36 thoughts on “Video Game Characters: Then And Now

  1. Peter81

    In hindsight, the original Lara Croft was ridiculously sexist.
    ’96 though, the Loaded generation.

        1. Clampers Outside!

          Gravity defying boobs…. or, I think she was wearing one of Madonna’s conical bras or something.

          It’s about as sexist as, say…. Magic Mike…. if you ask me.

    1. Bejaziz

      What sexist about it, she was one of the stongest female characters in a game, if you’re referring to a disproportionate body size you can say the same about most male game characters with oversized arms/muscles/chests etc, its works both ways…personally think the character was an extremely strong female lead and not sexist

      1. Caroline

        Developed arms and muscles and chests are a sign of physical fitness and denote strength that would notionally be of use, if not essential, to a character in most video game situations.

        Big tits are sacks of fat and gland that hinder a lot of physical activity, but are excellent for wanking off to.

        I’m right of course, but I’ll be savaged for the opinion.

          1. Drogg

            I don’t know why i typed girls i should have said women. why is there not a goddamn edit function on these comments.

        1. Clampers Outside!

          “Developed arms and muscles and chests are a sign of physical fitness and denote strength”
          The ‘development’ you speak of is so OTT it’s akin to Barbie doll type proportions. But, it’s a guy, so it’s OK…..

          nonsense

          1. Caroline

            It’s still useful, as opposed to a hindrance.

            It’s OK to admit that something was developed to pander to boys and men’s sexual preferences. Why pretend it was some sort of coincidence or accident?

            It’s evolved a bit now, for various reasons. The game itself wasn’t too bad actually.

          2. greypalm

            What’s sad is, you’re not too far off with your accident theory. I remember seeing an interview a long time ago with the 3D modeller for Lara. He claimed that her tits were doubled up by accident in the software they were using, and they liked it so much they kept it like that.

      2. greypalm

        They’re not the same thing, though.

        Male characters with huge arms and muscles and square jaws are a power fantasy for guys. They’re not sexualised or treated as eye candy. Back in the 90s when Lara was created, games were even more of a teenage boys club. She might be a strong character, but are you really gonna try to say that her giant jugs were included for any other reason than leering at them? I mean I remember seeing official pinup posters of Lara naked in her bed sheets.

  2. greypalm

    Interestingly enough, the nice twist at the end of Metroid was that Samus was a woman all along. She seems a lot daintier nowadays…

    1. RobinBoy

      Yea, that surprised gamers back in the day as a huge twist! No one thought for a second they were playing as a woman till the reveal.
      It’s a pity they’ve stylised her armour to be more “fitting”. Even the whole one foot in front of the other just looks like a catwalk strut.

      1. greypalm

        Yeah, good spot! The stiletto walk and the hour-glass armour just seem plain weird now. I’m surprised they didn’t work in some boob armour there too. It seems as soon as she was revealed to be a woman, she started the process of becoming objectified.

    1. RobinBoy

      Was okay. I think they really used the game cameos to really push it at release though.

      1. dereviled

        Don’t know anything about the promotion of the film but I really enjoyed the worlds they generated within the games.

  3. stephen

    Anyone else think its not really proper comparison, a lot of the older pics are the ingame versions where as a lot of the newer ones are marketing/media images and not ingame characters, interesting to see the development alright but could do with better comparisons

    1. H

      You beat me to it, that was my thought too, however, there still has been a huge transformation and I’d like to see a proper comparison (just for the sake of it)

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