Originally Posted by
Texan615
Well, for most people, the first version of Conan they have actually "seen" was Arnold in the 1982 movie, even though Conan existed in stories from the 30's.
I will use James Bond as another example. Ian Fleming wrote Bond novels a few years before the first few movies came out. For me and a lot of other people, James Bond to us will always be Sean Connery. He was the first Bond, thus he is the prototype Bond for all the others. All the other actors that played Bond just weren't the same, though I think Pierce Brosnan's Bond was pretty good, as well as Daniel Craig's Bond reboot. But Connery will always be the "Alpha Bond" just like many consider Arnold as the "Alpha Conan", the others just aren't up to snuff.