Thursday, September 26, 2013

Crash Bandicoot - Lab Assistant rotation 1997

Here's another rarity from Crash. A rotation from 1997 when I was coming up with concept sketches for Naughty Dog as reference for turning characters into a toy line. This fellow is a Neo Cortex Lab Assistant with a jet pack and a face partially hidden because of a metal plate much like N Gin. This is a photocopy of the original and probably the first time the art's been published.


5 comments:

Matt said...

Another figure never to see the light of day :(

Unknown said...

Ah, the lab assistants. One of the many minions of Cortex, alongside the Titans/Mutants in the later games.

I remember that they appeared in a slew of Crash games before vanishing into oblivion after the Wrath of Cortex.

Say Charles, were the designs of the Lab Assistants inspired by Joe Pearson's designs of Cortex's early stages? They have similar traits like the lab coat, googly glasses and all that:
http://imageshack.us/a/img248/8352/42836543740930382521379.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img405/3140/73462543740847180442765.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img17/2497/73430143740829179999780.jpg

Anonymous said...

I loved the lab assistants! They were so funny with all those dresses and inexpressive faces. Their scream was scary in Crash 1 and 2, but in Crash 3 they were completely silent and it was show that they are actually robots created by a big factory called the Neo-Cor System. I think that, other than the Potoroos in Crash 1, they were the only enemies that worked directly for Cortex.

Charles Z said...

Pat I'm sure the Lab Assistants were inspired by Joe's early Neo Cortex concept designs. He designed the characters and I modified them afterwards. Only from the mind of Pearson.

Mister Gribouille said...

Ah yes the enemies from Rock it and Pack-attack!