Tricky is a recurring character on Newgrounds, especially in the Madness Combat series.
Newgrounds Appearances[]
Tricky's original conception came from a popular Internet meme at the time called "Tricky the clown" created by the Newgrounds user, Sulkoma.[1] It featured a naked clown with an exposed penis dancing to the song "Sailor's Hornpipe," a traditional sailors song. [2] Tricky also appears throughout Alien Homnid and at the end of Castle Crashers, where he is disguised as a princess. Outside of the Madness series, tricky is generally portrayed as a clown with white makeup, green hair, and a purple clown suit. Sulkoma had experience creating low quality flashes, and one day, he created an short animation containing the clown, which got blammed. Sulkoma originally called him "Silly the clown" although he doesn't remember calling it Silly, and he published it first at December 2002. He flooded the Flash Portal various times with the animation under various names, which didn't work. Eventually, Flash Crews adopted Tricky as an meme, and he became eventually enough popular to appear on the Newgrounds homepage for a while. The idea for Tricky on Madness Combat was when a friend of Krinkels asked him to.
Appearances in the Madness Series[]
Tricky is one of the chief Madness characters, along with Hank J. Wimbleton and Jesus Christ. Tricky has abnormal and superhuman abilities, but only since the events of Madness Depredation. His face paint starts white, but his face turns green when he is ressurected as a zombie. Tricky is a wild card; neither the protagonist nor antagonist, he appears to dislike everyone except for the 1337 Crew and other minor characters. First appearing in Madness Redeemer, Tricky has been featured in every Madness Combat animation and short since. Initially a standard character of seemingly little importance, Tricky, over the course of the series, became Hank's most powerful foe. So far Tricky has died a total of six times. Krinkels has stated that Tricky will not be coming back to life.
Early Appearance[]
Although it has been suggested that Tricky is the original dancing man in the first Madness Combat, this is unconfirmed. Tricky made his first appearance in Madness Redeemer, roughly half way through the animation. He was a standard character, save for his colored face paint and the M16 he was wielding. Apparently he was in the employment of the sheriff and was sent to protect him after Hank gave chase, but whether or not they were connected in any way is still unknown. Tricky showed up with two other basic enemies who attempted to defeat Hank but were easily swept aside.
Tricky returned in Madness Avenger evidently unharmed. He first appeared after the activation of the Improbability Drive. Wielding an M60 and equipped with a jetpack, he attempted to blast Hank away, but failed and was forced to flee. Later when the giant marshmallow fell and the sun died, Tricky appeared once more, this time wielding a scimitar. Without putting up much of a fight, Hank cornered him against the marshmallow and impaled him with the warning sign, killing the clown instantly. After Hank departed an unknown force resurrected Tricky as a zombie. Pulling the sign out of his chest, Tricky once again attacked Hank, and although putting up more of a fight was eventually shot to death with a Deagle.
The Tricky Saga Begins[]
Tricky returned once more in, Madness Apotheosis. The intro to the movie shows him donning what appears to be a gray wielders mask as well as gloves which covered his green, zombified hands. Apparently Tricky was Hank's target in this episode. Now a DJ at Club M, Tricky was presiding over a rave party when Hank busted in and slaughtered the party-goers, shooting Tricky in the face several times ( and hacking his way through before Jesus came to the scene and wreaked havoc. After Hank did away with both himself and Jesus through the use of a suicide bomb, Tricky simply shrugged, put on the record of the DJ Birdy Bird Dance, and danced the night away.
Tricky the clown had his most dramatic change in character in Madness Depredation, the fifth episode of the series. Still "alive" after being shot in the face with an MP5 in Apotheosis, Tricky appeared in the latter half of the episode. As if to signal his coming, the warning sign tore up and out of the ground and a text appeared as "WARNING: DANGER". As the
sign moved it tore a rift in the ground which allowed Tricky as well as a handful of 1337 Crew to pop out of the floor. Hank quickly blasted Tricky in the face when he first appeared, but the clown would not be stopped. Just as Jesus attempted to strangle Hank Reality was compromised. Tricky suddenly became extremely powerful, actually shaking uncontrollably. Apparently supercharged by the Improbability Drive, Tricky wielded the warning sign and actually was able to launch Hank up onto a precipice. Quickly turning around, he grabbed the injured Jesus and tore the top half of his head off. Jumping all the way up the cliff, Tricky showed Hank Jesus' severed head and proceeded to do battle with him. Tricky impaled Hank through the chest with the warning sign. Hank chopped the top half of Tricky's head off with his katana, taking a portion of the mask and red hair off with it. However, the clown spontaneously got back up onto his feet with the text "YOU DO NOT KILL CLOWN!" appearing overhead. In one swift move, Tricky tore his head off and pounded it into the ground. Turning to the camera, Tricky threw up his hands making the peace symbols with them as "CLOWN KILLS YOU!" appeared overhead.
After the Transformation[]
Tricky was the main foe in Madness Antipathy. Though he didn't appear until the later half of the animation, his presence was known from the start. As Hank was revived, he noticed a Glock and sword laying on the ground alongside a note which read, "Just do what comes natural - T". This would indicate that Tricky revived Hank to let him slay all of the 1337 agents he can until he meets up with Tricky where another note has been left. When Hank reached the console of the Improbability Drive, he attempted to shut it off but found that the button had been taped down. Yet another note was there, this time reading, "Very good! Now catch me if you can, sucka! - T". A moment later the building disintegrated and a steam train with Tricky as its engineer came rolling through, knocking Hank off to the side. Tricky looked much like he did in the last episode, warning sign equipped as well, except this time he was wearing an engineer's hat to accompany his new role.
After the train crashed, Tricky fought Hank. Although he killed Hank again, he quickly revived him to toy with him. After getting close enough to Tricky to knock his engineer's hat off, Hank watched as Tricky fled very far and very quickly and called down a copy of the previous building between himself and Hank. After getting through the building, Hank found Tricky absolutely defenseless, buying a hot dog from a vendor's stand. Mercilessly, Tricky was hacked into with an axe and shot up, left to drop over the cliff. But something deemed his death words appeared as they said "INVALID", "NO" "THE CLOWN CANNOT DIE!", the Improbability Drive then summoned him back to life, as a giant flaming demon. It had features such as the mask and twin hair pieces, but the likenesses ended there. The demon's whole body was bathed in fire and instead of hands had large, menacing claws.
Tricky makes his last major appearance in Madness Consternation. After quickly killing Hank, he revives him again, who is angered by this action. Tricky spends most of this animation chasing Hank who is fleeing, who barely escapes each assault. A magnification in the animation shows that he has a portable improbability drive in his head (shown when Hank fired a combat shotgun into his face). Towards the end of the episode, he still appears in demon form to Hank, though back to normal size. Hank attempts to strike him with the chainsaw he recently obtained, but it is merely thrown aside by the homicidal clown. The two exchange blows until Hank is thrown through a wall.
Jesus then falls from the building and kills Hank by shooting him in the head, then turns and lands a lethal blow on Tricky's Portable Improbability Drive with the same gun, destroying it. Tricky's demon form degenerates, leaving his battered, zombified body vulnerable. Jesus makes short work of him with a few swings of his 316 sword.
This appears to be the end for Tricky, until his body is absorbed by the Auditor in Madness Abrogation. At this point, Tricky shows signs of regaining consciousness in the Auditor's body. However, shortly after this, the Auditor explodes, killing them both(possibly permanently). The explosion cloud was shaped like Tricky's head. It is unknown if the Auditor or Tricky will return in future episodes.
Other appearances[]
Tricky is seen in Madness Inundation, together with Hank. They remain dead since Madness Consternation and they're just simple cameos. Tricky also appeared in the two Madness shorts: Tricky bangbanggooberblat, which featured Tricky smacking Jesus over the head with his own giant erect penis, and Tricky Madness 2. In both instances Tricky was shown doing something extremely bizarre and has no relation at all to the Madness Combat plot.