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Old 08-01-23, 01:19   #1
CSEverett
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Default Does anybody else think reboot Lara is shorter than the offical 5'6"?

First, I just want to prefrace it that I don't have a problem with Lara being short. In her line of business being shorter is an advantage, and if anything earlier Lara's heights given the acrobatics were implausibly tall. But does anybody else think that compared to other characters, Lara's in-game model scales out a fair bit shorter than 5'6", her official height? It's particularly noticeable in Tomb Raider (2013) on the scenes reordered on Sam's camera aboard the Endurance. (For reference such as two clips starting at 21:30 here ) It seems everybody towers over her, and Whitman is officially only 3 inches taller, at 5'9".

There's a good chance that the officially given height was not measured off of the 3d in-game model, and that the actual model is smaller or was scaled differently. For that matter there's no reason to assume that the two have anything actually linking them together. (Do developers in this type of game make environments at actual size, or is everything scaled?) Perhaps an absolute scale could be done against the rescue helicopter in Tomb Raider, considering it's a real type of helicopter of known size? I don't know which type, but considering the Coast Guard C-130 was instantly recognizable I don't doubt the made the 3d model off of a real one. Probably makes things simpler for the developers than trying to design one yourself that looks right. Of course that's assuming the copter itself wasn't scaled differently than 1.00. The jeep they take to the mission in Shadow might work if somebody can make a positive ID on the make and model.

Anybody else think that Lara's a far bit shorter in-game than her official height? What height would you give?
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Old 08-01-23, 09:08   #2
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Yeah, Lara's height has been discussed a bit over the years. As you say, she's meant to be 5ft6 (in the survivor timeline) and that's an above average height for women in Britain. Yet Lara is tiny against anyone even the other female characters. I'm 5'6 & my son is 5'9 & he doesn't tower over me. I think CD tried to explain it by saying they wanted to show how size isn't a disadvantage for Lara, that she compensates by having this scrappy, resourceful way of fighting. But they made her model too small, so that it became kinda grating after a bit. It's not helped by the fact that they gave her horrible posture; she's never really seen stood up straight, her legs always bent slightly, with slight hunched over look. They improved it in Shadow a bit which helped, but she was always the tiniest in the room, except for childrren.
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Old 08-01-23, 14:17   #3
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Yes, I'm always going on about this.

She's too small and it looks odd. At times she looks child size compared to the rest of the characters.

Personally I think she should be around 5'7" or 5'8".

I really don't like the way Crystal handle Lara at times.
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Old 08-01-23, 20:24   #4
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Which leads to the next question, which is how tall she actually is. 5'? 5'2" 5'4" I suppose a suitable screencap against a few other characters (90 degrees to the camera, camera level, whole body in view, same distance to camera) would allow seeing what they actually scaled her out to, although since you'd need to do it against a couple main characters it would work best in Tomb Raider, and you'd mostly have to scale it against Jonah in the next two games.
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Old 08-01-23, 20:52   #5
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To me Lara was supposed to be between 170-80cm pre reboot.
Since reboot I'd put her somewhere between 160-70cm.

Mind you, the way her posture was made troughtout the trilogy isn't helping either. Her knees are constantly bent, like she has backpain, or just crapped herself.
Not to mention, that everything is huge compared to her:

Since 2013 most of the men are almost twice as big as her, including women from RoTR.
In RoTR once the aftermath of the attack on the village is happening, you can find a small graveyard, with a man holding a baby; that baby is almost as big as half of her leg.
Most of her bows are practically bigger than her.
Pistols are almost as big as her forearm.
Kids in Patootati (age 8-10) almost as big as her, while women are smaller than her and mend almost twice as big as her.
Again, the posture she has doesn't reflect her actual height, not to mention the desing behind it: "to try to protect Lara."
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Old 08-01-23, 20:58   #6
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Shrinking, stumbling, slouching, apologizing, hiding-behind-hair Lara could be 7 feet tall and still seem like a pipsqueak. At least a freakish height would explain her awkwardness
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Old 09-01-23, 05:41   #7
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She definitely gives the impression of "smallness".

Woke devs wanted her to appeal to jealous peasants, and when you think of peasants, you think of short and dumpy.

There's certainly nothing elegant about her.
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Old 09-01-23, 07:25   #8
.snake.
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She's especially short in the Survivor era if we consider this old commercial as "canon" and that she was bullied as a child and called "Lara Beanstalk"...



Unrelated note: Tomb Raider really lost its sense of humor.
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Old 09-01-23, 15:25   #9
Dennis's Mom
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I don't think she looks shorter than 5'6", but I think the other Lara's absolutely looked taller than 5'6".

I find details like this immaterial to my enjoyment of the game. That Treboot hair on the other hand . . .
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Old 10-01-23, 21:31   #10
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Yeah she definitely looked more like 5’2” next to other characters. I think she also appeared shorter because they gave her character model very small, narrow shoulders and a very big head (mainly due to hair). A disproportionately large head makes people look shorter.
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