As I've mentioned before characters with a long ongoing series will inevitably changed and will, at some point, barely resemble who they use to be. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, X-Men and even real life historical figures like Macbeth and Richard III have all gone through such changes over the years that often the only thing that's remain the same is their names.CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 11:34 am I'm going to make a controversial choice that "Survivor Lara" is actually not a great origin for her despite being a fantastic story. Because the character created by Survivor Lara is fundamentally a really bad fit for the TOMB RAIDER universe.
Who is Lara Croft?
Is she a happy go-lucky globe trotting adventuress who wears evening dresses, khaki shorts, and has a variety of romantic as well as heroic adventures across the globe? Is she someone who absolutely LOVES archaeology and has a quirky sly sense of humor?
You know, the Angelina Jolie and pre-reboot persona?
Or is she a haunted, fanatical, short murder hobo who is out to kill all of Trinity for revenge and carries a huge weight on her shoulders for all the people she's failed to save?
Now I do think the whole "Avenge Parents" arc has outstayed its welcome though in all fairness that was a studio mandate for the other games in the series and NOT the story Pratchett tell. Pratchett wanted a story where Lara is doing what she does for herself, to understand with the story of her father being already resolved in a few bits of dialogue in the first game.
It was the Executive Producers who mandated that the story be about Lara's father and while I love how Blood Ties handles the story of Lara finding our what happened to her mother the rest of Rise hurts Lara's arc as does Shadow.
That's why I think Sam is such a breath of fresh air and why she adds so much to the series.
My favorite stories in this series have all tied directly into Lara's relationship with Sam like A Survivor is Born, Choice & Sacrifice, Queen of Serpents and to a lesser degree issue 3 of the Inferno arc. Which is why, all mixed feelings about how she was brought back in put aside, I'm so exited for season 2 of TLOLC because it promises to put the focus squarely on Lara and Sam.
The ending of season 1 makes it clear that Sam has been investigating a crime syndicate for a while so this will be as much Sam's story as Lara's since these are her adversaries and Lara is going after Sam because it's Her Sam. She's doing this because this is someone she loves in danger and she will do everything she can to save her.
I fully agree that Lara doing what she does to honor her father's legacy is a mistake but on the whole I still prefer the more dramatic angle the series went in vs. the more, for lack of a better term, why the hell not angle of the original.
