Mad scientists and evil masterminds are classic villain archetypes, and defeating them is always nerve-wracking. Instead of facing you, they'd rather hide in the shadows and rely on their minions. And when it does come to combat, they usually love to show off their deadliest creations.

We gathered some well-known crazies; a mustache or a white coat seems to be a must-have.

Dr. Eggman (Sonic The Hedgehog series)

source: Sonic Generations

Dr. Wallace Breen (Half-Life 2)

source: Half-Life Wiki

Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy VII)

source: AshleyCope's fan art on Deviantart

Dr. FunFrock (Little Big Adventure 1-2 / Relentless)

source: The LBA Relentless Movie Project

Dr. Wily (Mega Man series)

source: Dr. Wily Boss Fight In Mega Man 6, splash image by Hitoshi Ariga

Don Paolo (Professor Layton series)

source: Professor Layton And The Curious Village

The Elite Of Rapture Society (BioShock)

source: BioShock Wiki

Albert Wesker (Resident Evil series)

source: Resident Evil Wiki

Professor Monkey-For-A-Head (Earthworm Jim)

source: tuwoa's LP

Make sure to submit below the craziest evil scientists you know with visual support.

You might remember "Enter The Freeman," a very cool short Half-Life film we featured a few months ago.

The fan-film's creators are crowd-funding $75,000 to turn it into a whole series, which may or may not be welcome news to Valve, considering that CEO Gabe Newell just announced he'd like to make movies with director J.J. Abrams based on Half-Life and Portal.

Still, it sounds cool, and you can read and see more about "The Freeman Chronicles"—which they're hoping will be seven episodes of around six minutes each—on their Indiegogo page.

Half-Life Live Action Web Series - The Freeman Chronicles [Indiegogo]

Appearing with the director J.J. Abrams at D.I.C.E. Summit today, Valve's Gabe Newell said the company would "find out if there's a way we can work with you on a Portal and Half-Life movie."

Polygon reports that things may be a little further along than that. Speaking after the panel, Abrams told Polygon "We are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas."

However, "it's as real as as anything in Hollywood ever gets," he added. Which means it could be a sure thing, or could amount to nothing, or could take forever to bring to life. Like, well, Half-Life 3.

Half-Life and Portal movies in early idea stages, J.J. Abrams says [Polygon]

Today at the game industry's DICE conference, the guy in charge of Valve and the man directing both Star Wars and Star Trek said that they want to make Portal and Half-Life movies. And games, too.

Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams spoke about storytelling in each of their mediums. When the panel ended, this exchange happened:

Abrams: There's an idea we have for a game that we'd like to work with Valve on.

Newell: We're going to find out if there's a way we can work with you on a Portal and Half-Life movie.

And the two men walked off, without any further details. Both creators are renown for keeping secrets, so don't expect any details about these proposed projects anytime soon. But just the very notion of a collaboration between the company behind Half-Life 2 and the man behind Lost is a tantalizing prospect.

Portal is a natural theme for Valentine's Day, as we saw with these cards Valve released in 2011 before Portal 2's arrival. This one is the best of a Valve-themed series done by Tumblr user applenail, which got a lot of attention over the weekend and yesterday.

Print them out and put one in a friend's locker next Thursday.

VALVEntines [applenail.tumblr.com]

What you see above is Nathan Andrews' full head- and weapon tracking mod for Half-Life 2, which he created in preparation for the release of the Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming headset. It looks insane.

The Oculus Rift, which raised millions of dollars on Kickstarter in 2012, is hopefully coming out later this year.

Half-Life 2 VR head and gun tracking mod for the Oculus Rift [YouTube]

Mirrors lined with blue and red LEDs have long been a staple of Portal-themed decoration. Taking it to the next level, however, is jamin101wolf. He bought the Portal gun prop available through ThinkGeek and Amazon, then plugged the two mirrors into remote-control power boxes. With this he pulls off the effect of firing a red and blue portal (which are located on opposite walls, creating the requisite hall-of-mirrors effect.)

The remote control is not built into the Portal gun; as we speak, a more skilled modder may be integrating it with the toy's trigger. jamin101wolf said he didn't want to risk destroying his. Still, it's a neat trick and one I wish I'd thought of first.

Portal Mirrors Build [imgur. h/t Victor B.]

YouTube video uploaded by jamin101wolf

The world is bursting at the seams with Grand Theft Auto IV mods. You'd think there wouldn't be room for any more. But there's always room for wapeddell's Morgan Freeman. Oh, sorry. Gordon Freeman.

It's just... it's just so damn perfect. Especially since it reminds me of my old desktop wallpaper.

Morgan Freeman [GTA Mods]

Morgan Freeman Half Life 2 [YouTube, via Obi Pac Kenobi]

Fans of Secret of Monkey Island, the 1990 point-n-click adventure game, will undoubtedly remember the infamous "three trials" scene, in which protagonist Guybrush Threepwood proclaims to Mêlée Island's pirate leaders that he, too, would like to be a pirate.

Here's the iconic scene, Team Fortress 2 style. And it's extremely well done. Enjoy.

[SFM] I Wanna Be a Pirate [YouTube via Tim Schafer]

Gabe Newell, the beloved chief of Valve, has proven many times that he is really kind to fans. So it did not take a long for him to agree to pose for a very special photo this week after giving a talk at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs. This photo involves one of those notorious horse head masks, and it proves that Gabe Newell, as ever, is a good sport.

For more on what Newell was talking about at the school, see here. Newell will also be delivering two keynotes at next week's DICE conference in Las Vegas. We'll have full coverage on Kotaku.

Gabe Newell having fun with a fan [YouTube]