Article,
Last weekend was one of the biggest Tomb Raider events this year...ever, in fact! An official attempt for the Guinness Book of World Records was organised, in continuing celebration of the 20th anniversary, to gather together the most Lara Croft cosplayers ever seen in one location. It was decided that France would be that location as it is home to a huge Tomb Raider community! Where better to do it then than at Paris Games Week, the country's largest game convention.
Months of preperation went into it prior to the event itself with cosplayers making commisions of spare props/accessories to ensure everyone would be dressed accordingly on the day if anything was missing from their costumes. It was a little tricky as with the recent events in France, no prop weapons were allowed on the show floor. Instead, many cosplayers opted for 2D cardboard alternatives with pictures of Lara's signature guns on either side.
Cosplayers from around the world attended and a sign was made by Madenice featuring the names of all those who had to be there in spirit (myself included). As each Lara entered the "pen", they were given a number and were met by a round of applause before having a professional photo taken.
Various costumes from the games, movies and comics could be seen - some rarer than others.
This being one of them...
Enime is the very first person I've seen do this costume. For those unfamilar, it's from a mini series of comics entitled Tomb Raider: Journeys. This particular story sees Lara discover the path to the Underworld after meeting with a secret Maori tribe in New Zealand. She passes through a dream world in which she wears this dress and beautiful tribal body paint.
Interview with some of the record participants for the official Paris Games Week Youtube channel.
(French only)
You can also see the rest of the official photos here.
2 World Records Achieved at PGW!
Last weekend was one of the biggest Tomb Raider events this year...ever, in fact! An official attempt for the Guinness Book of World Records was organised, in continuing celebration of the 20th anniversary, to gather together the most Lara Croft cosplayers ever seen in one location. It was decided that France would be that location as it is home to a huge Tomb Raider community! Where better to do it then than at Paris Games Week, the country's largest game convention.
Months of preperation went into it prior to the event itself with cosplayers making commisions of spare props/accessories to ensure everyone would be dressed accordingly on the day if anything was missing from their costumes. It was a little tricky as with the recent events in France, no prop weapons were allowed on the show floor. Instead, many cosplayers opted for 2D cardboard alternatives with pictures of Lara's signature guns on either side.
Cosplayers from around the world attended and a sign was made by Madenice featuring the names of all those who had to be there in spirit (myself included). As each Lara entered the "pen", they were given a number and were met by a round of applause before having a professional photo taken.
Various costumes from the games, movies and comics could be seen - some rarer than others.
This being one of them...
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| Cosplay by Enime Kage. Make-up by Sadrine Dupluis and her sister. Photo by Antony Gomes. Page from Tomb Raider Journeys Issue 8. |
This is actually my dream costume of Lara's so I was excited to spot Enime in one of the live videos on Facebook and I had to feature her!
As a record like this had never been done before, an official number of cosplayers was set by Guinness at 250. Not only did they reach the mark but they surpassed it with the final result being 270! I'm extremely proud of this cosplay community for what they achieved and I'm even prouder to be a part of it.
It doesn't end there though! At the same event, it was made official that Tomb Raider received the world record for most magazine covers.
Videos
Interview on with Meagan Marie and 2016 official French Lara Croft Cosplay Ambassadors Luce and Max for JVTV before the record attempt.
(Parts in English and French)
Interview with some of the record participants for the official Paris Games Week Youtube channel.
(French only)
You can also see the rest of the official photos here.
That's great! Interesting comment about prop guns, I guess in this day and age one has to be careful, but it still seems a little sad, being as Lara's pistols are very much part of her outfit.
ReplyDeleteOr at least some outfits, the array of costumes in the group shot was incredible. (Nice to see the odd male cosplayer in there.) And it was cool that there was still room for a first time outing for a particular costume; Enime looks great and it's a cool little touch that her badge number was, effectively, 007.