Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Schedule





I can't believe that it has been a whole year since I started #YOTC. Let me tell you, I enjoyed the whole experiment in fandomism! More importantly, I wanted to thank everyone who got involved retweeting, liking/favouring and all your lovely comments. In particular, a big thank you to Survivor Reborn, Archaeology of Tomb Raider, Titans of Cosplay, Pfangirl and Tomb of Ash who have been a continuing support among many others; THANK YOU! :)


It is safe to say that I felt a bit lost come January 2016, however with the Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary in 2016, there is no way I can let this year pass without another theme year and a brand new hashtag for fandom enablers. So here is #20Croft. 

If you want to collaborate with any month DM or tweet me!

January:
From Venice with Love
25th - 31st 

Deemed by many as the ultimate Tomb Raider game, TR2 combined all the best bits from TR1 with additional deadlier traps, bigger puzzles and Venice travel goals. Celebrate everything TR2 this January.

February:
Fan Film February
15th - 21st

Tomb Raider has spawned some amazing fan films, with even more to come. This month sheds light on these projects and will also share some tips and tricks, such as Adobe After Effects and prop building, that may help you create your own fan film.

March:
Easter Egg Hunt (Prize Month)
21st - 27th

All the easter eggs, all the hunting. Join in to win some fantastic Tomb Raider prizes that will be posted worldwide no matter which tomb you might currently be residing in.

April:
Tomb Raider Book Club
18th - 24th

Some of Lara's greatest travels have appeared within the vault of FF.net. So join us in April to find some of the best pieces on the internet, writing tips, the history of Tomb Raider Fiction blog post and book recommendations worthy of a tomb raider.

May:
Tomb Raider Fashion Week
23th - 29th
Collaborating with Titans of Cosplay
Love them or hate them, Lara's outfits have sometimes caused a stir or at least a 'what the hell' over the past twenty years. In May, let's take a look at all the styles Ms Croft has sported during the last two decades.

June:
Tomb Raider Travel Co.
20th - 26th
Collaborating with Archaeology of Tomb Raider

Inspired by all the wonderful locations that Lara has travelled to, let the TR Travel Co explore these areas with facts and figures, fan art and real life accounts of Tomb Raider fans who have travelled the world in Lara's footsteps.

July:
Animals, Ahoy!
18th - 24th

For once, lets shine a light on the inhabitants of the world that only ever sees Lara as their next meal. Oh, and Underpuss...

August:
Tomb Raider, it Takes Two
15th - 21st

Celebrating all those moments when the normally solitary Lara finds herself in the company of someone else. Both cannon and fan favourite imaginings.

September:
Crossover Croft
19th - 25th

Perhaps one of my favourite months, and warmly received from #YOTC, Crossover Croft is all your fandoms in a nice soup. Plus after twelve months, who knows what else we might find! However it would take a lot to beat Jedi Lara.

October:
Tomb Raider 1, 20th Anniversary Week
24th - 30th
Collaborating with Survivor Reborn

Celebrate where it all began when one woman changed videos games irrevocably.

November:
Rise Redux
[TBA]
Playstation Raiders rejoice, it is time for us to take on Lara's latest adventure! [Subject to change if we get the game earlier ;)]

December:
TR Advent (Prize Month)
1st - 24th

Back for the third year, countdown to the most wonderful time of the year with everything Tomb Raider. Enter the 12 days competition to grab an early Christmas present! (Open worldwide).

#20Croft let's take 2016 on like a Croft

See you in 2017

(Credit: Athora Cosplay)

10 Things you can do while waiting for PS4/PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider

Well hello there fellow Tomb Waiter, while our winter may be Croft-less, that doesn’t mean we can’t be doing something productive about it. So grab an Earl Grey, a notepad and lets get sorted for 2016!

1. Dip your toes in somebody else’s tomb
(oxxxxxashxxxxxo - dA)
Naughty Dog couldn’t have timed it better to release the Uncharted trilogy for the PS4, followed by perhaps the final instalment a few months later. There is plenty between all four games to keep your raiding needs in check, especially with the new photo mode and additional trophies.

2. Declutter for Croft
More so for PS4 waiters, you have twelve months to sort out your abode and sell unwanted items to raise money for the game. It is a win/win situation; you get to sort out your possessions and make space while not dipping into your wages when November 2016 comes around. Just don’t spent that money in the meantime!

3. Learn a Lara skill
(coolxnalara - dA)
Lara smuggles many talents underneath that brown hair, so why not learn one of them while you are waiting for ROTTR? Choose from archery or gun control (at a reputable school!) or hieroglyphics and swan diving. If all else fails, you could always master the perfect movie french braid.

4. Catch up on fan films
(EAT Photography/Guns and Grapple)
Tomb Raider fans are a talented bunch and it would be a disservice not to check out some of the amazing films being created by fans. From the latest big release Hunted to older works such as Croft and Book of the Dead. Projects of all budgets are always appearing on YouTube and it is worth checking back every now and then.

5. Play the chronological challenge 
After nearly twenty years, Ms Croft has certainly racked up some adventures. Use the upcoming twelve months as the opportunity to revisit every single jungle, mountain and tomb that Lara has been to. Oh I see you shoving that GBA game under the bed, get it out. When I say every adventure, I mean every adventure! Including the good, the bad and the ugly! You might be able to raise some money for charity too by doing speedruns and participating in charity events.

6. Happy 20th birthday!
2016 is the 20th anniversary of Tomb Raider, so there will certainly be a lot of Lara things going on. So see this as a TBA and get involved where you can with the festivities!

7. Write a follow up story to Tomb Raider 2013 and thank a writer



Fanfiction sometimes get a bad reputation, but honestly there are so many talented writers that are creating stories under the Tomb Raider tab that it is shame they don’t get as much recognition. You will have to be careful for spoilers from next week, so I would say go through the site and save some stories now using apps such as fan fiction reader. If you find an excellent story, make sure you send the writer a little message and share it out to people who may find it interesting. Fan fiction writing is mostly an emotional economy, give a little back :). Then write your own story and see how different it reads compared to ROTTR when you get the chance to play it.

8. Catch up on your history
No matter where you started on the Tomb Raider timeline, take some time to learn about how the series started and just how imported it was to British identity in the late 90s, a time of Cool Britannia and Riot Grrrls. A great place to start is Priestman’s 2015 KillScreen article with more lengthy discussions in the books Grand Thieves and Tomb Raiders and Porn and Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.

9. Pimp those raids
(MarySue)
Time to get those creative muscles working! Do you have a boring piece of furniture, a desk or a cushion that just doesn’t scream adventure? Or perhaps you love making cakes, nail art or apps. Whatever it is you do, make something that is unashamingly Crofty! Then share it on Twitter, because we all love that stuff ;).

10. Play nice and meet up
(LaraCroftCosplay.com)
Perhaps the most important thing is to acknowledge that fans playing the game will be spread out across twelve months. If you are an Xbox gamer reading this, avoid spoilers and taunting online with meaningless consoles wars. Respect others decisions to buy a PS4 version rather than abandoning the franchise (as I know some are) and visa versa. We all have reasons for doing what we do and the best reaction we can have is just to listen to why they are making those choices. Still go to events such as comic cons and meet up with other fans where possible or host twitter chats online. At the end of the day, if the main community doesn’t suit you, don’t sulk, just take the steps to create your own community or find and support a new one.

So there we go, what are fellow Tomb Waiters doing for 2016? Tweet me with #tombwaiters or leave a comment below.

Until next time, happy raiding.

Making Your Own Bubble Tea!

I came back from Singapore in 2011 bringing back many memories from my research trip, one of which was the deviously addicting chewy drink called bubble or boba tea. A few years later, bubble tea shops and stalls opened around Liverpool and Manchester and I made a name for myself as the girl who could not go into a city without picking up a cup of milky, chewy goodness.

This wasn’t enough however, I started to make it at home to drink (and eat!) while I worked on my cosplays long into the night before a con. I’ve tried many different ways to create my favourite beverage, instant tea, condensed milk, normal black tea, ice cubes, blended ice, instant tapioca…however it did always seem a bit of a fuss. Boba Mix came to the rescue and kindly sent me a sample pack of matcha bubble tea when they were doing a special offer. So I thought I would show you how easy it is to make your own bubble tea at home!

First of all, Boba Mix will send you prepackaged amounts of everything you need except for fresh ingredients. So all you will need is water, milk, sugar, ice and container of your choice!




Make some tea with 250ml of water and brew for 1-2 minutes.




Then add the bubble tea powder (this is what gives the drink that bubble tea shop taste), some sugar if you like and 100ml of fresh milk. They recommend whole milk however I only have skimmed which worked perfectly well. For the proper Taiwanese taste you could swap the milk for 50ml of evaporated milk or use 50ml of condense milk. The condense milk taste takes me right back to Singaporean Kopi or the ice coffees I had in Cambodia.




Place in the fridge and get on with plumping those pearls!



Boil 20g of pearls in 250ml of water then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove and place in a sugar solution. The easiest way to do this is add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of lukewarm water. Any remaining solution can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days (so no excuses if you have more cravings in the following days!)


Add the pearls to a glass and pour the tea mixture over the top. Add some ice and a straw and you are done! Unfortunately someone took all the ice we had so I left my mixture in the fridge a little longer than the recommended 40 minutes to makes sure it was extra cold.



The bubble tea was delicious; using the powder mix certainly gave it an authentic taste and was so easy as everything I needed came in one pack. You can buy full size packs from their eBay store and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.


(Disclaimer: Boba Mix haven't paid me to write this post, I participated in a special offer of a free pack they were hosting at the time on social media)

How to be a #NaNoWriMo Rebel


I think it is time for a confession, and I am probably not alone in this. I love creating stories, however most of them end up being the bath time/train ride/lying in bed kind where it is fascinating to escape into these worlds, but are never wrote out. I think the main reason is because I am scared that once they are fleshed out, they can never match what I had pictured in my mind. Admittedly, I am a dreamer, and can sit and think for hours.

This is where NaNoWriMo comes in. Although it sounds like the titular pet from a Shōjo manga, National November Writing Month has one aim. To get you to write that novel you have been talking about for years. By the end of the month you should have 50,000 words; it forces you to consider deadlines and timekeeping. Something I am sure we are all guilty of, especially with our busy lives. Remember to be a NaNoWriMo rebel though, not everything needs to wrote by the book (excuse the pun), as long as you are writing:

1. Use NaNoWriMo as inspiration, not a law.
Treat November as your writing month. You can tune in to the buzz of people around you who are writing and that may inspire you to keep going. However no-one is going to tell you off because you are writing a script or a non fiction book. Think outside the box and complete anything in the month of November, for example:

- Aim for a blog post every two days.
- Code a game that is playable by 1st December.
- Write fan fiction story (30,000 words).
- Create and write a new craft tutorial every week.
- Write an extended essay on a topic you enjoy (20,000 words).
- Write two novellas based around one character.

2. Quality is always better than quantity.
 The problem with projects that use gamification as a way for contributors to move forward is that sometimes it can be quite black or white. You either fail or you win. If you don’t quite finish, don’t be disheartened. Remember this isn’t your job (yet!) but you should remember that your project doesn’t finish in November even if you hit 50,000 words. November is your spew month, you get the words out there. Use the rest of winter as an excuse to stay indoors and tailor what you have or continue with November used as your spring board.

3. Everything doesn’t have to be new.
If you have something half finished, use that as your November writing project! On a similar vein, if you feel truly stuck halfway through November, put what you are writing to one side and do something else. This is where blogs come in very handy. You can take a break but still write, which is the most crucial thing. Often, this will clear the mind fog and you can get back to your masterpiece :).

4. Keep on the hashtags and lists.
As with capturing the buzz of the NaNoWriMo community, be aware of common hashtags and get involved in Twitter chats. Even as just an observer, make Twitter lists of people who are writing so if your project is getting you down, there is something a click away to hopefully make you feel a little less lonely.

5. Write what you like.
Don’t be discouraged by forums full of people writing their fantasy stories or hard hitting crime novels. If you want to write erotica, a children's book or an easy to read chick lit for example; you do that. There is a niche for everything, no matter how small it may be, and you might just make someone’s day by writing about it.

6. Don’t rush to publish.
This is mainly for fan fiction writers or bloggers and is something I am guilty of. Completing a chapter or post, editing then publishing in the same night. Please don’t do that! I know it is so tempting to get it out there to feel that sense of completeness, but very often there will be silly mistakes or you end up trapping yourself because the story changes halfway through writing and the start does not make sense for where you are now. Complete your story, edit it, reflect, then release in chapters maybe every week.

For self publishing, don’t rush it out for the same reasons as suggested above. You don’t want people to be put off your story by terrible grammar and spelling. In addition, many people will self publish in December after NaNoWriMo, instead provide yourself with some reflection time and if you are still happy with your work, try in March or April. Remember though, the aim is just to write, you do not need to publish anything if you don't want to.

Are you writing in November? Let me know via Twitter and we can cry together over cups of tea! When I decide what it is that I am doing!

Further reading: '25 Things You Should Know About NaNoWriMo'




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