Nick Vardakas: Adult toy guy, lucky f*king dude, Atari spirit, Dillon's boyfriend, IT major. A lot of n*de pics, but is he gay?

 

Link to the n*de dudes

 In Righteous Gemstones Episode 3.1, Kelvin and Keefe start a Smut Buster project with the teens, buying up adult toys (so adults can't get them?).  Nick is shown examining a toy that gay men are particularly fond of.

In Episode 3.3, Nick is one of the teens making anti-smut signs as Kelvin invites Keefe to Cousin's Night, and in Episode 3.4, he appears at the Parents-Teens United Party where Keefe is outed.

His father is Nick Arapoglou, who later confronts Kelvin about the "rumors swirling around" (after confiscating the toy from his son's room?).

Our Nick grew up in Charleston and attended Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, where the Gemstone Salvation Center is located (in fiction).  He appeared in Way Off Broadway and Dracula: A Radio Play, and participated in Army Junior ROTC and the swim team.  

He also posted a video of a school film project where he tries to get the courage to talk to a cute boy.

Wait -- talk to a cute boy?

Nick's social media up to that point consists entirely of buddies -- no girls except his mother.  No mention of a senior prom.

No girls at his graduation party in June 2021.  

Those are some interesting femme rings, buddy, and did you get your hair frosted?

But he's interested in mechanics and ROTC.  He and his buds visit a Porsche Museum.  These aren't the typical gay guy's interest.

Nick's first professional acting job, on The Righteous Gemstones, came while he was a student at Triton Technical College in North Charleston.  He also started a career in modeling (in case you are wondering, 6'0", waist 32", shoe size 12"). 

He received a certificate in cyber security in 2023, and transferred to the College of Charleston, where as of this writing he is majoring in IT.  His "About Me" page says that he has experience in acting, mechanics, cooking, IT, and customer service, and speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. Not Greek? Vardakas is a Greek name.

And three more acting credits:

In Lucky F*king Kid (2024), an ad for Lucky Energy Drink shown "on all social media," Nick plays a 23-year old "no money loser" who is paid to deliver a "totally unpaid testimonial."

The Hitchhiker (2024) was written and directed by Ben Beauchamp and Timons Flower (who directed  Spider-Man: The Dark Age with Jak Kristowski) and stars Gemstone alum Dillon Brady as the Hitchhiker.  Nick plays his boyfriend or victim (it's hard to tell from the trailer).

More after the break

Spider-Man: Dark Age. Fan-movie with limited heterosexism, and a gay-subtext boyfriend

 I have been eagerly anticipating the fan-movie Spider-Man: Intro the Dark, directed by Timmons Flowers and Jak Kristowski: no girl is mentioned in the trailer or in any of the comments by either of the showrunners. This is a big deal: the Spider-Man mythos is usually loaded down with heteronormative erasure ("Like all stories, this story is about a boy and a girl.") 

Scene 1: After a news report about an explosion in Rosenberg Labs, we cut to a high school shot.  Peter Parker (Joshua Morgan) enters his class and talks to his bud about asking "Ruby" out.  Ok, so he's established as heterosexual at minute 0.30.  Two other guys discuss meeting at Peter's house after school.

Scene 2: Home.  Peter is greeted by his mom  Cut to breakfast, where they all discuss the explosion. Dad says he's going to be gone three days to help with cleanup, and he'll be back tomorrow night.  That's two days.  Continuity?

Scene 3: Peter playing chess with his bud, who he calls Veon, but is Eddie in the closing credits (Ja in the closing credits, Jaizier Mallett on the IMDB).  He says "checkmate," although the pieces on the board are random; no checkmate.  Eddie leaves. 

A Harvard recruiter calls, wanting to talk to Peter because of his excellent skills on the guitar.  Really?  Does Harvard have a big guitar program?  Could we see Peter playing the guitar?

The full review is on Righteous Gemstones Beefcake and Boyfriends