author, Ryckert has published six books. Two are of the fictional Air Force Gator series, inspired by action films of the 1980s. The books are described as a story of a military alligator pilot who is searching for his missing partner in the Middle East. After an altercation on Twitter between Ryckert and former Baseball player Jose Canseco, Canseco agreed to write the foreword for the sequel, Air Force Gator 2: Scales of Justice. ESPN reported that Canseco wrote the foreword under the impression, or pretending to be under the impression, that the book is a "thinly disguised metaphorical depiction of Canseco's life." Other books include Anxiety As an Ally, an autobiographical book based on Ryckert's experiences with anxiety disorders and panic attacks, and a memoir titled The Dumbest Kid in Gifted Class about his time growing up in Kansas. In professional wrestling A noted fan of professional wrestling, Ryckert is known for appearing on WWE pay-per-views holding video game signs based on Waluigi. Ryckert joined the PAX video game wrestling league, League of Heels, as "Dirty Dan Ryckert", a villainous heel character that uses nefarious methods to win video game matches. During his time working for the San Francisco Giant Bomb office, Ryckert carried over his character to independent professional wrestling organizations in Northern California such as All Pro Wrestling as a professional wrestling manager. After transferring to Giant Bomb's New York office, Ryckert began appearing at Battle Club Pro events in New Jersey. Personal life Ryckert is said to have an eccentric personality which leads to a lot of ideas that think outside the box. Former Game Informer co-workers Jeff Cork and Ben Hanson have commented on Ryckert that his time working for Game Informer was "kind of like a Make-A-Wish Foundation for Dan. His life is ridiculous" and "You realize you need to kind of reset your own gauges onto what works and what doesn't, because I've been proven wrong time and time again. Never bet against Dan's is kind of a constant refrain." Ryckert is a fan of 1980s action films, which both lead to the creation of his Air Force Gator series and being voted as one of the 25 raddest game journalists to follow on Twitter by Complex magazine. Complex commented on its choice of Ryckert because his posts are just as much about Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Die Hard as any given