The idea for the Clock Crew began when Coolboyman, a member of Newgrounds, created the alias StrawberryClock, proclaimed himself "King of the Portal", and started spamming extremely low-quality Flash movies to provoke venomous responses for his own entertainment. These include "Donald Duck Porno", "Dickey Mouse" and other extremely mediocre movies of the sort. This created a huge response from people who absolutely hated him, much to his enjoyment.
Except one fateful day, August 15, 2001, StrawberryClock submitted B
. Of course, the same reactions followed from many, but instead of being automatically deleted from Newgrounds' portal (known as being blammed), it somehow managed to be 'saved' and entered the portal itself, where it could no longer be deleted. This, of course, generated even more rapid reactions against it and the hate spiral and attention it got ended creating something a lot bigger, the Clock Crew itself, when other members, such as PineappleClock, OrangeClock, RaspberryClock, AppleClock and many others, rose up from the crowd and proclaimed themselves followers of StrawberryClock, submitting movies in his name and whatnot, and it all snowballed from there.
OrangeClock was more responsible for the CC's current traditions. His Flash movies had shaped what a clock actually "was", namely an object with a clock on it, and had also designed the CC's first logo.
Every member of the Clock Crew usually creates a clock avatar, which is an object with a clock for a "face." These range from simple objects like fruit and vegetables, to abstract and creative concepts (like Strangeclock, an impossible cube). The Clock avatar serves as a character, and the clock is the actual "face".
This Internet group is still alive today, with over 300 registered members and its own collection page in Newgrounds.
It also celebrates Clock Day every August 15, the day that StrawberryClock submitted B. Every Clock is compelled to submit a Flash animation on Clock Day to celebrate the occasion.
Tropes commonly associated with the Clock Crew include:
- Animate Inanimate Object: The Crew themselves.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Anti Clocks.
- Arch-Enemy: Banana Lock serves as this to Strawberry clock in most videos.
- Art Shift: Due to almost every flash being done by a different person, the art style varies. Especially noticable in music video collabs.
- Big Bad: Ki10 and the other anti clocks usually serve as antagonists in the videos.
- Butt-Monkey: Turd Clock. No matter who the writer is, if he's in it, he's a butt monkey.
- Catchphrase: A few clocks have phrases they're known for.
- Strawberry Clock's most notible ones are 'B!' and 'Can I drive?'
- Depending on the Writer: The personality of various clocks varies between authors as either completely pulled out their ass or based on the person who designed the character.
- The Ditz: Strawberry Clock as a character is often portrayed as a mix of this and an egotistical Jerkass.
- Evil Counterpart: The Lock Legion, although none of them are really at all evil. Some of them are in fact alt accounts for Clocks.
- Expressive Mask: More often than not, their faces contort as if they were single eyes.
- Large Ham: Occasionally, certain music videos and other distinguished performances manage to pull this off.
- Negative Continuity: With there being so many people creating animations based on the Clock Crew characters, it isn't uncommon to see details that contradict one another such as a member of the Clock crew that dies in one flash being suddenly alive.
- Synthetic Voice Actor: Speakonia is a guarantee at least once if there's actual dialogue.
