Madness Combat / Tropes L to Z

Madness Combat Trope Examples
A - K | L - Z

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L

• La Résistance: Sanford and Deimos appear to be a part of an organization that opposes the Auditor's totalitarian regime, unofficially dubbed the "Anti-Auditor Agency" or "Anti-A.A.H.W.".
• Laser-Guided Karma: Several times through the series, some of the more assholish mooks tend to die almost immediately after abusing their co-workers (though said co-workers tend to die soon after), and even something as egregious as smoking in a public space is a sign they're going to get killed. Incident:010A has this happen to Hank himself, after saving a civilian from zombies, only to use them as a brick-through-the-wall and a human shield. He is then summarily torn apart and stabbed by a MAG Agent while the civilian just sits back and watches. And to put a cherry on top, this civilian is also a smoker, and lights one up to watch the show.
• Laser Sight:
  • These are occasionally seen on guns in the series, but rarely have any effect.
  • Guns in Madness: Project Nexus have a chance to come equipped with a laser sight, and unlike in the animations, these have an actual effect by increasing the gun's effective range.
  • On the other hand, MADNESS: Project Nexus ridicules the laser sight (a weapon mod which can be added to almost all guns) in its flavor text and makes it give a slight penalty to weapon range and recoil recovery. However, a lower Range value does mean having a Sweet Spot closer to the player character, which can be tactically advantegeous, so it's Not Completely Useless.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Hank starts off the series as a Villain Protagonist who's willing to start a massacare over a boombox. He graduates to a Nominal Hero later on, if only because his main enemies now include a Monster Clown and a Humanoid Abomination.
• Light Is Not Good: Jebus presents himself as a holy man and has quite a messiah complex, when in fact he's more akin to a fanatical Necromancer.
• Lovecraftian Superpower/Power-Upgrading Deformation: Hank, revived for the seventh time, is now twice his size, lacks the eponymous facial lines across his face, and has a crustacean arm where his right hand used to be.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: In Expurgation, two skeletons spawn with shields, and their thick metallic plating renders them completely invulnerable to small-arms fire. Sanford's stolen shield is the only reason he is not killed when he is subjugated to a rapid-fire barrage from Tricky's M60, along with Hank's timely arrival.

M

• Machete Mayhem: They come in two flavors: the "normal" Machete & the Megachette. The latter is among the most prevalent melee weapons in the series.
  • Expurgation introduced the Billhook Machete, and Dedmosrebuilt.fla introduced the Barong Machete.
• Made of Iron: Pretty much all of the main characters take multiple bullets, stab wounds and blunt trauma before they finally die. If they die at all, and even then, that's not so permanent.
  • Jebus can walk around without his brain.
  • Sanford needs a special mention:
    • He and Deimos had a building dropped on them in Depredation, surviving with little more than some minor head trauma.
    • Shot in the gut in the beginning of 6.5 (by a revolver, which in this universe are usually instant kills).
    • Stabbed in the gut, then shot in the hand in Aggregation.
    • Then gets beaten around repeatedly at the end of Aggregation and during Abrogation, with a small knife wound to the backhand for good measure. This guy's taken almost as much of a beating as Hank, but with none of the dying (though with a sizable healing period after 6.5).
    • In Expurgation he gets smashed into a wall at high speed when Tricky golf-clubbed him with a hammer. It does cause him considerable pain, but is physically none the worse for wear.
• Made of Plasticine: Literally, In fact. Krinkels has said that the skin of Nevadeans aren't very elastic, and that touching them literally feels like plasticine clay. Which explains why they have little trouble ripping each other's heads off like they're secured with velcro.
• The Man Behind the Man: Apparently, the Auditor is the one orchestrating things, given that he had his own Improbability Drive, was able to upgrade his soldiers, create Mag Agents, and infect Jebus.
• Meaningful Name: Episode 4's subtitle, Apotheosis, can be defined as "the ideal example; epitome; quintessence." Krinkels considers it the best episode of the series, and his personal favorite. Fittingly, it's by far the most popular entry of the series, and Krinkels' original plan was to end the series at this episode.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: Expurgation starts off in Auditor's "Hell" realm, where we see two mysterious red figures, then cutting back to Hank and Sanford with a "MEANWHILE, IN NEVADA".
• Mêlée à Trois: Depredation is a three-way battle between Hank, Jebus and Tricky.
• Mind Screw: Again, depending on how much weight you give the plot.
• Mirror Match: Toward the end of 9.5: Hank (as seen in Madness Antipathy) versus Hank (as seen in Madness Consternation). True to Hank's nature, both seem eager to try killing each other; the two are about evenly matched, though the former seems somewhat more competent, at least when it comes to Good Old Fisticuffs.
• Mistaken for Murderer: During most of the Deimos Adventure mini-series, Deimos is impaled and forcibly moved in different places by bladed chains coming out of nowhere. So when 2BDamned tries to anchor Deimos back to the living world, Deimos avoids the anchors because they look similar to the chains that have been torturing him since his arrival in Hell.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: In Madness: Project Nexus, defied by Dr. Jebediah Christoff, who angrily trashed his research and killed his managers after he saw what kind of monstrosities they were having him create.
• Monster Clown: Tricky after he gets revived as a zombie. Even moreso after he becomes Demon Tricky.
• Mood Whiplash: Happens at the end of some installments. Apotheosis, we're looking at you.
• Mook Chivalry:
  • Tons of it. For example, if a hero ever runs out of bullets, the next room will almost inevitably only have melee-focused enemies.
  • In some episodes, Mooks in the same room as the heroes won't even raise their weapons until they're onscreen.
• More Dakka: In Madness: Project Nexus, you can pick up the Awesome, but Impractical and incredibly expensive M249 SAW. One of the 3 Simple, yet Awesome Shotguns is the USAS-12, which is fully automatic and does just as well as the SPAS-12 and Norinco 97k.
• Mutual Kill: Avenger ends with Jesus running Hank through with his sword, but Hank shooting him and the Sheriff before he dies. Expurgation has another one with Hank killing Tricky in both the mortal world and the afterlife, but seemingly taking his and Sanford's lives in the process. Given that this causes the Auditor to return to life, this kill in particular was in vain.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In Madness: Project Nexus, Dr. Christoff had this reaction to the mad science he created. This feeling didn't extend to the security guards he guns down, though.

N

• Necromancer:
  • Jebus has the power to revive fallen mooks as zombies and is responsible for almost all of the zombies in the series. Except for Tricky, who became one thanks to the Improbability Drive.
  • The Auditor's enhancing power he used on two engineers also works on corpses; resurrecting them and making them far tougher to kill for good.
• New Old West: The early videos featuring the Sheriff are pretty much this — a western with a lot more gore and modern firearms. Although the series takes on a surrealist Science Fiction theme after the death of the Sheriff, there's still a Western feel, with constant shots of the canyons and Tricky driving a train.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands:
  • Somewhat justified, as Tricky gains new and improved powers from the Improbability Drive whenever he's on the losing end of a battle. In Consternation, he gains a "Portable Improbability Drive".
  • Jebus' powers are rather inconsistent and appears to be different each episode. For example, he can use a disintegrating beam in Inundation which he never did before, yet he is not seen using it in any of his Incidents videos.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Madness: Project Nexus, Dr. Christoff destroys the titular Nexus Project, but the Nexus was the only thing keeping a horde of zombies and abominations on what could loosely be described as a leash. The epilogue states "the city" is "decimated".
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Tricky after his Reality Compromised power-up, and his demon form and The Auditor, who is Made of... Dark Stuff, though as of Abrogation, it's averted as Hank finds that he's vulnerable to his new arm's electrified punches.
• The Night That Never Ends: Hank causes an endless night by bludgeoning the Sun to death in Avenger. As the series goes on, the sky takes on a black-and-red gradient.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • After Hank gains a new metal arm, he body-slams Tricky on a platform, throws him against a wall, crushes him with an other spiky platform, beats him up and shoot him with Tricky's own gun. All that's left of Tricky after that beatdown (prior to Tricky respawning) is an upper body full of holes.
  • When a giant skeleton spawns, Hank starts to beat it up before it even finished spawning, and the skeleton only gets to hit Hank once before being stuck it into a wall of light. When the giant skeleton frees himself a few seconds later, it's ready to continue the fight, but Hank simply slices its face with a katana and stomps the skeleton into the ground for good.
• Non-Serial Movie: The Incidents episodes aren't canon to the episodic animations.
• Not the Intended Use: Many characters, Hank in particular, have ocassionally stabbed mooks with weapons not made with that purpose, such as assault rifles or nightsticks.

O

• Offhand Backhand: Many of the characters do this, but Hank is especially fond of the move.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Happens twice in 9.5 after Tricky busts out a chainsaw. The clown gets the drop on Retainer #909 with it, but Antipathy Hank flees the scene and viewers can only hear the chainsaw's motor, and the Retainer's mutilated body parts get thrown into the room moments later. The scene then cuts to the activities of Consternation Hank, but moments later Antipathy Hank emerges through the destroyed ceiling of that same room riding atop the giant skull-and-flesh aspect of Tricky seen earlier, holding onto the chainsaw that is now stuck in its face.
• Oh, Crap!: What appears to be reality itself in response to The Auditor accidentally absorbing Tricky. He doesn't take it very well, either. Quite explosively.
  "[OH GOD NO]"
  • In one of the few cases of anyone demonstrating any kind of survival instinct, a mook in Consternation has this reaction to Hank dismembering his colleagues with a chainsaw, frantically trying to climb up a nearby ladder to escape. He doesn't get far.
• Ominous Visual Glitch:
  • In Depredation, the fight between Hank and Jebus in interrupted by the screen glitching and Tricky coming out of the ground, complete with screechy static and flickering text.
    • Tricky in general is constantly in a state of violent shaking, as he was glitching starting from Depredation.
  • All over the place in An Experiment. Once Scrapeface is tortured by being separated from his hands, he'll sometimes hover while being motionless like a bugged model and he'll glitch through a door and cause other people to glitch.
• One Bullet Clips: Madness: Project Nexus averts this by making magazines a collected resource. The only exceptions to this are weapons where the ammo is loaded individually, such as the SPAS-12.
• One-Gender Race: There are no women among Madness Combat characters. While characters often use masculine pronouns (though the singular "they" is sometime used), have masculine names and can have masculine attributes like beards, Word of God says that they don't really qualify as "men" either. They are their own things.
• One-Handed Shotgun Pump: Hank does this twice in Consternation while hanging one-handed from the ceiling. Notably, the first time he does it, the barrel is pointing down, making the pumping motion vastly harder to put enough force behind.
• One-Man Army: Hank, Jebus, Tricky, Sanford and Deimos, The Auditor, pretty much every main character is one. It's a requirement to survive in the Madness world.
• One-Winged Angel: CLOWN CANNOT DIE. Tricky spends the entirety of one episode trying to get at Hank as a giant demon clown, only stopped when Jesus destroys the Improbability Generator that's keeping up Tricky's form.
  • Also, Mag Hank.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: The second time the Auditor tries this, it begins to backfire on him. This gets more noticeable after Hank briefly steals his halo, which causes the Auditor to slowly destabilize physically and mentally. To keep himself stable, he starts to absorb a LOT of dead bodies, allowing him to grow in power and size... then he absorbs Tricky, which kills him.
• Order Versus Chaos:
  • The conflict between Hank and the A.A.H.W. seems to revolve around this, with the A.A.H.W. claiming to be working to restore order in Nevada while Hank opposes them and appears to just be out to kill as many people as possible. Though given how the A.A.H.W.'s leader is in possession of the Improbability Drive, which is the source of much of the chaos and madness in Nevada, it is possible that restoring order is just a front for the organization.
  • Played straighter with Jesus, who opposes Hank due to his murder sprees and later turns against the A.A.H.W. to destroy the Improbability Drive and restore normality to Nevada.
  • The Auditor and Tricky also seem to develop this dynamic, with the Auditor seemingly wanting control of Nevada while Tricky just wants to fight and kill.
• Our Souls Are Different: S-3LF, as its called, is a conglomeration of energy that a typical Nevadean is given at creation. It's been scientifically analyzed so thoroughly that S-3LF can be copied and imparted onto multiple clones to either give them the combat history of a given individual, or even just resurrect them no questions asked if they have either the actual energy straight from The Other Place, or an approximated copy of it assembled from analyzing them previously.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Actually, they're exactly the same as the regular mooks. They're nowhere near as strong though, but can take a bit more punishment.

P

• Parrying Bullets:
  • This is done several times with varying degrees of success, including Hank's attempt to block a full-auto spray from a Zombie Agent's G36 using the dragon sword in Apotheosis, which allows one bullet to strike him regardless. Both versions of Hank in 9.5 can use a sword to swat pistol rounds away with apparent ease, one variant also using a baseball bat to guard against MAC-11 spray (causing the bat to become a deadly shiv).
  • Madness: Project Nexus allows characters with high enough Dexterity to block bullets with melee weapons to reduce the damage to their Tac-Bar. At max Dexterity, they get an improved version that deflects bullets back at the shooter. Unlike Hank's attempt in Apotheosis, you can reliably block full-auto fire or even shotgun blasts this way.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The passcode to Deimos's PDA is "8520", entered by swiping a finger down the middle.
• Phlebotinum Breakdown: With the destruction of the Improbability Drives, it seems that reality itself has been suffering from this.
  • On top of this, the Auditor suffers this throughout Abrogation, until his Phlebotinum Overload.
• Phlebotinum Overload: The Auditor's death, courtesy of Tricky's remains.
• Pistol-Whipping: When empty, guns are frequently used as melee weapons.
• Poor Communication Kills: The first two ATP Soldats choose to rush to fight Sanford and Deimos before the Auditor could respond to their messages. Had they waited, they would have learned of an upgrade the Auditor had for them and might have stood a chance.
• Pretty Little Headshots: All over the place in the early episodes, then downplayed more and more as the series went on and the violence got messier. Madness: Project Nexus, on the other hand, is rather inconsistent with this, as a fatal headshot can either leave a single small wound or remove a huge chunk of the target's head. It gets a bit absurd when shotguns are involved, as a point-blank shotgun blast might leave the victim with a face-full of these in lieu of removing the head completely.
• Punch a Wall: In Anamnesis.fla, some kind of hallucination of Sanford starts to punch a wall after having his face obscured and before getting half-teleported into the floor. It seems to be more out of despair than anger as if he was trying to escape.

R

• Reality Warper: Tricky, according to his profile on the Auditor's monitor. May or may not simply be a side effect of the Improbability Drive.
• Recoil Boost: In Consternation, Hank first tries to deal with MAG Agent: Torture by using the recoil from the agent's gigantic shotgun as a springboard to send him up high enough to blast Torture in the face.
• Recurring Traveller: The Hot Dog Vendor, a guy in a paper hat and greasy apron who has the privilege of being one of the few characters who has not been killed yet (unless he didn't escape the building hit by a reality restoration beam.)
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Jebus, the Auditor and many, many, many Mooks. Hank wears red spectacles, in an odd variant of this trope.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: When the sky becomes red from Depredation onwards, it's a sign that the Improbability Drive is causing chaos in Nevada.
• Refuge in Audacity: The only way this series can get away with the body count.
• Replacement Mooks: Agents start off as an elite division of the A.A.H.W., but eventually replace Grunts as the A.A.H.W.'s primary combatants.
• Resurrection/Death Loop: Implied to be the case with a couple of agents in 9.5 part 2. If you look closely in the scene after Antipathy Hank first fights Tricky, a couple of agents with the same wounds continue to reappear only to be slaughtered by Hank moments afterwards. Further hinted at with a poster in the same room:
  STAY PUT
  ACKNOWLEDGE CONTINUOUS FATE
  YOUR DISSOLUTION HAS BEEN POSTPONED
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Jesus had an S&W .500, and Sanford has a Colt Revolver with a shortened barrel in 6.5 and Aggregation.
  • In Madness: Project Nexus, the Colt Revolver deals more damage than the 1911A1 Custom, despite the 1911A1 firing .460 Rowland, which has more power than the .44 Magnum, and deals as much damage as the Desert Eagle and Automag V, both of which are .50 caliber pistols, and both revolvers have more range than everything except for a select few rifles, with barrels only slightly longer than the 1911A1's. They're getting all that power and range simply from being revolvers.
• Riddle for the Ages: We don't learn what's inside the box of Incident: 101A, even though it's one of the mini-episode's focuses and Tricky took the time to steal it after murdering everyone.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: In Abrogation, Hank and Sanford have to enter a building full of the Auditor's minions, settling on Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who goes in first. Hank picks scissors and loses.
• Running Gag:
  • Smokers getting killed. An early hint as to Deimos' ultimate fate.
  • The Trench Knife being one of the only few weapons never used to kill someone. This is even referenced in Madness Combat 11, where a Trench knife is summoned for Sanford to use but he just ignores it.

S

• Sawed-Off Shotgun: In Madness Combat 1, the second gun Hank pulled out was a sawed-off shotgun, which he managed to fire three shots from without pumping. Sawed-off shotguns never appeared afterwards.
  • In a way it did appear in CHASE.fla where Deimos uses a "mare's leg" configuration of a Lever-Action Shotgun.
• Say My Name: Tricky roars out Hank's name upon his resurrection in Expurgation. It's so loud that Sanford covers his ears in pain or annoyance.
  Tricky: "HANK!"
  Tricky: "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!"
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Jebus has "quit" about three times already... and keeps coming back for more..
• Serial Escalation:
  Madness Combat 1: A faceless goon fighting other faceless goons over a boombox, and Jesus shows up, uses a cross-shaped energy shield to block bullets, and summons a cannon out of nowhere.
  Madness Combat 8-11: An epic and bloody fight against a corrupt regime which is turning the area into hell.
• Serious Business: People get killed over a boombox in Madness Combat 1.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Incident:100A. Well, except for the guy they kidnapped who was lucky enough to survive the incident. He was probably going to be beaten to death if the heroes hadn't saved him.
• Shock and Awe: Hank gets this ability after briefly stealing Jebus' halo from the Auditor. It proves to be the Auditor's weakness, as it not only quickens his destabilization, but it's also the only attack that can hit through the Auditor's intangibility power.
• Short-Range Shotgun: Averted in Madness: Project Nexus, where all 3 shotguns have a decent range of 160 yards, and can inflict heavy damage at long range.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: In Madness: Project Nexus, shotguns are among the best weapons in the game: decent range, a reasonable reload time, as good as the many assault rifles, plentiful and can defeat any enemy, from regular Mooks to Sleepwalkers, and even the final bosses. The spray of pellets also makes them great at shredding through Tac-Bars, though they suffer from low ammo count.
• Shout-Out:
  • Many for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a few to The Matrix. Also there are certain weapons that bear a strong resemblance to weapons from other media; especially the Trench knives that seems to be from Heavy Metal. Hank's getup from Episode 5 is basically Jean Reno's costume from The Professional. As well as the Graffiti that featured names such as Newgrounds Dot Com and forum members on the official fan site.
  • Hank's fighting style, especially with Guns Akimbo, is Gun Kata, as seen in Equilibrium.
  • Incident:111A features "Smile.jpg" as featured in the game SCP-087-B, with sound effects from SCP – Containment Breach.
  • Jebus' sword has "316" written in binary. That represents John 3:16, one of the most quoted passages of the Bible. One of its translations is as follows:
    "For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting."
    • This is immensely appropriate given Jebus thinks almost everyone else is evil and kills all of them for being "sinners".
  • In 6.5 when Sanford and Deimos are getting new outfits, sanford puts on a shirt that reads "I covered wars, you know".
  • In 7.5:
  • When Sanford and Deimos get into melee combat with the newly activated Soldats, Sanford engages one of them with a beckoning gesture straight out of The Matrix.
    • In the same episode, Deimos carries a silenced Mark 23 SOCOM, otherwise known as Solid Snake's favourite weapon.
  • Incident:001A: After Hank finds a giant blender and a MAG agent walks in, Hank says "Will it blend?"
  • Madness: Project Nexus also has a few:
    • One of the weapons you can use is called the "Citizen Cane" with the description "I said GOOD DAY SIR."
    • Arena Mode lets you buy a Robocop outfit as armor, and complete the look with his trademark Auto9 pistol.
  • In Madness: Project Nexus 2, you can get the Dragonslayer.
• Side Bet: At the start of Incident:100A, Sanford and Deimos apparently made a bet about their plan to infiltrate the base they're going for — most likely, whether the door guard would fall for a cardboard cut-out of Deimos. Which he did, so Sanford had to pay up.
• Simple, yet Awesome: The shotguns in Madness: Project Nexus follow the trend of Shotguns Are Just Better in many video games. They seem to be Boring, but Practical at first, like the assault rifles-plentiful, good rate of fire and common, with the exception of having a slightly smaller magazine capacity-until you discover that they can make heads explode. They also have a fast reload time, and you can sail through whole levels with one, as long as you pick up another shotgun when you run out of ammo. They are also very useful in Episode 1.5, capable to defeating the Abominations and Sleepwalkers with ease. They've got hilariously high penetration too, so you might find yourself taking out two Abominations with one headshot. The most practical model is actually the most plentiful one: the magazine-fed Norinco 97k. It's got a faster reload time than the SPAS-12, easier to control than the USAS-12, is the cheapest of the bunch and the fact that it's a Sawed-Off Shotgun makes it easy to handle in tight spaces, which is surprisingly good as you'll be fighting in close-quarters for most, if not all the time.
  • The Thompson, which looks very cool and actually performs quite well in the Arena and Story Mode.
  • The Luger P08 looks awesome as well. It's the second cheapest pistol in the game, deals more damage than the Walther PPK and, well, all you have to do is headshot people.
• Simultaneous Arcs:
  • Downplayed with "Aggregation", which starts about a minute before the end of the previous episode, "Inundation".
  • The ".5" episodes take place in the same time as the mainline episodes, except we follow different protagonists in different locations.
  • The Deimos Adventure mini-series shows Deimos's travel in Hell after being killed in "Aggregation" while the other main characters are doing their own things. The timeline is a bit ambiguous, as it's not clear at which point in the mainline series Deimos Adventure starts (unlikely to be the exact moment Deimos died) or ends.
• Sinister Shades: Jesus starts donning a pair of sunglasses in episode 4.
• Sliding Scale of Visuals Versus Dialogue: The entire Madness Combat series contains no audible dialogue - information and banter are all delivered through text.
• Splash of Color: Mostly red (and a little yellow) in the midst of that colorless world.
• Squee: Hank becomes very giddy upon seeing the giant blender in Incident:001A, visibly shaking in excitement and anticipation. He immediately starts throwing as many mooks into it as he can, eventually jamming a MAG Agent in it. It's as messy as one might think.
  "OMG"
  "SATISFACTORY"
• Spammer: Tricky spams The Auditor in Madness 6.5 with the line "You can't stop me!"
• Standard FPS Guns: They're (almost) all here, but the usual weaknesses are averted. There are plenty of knives and swords that can be wielded as both primaries or secondaries and can range from pitiful damage to being very powerful, pistols that range from ones that take 3 or more shots to kill the weakest enemy to incredibly strong Hand Cannons, three different Shotguns, lots of Automatic Weapons in the form of SMGs and Assault Rifles, an M203 Grenade Launcher, a FN FAL as a Marksman Gun/Battle Rifle (as it can be fired full-auto, oddly enough), with the FAMAS acting as both an assault rifle and a Battle Rifle. There is also an energy gun that isn't available in the Gear Shop that can be found in Episode 1.5 of Story Mode, plenty of silencers, laser sights and scopes, and an M249 that acts as a BFG. However, it averts the usual trope by being very fast.
• Standard Snippet:
  • You can hear Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" in Madness Combat 3's main theme.
  • The main theme of Expurgation, where a certain clown comes back in town, has snippets based on Julius Fucik's "Entry of the Gladiators", which is heavily associated with circuses.
• The Starscream: Tricky could be interpreted as this. As of Abrogation, this has been confirmed. Posthumously. It got to the point where Tricky defiantly deserted just to battle Hank, and the Auditor threatened anyone who was "caught posting paraphernalia in regards to that god damn clown" with instant death.
• Start of Darkness: Jebus was once known as Dr. Jebidiah Christoff, the chief scientist of Project Nexus, who defected after realizing what his scientific efforts were forced to create. Setting his experiments loose lead to them attacking, killing and zombifying his former colleagues. Christoff was immediately blamed for this and became a liability, waging a one-man war against Nexus itself. Near the end, he picks up his trademark halo which would later turn him into one of the major antagonists of the series and Hank's main rival until being Killed Off for Real.
• The Stinger: Rather amusing one in Incident:110A. After the kill counter drains to zero, the post-animation credits pops up momentarily...and then the action restarts as Jebus picks up a minigun and kills more people, further reducing the counter to -20.
• Sticks to the Back: Jebus's TAC-50. Overlaps with Hammerspace because even disassembled the barrel is taller than him. Also, in both Madness Interactive and Madness: Project Nexus, you can see alternate weapons a character carries on his back.
• Stock Sound Effects: A common occurrence due to the series' mostly non-budgeted nature. Some of the single most common sound effects tend to be from sounds of bodily violence, like a head getting ripped off with a dull fabric-like noise.
• Storming the Castle: Several episodes start with the protagonists assaulting their enemies' buildings, but they tend to be interrupted in the middle of the raid by unexpected events. Taken a bit more literally in Abrogation, where the Auditor erects a castle-like complex, complete with ramparts, on the spot and dares the protagonists to storm it.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: Sanford and Deimos have a a bit of a "serious guy and comedic guy" dynamic. This is most notable in a scene where Deimos pulls a prank on Sanford and Sanford gives him a Dope Slap while sporting an annoyed expression.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: It was pretty obvious that the dumbwaiter in An Experiment was a trap but if the poor guy didn't comply he'd be shot to death anyway.
• Stylized for the Viewer: Every character appears to have the same size to the viewers, but Krinkels said that they actually have differents heights In-Universe. The only current height confirmations are that Hank is taller than Sanford and that Deimos is the shortest.
• Subverted Trope: Incident:010A, wherein Hank is brutally torn apart while the man he used as a human shield calmly has a smoke in the end; a Running Gag is that anyone who smokes and/or gets used as a shield dies.
• Sudden Anatomy: Sanford gains his trademark lower lip to show his satisfaction upon getting his Cool Shades in 6.5.
• Super-Strength: Hank, an otherwise Badass Normal, can rip a man's body parts off with his bare hands [also included are hearts and ears], and impale people with blunt objects just as easily as with swords or knives. As of Aggregation, he has now gotten even stronger after being revived once more..
• Sweat Drop: Happens rather often in the series, though sometimes too quickly to see easily. Twice during Redeemer, once during Avenger, another at the end of Apotheosis (OMFG) and other time when Sanford and Deimos encounter Tricky.
  • Hank briefly gets a transparent one when he empties a magazine into the very first MAG agent's face to no effect.
  • In Antipathy, a mook gets one for a split second when Hank gets his hands on the battleaxe. But only for a split second.
• Sword and Gun: Used extensively by Hank in Apotheosis, as well as by Jebus in most of his appearances.
• Swords Akimbo: The Auditor summons two Megachettes when he goes to fight Jesus in Inundation.
• Symbol Face: Nevedeans all have crosses for faces, with no exception. Sure, there may be extra features piled on, but the cross is still there. This is used to show that the person is "human", and that the lack of it is a result of their monstrous nature.

T

• Taking You with Me:
  • In Avenger, Hank kills the Sheriff and Jesus just before dying from the impalement that Jesus gave him in his stomach.
  • Hank suicide bombs himself to kill Jesus in Apotheosis.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Near the end of of Antipathy, Tricky buys a hot dog but doesn't have the chance to enjoy it as Hank assaults him in just as he's getting it.
• Throw-Away Guns: Hank tends to burn through both his ammo and his firearms. Subverted by Jebus, who only drops his TAC-50 after he doesn't need it anymore/runs out of ammo and keeps his S&W500 on him throughout the episode, and played straight and subverted by Deimos, who throws weapons away, but not his own Glock 20, which he picks up in 6.5, uses to kill a few agents on the roof and holsters it as he gets into the helicopter with Sanford.
• Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: With all the gun-throwing in the series, some of those throws will naturally be aimed at enemies. Special mention goes to Hank bouncing a rifle off an enemy's face and catching it in Antipathy and Jesus throwing one so hard it impales a guy through the head in Inundation. Also a viable tactic in Madness Interactive (though the throwing mechanic means it requires some finesse) and Madness: Project Nexus for guns that have run out of ammo; however, the M249 in Madness: Project Nexus is too heavy to be thrown, and will instead just be dropped.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works:
  • Ever seen someone's skull being pierced by a police baton from across the room? Hank does the same with many weapons across the series.
  • Other characters get in on it too. Notably, in Inundation, Jesus throws an empty machine gun so hard at a mook that it impales them.
  • Subverted, then deconstructed, in 7.5. First, Deimos throws a machine gun like Jesus did in Inundation, but it's too heavy for him to aim the throw properly, and it just lands on the floor. Later, Sanford throws his sword into a Soldat's belly, only for another Soldat to pull it out and use it against Deimos.
  • Downplayed in Madness: Project Nexus: It does work, but you have to aim your throw just right so you can destroy someone's forehead with your discarded gun/Sanford's hook. However, the M249 SAW is the only gun too heavy to throw properly, resulting in your character dropping it.
• Too Dumb to Live: Many times throughout the series, some mooks are either shot non-fatally and knocked down or are hit in the face with guns/bodies/blunt weapons. Some of them just stay down, since the protagonist is usually too busy with attackers to care about the disarmed wounded enemy on the floor. However, most of them get right back up for more and promptly die. L33T Crew agents seem particularly prone to this.
  • The grunts in Incident:011A try to stop Mag-Agent: Torture by hitting him with nightsticks.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: The Auditor absorbs Tricky's corpse. Tricky then decides to overload the Auditor, causing him to explode.

U

• Uncertain Doom: We don't know if Hank and Sanford are dead or just unconscious at the end of Expurgation.
• Unusual Halo: Jesus' gold halo turns out to be a physical object that grants or enhances his supernatural abilities. When the Auditor claims it, it turns dark red.
• Unwanted Revival: When Hank is resurrected in Consternation, he seemingly asks Tricky to "KNOCK IT OFF", likely tired of being endlessly brought back to life after dying.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: In Redeemer, Tricky attempts to shoot Hank with a M16, only for Hank to take it from him and kill him with it.

V

• Visual Development: Every important character gets visual differences as the series goes on, either through wounds and bandages, new clothes or permanent transformations. In spite of the changes, each character has a "main" iconic appearance used for non-canon videos and video game adaptations. For Hank and Jebus, it's their "Consternation" design, while for Sanford and Deimos, it's their "Aggregation" design.
• Visual Pun: In Incident:110A, Jebus kills two mooks by using his telekinesis to repeatedly smash one's body upside-down into the other. What's the enemy count at when he does this? 69!

W

• Wall Jump: Jesus does one near the end of Inundation to skip climbing a ladder.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Each of the main protagonists have one with bits of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • Hank is wanted for distorting reality, felony evasion, public urination and crime.
  • Sanford is wanted for murder, telling lies, torturing, kidnapping, conspiring, arson - and for being ugly.
  • Deimos is wanted for murder, lying, thievery, conspiring, betraying the cause, and for being a smoker.
• Weapon-Based Characterization:
  • Jebus has his longsword with "316" in binary on it and a S&W 500 Revolver; his Desert Eagle(s) make a reappearance in later episodes as well.
  • The Auditor has his Auditor Sword from Abrogation, which is made of the same thing he is. Interestingly, in Aggregation, he has the Dragon Sword, which is commonly associated with Hank.
  • Tricky also likes to use a traffic sign with exclamation mark on it.
  • Sanford seems to be fond of his hook and .357 Colt Revolver.
  • In several episodes Hank uses a piece of piano wire to dispatch mooks and Agents. In Madness: Project Nexus, Apotheosis, Depredation,Expurgation and Madness Retaliation, He also seems to like the Dragon Sword a lot, and carries it as his primary in Story Mode in Madness: Project Nexus.
  • Everyone uses different weapons throughout the series:
  • While Deimos likes to Throw-Away Guns, he seems to enjoy the M203 Grenade Launcher, the Glock 20, the Minebea PM-9 and dual-wields G36s at one point. He also carries a HK MP7 submachine gun with full attachments and a fully modded black Beretta M9 in Madness: Project Nexus.
  • Sanford and Hank carry the Glock 20, with a silencer and laser sight, as their sidearms in Madness: Project Nexus.
  • In Abrogation, Hank seems to have become more fond of Good Old Fisticuffs, courtesy of an organic Power Fist as a result of his resurrection. Of course, his resurrected form is larger than most other characters and strong enough to crush ordinary weapons in one hand, so it's probably also out of necessity.
  • The L33t Agents are often seen carrying the Desert Eagle as their standard issue sidearm/primary weapon, although it has become less common due to more handgun options being available. For handguns, they now tend to carry the Browning Hi-Power or Beretta M9 alongside the Deagle.
  • In Madness: Project Nexus, all Riot Troopers carry Billy Clubs. As well as that, the A.A.H.W. seems to have a thing for two particular SMGs — the HK SMG II and the infamous MP-40.
  • The A.A.H.W. seems to be quite fond of the AR-15 on the whole. Their troops are shown wielding the rifle several times and Abrogation has three in a gun rack.
• Weapons Kitchen Sink: Everything from World War 2 machine guns, 1920's-era Tommy guns, laser guns, Gatling guns, .500 hunting revolvers, 1970's battle rifles, 1980's-era SMGs, you name it, they've got it!
• We Have Reserves: Hundreds of them. This plays a major role in Madness: Project Nexus.
• Wham Episode:
  • Avenger features the activation of the Improbability Drive and the beginning of Nevada's dissolution into chaos.
  • Consternation sees Tricky being Killed off without a chance to come back, and introduces The Auditor, who is revealed to be pulling the strings the entire time.
  • Aggregation marks the beginning of the Normality Restoration and introduces Sanford and Deimos as Hank's Allies.
  • 9.5 features major revelations, mainly that there's finally a mook enemy who can give Hank trouble, Tricky still has considerable power in Hell even without the Improbability Drive, and the tail end of the episode, Part 2, having two massive Wham Shot moments with the first mainline series mention of The Machine, and the back-to-back revelations of not only the existence of TWO different active iterations of Hank, specifically Antipathy Hank and Consternation Hank, but the one who was brought back and MAGnified was Antipathy Hank and not Consternation Hank, the most recent.
• World of Badass: Almost every main character is a badass One-Man Army.

Y

• You Have Researched Breathing: In Madness: Project Nexus, the player needs specific perks to learn how to carry a second weapon and pistol whip.
• Your Head Asplode:
  • The result of Tricky attempting to use Jebus' powers to create zombies from dead mooks.
    • Tricky: How come this does not work?!??
  • Of note is how the giant mook in Incident:011A meets his end: A grenade launched into the back of his head, then detonating.
    • This also happens to Mag Hank in Incident:1000A.

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