Mozzarella
Member
BAFTA is the worst award of the big 4 I literally dont care what they think. The only good choice they ever made was giving Outer Wilds GOTY.
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Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
- Start date
thismeinteil
Member
I'm just going to say what we're all thinking. She slept her way to the top of that list.
Gojiira
Member
Lara makes the most sense of any character, she was the first character to have truly widespread appeal that went beyond just games. Mario might be iconic to gamers but Lara had mass appeal in the 90’s, I really dont think any other game character has come close. I dont see Mario being the brand ambassador to Timex and Jeep, or being a fashion icon, a cg model before it was even a thing etc etc. It makes total sense why she was picked.
Unknown?
Member
Maybe it is to you because it sounds like you live under a rock! Highly successful mobile games, TV Shows, movies, AND comics. Oh and sells tons of merch to kids. Outside of the 90s Sonic is the most popular he has ever been.
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Revolutionary
Member
For a very brief period in 1997 when Lara Croft was on magazine covers and the like, yeah sure.
But in 2024? lol
But in 2024? lol
E-Cat
Member
So then the remark about them not being in the EU anymore was totally superfluous because it makes no difference either way.
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Came here just to say this. I really don't think people remember the impact she had on videogames and female characters.
And lol at people mentioning Samus. You literally play as a robot. You didn't even know that was a woman until the end of the first game or something like that, lmao.
Gojiira
Member
Glad to see you understand that you are Chris Rock in this situation, given your total bitch of a non-reply…Maybe learn what the word ICONIC means and retort properly..
FinalBossWithTheMostPower
Member
Never go full retard, sir.
A poll of a 4,000 worldwide hardly merits the label of Iconic.
Putyouinmyoven
Member
Ello guvna.
British Academy gives award to British Character.
Jolly good.
British Academy gives award to British Character.
Jolly good.
nkarafo
Member
Mario is almost as iconic and recognizable as Mickey Mouse.
Yes, Lara did make huge impact in the mid 90's and was a popular icon for a while. But only for a while. Her popularity only lasted a single generation of consoles. After that nobody cared for her until the recent remakes. And even then she was still not nearly as popular as in her PS1 days.
I don't think she deserves being in top 3. Maybe Top 5 at best. Behind Mario, Sonic, Link and Pac-Man. Maybe Donkey Kong too, i don't know.
If this were even remotely true then one of the platforms would have turned the character into their mascot.![[Sigma]](/data/avatars/m/701/701747.jpg?1726376545){kind=avatar}
chromatic9
Member
James Pond in number one.
I think most popular will transcend generations like Mario, and even Lara to an extent but is probably limited up to gen X, the chatgpt list is mostly good. This Pokemon stuff completely passed me by like Power Rangers, I really doubt this Pikachu lands with many older gens around the world like Mario, Sonic, Pacman etc would. I've not played a minute of Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z, for all I know they could be be formed from Japanese cartoons before the video game, there's many characters in the games I believe, not sure what makes this Pikachu the standout one, feels like one of many like a chocobo from FF series. Yes it seems very popular with a certain gen onwards.
I could ask ten friends in their mid 40s and 50s, they'd know Lara Croft, Mario Sonic Pac Man as well as animated Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or toy Barbie, even their kids are into Disney and Barbie. None of them know what Pokemon is or the characters.
I think most popular will transcend generations like Mario, and even Lara to an extent but is probably limited up to gen X, the chatgpt list is mostly good. This Pokemon stuff completely passed me by like Power Rangers, I really doubt this Pikachu lands with many older gens around the world like Mario, Sonic, Pacman etc would. I've not played a minute of Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z, for all I know they could be be formed from Japanese cartoons before the video game, there's many characters in the games I believe, not sure what makes this Pikachu the standout one, feels like one of many like a chocobo from FF series. Yes it seems very popular with a certain gen onwards.
I could ask ten friends in their mid 40s and 50s, they'd know Lara Croft, Mario Sonic Pac Man as well as animated Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or toy Barbie, even their kids are into Disney and Barbie. None of them know what Pokemon is or the characters.
Isn't this based on a poll? Unless you can come up with a reason to discredit the methodology how can it be wrong?
Kiya's Guard
Member
BlackTron
Member
Agent 47 beat Link, so whatever the methodology is it does not appear to have produced results that reflect reality. Since we all live in the same one, I assume this is obvious for most people
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
… but seriously.
Pikachu at number 12.
The absolute mascot of one of the world’s top-grossing IPs.
A character that’s marked the childhood of three generations by now. Not to mention, generations of parents who had no real choice squandering thousands of bucks in Pokemon everything for their kids.
If anything, Pikachu should be above Mario himself. Both have vastly expanded beyond the limits of their medium of origin, but Pikachu is literally still everywhere in 2024.
Lara definitely deserves the top 3, anyway. She may have long fallen out of fashion among non-gamers, but anyone who was older than elementary school in the late 90s will remember Lara being the absolute buzz of the town for a year or two, and the main drive to the success of the PlayStation. If you think Master Chief was ever more popular than Miss Croft, please think again - and consider that Lara was played on the big screen by fucking Angelina Jolie in her prime.
Pikachu at number 12.
The absolute mascot of one of the world’s top-grossing IPs.
A character that’s marked the childhood of three generations by now. Not to mention, generations of parents who had no real choice squandering thousands of bucks in Pokemon everything for their kids.
If anything, Pikachu should be above Mario himself. Both have vastly expanded beyond the limits of their medium of origin, but Pikachu is literally still everywhere in 2024.
Lara definitely deserves the top 3, anyway. She may have long fallen out of fashion among non-gamers, but anyone who was older than elementary school in the late 90s will remember Lara being the absolute buzz of the town for a year or two, and the main drive to the success of the PlayStation. If you think Master Chief was ever more popular than Miss Croft, please think again - and consider that Lara was played on the big screen by fucking Angelina Jolie in her prime.
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Agent 47/Hitman had a movie so it's not out of the ordinary that possibly more people recognised him outside of gaming forums.
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Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
tkscz
Member
Which Lara tho?
REDRZA MWS
Member
Mario’s is unequivocally number 1. After that I’d say PAC Man. After that I’d say Link, Sonic, Solid Snake, and master Chief got hosed.
BlackTron
Member
I think it's hard to make the case that Agent 47 is more well known outside of gaming forums than Link. Again, this is just from going through every day life. Practically everyone has heard of Legend of Zelda even non-gamers. I would never bring up Agent 47 in a "normal" conversation though. Meanwhile girls stick Zelda on their dating profiles lol.
In any case I think it's obvious the answer is Mario. Iconic doesn't just mean recognizable, it means an icon that stands for gaming.
Gojiira
Member
Im sorry but everybody knows Lara Croft, but the fact remains she is ICONIC OUTSIDE OF GAMING. Yes Mario is iconic, not once did I say he wasnt, but not a single videogame character besides Lara has had any impact beyond gaming…You can cry all you want about it, you can try and ‘limit’ her impact all you want but it doesnt change facts.
Im not gonna argue this with people who have their blinders on, Im more gutted Solid Snake or Big Boss isnt higher, and Dante from DMC absolutely deserves to be super high, hell Leon Kennedy should be in the top ten.
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Bernardougf
Member
The Iconic female character that wouldn't even exist as it is by todays western media and developers idea of what a "real" woman is or should be
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notjeffgoldblum
Member
Don’t even act like sackboi wasn’t an icon!!
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Exactly.
Lara Croft got so big outside of gaming that the second game literally included "Starring Lara Croft" below the title, like she was a famous actress.
Like...who else? This videogame character even got to be the cover of magazines OUTSIDE of gaming
Got famous drinks renamed after her
Like...no one is saying Mario isn't iconic. Of course he is. But Lara Croft literally blurred the lines between a videogame character and managed to leave that industry and be bigger than the games she was a part of.
Also people naming Link? For real...there's people that call that character Zelda out there.
This isn't about "most iconic gaming franchises". Zelda would be ahead. It's about "iconic videogame CHARACTERS".
And she was doing this during the 90's. Almost 30 years ago!
It's a BAFTA poll. Depending on the type of exposure given to the poll it's not far fetched that a video game character with a movie might be more known in that circle.
BlackTron
Member
Right -in that circle. In other words this 4000-sample poll isn't worth much more than a GameFAQs character battle, despite aiming to "establish" the most iconic game character lol.
LordBlodgett
Member
Who in the heck voted on this? Lara Croft is recognizable, but more than Mario, Sonic, or Link? In what world???!?!!!?
nkarafo
Member
Exactly.
Lara Croft got so big outside of gaming that the second game literally included "Starring Lara Croft" below the title, like she was a famous actress.
Like...who else? This videogame character even got to be the cover of magazines OUTSIDE of gaming
Got famous drinks renamed after her
Like...no one is saying Mario isn't iconic. Of course he is. But Lara Croft literally blurred the lines between a videogame character and managed to leave that industry and be bigger than the games she was a part of.
Also people naming Link? For real...there's people that call that character Zelda out there.
This isn't about "most iconic gaming franchises". Zelda would be ahead. It's about "iconic videogame CHARACTERS".
And she was doing this during the 90's. Almost 30 years ago!
MayauMiao
Member
BAFTA bias confirmed.
Kiya's Guard
Member
Modern lara is also quite sexy (even more on pc), but original will always have a warm place in our hearts
