I Saw Dan in the Wild...

...And he walked by a Wendy's but didn't go in.

I work in the city and ever since Giant Bomb East became a thing I thought it would be rad to run into one of the guys while I was out and about.

I was having lunch a few weeks back and I look up and see Dan crossing the street towards me. I hesitated for a minute not sure if I should say hi. I'd have to get a lot of my stuff together very quickly and I wasn't even sure if it would be cool to bother him in the streets. He looked like he was looking for something. So I thought he was looking for the Wendy's but he wasn't, he looked up and then kept going. It was then that I realized this could be my only chance to ever say hi to one of the Giant Bombers, so I gathered my belongings and rushed out, but by the time I got outside he was lost in a crowd ahead of me and I decided not to try and track him down, that'd be weird, I guess.

Anyway, then looked up their address and saw how close they are to my office. Hopefully I can run into one of them in a more natural circumstance next time.

This is just hearsay that I've heard over the years I've been coming to the site, but the staff generally seems cool with people recognizing them on the street and saying "Hi".

I remember there was an e-mail about a tourist to San Francisco running into Rorie, and a story about Vinny getting a coffee with a fan in New York when he tweeted about construction near his old apartment, and the fan was living near by.

If they're alone just walking down the street, probably not too much of a bother if you say "hey, Dan Ryckert? You're a cool dude." Then walk away.

Just don't bother the guys at dinner or something.

Next time you see Dan, you should scream at him to equip the suppressor.

I feel like if you're decent at reading people and you see one of them walking by just kind of chill-like, you could probably say hi. Something quick. Seems like they'd be cool with it.

I wouldn't bother them unannounced while they're eating, at work, in some random restroom, or the worst case, at or very close to their actual living address. That's kind of fucked up.

If I've learned anything over the years, it's that the best approach is to get Dan's face printed on a t-shirt, as well as tattooed on each forearm. When he notices, do not approach or speak to him. You don't want to come off as creepy. Merely make eye contact, and nod slowly. If he approaches or speaks to you, sigh heavily and say "Alright, fine, I'll sign an autograph. You fans are relentless!". Quickly sign a copy of Sneak King (using "Dan Ryckert" as your name, of course), toss it to him, then run full-speed out of there.

Congratulations! You've made a friend for life.

I know you mean you looked this up because you were curious, but this is pretty funny.

got myself a Dan trap all prepared.

I saw Norm Abrams from PBS "This Old House" and "New Yankee Workshop", I nodded at him and he nodded back. Back in 1976 I ran head first into Barry Goldwater, which today would be like a five year old running smack into John McCain.

I have seens some other people I liked/admired but I often do not tell them because I don't want to bother them.

I saw Ed Boon last year at a Pinball Expo. We made eye contact but I didn't say anything because I wasn't 100% sure atm. He tweeted later on in the night about the proto Doom pinball machine there and then I knew. But what would I say really? Thanks for MK?

I also saw Dan recently at a grocery store in New York. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”. I was taken aback, and all I could say was, “huh?”, but he kept cutting me off and going, “huh? huh? huh?”, and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off.

When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

When she took one of the boxes and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each box and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

@49th: i know that isn't true... but is that true?

Not as good of a fanfic story as "I want you to eat me" but I'd give you a solid 6.5/10

I met Keanu Reeves. Thought it was him but wasn't sure, so I went up to him, said hello and he chatted to me for a minute or so. This was how I found out about Man of Tai Chi which I enjoyed a lot, it's the first movie Keanu has directed.

Now this is yet another story about Keanu Reeves being a great guy.

So, basically, just approach people if they don't look busy or they are eating, and if they still don't respond well then hey, you can spend the next year talking shit about them on the Internet! That's how it works, right?

I hope you reported him to the proper authorities.

Dan in the wildlands.

If you spot a member of Giant Bomb out in the wild be sure to tranq them and tag them so we can track their migratory patterns.

@49th: I recognize that meme. Did that pasta start with Flying Lotus? That was the first version of it I ever saw on /mu/

@49th: My soul believes this to be true

@monkeyking1969: Hah, I saw Norm Abrams at a local Newbury Comics once in Burlington, MA. He was with who I can only guess was his daughter. I believe Korn was making an appearance there.

If you want to know if i is Dan and want his attention, just scream "WALUIGI!"

Every time I go to Petaluma I wonder if I would bump into Jeff, but then I think of course not. He's most likely at home touching all those old games.

I ran into Jason & Lisa at a Protomen show in San Francisco. Briefly said hello and shook his hand and left them to enjoy the show. They were very nice but I was very nervous about bothering them and probably missed an opportunity to chat.

Point at him and go "Get over here!" And then outstretch your arms for the hug. Then when you've got him in your deep embrace you whisper in his ear, "Your soul is mine".

I feel like people are too weird about this. Chances are good that if you recognize them, then they notice that you recognize them. So it's much weirder for them if you don't acknowledge it. If they look really busy, a simple nod and smile is fine. If they don't look busy, just walk up and say, "oh man, are you Jeff Gerstmann? Big fan of the site" and they'll be like "oh cool. That's great. Thanks for watching." Or with Ryckert, I'd just bust off an obscure Metal Gear quote: "A surveillance camera?" and see how he reacted.

Wild DAN RYCKERT appeared! DAN RYCKERT used CHEESY ROLL UP! It's super effective!

I live about 2 miles away from the NetherRealms office in Chicago. As an Uber driver, I eagerly anticipate the day he somehow needs a ride from work when I'm on the job.

On a side note, I picked up an NFL player from the airport today. Not giving the slightest trickle of a shit about football, I wasn't sure who he was or if he was a big deal or not. Upon some light research, he wasn't a huge deal as it turns out, but it was still pretty cool.

I met Norm and Adam Savage at a hotel lobby in Sydney a couple of years back. I went up to them and initiated with 'sorry to bother you' and got a photo with them. Adam found it funny that I mentioned that I actually recognised Norm first and it wasn't until later that I recognised Adam. It depends on context and your own confidence I suppose. Don't be weird about it.

If we're turning this into a seeing people thread, I ran into Ken Levine and his wife a few years back and he was very very nice. It was like 2 AM on a Saturday night in New York, I ran into them on 5th Ave just strolling about. I told him I was a huge fan, tried to explain to him how much Bioshock means to me as a gamer (I bumbled through that though, not sure he got the point) and he was nice enough to ask my wife and I how we were doing and have a short chat.

I had a strange Dan related run in. I had tickets to Jim Ross' one man show thing during the wrestlemania a few years ago in San Jose. When I get there it's standing room only so I find a spot in the middle part of the room. After a few minutes Dan appears and stands right in front of me, which was fine because there was room and I'm taller than he is, plus he was definitely double fisting beers which I respected. I had tickets to the WWE access thing so I had to leave the show early. My friend and I chose to leave while JR was switching from his show to the Q and A part of the show because it was a sort of mini break. While walking away I say in Dan's direction "Giant Bomb!" loud enough so Dan can hear but I'm not yelling, I just raised my voice slightly. However as I'm saying it I turn to leave and immediately in front of me is JR's wife... who just heard me yell "Giant Bomb!" as I'm walking out of her husbands show. The way she looked at me clearly indicated she thought I had just declared her husbands performance a "Giant Bomb" and was leaving in displeasure. I only put this all together long after I had left and I felt slightly bad about the miscommunication.

A floormate in my college dorm was best friends with Jeff Green's daughter and got to meet and get drinks with all the GB guys when she visited her friend over spring break during PAX East (which happened to be the last one before Ryan's death). She offhandedly mentioned it to me a week later and I don't think I've ever been more jealous of anyone in my life.

On the other hand, I walked in on Macklemore lifting weights once so I guess my life's pretty cool.

People, just think where you are before you go shouting about Giant Bombs!