Archaeology of Tomb Raider: In the Spotlight: Ostercy
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Archaeology of Tomb Raider: In the Spotlight: Ostercy |
| Interviewer: | Kelly M |
| Interviewee: | Ostercy |
| Date(s): | February 18, 2014 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Tomb Raider |
| External Links: | In the Spotlight: Ostercy – The Archaeology of Tomb Raider, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Archaeology of Tomb Raider: In the Spotlight: Ostercy was conducted in 2014.
Some Excerpts
Do you run a Tomb Raider fansite or blog? If so, what would you say was your biggest achievement to date?
I’ve run my Tomb Raider Fables site since about 1999 and the biggest achievement, I think, was running the fan fiction competitions called “The Village Of Tokakeriby Tomb Raider Story Writing Competitions”. I ran a small blog called “Not Culturally Relevant” up until the release of Tomb Raider 2013, in which I tried to fight what I saw as disrespect to Lara as a cultural icon. (And totally failed. :) )
From 1997 I was member of a discussion forum called “K Man's”, full of Tomb Raider fans, and eventually I branched off to form The Dark Café, another discussion forum. From very early days I was banned from nearly all of the official Tomb Raider forums (and still am).
How has Tomb Raider changed your life?
Not in any tangible way. I did go through a bad patch of work harassment for being a TR fan, hence my Ostercy nickname and reluctance to release my real-life details. I’ve also spent a lot of time writing a lot of Lara and Natla fan fiction to not very much acclaim. :)
What are your thoughts on Lara’s image? Is she simply the product of a sexist gaming industry or can she be seen as a positive role model?
Classic Lara Croft is a mixed bag. I think she may have been the product of a male-dominated industry to start with, but boy did she outgrow her origins. In the Core days, she was a feisty, clever and independent woman much beloved of both males and females. Don’t believe the modern politically-correct rewriting of her history. The “ice-cold sexpot with guns” sounds like a cheap characterisation, but in Lara, it wasn’t. She was an antihero with a sense of humour. She also had class – aristocratic, British, able to join in or leave aside high society at her own whim. Best of all, she had mystery and she had guts. She was the “cat who walked by herself”. Anyone who claims she had no characterisation before Crystal Dynamics got their claws into her just wasn’t paying attention.