Crash Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot "Woah!" Gender: Male Type: Goofy & Heroic Warrior Mutated Goofball Species: Eastern Barred Bandicoot Portrayed by: Brendan O'Brien (1996–2003) Chip Chinery (1999) Steve Blum (2003) Jess Harnell (2005–2019) Scott Whyte (2020) Status: Alive Media of origin: Crash Bandicoot

'"Uh-oh!"
-Crash's first words

Crash Bandicoot is the titular character and main protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series. he is a mutant eastern-barred bandicoot who lives in N. Sanity Island and usually fights against his creator, Dr. Neo Cortex. 

Why He's Cool, Brave, and Ready for Action

1. Naughty Dog once referenced the development of Crash as a character both "goofy yet heroic", and a bumbling well-meaning airhead who doesn't speak, as well as being able to portray it very well. 
   • This is the most defining aspect of Crash. While select post-Naughty Dog games play him up more as an idiot (something that was to some degree the original idea in concept art for the first game), the base characterization is less a matter of intelligence so much as Crash being... not entirely there. Whereas everyone around him takes their positions (relatively) seriously, he's a borderline cartoon character prone to clumsy slapstick shenanigans. Even in Crash's most air-headed bouts, however, he is usually smarter than he looks.
   • He is an incident-prone buffoon most of the time, but there's no denying he's a hero worth his salt several times over. While his attention span can be seriously lacking, he always bravely endeavors to protect others and do the right thing, and has triumphed over a veritable army of mutants and monsters time and again, traveling the world, into space, through time and across dimensions to save the world.
   • Crash's intellect borders on animalistic at times, however, he can accustom to nearly any new tactic placed in front of him, be it controlling new vehicles and weaponry, or even sapient creatures.
2. He can spin into place, creating a tornado, which helps him fight against enemies that can kill him in one shot.
3. He always finds a way to defeat bosses, no matter how ridiculous or powerful.
   • He always comes out on top, even if he takes a few stumbles with surviving tons of injuries here and there. Especially in It's About Time, where the majority of key plot pivots are caused by his accidental blundering, his more competent allies helping him, or his enemies blundering their attempts to stop him.
4. Even though he is a complete and utter goofball, there are times when Crash can be dangerous and crafty when provoked. Especially since he has to use his wits and agility to save the world.
   • Most of Crash's moments of being legitimately crafty usually fall into being so insane, that his tactics end up very working well for him. Need a quick trip down a mountain? Slide down it on Cortex! Threatened by an enormous death weapon? Throw something like a chicken or a wumpa fruit into its gears.
   • Even at his dumbest, Crash is thoroughly capable of saving the day, and his track record for making an ass of things isn't really much greater than even his smartest comrades or foes. Indeed, considering most boss fights are strategy based. Considering that a large portion of Crash's foes consists of scientific masterminds, Crash outsmarts intellectuals on a routine basis.
   • Where he isn't exactly strong or smart compared to most of the series' villains, and most of his quests to take them down are plans made on the fly. Games like Cortex Strikes Back and The Wrath of Cortex, have him using the environment or even technology to get a leg-up on bosses he wouldn't otherwise have a chance with.
   • The fourth game's secret ending reveals that Crash is capable of speaking normally, but chooses to knowingly communicate through grunts and blabbering for reasons unknown.
5. He's not very bright and a goof, but he is a very optimistic and consistently helpful, easygoing guy who loves making silly dances. Even his sister is amused by his antics in N. Sane Trilogy (in a platonic sense, of course).
   • He's often compared to Looney Tunes' Taz for Crash's similarity towards him for being an obscure Australian marsupial that mainly speaks in incoherent babbling and minimal words, keeps the lights on upstairs even though no one ever seems to be home, spins around as his main means of offense and for their lack of intellect, as well as getting into plenty of antics that are sure to bust a gut. But unlike Taz being a violent and ravenous jerk, Crash is a happy-go-lucky all-around nice guy.
6. His iconic dance which he does after completing every level is both, hilarious and timeless.
7. He has saved the world multiple times from numerous maniacal villains like Dr. Neo Cortex, his archenemy, and creator.
8. He is a very emotional character and pretty quick to both laugh and cry.
9. While he has a danger-loving, fearless nature and loves a good fight, he prefers relaxing in the sun and rarely seeks out trouble deliberately.
10. His design is crazy-looking and quite funny because of it.
11. Just Like Earthworm Jim, his cartoony elements relating to slapstick comedy are downright enjoyable and hilarious.
    • A ton of Crash's injuries are inflicted on himself, often for being reckless or oblivious. Best demonstrated in the majority of Tag Team Racing's "Die-O-Ramas".
12. Despite being the least intelligent protagonist and prone to plenty of buffooneries, he genuinely cares about his little sister Coco and will stop at nothing if the bad guys threaten her or her life.
    • He is also very forgiving and accepting of others. This is best seen in "Crash Nitro Kart", where he is seen happily forgiving every single boss character once they show they aren't actually that bad, even giving Kronk his yoyo as a gift. "Cortex Strikes Back", "Twinsanity" and "It's About Time" even show that he is perfectly willing to work with Cortex if he believes that it's for the greater good and in the latter, he even hugs him when they join sides and is genuinely hurt when Cortex reveals that he sees Crash as his greatest failure.
13. His portrayal in Crash Bandicoot 4 is hilarious, as well as endearing for the fact he's a brutish goofball with a big heart.
14. His portrayal as seen in the commercials is comical and hilarious, especially since Crash here has a "humorous goofball" type of personality that is always entertaining to watch, even as a commercial!
15. “Hey, Plumber Boy, Moustache Man, Your worst nightmare has arrived”

Bad Qualities

1. Crash's personality is sometimes hard to pinpoint, sometimes varying from game to game.
   • In addition to his own intellect, Crash's dynamic also often varies according to the handling of the rest of the cast. In the original games and It's About Time, he is the one crazy bungling fool among a relatively sane and serious acting group. In games like Nitro Kart and Titans, however, everyone else is even more bombastic and deranged than he is, making Crash more of a goofy straight man.
2. Like Sonic, he barely looks like the animal he's supposed to be and looks more like some kind of cartoonish fox.
3. He was flanderized in Crash Tag Team Racing (the Radical Entertainment Era to be precise), where he is portrayed as demented and took pleasure in torturing innocent animals, park drones, and even himself (it should be noted that the game is criticized for its over-caricaturistic or even complete change in character personalities), but at least he still keeps his original goofy personality overall.
   • With that said, he was even more flanderized in other media like the Skylanders cartoon {compared to the video game counterpart of him being more like his original counterpart & being revived in the Skylanders game strangely enough}; Instead of being zany, and the accident-prone idiot-hero he's known for; he was instead depicted as a so-called brilliant, guileful & deliberately charismatic hero who can talk in an articulate and curious manner (Which was not his character whatsoever, even for how Crash was able to skillfully defeat his bosses with his bravery and strength in the original games).
     • This also shows how he was not as lovable and rather unremarkable as he was with being "goofy" and "action-loving" as his original counterpart actually was. He seemed to be more of a generic (albeit tolerable) Australian Guile-Hero with downplayed goofiness, humor & expressions that can feel forced and typical rather than how his originally crazed, silly personality made him universally beloved. (This was better explained by Caddicarus in his video of The Depressing World of Bad Crash Bandicoot Games}
4. He has a rather sadistic sense of humor at times, shown especially in Crash Tag Team Racing. He is also a bit apathetic at times, though that may be due more to his levels of stupidity, hyperactivity, and spaciness.
5. His campy portrayal in the commercial for Crash Bandicoot 2; Cortex Strikes Back, which has been polarizing and considered to be "So Bad It's Good" (ex. Caddicarus).

Trivia

• Crash was originally named Willy the Wombat. During production of the first game, the marketing director of Universal Interactive Studios insisted that Crash be named "Wez the Wombat," "Wuzzles the Wombat," or "Wizzy the Wombat." Crash was given his final name due to his tendency to crash onto crates. Ultimately, the name Crash was chosen after an ultimatum between Naughty Dog and Universal, who were in favor of the original name. Internally, throughout all of Naughty Dog's games, Crash is still named "willy."
• At the time of its initial release, the character was considered the "unofficial mascot" of Sony, rivaling Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic.
• Crash's "wacky" mental state has often been attributed to his exposure to the at-the-time imperfect Cortex Vortex. This has never been concretely stated within the series, however, nor has Crash's personality prior to the Cortex Vortex ever been seen.
• The game, It's About Time, has Flashback Tapes that date his birthday (specifically, the day that he was hit with the Evolvo-Ray, as a normal bandicoot he could have been older) on July 19, which means he was at least one year old by the time the series began.
• His "Woah!" catchphrase became an internet meme.

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