There aren’t many gaming franchises that have been around as long as Tomb Raider. Since 1996 the action-adventure series has been revolutionizing the genre. And its protagonist Lara Croft has become one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable video game characters of all time.
This list isn’t about how great the series is though, it’s about memes. Like any other big franchise, the Tomb Raider games have spawned a ton of them. Whether it’s the original titles, Crystal Dynamic’s first installments, or the more grounded reboot trilogy, there have been memes made about them. We’ve searched the internet to find the ones that fans of the series will appreciate the most.
10 Poor Trinity
This meme perfectly summaries the plot of the latest games. Throughout the new trilogy, Lara Croft foiled all of Trinity’s plans because of her unparalleled ability to track down important artifacts. It must’ve been pretty embarrassing for the group that one person could stop them so often.
It was especially humiliating during combat as Trinity’s operatives likely had extensive experience, whereas Lara was just an archaeologist. Yet she still managed to kill so many of their troops, even when she was greatly outnumbered. All the power, numbers, and resources Trinity had meant nothing when coming up against Croft.
9 Inconsistent Punishments
A classic piece of video game logic is identified in this meme. At the start of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, when Lara was visiting her old mentor, they both got attacked, and her mentor got killed. She was subsequently blamed for the murder and hunted down.
Lara had already amassed a decent-sized body count before the beginning of Angel of Darkness, so it made no sense why this supposed murder was so much more important. The authorities in the Tomb Raider universe need to be more consistent with their punishments.
8 Lara Croft’s Signature Mistake
For a supposedly exceptional archaeologist, Lara makes the mistake illustrated in this meme a lot. She’s always spelling doom for people by picking up something that should’ve been left alone. And if it’s not an armageddon she is causing, then it’s a cave-in, that nearly kills herself.
Jonah tried to make her realize the damage she causes in The Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but it’s likely that we’ll still see her accidentally trigger more destruction in the future. Hopefully, she’ll at least start being more careful.
7 An Exciting Vacation
Lara Croft’s time in Paris during The Angel of Darkness was certainly exciting, but she didn’t get much time to visit landmarks and take selfies. She was too busy climbing around, shooting people, and solving puzzles. Everybody has a different opinion on what is the ideal vacation, so maybe that was Lara’s.
Although the part when she was accused of murdering her former mentor, likely hurt her overall enjoyment of the trip. At least fans of the game (there were some) had fun during their time in virtual Paris.
6 Lara’s Loss Of Flexibility
The newest Tomb Raider reboot was amazing for many reasons, but fans of the series still missed certain things about its predecessors as this meme points out.
Lara’s crazy flexibility in the early games was hilarious at times, as she could do all sorts of flips, cartwheels, and of course, handstands. Unfortunately, these things didn’t fit with the serious tone of the 2013 installment. Most fans accepted that the outrageous acrobatics couldn’t be included, nevertheless their absence still hurt.
5 Lara Croft’s Spiky Weakness
There have always been some inconsistencies in the amount of damage Lara Croft can take, and her weakness to spike traps is the perfect example of that.
In the earlier games, Lara could get shot a bunch of times, clawed by a tiger or attacked by a dinosaur and still continue, but if she grazed a spike, her body would rag doll as she died immediately. The later games did include cinematics that showed Lara’s body get pierced by the spikes, so it was understandable that she’d die in those circumstances.
4 The Mistreated Butler
Lara can cry all she wants, but everyone knows that it was her fault he was in there in the first place. Locking the poor butler in the freezer was a popular unofficial mini-game in a couple of the early titles in the series.
It was as cruel as it was fun. And in fairness to the people who did it, the butler could be creepy as he followed you everywhere. Although he was just trying to be helpful, so he didn’t deserve to freeze to death.
3 Dangerous Waters
Any fans of the newer Tomb Raider games will immediately understand this meme. Although, when they witnessed Lara get impaled by a spike for the first time, they likely weren’t as calm as Olaf due to the horrific imagery in those scenes.
For instance, in the 2013 Tomb Raider game, when riding down a river if Lara crashed into a spike it would go right through her throat. It is funny that some of the most gruesome moments in the series can be illustrated by a scene from Frozen.
2 Unlimited Ammo
In the first few Tomb Raider games, Lara had a magic set of pistols. It was never explained that they were magic, but the fact that they had unlimited ammo shows that they must have been. Lara seemingly lost the pistols at some point in her adventures, as in later games, players need to collect ammo for her handguns.
Her infinite pistols are another one of those things that fans miss from the original games. They would’ve come in handy during sections in the new titles, especially on harder difficulties when ammo was scarce.
1 Unlucky Lara
Hard to argue with this meme as Lara Croft has been unlucky throughout all the games. She goes to so many places that fall apart as soon as she gets there, her friends and family have terrible survival rates, and almost every artifact she picks up causes destruction in some form. That’s not to mention the number of times she happens to be going after an artifact at the same time as a well-armed and morally corrupt organization.
It’s a testament to her incredible endurance and resourcefulness that she has managed to survive as long as she has.
NEXT: Uncharted: 10 Hilarious Memes Only Fans Will Understand
