There are a lot of post-apocalyptic stories out there ranging from zombie attacks (The Walking Dead) to diseases (12 Monkeys). While the end of the world is a fascinating story setting, the reality would be more depressing than practically any of us could remember -that's because nuclear disasters, fire, floods, disease, malnutrition and more would actually leave everyone dead within a short span of time. Survivor stories aren't exactly all that interesting when there aren't any survivors and this TopTenz article explains why there's a good chance that any disaster on this scale would wipe out all humans -not just most of them.

We’re not surprised that being born a mutant is a shortcut to superhero status. But I read mostly DC comics when I was young, and am not as familiar with the Marvel pantheon as I could have been, so I was surprised at how many characters they used as both X-Men and Avengers. Some superheroes just get around! And even more surprising was how characters can go from evil to hero (and back again). Take Quicksilver, for example.

In Avengers #16, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did, at the time, the unheard of. The legendary fathers of the Marvel Age replaced the current roster of Avengers with an entirely new team, mostly comprised of former villains. Joining Captain America on the team were Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and mutant speedster, Quicksilver.

Before he joined the Avengers, Quicksilver was a member of the Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He was a reluctant villain whose main motivation was protecting his sister from Magneto’s machinations. When he and his sister joined Cap on the Avengers, a cohesive history between the X-Men and the Avengers began.

And he’s not the only one. Read the backstories of 14 characters who were both X-Men and Avengers at on time or another, at Den of Geek.

She's not a cinnamon bun. She's a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission. But it would be hard to tell when she's wearing her iconic hair buns. Nadia Lungo, a food artist that we've featured previously, offers this minimalist but totally effective depiction of the gunslinging hero from Star Wars.

Well, almost. You could also include Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, Space 1999, among others. This is a highly customizable concept. But if you don't want to go through the work of building your own clock, you can buy this one from Etsy seller Trish Mercer. It comes with a key to decipher it if you are (to your justifiable embarrassment) struggling with some of the numbers.

-via Nerd Bastards

There are many factors involved in a franchise becoming a precious part of our nerdy lives- nostalgia, preferred genre and identification with characters all play a part in deciding which franchises will become our faves.

Geeks have an unspoken bond that begins when we realize we're not alone in our love of a franchise like Star Wars, and our shared fandom becomes a bond that unites us through the power of imagination.

The wonderfully imaginative paintings of Craig Davison capture the feeling of being a young fan and recreating scenes from your favorite franchise (in this case Star Wars) on the playground with your geeky pals.

They're wonderfully stylistic, very relatable and a real blast from the past for those who remember playtime that didn't involve apps and a Wi-Fi connection.

Check out more of Craig Davison's amazing paintings here

Star Wars changed the sci-fi game when it came out in 1977, and advertisers were almost immediately aware of the advertising potential of the series.

But George Lucas wasn’t about to let just anyone use his characters for commercials, at least not at first, so if you wanted some Star Wars action in your ad you had to settle for a shameless rip off.

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This hilariously cheesy video comes from a long, long time ago (1978 to be exact), created by Bill Stokes Associates for Taylor Wines as a promotional infomercial that proves they're a cutting edge winery.

Nothing says cutting edge like "Shorty" and "Metal Man" bustin' a move to some groovy disco tunes, and talking about the 80s in the late 70s!

-Via io9

Every parent has a different notion about what is an acceptable level of punishment for their child's bad behavior, but for some those acceptable levels can be a bit extreme.

The father who shot this (barely NSFW) video gave his son three weeks to fix his failing grades or he would lose his gaming privileges the hard way- by being made to smash his gaming consoles with a sledgehammer.

(YouTube Link)

It’s hard to tell if the dad in this video took things way too far, or if his son actually deserved such an extreme form of punishment, without knowing all the facts, but one thing is certain- that poor kid’s gonna have a lot more time for homework without his consoles!

-Via Uproxx

(Photo: Chris-Rachael Oseland/BBC)

With a clever pun, Chris-Rachael Oseland, AKA the Kitchen Overlord, devises a great treat for Doctor Who fans. Keep your eyes on the deadly Weeping Angel inside this cake. She made them in a Bundt cake pan that highlights the Gothic architecture that appeared in the famous episode “Blink.” Don’t eat. Eat and you’re fed. 

Redditor umdean shows a clever use for a hijab. When wrapped up carefully, this woman’s headscarf gives the impression of Princess Leia’s hairbuns. The white shirt is a nice accent to the look.

-via Cosplay in America

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Need some excitement on a Saturday night? Ultron will funk you up. Filmmakers Angie Griffin and Chad Nikolaus, who are known as the Screen Team, offer this parody of Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk." The hit movie Avengers: Age of Ultron is now about an unstoppable dancing robot. If you look carefully, you'll see Hawkeye appear . . . somewhere.

-via Nerd Bastards

Biggs Darklighter was a rebel fighter in the movie Star Wars. He was Luke Skywalker’s friend from Tatooine and his wingman during the attack on the Death Star, who came to an unfortunate end. He had little screen time, but still ended up with a fan following. What you might not know is that Darklighter originally had a bigger role that was ultimately cut from the final film.

(vimeo link)

Jamie Benning tells that story in his new documentary Blast it Biggs! Where are you?!, with deleted scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope and an interview with actor Garrick Hagon, who played the role of Darklighter. Along the way, we learn more tidbits about the filming of Star Wars, like the forbidden horseback rides and a glimpse of the rebel pilots wearing flip flops to beat the heat. -via The Daily Dot

The original Grand Theft Auto games left a lot to be desired in terms of visual interest and storyline, especially when compared to GTA 3 and beyond, but they did have one thing going for them- a unique, police chopper style view of the action.

This aerial perspective made the characters look like well-armed bugs running around an urban environment trying not to get busted as they boosted cars and mowed down the competition.

(YouTube Link)

YouTuber votja paul decided to recreate those high GTA 2 feels with a drone camera, an HUD overlay and some careful shot planning. I guess this video proves playing Grand Theft Auto actually does make people want to act out scenes from the game in real life! (Video contains NSFW language)

-Via Dorkly

Even though Marvel movies like The Avengers and Captain America are rated PG-13, advertising related to movie merchandise try to appeal to a younger demographic when they make action figures, Happy Meal toys and other merch based on the characters in the movie.

That means kids who are too young to attend the movies by themselves are nevertheless extremely interested in seeing their favorite superheroes on the big screen, which is a big mistake…for the filmmakers.

Esquire’s Stephen Marche sent an anonymous nine-year-old to see the Avengers (with parental accompaniment, of course) and, long story short, he was not impressed.

The language seems to have been liberally edited by Stephen, but the message is still there between the lines- the new Marvel movies aren’t really for little kids, they’re for adults who grew up reading Marvel comics and want to feel like a kid again.

Read A 9-Year-Old Reviews Avengers: Age of Ultron here

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we had microbuses instead of minivans. Some of those Volkswagens still exist, and they stand out in a crowd, but none stand out like the one mimaki cg60 modded to look like the Star Wars droid R2D2! It's like the '70s meeting, uh, the '70s.

How’d he do it? With computer design and a lot of vinyl. The design took about 50 hours, and the rest took even longer (he lost count). You can see the entire project unroll in photographs at Instructables. -via Boing Boing

Few parents would let their young kids watch more than about five minutes of Game of Thrones, because the nudity, gore and terrifying thematic elements are strictly for mature audiences.

But let's play devil's advocate- what would a children's book based on the Game of Thrones universe look like? Probably a lot like this killer kiddie book from Mashable entitled "Goodnight Westeros".

It's full of delightful illustrations by Vicky Leta and a dark storyline sure to give kids nightmares if you read it to them before bedtime, but we all know kids don't care for stories about Hodors and traitorous whores, right?

(YouTube Link)

Read Goodnight Westeros in its entirety here