Tawna Bandicoot

Tawna Bandicoot is a recurring character in the Crash Bandicoot series. She appeared in the first Crash Bandicoot game and later returned as a cast regular following the release of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. She is a feminine anthropomorphic bandicoot who was created for the series as the girlfriend of Crash Bandicoot, specifically serving the role of damsel-in-distress in the first game; Tawna's later appearances would alter or forego this aspect of the character.

Tawna initially became absent from the Crash Bandicoot series starting with the release of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, as Coco Bandicoot replaced her role as the main female supporting character of the series following concerns from regarding Tawna's appearance and personality. Nevertheless, Tawna was referenced in games and side media following her removal from the series, culminating in a playable appearance in Crash Boom Bang! before the series went into a hiatus. Tawna would eventually reappear in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of the first Crash Bandicoot game, followed by an appearance as a playable character in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Although the main version of the character doesn't appear in the game, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time introduces an alternate universe counterpart of Tawna Bandicoot as a playable character in the game with a major role in its story, also appearing as a playable character in Crash Team Rumble.

Crash Bandicoot


Tawna first appears in the original Crash Bandicoot game as an ordinary bandicoot that was captured by Neo Cortex and N. Brio and mutated by N. Brio's Evolvo-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 leads Cortex to prepare to use the Cortex Vortex on Tawna, with the plot of the game being Crash racing to rescue Tawna from Cortex before she gets brainwashed. 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 every gem, 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 rounds accessed by collecting tokens resembling her face. However, she cannot be interacted with. In Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of the original game, she cheers when Crash reaches her in these levels, only to be dragged away by Cortex.

Other major appearances
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. This was also her first voiced appearance in a game, 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. She is unlocked as a playable character by beating the Volcano board game map. 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 direct reference to this in the games.

Tawna appears as a playable character unlockable in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled ' s first Grand Prix, Nitro Tour, which launched on July 3, 2019. She was originally awarded to players who completed the Bronze Tier of the Grand Prix's Nitro Gauge. Currently, she can be purchased from the Pit Stop for 1500 Wumpa Coins. Her default Driving Style is Acceleration. She is associated with the Nitro Squad in the game, receiving similar skins as the group, but is separate from it.



While the regular Tawna isn't present in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, an alternate universe counterpart of her shows up to rescue Crash and Coco Bandicoot 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. This version of Tawna also appears as a playable character in Crash Team Rumble.

Minor appearances


A picture of Tawna appears on the fireplace of Crash's house in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and later Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Crash's epilogue in the Japanese version of Crash Bash shows what appears to be Tawna congratulating Crash in person for defeating Uka Uka, with Coco's epilogue revealing that it's actually a hologram of herself as a virtual idol. Tawna also appears on the sign of Moulin Cortex, a burlesque club, in Crash Twinsanity ' s Slip Slide Icecapades level. In Crash Team Rumble, a skin based on Tawna's design in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is available for Tawna's alternate universe counterpart.

Although she doesn't appear in the original Crash Team Racing, internal game data suggests that the characters Isabella, Megumi, Ami and Liz were all based on her.

Other media


Tawna's first appearance in original media outside of video games is in Takahiro Yamashita's manga adaptation of the first Crash Bandicoot, following an abridged version of the game's events. Tawna appears in both chapters.

While Tawna is completely absent from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, 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, referred to as Tasmania in the manual, for Chicago, USA in order to be with Pinstripe Potoroo.

Tawna appears in two chapters of Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, a manga adaptation of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped by Ari Kawashima. Tawna is first mentioned in the first chapter of the first volume, which follows the story present in the Japanese version manual of Crash Bandicoot 2. She suddenly leaves Crash a parting letter as she goes to be with Pinstripe, causing Crash to try and make himself more attractive to women. She is later mentioned in the final chapter of the second volume. Crash dreams about becoming heroic enough for Tawna to come back to him, kissing Aku Aku in his sleep in the process.

BradyGames' strategy guide for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex features a section called "The Complete and Authorized History of Crash Bandicoot", 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 Bandicoot


In the first Crash Bandicoot game, Tawna has a design largely reminiscent of a shapely adult woman, inspired by figures such as Pamela Anderson and the character of Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, to the effect of resembling the physique of a real person closer than Crash Bandicoot does and towering above him in stature. Like Crash, however, she has animalesque features inspired by wombats, such as skin covered in orange fur, a tall upwards ear visibly seen on top of her hair, and a peach-colored snout and muzzle on her face, where her nose and mouth go. Tawna has green eyes, long, curly blonde hair and small black eyebrows, and is also shown with makeup, wearing red lipstick and pale rose eyeshadows, noticeable as Tawna is frequently shown with bedroom eyes in the game. Tawna wears a sleeveless burgundy shirt and buttoned blue shorts, and wears a pair of dark red sneakers similar to Crash Bandicoot's, with additional burgundy socks to match her shirt. Unlike Crash, Tawna has a short, fluffy tail at the back of her shorts that is the same color as her hair.

The May 5, 1995 and August 15, 1995 editions of the production bible for Crash Bandicoot featured a different finalized design for Tawna; she is depicted sporting a tank top, which exposed her chest and midriff, a pair of platform heels with ribbons at the base and socks, and shorts with slits on the sides. This design was scaled back to be less provocative. Tawna's render for the Japanese release of Crash Bandicoot depicts her with a lavender tank top and shorts with slits, similar to those seen in the aforementioned production bibles for the game, although she retains her sneakers.

Other designs
Tawna sees a redesign in Crash Boom Bang!, taking Japanese influences into account. Her proportions are altered in order to fit with the chibi-esque aesthetic of the game, reducing her height to be only slightly taller than Crash Bandicoot instead of being significantly taller. Her attire also appears to take after the previously-mentioned render of her used in promotional media for the Japanese release of Crash Bandicoot, as she now wears a magenta-colored tank top instead of the burgundy shirt from her first appearance. Other changes include the addition of a second ear visible from her hair, with both ears now pointing horizontally as opposed to vertically. The color of her eyebrows are a light brown instead of black. Her shorts are smaller and slightly duller in color, and her sneakers are now a vibrant red to match those seen in Crash Bandicoot's design in the original Japanese version of the game.



Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of the first Crash Bandicoot game features a rendition of Tawna similar in appearance to that of the original game with additional design tweaks. As with all of the characters in the remake, Tawna is rendered with realistic hair, fur, and clothes texturing. Tawna's body shape is altered slightly, having a smaller chest and hip size, being less exaggeratedly proportioned. Tawna's shirt is colored magenta with a monochrome graphic of Crash's face on it, and now features white trim on the sleeves and collar. Her eyeshadow was made a similar shade of magenta to her shirt, and her lipstick was changed to pink. Tawna's shorts are now made of denim and worn with a brown belt, with the shorts' button being on the belt instead of the pants, and her sneakers are now a more vibrant red with white socks to match the color of Crash Bandicoot's sneakers in the remake, as well as the socks he is also shown wearing. This design is also used for Tawna's appearance in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Personality
Very little is shown of Tawna in comparison to other characters in the first Crash Bandicoot game. She is shown to be helpless during her time as Neo Cortex's prisoner, expressing disdain at Cortex saying to "prepare the female bandicoot" as she's restrained by two Lab Assistants. Tawna is shown to pose for the player as well as Crash Bandicoot himself in her bonus rounds and in The Great Hall, having interest in showing off her appearance. Given her relationship with Crash Bandicoot in the game, she is shown to care for Crash, hugging him as he rescues her from Cortex.

In Crash Boom Bang! Tawna idly applies makeup and sometimes poses, suggesting she cares a lot about her appearance; her outfit being fashionable as well.

In Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of the first game, Tawna is depicted to be more proactive, fending off against Lab Assistants while being captive. She no longer poses in her bonus rounds, instead standing idly and jumping enthusiastically as Crash reaches her, but she is shown posing alluringly for Crash in The Great Hall.

In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Tawna is shown as competitive and dedicated to winning. She takes losing seriously, looking visibly upset; yet also has a sense of humor, sometimes laughing to herself while driving and on the podium after a win. She retains her romantic traits: she turns her head around to wink at the player, and winks at someone in the audience in several of her podium win animations.

Creation and early development


Tawna was created by Joe Pearson and Charles Zembillas, as were most of the other characters in the first Crash Bandicoot game. Unlike most of these characters, however, Tawna was created to be a supporting character for Crash Bandicoot, specifically being Crash's love interest; to this effect, the May 5, 1995 edition of the production bible for the game describes her as "window dressing". Similarly to how Crash Bandicoot was formerly called "Willy the Wombat", Tawna was also a wombat named Karmen (also spelled Carmen ). Both she and Crash were named as bandicoots for the final release of the game.

Charles Zembillas' first sketches of Tawna, allegedly made on January of 1995, depict Tawna with a body type more similar to early concepts of Crash. Potential characterizations for her ranged from "the girl next door to street walker to dimwitted floozy to plain jane." A more anthropomorphic design would eventually be decided on for Tawna, focusing on conventionally attractive features. Her original finalized design (see § Physical description, above) would appear on the May 5, 1995 and August 15, 1995 editions of the first game's production bible,, only to be altered afterwards in order to be less provocative.

The earliest publicly-available mention of Tawna being a damsel-in-distress for Crash to rescue can be seen in a document detailing the script of an opening sequence for the first game, dated February 20, 1995, written by Joe Pearson. Originally, Karmen was created by Neo Cortex to be Willy's romantic partner, for the purpose of creating a line of "Uberwombats". Cortex would later decide to have Karmen for himself after banishing Willy from his army and castle. Karmen opposed Cortex's advances and intent of war, instead only wishing to be with Willy. This same story would also appear on the May 5, 1995 edition of the production bible, though Karmen's character description was inelaborate, particularly compared to those of the other characters. Her defining traits included frequently touching up her make-up, loving to shop, and hating being in Cortex's laboratory.

The August 15, 1995 edition of the production bible for the first game revises the opening sequence pitched in the February and May 1995 editions of the document. It officially renames Karmen to Tawna, and recharacterizes her to be more assertive and intelligent. In the script, she openly defies Cortex, remarking on his army's failures. This edition of the bible also features a more elaborate description of Tawna's intended character and role in the story, calling her "the perfect blend of beauty and brains". She was written to match wits with Cortex, attempt to reason with N. Brio, who at that point was to be a more sympathetic character, and try to get Cortex's henchmen to rebel against him. 's official website for Crash Bandicoot also echoes this description of Tawna.

The April 8, 1996 prototype of Crash Bandicoot is the earliest publicly-available record of Tawna having her final, scaled-back design. Tawna's color scheme in this prototype is drastically different, however; her fur and muzzle colors are an orangeish brown both as opposed to separately-colored orange fur and peach muzzle, her shirt and socks are magenta instead of burgundy, her shorts are green instead of blue, and her eyeshadow is blue instead of a pale rose color. Tawna still retained this design in the May 11, 1996 prototype of the game. The prototype coloration was also used for a series of test animations produced by for Crash Bandicoot, though both were rejected by  and disincluded out of preference for 3D animation. This coloration of Tawna can be seen in the final game on a banner in The Great Hall, although with the pale rose eyeshadow of the final design. Tawna herself sports the older colors when the curtain is pulled back, before Crash reaches her, but is shown with her final coloration in the ending cutscene.

In the end, most of the traits that Tawna is described with in the August 15, 1995 edition of the production bible for the game didn't make it into the final game. Particularly, both Crash and Tawna's lines were cut from the intro and replaced with a dialogue between Neo Cortex and N. Brio. Tawna is instead shown held in restraint by two Lab Assistants.

Absence from the series
Tawna Bandicoot stopped appearing in Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot games starting with the release of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back; notably, her absence is filled by the addition of a new character, Coco Bandicoot.

Throughout development of the first game, Tawna faced pushback mainly related to her design. According to Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, Tawna's initial design was sharply criticized by Universal Interactive Studios' marketing director, Kelly Flaherty. She perceived it as sexist and oversexualized. Naughty Dog edited Tawna's design according to her specifications, but lost interest in the character.

The Crash Bandicoot series was also heavily marketed in Japan. Many changes were made to the games and their characters to better appeal to the Japanese audience. Concept artist Charles Zembillas stated that even after the changes to Tawna's design, Sony of Japan was still uncomfortable with her as a "super sexy character". They also felt that Tawna looked too old to appeal to Japanese players. Shuhei Yoshida, the producer for the Japanese localizations of the first four Crash Bandicoot games, recalled one young playtester seeing Tawna and asking "Who's this middle-aged woman?". This influenced Sony of Japan to begin design work for a new character, Crash's younger sister Coco Bandicoot. In contrast to Tawna, Coco was designed to be a youthful, cute, and active character. Beginning with the sequel, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, she would replace Tawna as the series' "token girl".

Despite this, Tawna would continue to be referenced in Japan-exclusive side material, such as in the manual for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and the epilogues added for the Japanese release of Crash Bash, Tawna would also be referenced globally with a cameo appearance in Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Additionally, similarly feminine and objectified characters would appear in Crash Team Racing, another Naughty Dog-developed and Sony-published Crash Bandicoot title, in the form of the Nitro Squad.

Tawna Bandicoot would eventually return to the series as a major character in Crash Boom Bang!, made by the Japanese company. Tawna would eventually start making prominent reappearances with the release of the -developed Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, a collection of remakes of the first three Crash Bandicoot games, wherein Tawna is depicted with a more modest figure and a slightly more proactive characterization.

Relationship with Crash Bandicoot
Tawna Bandicoot was designed to be Crash Bandicoot's girlfriend, with Crash tasked to rescue her from captivity in the first Crash Bandicoot game. Following Tawna's subsequent absence from the series, some alterations have been made to this aspect of her character throughout her appearances.

The Japanese manual for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back explains Tawna's absence, in contrast to versions of the game released elsewhere. It states that Tawna broke up with Crash Bandicoot to pursue Pinstripe Potoroo, another character from the first Crash Bandicoot game. This story would go on to be referenced in a handful of Crash Bandicoot media, including Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, a Japan-exclusive manga adapting the events of Cortex Strikes Back and its manual; and BradyGames' officially-licensed strategy guide for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. The first direct reference to it in a Crash Bandicoot game was in Crash Boom Bang!, developed by Japanese company Dimps.

No reference was made to their relationship in the Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled game, though a promotional screenshot for one of its in-game updates alludes to the story seen in the Japanese Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back manual. In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Coco Bandicoot states that she and Crash "lost touch" with Tawna.

Trivia

 * Crash mistaking Coco's adult-self hologram for Tawna in Crash's and Coco's ending scenes in the Japanese version of Crash Bash is similar to a gag seen in the first chapter of Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, where Crash mistakes the regular Coco for Tawna as she enters his house moments after he reads Tawna's parting letter.