page_title: Lars Alexandersson
section_title: Creation and design
hierarchical_section_title: Lars Alexandersson / Creation and design
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 2016年8月6日 大阪府立体育会館 「G1 CLIMAX 26」 棚橋弘至
context_page_description: Lars Alexandersson is a fictional character from the Tekken fighting game franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment. First introduced in the 2008 game Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, he became the main protagonist in the console versions of Tekken 6.
  He is a former member of the Tekken Force paramilitary unit, confronting the corrupt Mishima Zaibatsu corporation, responsible for starting a world war. Revealed to be the illegitimate son of the corporation's former leader Heihachi Mishima, he confronts Heihachi's grandson Jin Kazama who now runs the company, in order to stop the war his half-nephew started during the Tekken 6 storyline. Since Tekken 6, Lars has become a recurring character in the franchise, and has appeared as a guest character in games such as Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 and Street Fighter X Tekken.
  Conceived from a name idea for a Swedish character, Lars was given a moveset fitting with other strong characters in the series, to make him easy to use by newcomers to the franchise. While he became fairly popular among fans of the series, the character had a mixed reception from video game reviewers.
context_section_description: Game developer studio Namco had wanted to include a Tekken Force character to the series since Tekken 3. Lars' full name was proposed to the staff by an unknown woman from the Swedish embassy in Japan, years before Tekken 6 was developed. Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada found it "cool" and immediately decided to use the name. Lars was finally introduced to Tekken 6 in an update titled Bloodline Rebellion. In early sketches, Lars was depicted as older than his in-game appearance, with a beard and a ponytail. Another rejected sketch featured Lars' complete Tekken Force design that covered his entire face and had a bigger cape. Unlike other new Tekken 6 characters who were based on fan input, both Lars and fellow newcomer Alisa Bosconovitch were created using a different approach, focusing on their importance to the game's story. As a result, in the arcade version of Tekken 6, most of Lars' identity was kept a mystery, leaving it to the console versions' Scenario Campaign mode to explain his role in the series, with Harada teasing about his potential attack of Jin Kazama's forces. In response to claims that the story of Tekken was complicated, Harada denied as he saw it as a "simple" struggle between members from the Mishima family and how multiple characters are dragged into this. Lars was designed with the idea of him not being a corrupted protagonist, contrasting Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima's stories. His original outfit symbolizes multiple heroes in fiction with his armor being derived from Dragon Ball's Goku and Marvel Comics's Thor's designs. Michael Murray explained the Tekken team created Lars in order to appeal to the Nordic audiences based on the series popularity in that region.
  As with several other characters from Tekken 6, Lars was given an alternate outfit designed by a manga artist, with Lars' being done by Masashi Kishimoto, author of the manga Naruto. In redesigning Lars, Kishimoto removed his Tekken Force outfit and gave him one made of a soft rubber material, marked with a lion figure on his right arm. He also made multiple cuts for the belt on the back, so that Lars' kicking techniques would be possible. Also, on the outfit's back are the numbers for Sweden's telephone country code: "46". In the Wii U version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Lars has an extra costume based on Link from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. For Tekken 7, Lars was given another look by Akira Nishitani, aka Nin-Nin. After multiple drafts that gave Lars different colors and accessories, Nin-Nin made one which retains elements from the Tekken Force design, while adding a torn red cape. For Street Fighter X Tekken, Lars retains his Tekken 6 outfit, but is also given an alternate ninja outfit.
  In October 2017, as part of a collaboration between Tekken's staff and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, it was revealed that Lars would be getting a new costume in Tekken 7, inspired by professional wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi. When using this costume, Lars' theme changes to "LOVE&ENERGY" by Yonosuke Kitamura, and he is given a new move known as "Sling Blade". The costume was released in Japanese arcades on November 18, 2017, while the console versions obtained it as free downloadable content on May 31, 2018. After the collaboration, Tanahashi praised the resulting change in Lars' design, as well as the incorporation of his own moves.
  Across all his appearances, Lars has been voiced by Junichi Suwabe, including Street Fighter X Tekken, where he is also voiced by Zach Hanks in the English dub. Suwabe enjoyed voicing the character and expected his players to enjoy him in Tekken 7. He also commented about the Tekken 7 trailer where Lars and Noctis interact together.
caption: Hiroshi Tanahashi served as the inspiration for Lars' extra Tekken 7 outfit
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