That’s not correct at all, the discussions about Lara Croft’s appearance happened way back right at the release 1996, the original creator even left the studio eventually because he didn’t like how the publisher used Lara in seductive ads and media appearances, there were official real life Lara Croft models as well posing at E3 etc.
Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movie came in 2001, long after Lara Croft was already an icon. She didn’t further sexualize Lara, if you google you’ll find interviews where she says she’s actually disappointed that they didn’t make her sexy enough.
Perhaps he's from after those days.
Lara Croft was 100% a sex symbol, but at the same time she was a powerful independent woman. Tomb Raider came out in 1996 in the wake of the Spice Girls debut and the Girl Power hype. She was huge, probably second place behind Mario at the time. Every expo, promotion featured Lara Croft. These were always very sexy models cosplaying her. I also saw one at a game store, who was there to promote Tomb Raider 2. In fact, Lara Croft is probably the first gaming character i've seen so widely cosplayed.
In 2001 Lara was past her prime. Tomb Raider didn't really evolve past the first 2 or 3 games, I felt they simply doubled down on higher difficulty with each sequel, with Last Revelation and Chronicles being received rather mixed and Angel of Darkness being universally panned. Tomb Raider was seen as a dead franchise after this game, but the IP was moved to CD and their Legend was a short, accessible and fun game and a huge hit.
and has the personality most straight men would find attractive.
