User:Puchiko/ClockCrew

The Clock Crew is a group of Flash animators and multimedia artists whose work is available on numerous sites, but mostly Newgrounds. The ClockCrew is not credited as, but for all intents and purposes is, the very first true flash group. The basic gimmick is that most of their movies feature avatars of members of the ClockCrew. Clocks were originally represented as pieces of fruit with a clock as a face, but as time went on, new kind

Origins
The first known user to use the “clock” designation was StrawberryClock. StrawberryClock, as far as it has been gathered, got his username from the band Strawberry Alarm Clock. Note that this origin is still unclear, and we hope to get in contact with him soon to clear up any confusion. “StrawberryClock” was actually the name of the second account of a user who, to this day, calls himself Coolboyman (sometimes sortened to “cooboyman.”) At the time of his first Flash submission to the Portal, he was 14 years old, he is now 18. He created the StrawberryClock account with no real purpose in mind, but his intentions grew to anonymously upsetting Newgrounds users and laughing about it. The most famous of these is B, which is just a red letter B on a white background. According to StrawberryClock, he had at first submitted a movie titled “A”. It was the letter “A” on a blank screen. It was soon blammed from the Portal, and Strawberry himself had a good laugh at the outraged reviews.

The exact creation of “B” is unclear; in another movie of his, B2, Coolboyman claims that “B” was protected upon its first submission to the Portal, however, records from the Newgrounds BBS and various older Newgrounds users attest that B was submitted several times before it was finally protected and awarded Turd of the Week1), on the evening of August 15th, 2001. Though many have stated otherwise, it’s generally accepted that this day, August 15, 2001, was the day the Clock Crew was created. As a tribute, this day has been named “Clockday” by the Clock Crew; a day when members of the Clock Crew submit Flash in honour of the Crew’s inception. Clocks begin preparing for this day months in advance of its date.

It’s worth noting, though only on a small scale, that Coolboyman kept everyone in the dark about his alter ego. He even went so far as to fabricate many, retrospectively funny, arguments between Coolboyman and StrawberryClock. Coolboyman, in fact, became one of the first true “anti-clocks”. The revelation of his antics on the part of the StrawberryClock account was taken with a grain of salt.

The First Three
OrangeClock, AppleClock, and RaspberryClock were a suprise to everyone. Seemingly out of nowhere, these three rose in both defense and support of StrawberryClock. Strawberry himself thought that they were just crazy. These three clocks formed the Clock Crew. (It’s a popular myth that StrawberryClock began the entirety of the Clock Crew, but the truth is that it really began with these three. Especially Orange.) StrawberryClock himself did not make movies about Clock Characters, just very low quality flash movies about very random subjects. In fact, the image of StrawberryClock as we know him did not originate for some time. A testament to this is StrawberryClock V, where StrawberryClock is depicted as two diffent objects; a strawberry, and a clock.

Gaining Members
The original three never actively recruited people to join the ClockCrew. Despite their being continually rebuked by the Newgrounds regulars, a few more members such as Zipstyke and PineappleClock decided to join OrangeClock, RaspberryClock and AppleClock. The ClockCrew in its current form slowly started to emerge, and the Clocks at that time started feverishly producing movies with subjects revolving around StrawberryClock and his claim to the portal and the mastery of his talents. A large backlash against these efforts were underway, and “Anti-Clocks” - as they came to be called - rose up and attempted to form a movement against the Clocks.

The Anti-Clocks
Angered by the ClockCrew, many Newgrounds users began making Anti-Clock movies featuring such scenarios as Clocks being executed and other disturbing imagery. Instead of offering rebuttals and counter-attacks of their own, the Clocks from therein decided to deal with the Clock-Haters by confronting them and overpowering them with affection, and offering help with their anger issues and providing friendship and solidarity. The Clocks became unified and the kindness and love which was recieved by the Anti-Clocks served to enrage and further divide them, enlarging the divide between the Clock Supporters and the Clock Haters, and eventually the Newgrounds audience as a whole; becoming polarized by the everpresence of the ever expanding ClockCrew. Of worthy mention is ki1o. While not the first anti-clock, he certainly has become the most famous. He never actually assaulted the clockcrew on the flash front. Rather, he stuck to his guns of voting and reviewing zero on clock movies. Ki1o has been included in many clock movies as the main bad guy, often in a very mocking, or else tongue-in-cheek serious light. He was eventually banned and all his reviews deleted. Ki1o apparently switched sides after watching Knottsberry’s The Portal is Not Enough, and LeafClock claims to actually be him, though the notion is still unclear.

Legacy
Despite there being a prejudice towards the Crew thanks to their rubbish masterpieces encouraging more Flash artists to submit terrible Flash, some members actually produce fantastic work. There have also been some fantastic collaborations amongst the Clock Crew that have led to some of their best work. The fact that there is a certain quality to at least some of their work probably explains why there are still so many new clocks jumping on the bandwagon (often to inadvertently corrupt the Crew’s name with more Flash trash), and why so many people have tried to copy their style.

Clock Crew Movies
The Clock Crew began with the creation of alphabet movies, originally designed to mimic B, but then evolved into more artistic submissions. As well as these, the crew has created a wide range of movies, including music videos and games! In addition to the alphabet movies, the Clock Crew has branched into other “series” categories, notably symbol movies, fun stuff movies, and Cool Things movies.

Recommended Viewing
Sonne by AvocadoClock

Music video set to Rammstein’s “Sonne.” Sonne is one of the most emotional and moving Clock movies ever created. It tells a story that mirrors the Clock situation on Newgrounds and it was generally liked not only by the Clocks, but by the NG public as well.

N by OrangeClock

Music video set to Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.” Guest starring an old favorite. ‘N’ remains one of the finest Flash works created by a Clock and it has incredible graphic quality for being such an old movie. N is unliked by some because of its surprise ending, but many others believe this adds to the movie and makes it feel more like a real CC Flash.

CrowClock: Death to Rasp by Fourchinnigan

Based on the movie The Crow, Fourchinnigan blows your mind with incredible creative concepts and design, particularly for being such an early clock work. Death To Rasp was the first in Fourchinnigan’s trilogy, which is one of the most familiar and entertaining series related to clocks.

L by OrangeClock

Lightsabers!! Like with N, ‘L’ featured some groundbreaking lightsaber effects which still look amazing today.

Z by OrangeClock

A Zelda parody with Clocks. Oh but it is so much more than that.

Heart-shaped Box by SpriteRemixClock

Tragically underrated movie. Duplicates Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box video down to the reaching fat bitch. This movie contains incredible graphics and animation. It was popular with both clocks and newgrounds.

Whatever! by MagicClock

One of the only Flashes left on NG from MagicClock.