.
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Lara Croft's introduction was widely regarded as an innovation in the video game market, with Rob Smith of PlayStation: The Official Magazine describing her as a video game icon of that generation of games.
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Lara Croft further said that Eidos had not actively courted Lara's early magazine cover appearances or otherwise actively promoted the character at the time.
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Lara Croft praised Eidos's decision to switch developers and Crystal Dynamics' contributions, especially the character's new gameplay manoeuvres and updated appearance.
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Fansites dedicated to Lara Croft appeared on the internet in several languages after the release of Tomb Raider, and contained official and fan-created images of Croft, model photographs, and fan fiction starring the character.
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Lara Croft holds a Guinness World Record as the "most recognized female video game character", and received a star on the Walk of Game in San Francisco.
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In 1998, PlayStation Magazine commented that Lara Croft was one of the most memorable characters on the PlayStation console, and echoed a similar statement in 2004.
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Campbell noted that while Lara Croft "remains a stubbornly male creation" the character has "come a long way".
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Lara Croft has appeared in several issues of Plays Girls of Gaming special and PlayStation Magazines Swimsuit special.
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Lara Croft further stated that they conflict with Croft's popular strengths, and felt that fans respond more strongly to images of the character dressed more conservatively than to ones with provocative poses.
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The journal Leonardo noted some feminists' negative reaction to her design; though males were identifying with their feminine side through Lara Croft, she reinforced unrealistic ideals about the female body.
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PlayStation Magazine staff commented that Lara Croft could be seen as either a role model for young independent girls or the embodiment of a male adolescent fantasy, though they later stated that the character does little to attract female demographics and was obviously designed with a male audience in mind.
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Lara Croft stated that though the character is a step in the right direction, too many women view her as a "crudely realised male fantasy figure".
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Lara Croft stated that the over-sexualized appearance was overlooked because the character was a "breath of fresh air", but Roby felt that though Lara Croft's proportions have become more realistic, the character's personality was diluted by the developer's actions to appeal to a male audience.
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IGN argued that Lara Croft helped redefine gender in video games by providing a different interpretation of what women could do.
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Jeremy Smith credits Lara Croft with exposing the Tomb Raider games and video games in general to a wider audience.
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In 2020, Lara Croft appeared on four commemorative UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail to celebrate classic UK video games.
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