I harbour a strangely nostalgic feeling about Ryan. He was easy to ridicule which was a source of entertainment, but there was also a sweet side to him that was quite endearing. A number of people pointed out his keen awareness of his dumb image and his desire to improve himself.
He reminded me of Charly from the short story, Flowers For Algernon, the intellectually disabled subject of experimental brain surgery designed to artificially improve intelligence. In the real world there's no such hope for Ryan, which is probably for the best for his sake but I don't want to go into any spoilers. Perhaps it's this sour note that for me raises the sweet quality into relief. Ryan, the bitter sweet aspirant simpleton.
I'm fairly sure that, as is usually the case with nostalgia, I'm just wallowing in a roseate rendering of a HM that never existed. Doubtless should he reappear I'll be bruising my forehead with incessant face palming within minutes.