You knew that Plants Vs. Zombies theme song composer Laura Shigihara was adorable, but did you know how gangsta she was? Because while filming this video for the Magic: The Gathering rap “Tapped Out,” actual cops were called during an “axe fight” scene which didn’t make it into the video. Why? Never a friend to the po-pos, I’m told Shigihara immediately drew her gat upon their arrival, killing three officers and two bystanders before escaping. Witnesses described the event as “gruesome and traumatic, yet still kind of adorable.”
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.