Tag: tomb raider

Lara Croft – Tomb Raider

More old Western action figures! This time Lara from Tomb Raider:

That’s one helluva face… Her head is too thin, and that lipstick is way too red. The material shorts were an interesting choice. Looks like one of the legs has come unfurled during this photoshoot, which doesn’t help. Note to self: go fix that. I think with the top not being fabric, this doesn’t work so well, and maybe they would have been better off moulding them, but this was probably the easiest way, without losing leg articulation entirely. 

Left:

… and I didn’t pose this uzi correctly – her finger does fit in the trigger, and sits well in her hand. The holsters do feel super-large to her body, but they were designed to fit the guns she comes with, so you do have the option of holstering them. Her hair looks OK, but isn’t super-detailed. You can rotate her pony tail though. 

Right:

Here we can see where the white paint on her sock/shoe is a mess. Bit of a shame. The black bands on her leg are supposed to be where her holsters attached… but here they’re just um, garters? It might be possible to pull the holsters down so they reach, but it won’t look good. On the fence about them adding these – it is more accurate to her design, but defeats the point if her holsters aren’t attached to the bands. 

Back:

Here the stitching is a bit of a mess on the back, but the rolled short looks nice. Her backpack is pretty decent – not too much detail to it, but does the job. The joints in her arm are very visible, but this is typical of older figures. The stand in these photos is one of the spare bases I have – without a base she doesn’t really balance, so I’d recommend getting one of these plastic disc bases for her. She has a standard sized hole though (these bases work with NECA figures, for an example), so if you have a spare base, it’s worth trying with her. 

Watch out Lara!

The thing that attracted me to this figure other than the fact it was Lara was the fact she comes with a couple of creatures. She comes with this bat, and what’s apparently an Atlantean Guard:

I really like this little guy – he has a fair amount of detail to him too. Possibly more so than Lara! He also has a peg on his tail, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what this pegs to. 

Right:

Vicious lookin’ bugger. Don’t think I want to cross him. The eye is painted really well. 

Back of the guard and bat::

They’re both nicely detailed on the back. These accessories are almost better than the main feature, lol. 

Here are the other two guns she comes with:

You can sling these over her shoulders, if you like. I find that a bit overkill. They’re not hugely detailed, but I like the fact they’ve been included. I may sling one over her shoulder, but not both. 

Overall, I don’t think I could recommend this figure, and it’s one for the more hardcore collector/fan. I have a soft spot for things Lara, so couldn’t resist adding this to my collection, with the low price tag. If you’re in the US, you should be able to pick this up as cheaply as I did, however it could end up pretty costly in other countries. She feels like an experimental figure from the 90s, of ideas that would be later refined, and she has a face that only a mother could love… 

Lara Croft – Union Jack variant – NECA

Last but not least from Forbidden Zone, Lara Croft in a Union Jack shirt:

Upon getting her out of the box, she has a platiciser issue, and her skin is quite sticky. Haven’t washed her yet. Had to buy her because… union jack. 

Close-up of her top:

Her hair they’ve tried to shade but not sure it worked. The texture seems a bit rough on her hair. Her makeup I think is a bit too on the severe side. Far off, the painting on her top looks OK, but close-up, it doesn’t really hold up. The neckline is particularly a mess, but there is some mess in the middle of the flag. The 

The shininess on her face is due to the plasticiser, and some of the uneven colour may be due to it too. If the makeup parts were done in a less severe colour, I think her face would look much nicer, and I wouldn’t have complaints about it. 

Close-up of her shorts:

Most of the painting is pretty neat. Some weathering effects, which is a nice touch. And a nice-looking belly button :). The guns can come out of the holsters – they start off in the blister, or she can hold the pistols. 

Empty holster:

They’re rubbery and hold the pistols quite well. They need a bit of a shove to get in there fully. 

Left:

She looks good from the side. Some weird orange line on her leg – not investigated if this is plasticiser effect, or if it’s painted on there. Unsure if deliberate or not, could be mud… Here I’ve taken the shotgun out of her hand, but here’s why you kind of need a weapon equipped:

Yeah. You can face the back of her hand forward, and that doesn’t look as odd, but the hands are moulded for holding her weapons, so you can’t do too much with them if she hasn’t got a weapon in her hand. Would’ve been nice to have some fists/flat hands so she didn’t look odd when not holding a gun or the sword. 

Right side:

Looking a bit sunburnt on this side, lol. I love this interesting-looking artefact weapon. I should probably really know what it is… 

Close-up of the weapon:

Love the blue dots on it, and the intricate design. 

Back:

Some mottling, which might be the fault of the plasticiser. But it does look like she’s been out adventuring to me :)> Plenty of grenades back here to fend off the beasties. Love her backpack – this has been well sculpted and painted. Hair still looks a little rat-tail though. 

Close-up of the grenades:

… and her backside. Not too much of a backside view, due to the accoutrements on her belt. The grenades look good, and painted neatly. 

And the last of her arsenal:

Pistols look OK, shotgun is painted OK, but the backend I think looks like it has been through a steamroller – I guess to make it thin enough for her to hold. Also not sure it’s actually faithful to any of the games? Grenade launcher looks… eh. That one is going into storage. She can’t hold it well either. And another point about holding her weapons – she seems to like to practice trigger safety, and it seems hard/impossible to get her trigger finger into the trigger guards on her weapons. Kinda like the weapons were a bit of an afterthought. Pistols look good in her holsters, even if they look mediocre out of them. And she has that sword to wield, which is the favoured option for me. 

Overall, I love the look of this figure and did a good job for the most part, just a shame about some of the more major paint flaws. Also she has very little articulation in her arms, which severely limits posing. However, I’m forgiving of this – with older figures, the elbow joints tend to suck massively and show far too much, so this is the better option. Would’ve been nice to have some replaceable hands, and dispense with the kinda crappy looking guns. 

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.