Though Dan is not Ryan and has never tried to be Ryan, Dan seemed to naturally take up the much needed mantle of irreverent goofball that meshes well with the other more cynical senses of humor that some of the other staff veterans have always had - which has often resulted in these magical pants-shittingly hilarious moments, like the E3 stream where Dan revealed to the others that he didn't know what pirates did... or how to cook an egg, or Dan exclaiming he wanted to be a racquet ball - more specifically an "in-play" racquet ball when asked to come up with something he'd love to be if he could be anything besides who he currently was.
Daniel Ryckert is certainly not the first to move on from Giant Bomb and it honestly scares me to remember that Dan probably won't be the last (I still miss Patrick, Austin, and Drew as well), but it does feel... "different" with Dan. This isn't to say Dan's somehow more or less important than other people on the Giant Bomb team... but...
...and I'm struggling with figuring out a way to convey this so forgive me if this doesn't come across in the way I want it to...
...Though Dan leaving is certainly not the same as losing Ryan, and please please please don't misunderstand, because it is NOT my intention to even begin to equate the two situations... but if I'm being honest, I can't help but feel like losing Dan from the team has me feeling the closest I've felt about Giant Bomb since how I remember feeling about it back in 2014 that tragic morning I woke up to seeing the terrible news about Ryan all over every gaming website I'd ever visited since having an internet connection... does that make sense?
However, I have to remember that although every currently active member of Giant Bomb's team is never guaranteed to always be here... they often have visited and are always welcomed back by this awesome team and the community with wide open arms.
Every time I play the latest episode of one of the podcasts, or open up one of the latest video streams or archives and get to hear / see one of the old crew, whether Drew, Austin, Patrick, or someone else from the old days of Giant Bomb, I get the biggest dumb smile on my face.
I hope in my heart that Dan has all the world's greatest success, though he seems to be "Forrest Gump'ing" himself into it despite his best efforts anyway... but more than even that, I hope that - like when the other former GB crew shows up - I get to have that dumb smile on my face often because Dan has unexpectedly come back for a visit.
Really wish Vinny and Alex called this something crude or crass like Massholes... or Masshats or Vinnco. presents Malex Effect or something a little more goofy and original. Definitely wanting to make some sort of community creation contribution though now.
Really hoping they're doing a Film & 40s style episode of All Systems Goku at some point where they comment on at least one or a few of the OVAs.
My vote is for "The World's Strongest." Has the overall best classic heavy momentum DBZ animation. The visuals in it were never repetitive, and every hit throughout the movie always comes across as incredibly impactful.
JDP83's comments