If you're talking strictly about the physical appearance, sure they did. TR 1-5 are basically the same game, running on the same engine, and Lara looks practically the same. These were all released within a span of 5 years, so it's no wonder only incremental changes were done.

TR 6 was the first attempt to redesign the character, but then again, the game setting and direction was entirely different. After that flopped, the series went on hiatus until the very well received 2006 reboot with Legend, which was developed by Crystal Dynamics instead of Core Design, so the changes aren't surprising.

> The continuity of the first six games is simply lost, it's like replacing Homer Simpson with some different, slimmer, more average looking character, while still calling him Homer Simpson.

I see your point, but video game characters are much more fluid than cartoon characters. For one, the content is released every few years, and each release gives designers the chance to tweak the appearance. Moreover, the technology changes rapidly, which makes some features possible that weren't before, and designers tend to experiment with that. The free-flowing hair braid wasn't possible before the first TR game, and neither was making a character "attractive", so they leaned into those features in the early design. But it doesn't mean that these are the defining features of the character.

Ultimately this boils down to the creative vision of the creators, and how strictly they want to stick to a single design throughout the series. Considering the TR IP changed hands several times, it's likely that designers were given the freedom to experiment.

BTW, those cosplayers are enacting the early version of Lara, but notice that those sunglasses aren't fashionable anymore, and realistically, that outfit is highly impractical for the exploring that Lara is supposed to do. So if the artistic vision for the project changes for whatever reason, so will the character appearance. As long as they keep the fundamental traits of the character, their physical appearance shouldn't matter. At least to me it doesn't, but you're free to disagree, of course. :)

Ha ha. And what would they know about character design!

The new design has proven sticky amongst a proportion of the cosplay community at the very least, and that surely is a useful bellwether.