Lara Croft has been the baddest babe to grace gamers’ screens for over a decade. With unmatched physical strength, astonishing acrobatics, and some big… brains to boot, Lara has become the coolest character ever. Last year, NECA managed to make a buzz with gamers and collectors alike with our brand new Player Select Action Figures, featuring Agent 47 of Hitman: Blood Money, Kain of the Legacy of Kain franchise, and the first lady of asskicking herself, Lara Croft. This year, Lara returns to the world of plastic with a brand-new, dynamic action pose to coincide with the release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be revealing the complete “making of” process here at NECAonline.

Today we begin with some rough clay sculpts of Lara, ready to be sent off for approval and corrections from the fine people at Eidos Interactive. Up first we have a clay sculpt of Lara, with short hair and some rough details. Click on the pics for larger versions!

Then our sculptors add that trademark ponytail and smooth out some rough edges.

Next our sculptors create some hair and facial detail, including those unmistakable Lara Croft lips!

Plus a little refinement to make it nice and pretty…

Finally we put the new, more fully detailed package together for an initial clay sculpt!

So there you have it! Stage 1 of our new figure completed! That’s all for this week, but check back next week for further coverage on the making of our newest figure, Lara Croft, at NECAonline!