10 Video Game Characters Who MASSIVELY Changed Before Release

10. Lara Croft Was Going To Be A Man - Tomb Raider

Lara Croft, the gaming industry's most recognizable female protagonist, is oftentimes compared to another legendary treasure hunter, Indiana Jones, on account of nothing more than their shared line of work.

However, this comparison is actually not as baseless as it seems, as in reality, Lara Croft's early design was directly inspired by Indians Jones, and by inspired, we mean completely ripped off!

Toby Gard, the lead graphic artist for the first Tomb Raider game, initially envisioned Lara as "a male lead with a whip and a hat." If that doesn't sound too original to you, then you would be in agreement with Core's co-founder, Jeremy Smith, who told Gard to come up with a less Indiana Jonesy design, thus leading to the creation of Lara Croft.

It's pretty wild that the most iconic woman in gaming was almost a generic Indiana Jones lookalike. Moreover, it makes you wonder how poorly her franchise would do if instead of a badass female archeologist, you played a cheap knockoff of a much more popular character.

Lara already has it pretty bad with the Indie comparison. Whippy McGoo would've been obliterated by them!