There is one guy, by the name of Hank, who is gonna turn everything around and save the world from this MADNESS.
Madness: Ascend is a Madness Combat fan animation by Pegosho
.With Nevada a desolate wasteland, almost entirely devoid of life and lorded over by Jebus and the Sheriff, Hank sets out to put an end to their tyranny.
It was originally released on Newgrounds but can also be viewed on YouTube.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: Hank is usually portrayed as a violent sociopath and a Nominal Hero at best, but here he's more of a straight-up freedom fighter.
- Adaptational Villainy: Jebus, by contrast, is shown to be a self-centered dictator rather than a Well-Intentioned Extremist looking to bring order like he's usually depicted as.
- Arc Symbol: Crosses. Crosses are shown prominently at the beginning, and the facial cross of the grunts shows up in several places, including on the doors within the factory.
- Art Shift: While most of the animation is done in a similar style to the original, including its the trademark red and gray color palette, when Hank reaches the top of the tower, he comes across an area with vibrant greenery and a bright blue sky, colors you rarely if ever see in a Madness animation.
- Big Bad: Jebus is the selfish tyrant Hank must defeat to save Nevada.
- Bittersweet Ending: Hank dies, but is able to blow up the factory, restore Nevada to normal and spread paradise to everyone instead of keeping it limited to just a few.
- Blatant Lies: Jebus's propaganda claims the pollution from his factory is "happy smog" that makes people feel more alive.
- Body Horror: The iconic Facial Cross most Madness Combat characters have is implied to be a mutation brought about by the "happy smog" from Jebus's factory.
- Cool Car: Hank is seen driving a sleek black car at the beginning, which he rams into the factory in order to enter it.
- The Dragon: Tricky is the Jebus's last line of defense against Hank and the penultimate foe Hank fights.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: The center of the factory is a tall tower, with an elevator leading up to the top.
- Giant Mook: An enlarged grunt (possibly a Mag Agent) is one of the enemies Hank fights when he enters the factory.
- Grasp the Sun: Hank does this when he reaches the top of the tower and comes across an area that isn't polluted.
- Improvised Weapon: The Giant Mook Hank faces carries a giant fish as a weapon.
- Moe Greene Special: Hank kills the first two Agents he sees in the factory by shooting them through the eyes.
- Non-Standard Character Design:
- All of the characters in the propaganda video are shown to have faces, instead of the facial cross Madness characters usually have. The end of the video implies their current look is due to them being exposed to the factory's pollution.
- True to the source material, Jebus has blood red eyes. So does Hank.
- Suicide Mission: It's revealed after Jebus stabs him that Hank had a time bomb strapped to his chest, intending to blow up the factory.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- The Sheriff only appears in the propaganda video for Jebus' regime and never shows up in person, so as such we don't know what happened to him.
- Parodied with the Auditor, who doesn't appear until the very end of the credits, where he reveals he was in the bathroom for the entire thing.
- Why Am I Ticking?: A two-person example. After killing Hank, Jebus hears his body ticking and lifts open his coat, revealing a time bomb and a note reading "be Alive".
