February 14th is not only Valentine’s Day but also the birthday of one of the biggest female icons in video games Lara Croft From Tomb Raider. So this little article is a tribute present for the Indiana Jones Girl version we all fell in love with.
While her birthday has remain constant in pretty much every continuity that metnions it I don’t believe for a second it’s a coincidence it landed on Valentine’s Day. She was heavily marketed as being a gamers Waifu and a sex icon. She was bad-ass, yet hot and all the attitude to make you want her knowing full well she was out of everyone’s league. For this reason the date of lovers was chosen to have her have more appeal in a way. I don’t know.
Despite this we’ve never really seen Lara Croft’s birthday used as a marketing device for Valentine’s Day or really referenced. Her look was definitely sexualized a lot in the 90s but this aspect was never touched upon, then again she wasn’t James Bond sleeping with every other person, she was sexual but never shown to really get around.
You can still find plenty of renders of Original Lara Croft in not only seductive poses but clearly trying to seduce someone. In game you don’t really find much of this though, the most I can think of is her showing more cleavage in her classic outfit in later games
The Legends continuity on the other hand despite toning down the sexualization of Lara Croft in the marketing was ironically more available through the costumes she wears in the game. In these tomb Raider games we finally see Lara wearing a dress for example which shows a lot more of her breasts which unlike the polygonal ones from the original games which looked like they could be “real”, these ones definitely look like they were made by a plastic surgeon.
Of coure the Legends timeline is when they desexualized nuLara though ironically enough because of mods she is likely the Lara Croft with the most availability of skimpy outfits available. As far as other timelines are concerned the comics at the very least definitely played up the sexuality like most 90s EXTREME comics of the decade. Here Lara is likely at her most seductive.
The point I’m trying to make is that Lara Croft is a character that likes to show her sexuality at certain times though she isn’t really promiscuous. I wonder if they chose her that date for her birthday to imply otherwise or jsut to have more men choose her as her Waifu. Who knows.
Some facts about Lara Crofts Age:
In the original games she was born in 1968 making her roughly 28 years old in her first game and 55 years old today. I can see her being this character who is still a great Tomb Raider doing hardcore stuff and still being a MILF. Her original adventures up to AoD would mean she was around 35 years old.
In the Legends games she was born in 1977 making her roughly 29 years old in her first game and years 46 old today. This would be an interesting age to see an older Tomb Raider game where it’s still plausible. Her original adventures up to Underworld would mean she was around 31 years old.
In the Survivor games she was born in 1992 making her roughly 21 years old in her first game and years 31 old today. So it’s really now that she’d be doing her best work Tomb Raiding at 31. Her original adventures go up to Shadow would mean she was around 26 years old.
It’s interseting to see that for the most part Lara Croft seems to be portrayed as around 30 in most of her games, Legends being an excepcion since it’s her origin story, but most of her adventures that we play as would have her being older in her 30s since she is far more experienced. While playing as a younger Lara is neat I do think the 30s range is what feels right when playing Tomb Raider.
I do think it’s a missed opportunity not to do something special for Lara Croft’s birthday and linking it to Valentine’s day, at least with one continuity. Having her be that sassy girl we know and love in the day of Love.
Happy Birthda y Lara!