Tag: core design

Paréo Paradiso – Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft

This figure I bought shortly after the other one, at FACTS. It is entitle “Paréo Paradiso” which would imply she’s wearing a wraparound dress. I remember seeing the pose she’s based on (was it in one of the cinematics? Or just some out-of-game artwork?) and in that, it definitely looked more like a towel. So not sure if the original model was wrong or this one is “wrong” :P. 

Here she is, in her towel/dress:

As with the other one, there’s some noticeable paint flaws going on. Mine’s got a bit of stray paint on her foot, and a bit of blobbiness in one of her hair strands. With the fabric wrapping around her, it definitely looks more like a dress fabric than a towel, due to the way the creases are moulded. 

Left:

Her face looks OK, not sure she’s entirely pleased to see us looking at her in just a thin piece of fabric… The moulding looks really good from this angle imo, and probably is a better display angle than front on, where you can’t see her face too well. 

Right:

Mostly looks OK from this angle, but the dress is too flat against her right leg, which leaves it looking painted on. Could’ve done with a line of shading or to actually mould it, like it is on the left leg. 

Back:

Admire her shapley backside :P. It would’ve been nice if they added some detail to the dress, as it does look a bit like she’s been papier-mâché’d. With this one, there is a couple of rubbing marks on the back. Not entirely surprising, as she’s probably been kicking around for awhile. The forked hair looks a little odd – may’ve been better to either not fork it, or have the bits “lean” the same way. 

I paid €5 for her, so a cheap figure. Was glad I could find another one of this “set”. 

Lara Croft – Angel of Darkness – Strahov Complex

I bought this figure in a collectables shop, along with the zombie head. This figure originates from France, but I can’t find out a lot of information about this series of figures. 

So in lieu of information, here is a pic:

It’s quite a solid figure, paint job is on the sloppier side, but good enough at a distance. Love the camo on her shorts, and her face came out well imo. The sculpt is decent, but not overly detailed. 

Left side:

The black paint appears like it didn’t want to go where it was intended to go :P. Having the hair as strands is nice. Not sure what’s going on with that back shoe – looks like they wanted to have her feet more level, and tried to use the floor colour to make her soles an even shape. Yeah… didn’t quite work, and looks like she’s wearing one platform shoe… d’oh. 

The text across the bottom is “L’Ange des Ténèbres, Strahov Complex”, which is the name of the game in French, followed by the level she’s in. 

Right side:

Copyright to Core Design, showing these are official figures. And some serious platform shoe going on. The black paint is neater on this side, but mine has a couple of marks. Fortunately this is on the back, so it doesn’t show when displayed. Hair is a little sloppily painted on this side. 

Back:

The back looks fine, some nice details in the sculpt. Most noticeable paint flaw here for me is the strap on her left thigh, followed by the shoe top. 

Overall, this is nice for a cheaper collectable. I paid £8, and that would probably be the max I’d recommend spending on her. If you want a small statue of Lara, I think these are pretty decent, but there will be paint flaws.