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Tawna Bandicoot is a womanly bandicoot 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 the original counterpart doesn't physically appear, 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, 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.

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 direct reference to this in the games.

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. Her default Driving Style is Acceleration. She appears alongside Ami, Isabella, Liz, and Megumi to form the Nitro Squad.

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 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.

Other 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 Slip Icecapades level.

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

Crash Bandicoot (manga)
Tawna is present in the two chapters of Takahiro Yamashita's manga adaptation of the first Crash Bandicoot, which largely follows the events of the original game.

Japanese Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back manual
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 Chigago, USA in order to be with Pinstripe Potoroo. The events described would be referenced in the Japan-exclusive ''Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken manga, 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 them in a Crash Bandicoot'' game.

Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken
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 as it follows the story present in the manual for the Japanese version of Crash Bandicoot 2, where she suddenly leaves Crash a parting letter as she goes to be with Pinstripe, which causes Crash to engage in activities to make himself seem more attractive to women throughout the manga. She is later mentioned in the final chapter of the second volume as Crash dreams about becoming heroic enough for Tawna to come back to him, kissing Aku Aku in his sleep in the process.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Official Strategy Guide
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, blonde [insert hairstyle here] 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.

Crash Boom Bang!
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 / Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
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 Dr. Neo Cortex's prisoner, having a shocked expression 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.

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, to be Crash Bandicoot's love interest. Like Crash, Tawna was designed after a wombat, only to eventually be named a bandicoot. The first sketches of Tawna, allegedly made on January of 1995, depict Tawna as sporting a body much closer to similar early concepts of Crash, and going through several characterizations ranging 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.

Crash Bandicoot

 * US manual, p. 20


 * "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, p. 17


 * 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, character selection
 * Japanese: ナイスバディーの　セクシーギャル　ピンスチライプを　おっかけている (A sexy gal with a nice body. She's chasing after Pinstripe. )
 * English: "Tawna, the blonde bombshell, is crazy about Pinstripe."

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.