Ryan Davis, 1979 - 2013

I went back and listened to the This Year Collection podcasts for 2013, and goddamn it's so weird hearing Ryan on there. After a while, I would forget he's gone and just be listening, then I'd just remember and it'd hit me again. This process repeated probably like 20 times over the course of it. And I don't know if it's my imagination, but everybody just sounds happier when he's on there. They all sound like they're having such a good time, and it fucking kills me because they have no idea what's coming.

I feel like it's all given me such a new appreciation for life in general and for the guys now. Like, I'm so happy to see the outpouring of love and support, and even happier to see it still continuing, but fuck, man, I just can't help but feeling like we should've been more vocal about our love for him when he was still alive.

So, for what it's worth, @jeff@vinny@brad@drewbert@patrickklepek@rorie@alexisg@alex@dave and everybody else... I love you guys. Thank you for all the joy you bring to us. You put yourselves out there every day, and we all really do appreciate that in a way that no dumb forum post could possibly do justice to.

This is really sentimental now, but fuck it. DON'T CARE.

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Was watching old Celebrity Mean Tweets from Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube. My laughing turned into sadness when this one came up. I didn't know Ryan, but man I miss that dude.

I miss Ryan so much, I can't imagine what those close to him must feel. Sometimes I think about Ryan when I'm just out and about and have to stop because I begin to tear up every time.

Oh! OHHHHHH! I saw that Mark Ruffalo clip before, I just never put it together! OMG that's fucking HILARIOUS!

I've gone back and started relistening to the bombcast since Ryan's passing, and I am now around April of 2011. It's honestly been an incredible journey to return to and have enjoyed every second of the show as a whole and of course, Ryan.

A sharp wit, a great host, an incredible sense of humor and of course all around hell of a duder.

My journey continues.

I've been doing the same thing I'm around March 2010 "Infinity Ward scandal" very cool listening to him again. Miss that DUDER.

I haven't logged in to my account here in years, but always lurked. Ryan, you were a funny dude, and I loved your old Gamespot video reviews and commentary on the live shows like 'On the Spot'. Much love to the Giant Bomb staff and close friends of Mr. Davis. Rest in peace. (and play lots of Mario sports titles!)

@8bit_archer:

I'm rewatching the persona endurance run

And i can hear Ryan screaming from off microphone. Its so great.

Ryan's sit-in, with Jeff and Vinny was great.

I was watching the Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight video and noticed a button sitting on Tim Schafer's desk.

I remember driving to work on July 8th and listening to the previous week's Bombcast. Patrick had left for Chicago the week before and Ryan was off for his wedding I presume. The podcast seamed hollow. I remember thinking to myself. . . "I can't wait till Ryan gets back , his presence is surely missed." Little did I know that in a few hours I would find out I would never get to hear him again. He is missed.

Listened to the memorial podcast for what's probably the tenth about a week ago, and it made me tear up...again.

Listening to the This Year Best of Collection for 2013 even though I listened weekly as they released. Its always weird/tough to see/hear Ryan but also always great. Still think about Ryan regularly and have a framed photo of him in my room.

Going back and listening to Ryan in the podcasts puts a smile on my face, especially his laugh.

Still miss him. still catch myself thinking about him from time to time. still feel bad for his wife. i hope she is doing ok.

Was going through some old photos I took. And found this one from the first Big Live Live Show

God damn do I still miss the hell out of that dude.

MyY son was born today..... I like to introduce you all to William Taswell ********(last name redacted)... In honor of two men I looked up to in my life. My Father and Ryan Davis......

@icecreamcohn:

Awesome! And congratulations!

@icecreamcohn: Dude that's so boss!

http://www.giantbomb.com/ryan-davis/3040-93335/forums/fatbomb-follow-your-bliss-1444879/

@icecreamcohn <>

I miss his beard.

Am I the only one who still can't watch Ryan-era videos? Just leaves me feeling sad. I consciously avoid any old content that I know has Ryan in it.

Hoping one day I'll get to a point where I can just enjoy it for what it is, instead of sitting there feeling bad about Ryan being gone.

I miss his 3-4 polo shirts, haha.

I don't get totally bummed when I watch some of the old content, but I also haven't watched alot of it for awhile now...of course there's the fact, that I've seen many of those Ryan QLs a dozen times and I might just want to wait for a while now before watching them again, because there is such a thing as an overdose of Ryan, as hard as that might be to believe.

@scotto: After he died I watched the entire DP endurance run again, the Brad/Ryan one. It actually made me really happy to hear his voice again and I'm glad I did it. It was strangely comforting if that makes sense at all and its good to know that there's this well of Ryan content to go if i ever feel the need.

I wrote this the day the news broke, but I figured I'd post it here:

I promised myself I was going to take this week of vacation off, but after finding out this news, I had to write something. The combination of Ryan Davis and Jeff Gerstmann are the reason why I started Altered Confusion. I wanted to follow in their footsteps and bring unbiased news to the masses, and they were basically the example I always wanted to follow. Sure they had a shit ton of more "power" than I had, but they had to start somewhere, and to be able to make something out of nothing and build something that the gamers flocked to inspired me. I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that the man behind TANG (This Aint No Game) on Giantbomb, a segment that had him reviewing movies based on video games, is gone. I don't know if I'll ever completely figure it out. What I can tell you is that his charisma was infectious, he wore his beard like a champ, and he knew his shit.

I got a chance to see the GiantBomb crowd a couple of times at various PAXs, and I was always blown away by the fact that they could play off each other so easy, and yet be their own people. Ryan had this certain something about him that made everyone want to be his best friend, and to now no longer have that chance to get to know him either at all, or more is a truly tragic event. I wish I could say more about the man, I wish I had sent some random shit so that I could be on their video when they unboxed their mail, and almost always Ryan would take point, but I'd be scared to death of someone like him calling my name out, what if it wasn't good enough. I guess I'll never know. What I do know is that I will continue to walk in the path that he set forward, aiming for the stars like I know he did at one time, or hell did up to the point of his unforeseen death, and hopefully make that man proud, even though he sort of met me only once in passing.

I still listen to Ryan on a daily basis. One of my jobs is very dull, it's a "switch off brain and start work" job. The only way through the monotony, bombcasts. When I run out, I start from the beginning again.

Damn I miss that duder.

I started listening to the bombcasts from the beginning, man it's rough sometimes with how much I miss him. Both him and Jeff were so enthusiastic then. Over the years Jeff mellowed a bit while Ryan was exactly the same.

I just noticed a hilarious interview that Ryan did a year ago: SWERY in the Coffee [Director's Cut]

Since Ryan's death, Giant Bomb has felt empty to me. I hardly ever come back. No other site compares favorably, of course, but the magic has faded.

@planetary: The magic is coming back. Check out the latest Unprofessional Fridays.

@nightriff: I've been going through them too in the past year at a new job. During some of the hardest laughs throughout all the years the realization comes to me that he won't be in this week's newest Bombcast. It's just amazing how the nerve is still so raw.

@robopengy: still hard for me to talk about him without getting a tear or two, crazy how it is still so raw as you said

Imma just leave this here. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/04/02/sit-on-it/

And I still can't watch old GB videos.

hard to believe it's been soo long already since he passed. rorie said it best, that you can't fill the ryan void, just get used to walking around with it, and i say that as a fanatic (never said it's healthy) consumer of the site. i cannot even fathom how hard it must have been for the rest of the crew.

that being said, goddamn do i applaud the GB crew for sticking through it, picking up the slack and never giving up. vinny especially (ok, i favor vinny, NOW THE WORLD KNOWS), who has been the heart and soul and backbone of the site for the last year. not to say that the rest didn't work as hard, but man, talk about coming to work with a smile and passing it on.

jeff, brad, vinny <3, drew, matt, patrick, alex, ian, dave, and everyone else, fuckin A guys for hanging in there. i've never regretted my giant bomb obsession once.

Love Ryan Davis.

For over five years I've been a huge GB fan. While my love for Giant Bomb remains in tact. I find it hard to enjoy GB content as much because I just start thinking about Ryan and I get bummed out.

Is it strange that on april fools' day, while doing my daily routine of checking what's new on giantbomb, I was half-hoping that was some news saying that Ryan was ok all this time and that his death was some grand and elaborate bad joke? Man, I miss that dude so much.

Listening to the Bombcast Rewind, a wild Brad Nicholson appeared and so I googled him to find out what was up. After learning he was a mountain of beef I was looking up photos that proved, yes, I'm envious of his physical reputation. But the photos got weird quick, people posting him as a create-a-character in their games. And then, suddenly, this:

that's amaaaaazing.

I got my roommate to start listening to the Bombcast back in June. He said it was weird that he never got to know Ryan as the host. He loves the bombcast now, I just wish he could have experienced it like I had, from the start with Davis.

@longmasterwolf: It's amazing how we are still here, still posting. The one year of his death will cause this forum to explode.

I miss him

@vegetashonor: I was thinking the same thing. Like, will this ever not be on the top of the forum pages? Probably not I imagine.

As I was listening to this weeks bombcast I had this strange feeling that someone was missing. For a time I couldn't recall who it was: 'Brad is back ... Vinny and Jeff are there, and so is Drew. Hm.'. The bombcast does have its quieter moments now.

It was a real moment of catharsis when I remembered who was missing. I felt like Julianne Moore when she rips off that wallpaper in The Forgotten. They don't want us to remember, but a true duders' love conquers all.

I still have not listened to the bombcast that followed his passing and I don't think I ever will, even though I am curious I don't think I can do it.

It felt very cathartic at the time listening to it. You can feel everyone's hurt, but it's also just them talking about growing up with the big goof. I feel like if they can laugh and smile, then why can't I? It's the best sort of send off you can give a person. Sharing your love of them with everyone that was impacted by their death, remembering the good times. Usually, that's something that can be done at a ceremony and at small gatherings with close friends. But that doesn't work for Ryan. He's touched too many people across the world and loved too many things. So I watch his videos and laugh, and that helps. Because I would much rather feel the pain mixed with the joy than have never felt either.

To Ryan: I still think of you a lot. Hope that's ok.

Glad to see this thread is still going strong, and comforting to know that other people are also having a hard time dealing with Ryan's death.

I miss that guy. He was a part of my life for years and the world was so much better with him in it.