Lara Croft Girl

Core Design first handled development the character and the series. Inspired by pop artist Neneh Cherry and comic book character Tank Girl, Gard designed Lara Crt to counter stereotypical female characters. The company modified the character for subsequent titles; modifications included graphical improvements and gameplay additions such as new manoeuvres and in-game items. Poor reception to the 2003 sequel Tomb Raider: The Angel Darkness resulted in a switch to American developer Crystal Dynamics. The new developer rebooted the character along with the video game series. Crystal Dynamics focused on making the character more believable, and altered her physical proportions and capabilities to interact with game environments. Lara Crt has been voiced by four actresses throughout the video game series: Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins, Jonell Elliott, and Keeley Hawes.
Critics consider Lara Crt a significant game character in popular culture. She holds two Guinness World Records and has a strong fan following. The character's debut was well-received by the video game industry, but her popularity slowly declined until the series' reboot in 2006. While the rebooted games were generally well-received, Lara Crt's redesign was met with mixed responses. Lara Crt is also considered a sex symbol, one the earliest in the industry to achieve widespread attention. The character's influence in the industry has been a point contention among critics.
Lara Crt is depicted as an athletic woman; she has brown eyes and hair, frequently kept in a plait or ponytail. The character's classic costume is a turquoise sleeveless tank top, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, and long white socks. Accessories include fingerless gloves, a backpack, a utility belt with holsters on either side, and two pistols. The video game sequels introduced new outfits designed for different environments, such as underwater and cold weather. In other games Lara Crt wears a crop top, camouflage pants and black or light brown shirts. Game manuals describe the character as the Wimbledon, London-borne daughter the fictional Lord Henshingly Crt. She was raised as an aristocrat and betrothed to the fictitious Earl Farringdon. Lara Crt attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and Swiss finishing school. A plane crash left the character stranded in the Himalayas for two weeks; the experience spurred her to shun her former life and seek other adventures around the world. Lara Crt wrote guide books and other published works based on her exploits as a mercenary, big-game hunter, and master thief. The backstory was later changed to include her mother in the plane crash. While searching for shelter against the elements, Lara Crt witnesses her mother vanish after tampering with an ancient sword. Her father disappears in search his wife.