History Main / ClocksOfControl

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/TeenTitans https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clockking.png]]]]

May overlap with ClockKing, a character who expertly uses clocks and timing to plan and control things. With this trope, it need not necessarily be time that the characters are obsessed with, just anything that involves keeping some sort of order. See also TheWatchmaker, another trope about the complexity of clocks used to represent a characterizing trait.

* Timekeeper Cookie from ''VideoGame/CookieRun'' is an omnipotent TimeMaster and the president of the Time Balance Department, very much associated with all kinds of clockwork.

* Timekeeper Cookie from ''VideoGame/CookieRun'' is an omnipotent Time Master and the president of the Time Balance Department, very much associated with all kinds of clockwork.

* Timekeeper Cookie from ''VideoGame/CookieRunOvenbreak'' is an omnipotent Time Master and the president of the Time Balance Department, very much associated with all kinds of clockwork.

* Timekeeper Cookie from CookieRun is an omnipotent Time Master and the president of the Time Balance Department, very much associated with all kinds of clockwork.

* Timekeeper Cookie from CookieRunOvenBreak is an omnipotent Time Master and the president of the Time Balance Department, very much associated with all kinds of clockwork.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Gilbert Huph, Bob Parr's boss at Insuricare, is as [[CorruptCorporateExecutive heartless]] as he is fastidious (even stopping to readjust one of the pencils on his desk to keep them all arranged in a perfect row). While chewing Bob out (for caring more about helping clients than helping the company profit), he goes on a long tirade about how a good company is like a clock, and the employees are like cogs that all work together for one purpose. To sell it even further, one wall of his office is actually lined with clocks, all the same rounded-square shape and arranged in a perfect row.

* The short story ''"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman'' by Creator/HarlanEllison is about [[BigBrotherIsWatching a ruthless dystopian government]] led by a figure known as the Master Timekeeper or the "Ticktockman". Under the Ticktockman's rule, everyone is perpetually bound to an incredibly strict schedule every day, and failing to follow this schedule is punishable by death, which the Ticktockman carries out by stopping one's heart.

In fiction, clock motifs are often used to represent characters who are fanatics about order and control. These characters tend to be, more often than not, sinister {{Control Freak}}s, due to the view that OrderIsNotGood. Just note that this trope isn't inherently evil, and it can occasionally be used for more harmlessly uptight characters, such as those with SuperOCD. It may also symbolize a TimeMaster.

* Mechanikles from ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' is a MadScientist who specializes in building clockwork machines, and he suffers from SuperOCD.

* Music/TallyHall: "[[https://youtu.be/GHGWyIh6ooI Cuckoo]]" by Rob Cantor is a VillainSong sung from the perspective of a CorruptCorporateExecutive who [[CardCarryingVillain openly gloats]] about his desire to enslave orphans and force them to build [[CuckooClockGag cuckoo clocks]] so he can get rich off of them.

* Cogsworth from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is more of a downplayed, benevolent example than most. He is the Beast's butler, who was turned into a clock as part of the BalefulPolymorph curse on the castle. While by no means a bad person, he tends to be pompous and uptight, although as the movie goes on, he shows more of a NotSoAboveItAll side.

* [[TheCaligula Sergey]] [[EvilReactionary Taboritsky]] from ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is represented with clock motifs - his unification theme has clocks playing in the background, and he has a decision screen called "The Clockworks" and warns that "[[VaguenessIsComing the clock must never reach Midnight]]". It suits him well, being a fascist dictator obsessed with making every aspect of society bend to his will, envisioning his country as a machine guided by God. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that "The Clockworks" ais a SanityMeter and "Midnight" is [[VillainousBreakdown his eventual mental breakdown]].]]

* [[TheCaligula Sergey]] [[EvilChancellor Taboritsky]] from ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is represented with clock motifs - his unification theme has clocks playing in the background, and he has a decision screen called "The Clockworks" and warns that "[[VaguenessIsComing the clock must never reach Midnight]]". It suits him well, being a fascist dictator obsessed with making every aspect of society bend to his will, envisioning his country as a machine guided by God. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that "The Clockworks" are representations of [[SanitySlippage his mental state]] and "Midnight" is [[VillainousBreakdown his eventual mental breakdown]].]]

* [[TheCaligula Sergey]] [[EvilChancellor Taboritsky]] from ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is represented with clock motifs - his unification theme has clocks playing in the background, and has a decision screen called "The Clockworks" and warns that "[[VaguenessIsComing the clock must never reach Midnight]]". It suits him well, being a fascist dictator obsessed with making every aspect of society bend to his will, envisioning his country as a machine guided by God. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that "The Clockworks" are representations of [[SanitySlippage his mental state]] and "Midnight" is [[VillainousBreakdown his eventual mental breakdown]].]]

* [[TheCaligula Sergey]] [[EvilChancellor Taboritsky]] from ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is represented with clock motifs - his unification theme has clocks playing in the background, and has a decision screen called "The Clockworks" and warns that "[[VaguenessIsComing the clock must never reach Midnight]]". It suits him well, being a fascist dictator obsessed with making every aspect of society bend to his will, envisioning his country as a machine guided by God. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that "The Clockworks" are representations of [[SanitySlippage his mental state]] and "Midnight" is [[VillainousBSOD his eventual mental breakdown]].]]

* [[TheCaligula Sergey]] [[EvilChancellor Taboritsky]] from ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' is represented with clock motifs - his unification theme has clocks playing in the background, and has a decision screen called "The Clockworks" and warns that "[[VaguenessIsComing the clock must never reach Midnight]]". [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that "The Clockworks" are representations of [[SanitySlippage his mental state]] and "Midnight" is [[VillainousBSOD his eventual mental breakdown]].]]

* Music/TallyHall: "[[https://youtu.be/GHGWyIh6ooI Cuckoo]]" by Rob Cantor is a VillainSong sung from the perspective of a CorruptCorporateExecutive who [[CardCarryingVillain openly gloats]] about his desire to enslave orphans and force them to build cuckoo clocks so he can get rich off of them.

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