[Giveaway inside] Why hasn’t Lara Croft been Time’s Person of the Year yet?

If you’re staunch fan of a video games and Time Magazine, you’ll have pondered this question for a very, very long time.

Why hasn’t Lara Croft been Person of the Year on Time magazine yet?

A cover that should happen one day. Credit: APLG Planetariums and Tomb Raider Wiki

I mean, even Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler have graced the covers of Time as the Person of the Year (2016 and 1938), respectively – surely a more positive influence on society should have made it to the cover as well, right?

If you’re wondering whether it’s possible for Lara Croft to have made it to the cover seeing as she’s not actually a real person, look no further than 1982 – when The Computer was literally the “Person of the Year” for Time. It was to herald the coming of the information age, not that “The Computer” was a codename for some supervillain of the 80’s.

Machine of the Year. Credit: Time

To its credit, 1982 dubbed The Computer as “Machine of the Year” rather than “Person of the Year”, so there’s no reason why a similar alteration in category can’t be made for Lara Croft. She has so many achievements under her belt that it eclipses that of many other accomplished, non-fictional people. If you’re not convinced, here’s why Tomb Raider‘s main character should be Person of the Year on Time soon – in 2018, hopefully.

1. She’s won six Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records. Credit: Wikipedia

Let’s be honest. Before Time even considers Lara Croft as someone worthy to grace its cover, we’d need another reputable organisation’s endorsement of her, right? Such as the Guinness Book of World Records, maybe?

And they didn’t just award her one award. Or two awards.

She got six records. And they’re not for the two big reasons you’re thinking of. Her six records are:

• Most successful video game heroine

• Most recognisable female in a video game

• Most detailed game character

• Most real-life stand-ins

• Highest grossing game spin-off

• Most successful live action transfer

She nabbed all these awards in the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer’s Edition.

2. She’s one of the most successful video game action heroines around

A modern video game rendition of Lara Croft. Credit: Wikipedia

Lara Croft’s awards are certainly well earned – she’s one of the most successful action video game protagonists around.

How many other female video game protagonists can you name? Pop culture fans would probably mention Samus Aran from Metroid (but she remains masked for almost the whole game in her first appearance), and Princess Peach from Super Mario Bros could hardly be called… a protagonist. Chun Li is one of the more prominent ones from Street Fighter, but she could hardly be called the face of the series.

Lara Croft is the definite face for Tomb Raider. And in case you’re wondering – she has a detailed backstory to explain how she became an archaeologist-adventurer in the games itself. There have even been three revisions of her story to date!

Development on the Tomb Raider game began in 1993, but even when it debuted in 1996, a female heroine was still rare in video games. Lara Croft was one of the first few distinctive names to have emerged from video game culture.

3. She’s appeared in comics, novels, and an animated series

The Tomb Raider comic book series. Credit: Gamespot

Her popularity transcended video games, appear in comics in 1997 – just a year after her first game came out! She got her comic series in 1999, which was written by acclaimed Superman comics writer Dan Jurgens. The comic proved to be so popular that it was revived in 2014, and runs to this day.

Her popularity spawned three novels – Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult, and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Man of Bronze; and Revisioned: Tomb Raider, an animated web series featuring different incarnations and iterations of Lara Croft by by well-known animators, comic book artists, and writers.

Her impact has gone far beyond that of video games.

4. She’s been played/voiced by 15 people

Heidi Moneymaker. Credit: Facebook

Lara Croft has been depicted by many different people over the years – many to provide her voice in video games and animated series, some to provide the motion capture of her actions, and gorgeous actresses who’ve performed the breathtaking stunts that you’ve seen in the Tomb Raider movies.

But what’s really impressive is that for the Tomb Raider: Underworld game, they got stuntwoman and Olympic Gold medalist Heidi Moneymaker to provide the motion capture for Lara Croft. She even advised the designers on the practical movements for her actions! Moneymaker has also been the stunt double for Black Widow in the Marvel movies – so you know she’s pretty adept at kicking ass!

5. We’ve got three successful Tomb Raider movies about Lara Croft

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Credit: Chris Stuckman

When the first Tomb Raider movie came out in 2001, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, it was the highest grossing movie of its weekend. Sure, it had a video game plot – but it was a movie based on a video game! What really excited fans was seeing Angelina Jolie play Lara Croft – and sharp-eyed moviegoers would have noticed a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig playing one of the supporting characters in the film (he was much thinner then).

The film was popular enough to have a sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which was also a financial success, in 2003.

And this year, we’re seeing a rebooted version of Tomb Raider!

Tomb Raider. Credit: Golden Village Cinemas

This March, Lara Croft returns to the silver screen played by Alicia Vikander. Just like in the games, Tomb Raider sees Lara Croft going on a quest – seek out her missing father. His journal points to extensive research on Queen Himiko, a mythical Japanese empress who had magic powers over life and death. Buried alive in the island of Yamatai, her tomb is said to hold the key to mass destruction. But you can be sure that Lara will raid it – notwithstanding all the booby traps standing in her way!

It’ll be Lara Croft’s third movie. If that isn’t enough to qualify for Person of the Year on Time magazine… well, let’s just say that we’ll be pretty upset.

Want to win Lara Croft’s leatherbound journal?

Lara Croft’s journal.

But wait – there’s more! Since Lara Croft hasn’t gotten on Time magazine yet, we’ve thought of another way to honour all of her loyal fans – by giving away beautiful leather-bound journals courtesy of Warner Brothers!

All you need to to do is follow three simple steps

1. Answer this contest question on our Facebook Page or Instagram account: “Whose tomb is Lara Croft going to raid in this movie?”

2. Like our Facebook Page and Instagram account

3. Share our Facebook post!

But act quickly – we’ve only got a limited number of journals to give away!

Credits: APLG Planetariums, Tomb Raider Wiki, Time, Golden Village Cinemas, Wikipedia, Gamespot, Facebook, Chris Stuckman

The post [Giveaway inside] Why hasn’t Lara Croft been Time’s Person of the Year yet? appeared first on The Popping Post.