Bets are high that it is Megan Fox.

Understandably, these rumors are strongly fueled by the recent box-office blockbuster success of Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But there can be more to the film than meets the eye regarding the selection of Fox. Here is a test for your own eyes:

Fox is being called in the media as an Angelina Clone, Angelina Jr., or Angelina 2.0. She is truly a deadringer for Jolie with the frame, the sex symbol status, and the attitude. Fox can even match up a bit in the luscious lips category. Angelina Jolie is the most influential person according to Time Magazine so that’s not a bad point of comparison for Fox.

Probably one of the more noticeable bases for the comparisons lies in the tattoos of the two celebrities so let’s take a look:

Jolie has about thirteen known tattoos. It includes the Tennessee Williams quote “A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages.”She also has the Latin proverb “quod me nutrit me destruit (what nourishes me destroys me).”

On the other hand, Fox has the Shakespeare quote “We will all laugh at gilded butterflies” besides a poem she composed “There once was a little girl who never knew love until a boy broke her heart.”

On to the more intimate tattoos, Jolie has geographical coordinates on her upper left arm to indicate where her children and adopted ones hail from. For her part, Fox has an imposing Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her left lower arm.

Rumors state that Angelina Jolie is not really happy about the news on the casting decision. A source from The Sun states: “Angie was intent on reprising her role. She feels it’s something she helped define and feels robbed that it looks likely to be handed to someone who she considers less capable than her.”

Of course this did not come from Jolie herself so we should not take this as gospel. For all we know, these are just wild speculations and controversy stewing by tabloids in Hollywood. But it is at least an indication that conflict seems to be brewing.

As for Fox at least she does not lack in the humility department.

“I think it’s a lack of creativity on the media’s part. Because I have tattoos and dark hair and I was in an action movie? That’s as far as the similarities extend. I’m not the next anyone.”

Furthermore:

“I haven’t had the opportunity to meet her and I try to avoid that because I’m afraid,” and “She’s a powerful person and I bet she would eat me alive,” Fox remarks, “I’m sure she has no idea who I am. But if I were her, I’d be like, ‘Who the f*** is this little b*llsh*t brat who was in Transformers that’s going to be the next me?’ I don’t want to meet her. I’d be embarrassed.”

The way we see it: Angelina Jolie is so beautiful and influential that she can still play the part even though she is already on the young side of thirty. But since the third film is planned to be a prequel of the 2001 initial release, Megan Fox can give it a go to try to show younger looks.

However, if you can have the real thing, why not? Here is to hoping Angelina Jolie returns.

What it all boils down to is a set of factors which work in the favor of a video game cartoon character in order to stand out among the competition. To understand this further, let’s move away from anthropomorphic cartoon mascots to a real person rendered into the video game world: Lara Croft of the storied Tomb Raider franchise.

For the uninitiated, Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game series which normally centers on the search for a very powerful artifact by the female treasure hunter Lara Croft as she is pursued by many shady organizations out to get her. The first game of the entire franchise was released in 1996 and was very instrumental in the success of the first Sony PlayStation video game console. In 2006, the Guinness Book of World Records gave the distinction to Lara Croft as the “Most Successful Human Videogame Heroine” in 2006.

Where did this success come from? Conceptualized by Toby Gard, Lara Croft has not only been recognized as a female counterpart of Indiana Jones but also as a symbol for feminism and even as a sexual fantasy. This image was a direct consequence of the character design of Lara Croft – adventurous, fiery, self-reliant and packaged in the physical attributes of free-flowing hair, softer face features and enlarged (and eventually reduced) breast size, brown shorts, a blue-green sleeveless top, holsters by the hips and a small backpack.

Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider video game series further solidified its stake in the popular culture by venturing into the silver screen where Croft was personified by the top celebrity in the recent Forbes list Angelina Jolie. Lara Croft stuck in the minds of many people thanks to the sizzling appeal of Angelina Jolie in two films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

In the first film, the life of Lara Croft is first brought into the fore as an adventurous daughter of a rich British aristocratic family. At this time, the planets of the solar system were said to be in line for an astronomical conjunction. This planetary alignment is said to be critical in the search for the All-seeing Eye which will give its possessors with control of time through the Triangle of Light. As it turns out, the All-seeing Eye is in the Croft mansion.

Combating the Illuminati, Lara Croft seeks to destroy the All-seeing Eye in order to prevent widespread catastrophe.

On the other hand, Lara Croft sets to find the Pandora Box in the 2003 sequel Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. The Pandora Box supposedly contains a very deadly plague which should not come in the hands of the evil scientist Jonathan Reiss. An orb is essential in finding the artifact. To help in her quest, Lara recruits Terry Sheridan, a former mercenary imprisoned in Siberia.

A third sequel is being planned and is yet unnamed. Early reports have indicated that Angelina Jolie may not return to reprise her role. It is expected to be a reboot of the origins of the franchise in a similar way as Batman in Batman Begins. Among the rumored celebrities being courted for the new role is Megan Fox of the upcoming sci-fi movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Lara Croft is an example of how a character can be used to enhance a franchise (in this case, a video game) by targeting its demographic. With the peg of Tomb Raider for the male hardcore gaming demographic, the sex appeal of Lara Croft was used as a primary marketing pull. Another huge factor is the originality of Lara Croft at a time when most of the lead video game characters were mainly male.