Tricky
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Tricky is one of the three primary characters in Madness Combat. Like the two other characters, Hank and Jesus, Tricky has abnormal and superhuman abilities, but only since the events of Madness Depredation. Tricky, as his name indicates, is a clown who wears face paint which suits his character, but the paint is colored, signifying some type of importance (much like Jesus' yellow halo). 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.
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[edit] Appearances
[edit] Madness Redeemer
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. When the protagonist reached Tricky he easily did away with him, the clown putting up little resistance whatsoever and only managing to snap off a few shots before he was killed.
[edit] Madness Avenger
Tricky returned in Madness Avenger evidently unharmed (even though he suffered several point blank bullet wounds to his chest in the previous episode). 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 as he had used an enemy that was down for a human shield. Eventually the weapon ran out of ammunition, which then Tricky fled. 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 (it is assumed that the Higher Powers resurrected Tricky as Jesus was nowhere to be found at the time). 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.
[edit] Madness Apotheosis
[edit] Madness Depredation
Tricky the clown had his most dramatic change in character in 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 at the point when Hank fell to the bottom of the ravine. As if to signal his coming, the warning sign tore up and out of the ground and a text appeared as "WARNING: DANGER" and sped away, slamming a 1337 agent to the ground. 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. A few seconds later, just as Jesus attempted to strangle Hank, the most severe change in the Madness series occurred: 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. Nearly choking the Protagonist with the Sign, Hank landed a few devastating slashes across his chest, but it was not enough. Tricky impaled Hank through the chest with the warning sign (much like Hank did to himself). Still having enough energy left, 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. Seemingly dying, Hank ripped the sign out of him and stood over Tricky's battered body victorious. But this victory was not meant to be. The clown spontaneously got back up onto his feet with the text "YOU DO NOT KILL CLOWN!" appearing overhead.
In one swift move too fast for even Hank to counter, 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. In the corner a text saying "OMFG" was shown during this time.
[edit] Madness Antipathy
Tricky was, for once, 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. Hank managed to grab on to a train car, however, and eventually fought his way through the 1337 Crew infested train and up to the engine cab where Tricky was. Several times the clown attempted to halt Hank's progress, but to no avail.
Eventually the train went careening off of a cliff. It crashed on the other end of the chasm and left Hank badly injured, but Tricky was absolutely fine. The clown, and he appeared to still be in the mood to battle, he then threw Hank a lead pipe so that they could duel. Tricky, wielding the warning sign, easily smashed through the pipe and impaled Hank in the neck which seemed to of killed him for a brief second, so almost immediately Tricky resurrected him. But strangely enough, Tricky continued to fight, only this time Hank having the upper hand, he then fixed the pipe by bending it back to it's original state. 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 Hank slaughtered the building's occupants containing recruits and 1337 agents he made his way to the other side, he 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, but instead of the standard clown appearance Tricky was now 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.
The episode then ended there; it is the first Madness Combat episode to end with a cliffhanger.
[edit] Madness Consternation
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.
[edit] Madness Inundation
Tricky is seen at the very end of the animation, together with Hank. They remain dead since Madness Consternation and they're just simple cameos.
[edit] Other appearances
Tricky also appeared in the two Madness shorts: Tricky bangbanggooberblat 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.
[edit] Origin
Tricky's original conception came from a popular Internet meme at the time called "xkittyfroggymeowmeow" created by a popular Newgrounds artist, Dan Paladin. It featured a naked clown with an exposed penis dancing to the song "Sailor's Hornpipe". Shortly after Redeemer was made (and Tricky was shown for the first time) Krinkels made a short animation called Tricky bangbanggooberblat which was featured Tricky smacking Jesus over the head with his own giant erect penis. But the joke quickly faded away as Tricky became a more important character as the series moved on.
