Community Proxies Explained — The Rivalry

Nadia vs Tabitha series by DJ_Knuckles

Welcome to Community Proxies Explained, where we take a look at community-made DangPacks cards. We explore the card art created by the talented artists of The 596, as well as the meaning behind the various references found in their cards.

Three fan-made cards by community member DJ_Knuckles in honor of the rivalry between Nadia and Tabitha

What Do These Cards Reference?

All three cards feature the AI bots used to hype up Dan’s Spelunky 2 7–99 attempts, typically appearing just before Dan entered the “Tide Pool” stage of the game.

What Is In the Card Arts?

The ‘Nadia vs Tabitha’ card features both bots in a boxing ring about to fight as a Lego caricature of Dan looks poised to ring the starting gong.

‘The Tabinator Card’ shows Tabitha walking through the bars of a prison cell menacingly over a cowering Nadia. The final card in the series ‘Bots on Break’ shows a cheerful Nadia and Tabitha enjoying a meal together.

The full art version of the ‘Nadia vs Tabitha’ card created by community artist DJ_Knuckles

What Details and Easter Eggs are Hidden in the Full Art of ‘Nadia vs Tabitha?’

• The scoreboard reads a score of 7 to 99, a clear reference to Dan’s 7–99 attempts in the game Spelunky 2.
• The crowd are representations of the emotes DangPOGX and DangDemon.
• The away score on the scoreboard read AWWA instead of AWAY. This is in reference to the popular phrase in the 596 community standing for “Appreciate Where We Are.”
• The quote on the standard card is a reference to the Tide Pool intro spoken by Tabitha.

The full art version of the ‘The Tabinator’ card created by community artist DJ_Knuckles

What Details and Easter Eggs are Hidden in the Full Art of ‘The Tabinator?’

• Title, art and quote are all references to the movie ‘Terminator 2’. This movie was chosen as the perfect reference to two ‘bots’ fighting each other.
• Tabitha represents the T-1000 walking through the metal cell wall while Nadia represents Sarah Connor.
• You can see a tub of G-Fuel on the floor, a current sponsor of Dan’s channel at the time of the card’s creation.

The full art version of the ‘Bots on Break’ card created by community artist DJ_Knuckles

What Details and Easter Eggs Are Hidden in the Full Art of ‘Bots on Break?’

• Qilin Eggs from Spelunky 2 can be seen in the top left being sold at a store. The stores name is cut off but is a clear reference to “Pleasure Palace.”
• Irish Spring is visible in the laundromat, a reference to the sound clip Dan plays when he finds a green box of bombs in Spelunky 2.
• This laundromat also has its entrance made out of wood, a reference to the Spelunky 2 shops.
• Nadia and Tabitha are wearing red and blue shirts, representing ‘Team Red’ and ‘Team Blue,’ which are often referenced in chat. These “teams” refer to the people betting channel points on Dan either succeeding or failing, respectively.
• The character representing Dan is holding a W, a reference to the ‘DangW’ emote and phrase “Hard W” when Dan wins. He is standing in front of a sign that says 7–99. Together these two details signify a Hard W on Spelunky 2’s 7–99 challenge by Dan just days before this card released. This victory is also referenced in the cards theme as the bots are on break because they are not needed anymore with Dan completing 7–99.
• On the far left you can see a reference to the constellation displayed in Spelunky 2 called Animus Major. The text is cut off to only display “…us Major” which references Dan’s hilarious mispronunciation of the constellation name when he first saw it as ‘Anus Major.’

Special thanks to DJ_Knuckles for providing the card art and details for this kick-off to the ‘Community Proxies Explained’ series. Have you created your own dang proxies, or appreciated proxies made by someone else? Let us know in the comments and maybe it will be featured in a future article!