Tank tops and akimbo wielding as Lara Croft came to town
Hatti Rex
Tomb Raider 30 — As the legendary video game celebrated her 30th birthday, around 80 superfans took part in a cosplay competition at her birthplace of Derby. Hatti Rex and Emily Rose England met some of the participants and found out what gaming’s greatest woman character means to them.
Tomb Raider 30— As the legendary video game celebrated her 30th birthday, around 80 superfans took part in a cosplay competition at her birthplace of Derby. Hatti Rex and Emily Rose England met some of the participants and found out what gaming’s greatest woman character means to them.
On the top floor of cultural hub and art-house cinema QUAD Derby, dozens of identical girls in matching cargo shorts and combat boots restlessly wait in-line. Helping each other with last minute wardrobe fixes, around 80 Lara Crofts and other characters from the series are nervously waiting for their cue to enter the annual Tomb Raidercosplay competition. This year, there’s even more buzz around the contest: how else would the most iconic female gaming protagonist of all time celebrate her 30th birthday?
Across the city, TR30 anniversary celebrations have been kicking off, organised by superfan and merch collector Luke Earle and the wider Tomb Raider Derbyteam. Derby’s Pickford House museum has an entire exhibition dedicated to the game’s heroine Lara Croftrunning since July 24 with this weekend providing the final boss of festivities.
Costumes aside, the day’s stacked quest log included talks and signings from game’s original and current developers, original Lara models Alison Carolland Natalie Cook and voice actors Alix Wilton Regan, Judith Gibbins and Jonell Elliot. Egyptologist and University of Liverpool professor Marina Escolano-Povedowho got into her profession from being inspired by the games herself spoke about the ancient worlds explored in the games. Themed drinks based on in-game items were available: The Jade Dragon, a green one, plus a questionable glowing blue concoction named The Eye of Isis.
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If you’re asking why this is happening in Derby specifically, the city is where Tomb Raider was originally created in 1993 by developers Core Design, with Croft herself conceived by developer Toby Gard. Shortly after the studio’s closure, a nearby road was named ‘Lara Croft Way’ in her honour. She notably has her own Hollywood-style star on the Derby Walk of Fameand this weekend, a 9ft statue of Croft finally came homefollowing a £30,000 online fundraiser to make her a permanent fixture. She’s plastered across the Derby Maker’s museum and the Derby Videogame Museum – our angel of the Midlands.
Fellow Midlands-born gamergirl and photographer Emily Rose England joined me on a day-long quest inside QUAD Derby to snap the friendly faces of the global Tomb Raider community, who had adventured in especially for the occasion. Below, Lara’s biggest fans explain their continued love of the game and discuss how they really feel about the industry nowadays.
Hatti Rex is a freelance journalist and contributing editor atPolyester. Follow her onInstagram.
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