Tawna Bandicoot

"This time, no one will catch me."

- Tawna Bandicoot

Tawna Bandicoot is a female bandicoot with blonde hair that appears in the first Crash Bandicoot game as Crash Bandicoot's girlfriend. She became absent in following entries in the series, albeit with cameos, with Coco Bandicoot serving as the female supporting character of the series in her stead. She eventually reappeared in Crash Boom Bang! as a playable character, and would later appear in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled in the same role.

Although she doesn't appear in the game, an alternate universe counterpart of Tawna appears as a playable character in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

Crash Bandicoot
Tawna first appears in the original Crash Bandicoot game as an ordinary bandicoot that was captured by Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. N. Brio and mutated by N. Brio's Evolv-O-Ray, and one of the only mutant animals not yet brainwashed by the Cortex Vortex along with her boyfriend Crash Bandicoot. After Crash is placed into and rejected by the Cortex Vortex, Crash escapes Cortex's laboratory which causes Cortex to select Tawna as his replacement for the general of his army of mutants. Crash eventually defeats Cortex and reunites with Tawna on top of his blimp as they fly into the sunset. Alternatively, once the player has collected all gems, the player can access The Great Hall, wherein Tawna awaits Crash on the balcony of Castle Cortex, after which the two of them fly away on a large bird.

Tawna also appears throughout the game at the end of bonus levels accessed by collecting tokens resembling her face. However, she cannot be interacted with.

Crash Bandicoot (manga)
As in the source material, Tawna has been taken prisoner at Castle Cortex. She is referred to as Crash's friend, rather than his girlfriend, though Crash later refers to her as his "beloved". She can be seen alongside Dr. Cortex in the first issue, but is not rescued until the second, when Crash breaks into the room where she is held. They appear to have a tearful reunion, until Crash gets distracted by apples instead (much to her annoyance). Tawna offers encouragement to Crash in his battle against Cortex, and begins to cry when she believes he's been crushed under the rubble of the destroyed castle. She is relieved to see he's unharmed, but becomes unsettled when he and Cortex dress up as women in the manga's ending.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
"恋人のタウナは、ピンストライプと仲良くなって都会へ行ってしまったのです. ガックリしたクラッシュは「モテモテ トレーニング」を始めたのですが……大丈夫でしょうか？ (Crash's girlfriend, Tawna, has travelled to the city after befriending Pinstripe. Gutted, Crash begins his "Attractive Training"... is he alright?)"

- Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Japanese manual, p. 3 While Tawna is completely absent from the game, the instruction booklet for the Japanese version of the game provides additional details as to what transpired after the first game; namely, Tawna leaves Crash and the Wumpa Islands for Chigago, USA in order to be with Pinstripe Potoroo. The events described serve as the backstory for the manga Crash Bandicoot: Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken, released around the same time. These tidbits would later be mentioned in BradyGames' Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Official Strategy Guide, which would be their first appearance in media released outside of Japan, and in Crash Boom Bang!, the first and only reference of it in a Crash Bandicoot game.

Crash Bandicoot: Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken
Tawna is mentioned several times and makes cameos in ''Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken'', though she never appears in person. In the first chapter, I'm the Hero!, Crash is dreaming about Tawna congratulating him for saving the world. He wakes up and goes to see where Tawna is, only to find a note from her saying that she's left him for Pinstripe, which sends him into a depression. A pin-up poster of Tawna can also be seen in Crash's room. Tawna doesn't appear again until the final chapter, ''GO! To Outer Space on a JetPack!'', where Crash dreams about Tawna coming back to him and asking him to take her back.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
A picture of Tawna can be spotted in the Bandicoot House on the fireplace.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Official Strategy Guide
"Dearest Crash, You saved me bravely, but I have fallen in love with another. Pinstripe Potoroo made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Take care, Tawna"

- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Official Strategy Guide. p. 137

BradyGames' strategy guide for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex features a section called "History of Crash", which summarizes the events of the first Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and The Wrath of Cortex itself. While the events are largely the same as those that occur in the games themselves, the summary mentions Tawna as attempting an escape from Castle Cortex with Crash during the events of the first game, only to be found out by Cortex. Tawna's story about leaving Crash for Pinstripe prior to the events of the second game, which had previously only ever been referenced in Japanese media, is also included in the summary, with Tawna leaving a note to Crash before leaving.

Crash Twinsanity
Tawna only makes a cameo appearance as a picture that appears on the sign of Moulin Cortex.

Crash Boom Bang!
Tawna appears as an unlockable playable character in Crash Boom Bang!, which marks her first major appearance in a game 10 years after the original Crash Bandicoot, and her first voiced appearance in a game, where she is portrayed by Akiko Toda. Much like the other playable characters in the game, she participates in Viscount's World Cannonball Race in order to win $100,000,000.

Her in-game description suggests she is romantically interested in Pinstripe Potoroo, who is also a playable character in the game. This is in reference to the story included in the manual for the Japanese version of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and is the first reference of the story in a Crash Bandicoot game.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant
There is a poster of Tawna inside Crash's house on Wumpa Island.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Tawna reappears in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. She is shown as more competent, beating down a lab assistant before being captured in Cortex's castle. She also manages to briefly escape Cortex before being captured again at the end of the Tawna bonus levels.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Tawna makes an appearance in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled as a Bronze Tier reward in the game's first Grand Prix, Nitro Tour which launched on July 3, 2019. She appears alongside Isabella, Megumi, Ami and Liz to form the Nitro Squad. She is depicted as a tough, no-nonsense woman determined to win no matter the cost, or the enemy. Completing the Grand Prix also grants her an alternate motorsport-themed costume, which seems to grant her energized power.

If she was not obtained during the Nitro Tour Grand Prix, she can be purchased at the Pit Stop alongside her Motorsport outfit as of the Spooky Grand Prix update.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
While the regular Tawna isn't present in the game, an alternate universe counterpart of her shows up to rescue Crash and Coco from pirates in the Hook, Line, and Sinker level. After being rescued, Coco mentions how she and Crash had lost contact with Tawna.

A cushion sporting Tawna's mugshot can also been seen at the end of the game's very first Bonus level, atop a sofa where she presumably would have waited for Crash as she did in her bonus levels from the first Crash Bandicoot.

Personality
Given her limited appearances, her personality is yet to be deeply explored, but small bits of her personality are known.

In her original appearance in Crash Bandicoot, she seems little more than a damsel in distress, being easily held captive by Cortex and waiting for Crash to save her. Even then, she is shown to be a little more than that, as Cortex considered her to be a replacement as his general after Crash's escape.

In the Crash Bandicoot production bible, her intended personality is described in more detail than what was shown in-game. She's described as "the perfect balance between beauty and brains", and is said to have tried inspiring revolution amongst Cortex's minions and reasoning with N. Brio.

In Nitro-Fueled, Tawna is a headstrong, confident bandicoot, willing to do whatever it takes to claim her trophy. She's very self-assured, throwing aside her past as a damsel in distress to do what she really wants. This was also shown to a lesser extent in the N. Sane Trilogy remake of Crash Bandicoot, where she attempts to fight off Lab Assistants attempting to detain her before being outnumbered, and constantly escapes to meet Crash for the Tawna Bonus Stages before being recaptured by Cortex.

Physical Appearance
Tawna is significantly taller than Crash, her long blonde hair and breast size being based on celebrity Pamela Anderson. She has orange fur on her arms and legs, a peach muzzle, green eyes and a small, blonde tail. Her clothing consists of a rose red sleeveless shirt, blue shorts, red socks and brown high-top sneakers. She also has dull rose eyeshadow, long eyelashes and red lipstick.

In Crash Boom Bang!, her shirt was changed to a pink crop top. Her shorts were also made shorter, and her shoes were changed from brown to bright red with white socks. Her eyeshadow was changed to a pale lavender, her ears were made longer, and her muzzle was changed to a cream color.

In the N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled, Tawna's design was reverted to her original design, but with a few changes. Her shirt is now magenta and features white trim and a white outline of Crash's mug, her shorts have become denim with a dark brown belt, and her shoes are now red with white socks. Her body shape is also altered a bit, having a smaller chest and hip size, and being more proportionate. Her eyeshadow was made a similar shade of magenta to her shirt, and her lipstick was changed to pink.

Crash Bandicoot

 * NTSC-U manual

"Love of Crash's life, this unfortunate she-bandicoot is next on the list for experimentation by the nasty Doctors. What's a bandicootess to do (other than pout convincingly) to let her hero know he'd better hurry if he wants somebody to come home to."

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

 * Japanese manual

お兄ちゃんの元恋人. せつかく助けてあげたのに、お兄ちゃんのおバカなところに愛想がつきてタスマニアから出ていってしまったの. ウワサでは、囚われている間に仲良くなったピンストライプという男を追っかけて、アメリカのシカゴに行ったらしいわ. (Crash's ex-girlfriend. Even though he saved her, she grew tired of his silliness and left Tasmania. Rumor has it that she travelled to Chicago, USA, in pursuit of a man named Pinstripe, whom she befriended during her time as a prisoner.)

Crash Boom Bang!

 * In-Game

"Tawna, the blonde bombshell, is crazy about Pinstripe."

Appearances

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Crash Bandicoot (manga)
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (NTSC-J manual only)
 * Crash Bandicoot: Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken (cameo)
 * Crash Bandicoot: Warped (cameo)
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (cameo)
 * Crash Twinsanity (cameo)
 * Crash Boom Bang!
 * Crash: Mind Over Mutant (cameo)
 * Skylanders Academy (mentioned)
 * Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
 * Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
 * Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (cameo, mentioned)

Crash Bandicoot
Tawna and Crash grew very close while imprisoned in Cortex Castle, and entered a romantic relationship together prior to the events of the first game. They clearly cared deeply for one another, with Tawna repeatedly escaping the castle to meet Crash for the Tawna Bonus Rounds before being re-captured by Cortex. She was noticeably absent after the first game, which wouldn't be explained in-game but rather in various books, though Crash and Tawna still seem to be on good terms as Crash keeps a picture of her above his fireplace, as seen in Warped.

Pinstripe Potoroo
In the Japanese Cortex Strikes Back manual and later in ''Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken'', it is stated that Tawna left Crash in search for Pinstripe after the first game. This wasn't addressed in Western canon until a 2001, where a Wrath of Cortex strategy guide released containing the following information. While Tawna and Pinstripe have never been shown interacting in any games, her in-game bio in Crash Boom Bang! claims that she is "crazy over Pinstripe".

Her profile in her Crash 1 bio mentions she attempts to inspire revolution among Cortex's minions which may have included Pinstripe.

Doctor Nitrus Brio
Though they have never been shown interacting in-game, the Crash Bandicoot Production Bible mentions that Tawna attempted to reason with N. Brio whilst imprisoned in Cortex Castle.

Nitro Squad (Ami, Isabella, Liz and Megumi)
In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Tawna forms a racing team known as the "Nitro Squad" with former trophy girls Ami, Isabella, Liz and Megumi. They were all introduced as playable together in the Nitro Tour Grand Prix, and are often seen racing together in promotional images, implying friendship and camaraderie amongst the group.

Gallery
See: Tawna/Gallery

Trivia

 * According to Naughty Dog, Tawna's design was based off celebrity Pamela Anderson, for her blonde hair and breast size. She was also based on Jessica Rabbit.
 * After Crash Bandicoot, Naughty Dog removed her from the series as Universal Interactive wanted her to be redesigned as they felt she wasn't appropriate for a child friendly game. Sony also wished for her removal, according to character designer Charles Zembillas, which led to the introduction of Coco Bandicoot as the female lead for future titles. Tawna was eventually given a slightly less sexualized redesign for the N. Sane Trilogy, which was developed by Vicarious Visions. This same design reappears in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
 * The Japanese ending of Crash Bash has Crash mistake a hologram created by Coco to be Tawna. The hologram itself resembles Isabella and was intended to look like Coco reimagined as an adult.
 * Tawna was originally named Karmen during the first game's development.
 * Tawna's shorts were originally green before they changed it to a dark blue. Her muzzle also had no skin tan, her entire face being orange furred. In-game artwork of her can be seen in levels such as The Great Hall in her original color scheme. She was also originally wearing high heels in her concept art.
 * Tawna is mentioned in unused dialogue for Cortex in Crash Tag Team Racing.
 * She never had any dialogue at all since her first appearance (though she has gameplay grunts in Crash Boom Bang! and can be heard gasping in the opening cutscene of N. Sane Trilogy). She officially made her speaking debut in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
 * Like the rest of the Nitro Squad in Nitro-Fueled, Tawna has an associated Paint Job seen in marketing screenshots. This Paint Job was not on the selection screen prior to the Back N. Time Grand Prix and not for sale until the Spooky Grand Prix, even though the AI drivers would use it randomly prior.
 * In Skylanders Academy, she was mentioned in the episode called The Skylands Are Falling! when Crash says that he's going to find her and save the world from Dr. Cortex, although Crash refers to her as his friend as opposed to girlfriend.
 * Additionally, in the German dub and the Portuguese dub of that same scene, Crash erroneously uses a masculine pronoun when referring to Tawna instead of a feminine one.
 * Tawna, alongside the Nitro Squad, are the only bandicoots to have visible tails.
 * The alternate Tawna who appears in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time also lacks a tail, despite being a counterpart to this one.