Lara Croft - the sexy cartridge-emptying digital danger girl is the pixelized neo-day equivalent of the comic book pulp hero. Since her arrival on the scene in 1996, She has had four follow-up games, appeared on magazine covers, toys and merchandise, trading cards, her own comic book and gone on tour with the pop band U2 thanks to a twenty-foot screen. Now she's showing on another type of big screen, somewhere near you, played by an oscar winning actress. Lara's place has been firmly etched into today's pop psyche.

In 1994 a 21-year old english boy wonder, Toby Gard began creating the idea of a new kind of hero of the feminine persuasion, bucking the trend of the muscle-bound head-banging video soldier. Under his new employer of just eight months, video game developer Core Design, he was given the opportunity to present his ideal vision.

As he tells it, Lara wasn't based on any real person in particular, though he admits to  drawing inspiration from the japanese anime cult classic "Tank Girl" with an obvious Indiana Jones influence. At that time the digital diva was known as Lara Cruz - Croft came about as to more firmly identify her with her British roots. She also had more of a hard edge, a Rambo dream girl cracking heads in fatigues all angles... nothing sophisticated here. Thank hevens she blossomed into more of an "Avengers" Emma Peel type, in form fitting fashions and able to fight her way out of any situation without so much as breaking into a sweat.

The Tomb Raider game was also designed to be played as a third-person game, a new idea at the time. You see Lara on the screen rather than play through her eyes. And thanks to her over-the-top looks, this didn't hurt her rise to overnight fame and popularity.

So why has Lara lasted this long, continuing to rise as a Gen X (and now Gen Y2K) icon? Simple. Both guys and girls have latched onto this strong positive female role model who can use her head as well as her twin pistols, her looks match her athletisim, and her fearless determined desire to face any unknown danger with a sneering grin.