Spelljammer Space Clowns Are A Thing In Spelljammer

WotC's Chris Perkins discusses Spelljammer's space clowns in a new video.

 

[J.Quondam]

I suspect a major part of modern "creepy clown" originated (or re-originated) with the John Wayne Gacy murders in the 1970s. Couple that with Halloween-time stories like "razors in candy apples" and general "stranger danger" fears over the following decade or two.

It's pretty euro-/ameri-centric, but here's an interesting overview article about clowns in history, including modern pop-culture:

The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary

You aren’t alone in your fear of makeup-clad entertainers; people have been frightened by clowns for centuries

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Scribe]

My younger kids don't even realize there's a connection between clowns and circuses, they just view them as a generic boogeyman

That's kind of wild, but circuses died down a lot when I was young, I don't think my son even had an opportunity to go to one.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Gen X here, I don't remember clowns being particularly scary as I was growing up. Other than Pennywise the clown from Stephen King's It and Bart Simpson's fear of the scary clown bed Homer made for him.

We all float up here !

 

[TwoSix]

Maybe you guys just largely invented/popularized it and then inflicted it on my generation? They were certainly regarded as scary/creepy when I was growing up (born 1978 so an "Xennial" or "Elder Millennial" lol). Doesn't help that in the UK we have Punch & Judy and stuff of course, and that's obviously creepy as hell. Gacy got arrested in '78 I note.

Also from 1978, but US; I certainly recall plenty of scary clown imagery, but clowns as funny circus performers was still pretty prevalent. I don't think a Simpsons that released in the 2020s would have Krusty the Clown as a character, just as an example, the idea of clowns as funny performers just doesn't appear in modern media nearly as often.

 

[Weiley31]

Honestly, clowns never bothered me at all. Do I understand HOW the Scary Clown trope can be and why people would be afraid of em? Yeah, I can. But I always associated them with the Circus, and I loved the Circus as a kid.

 

[TwoSix]

That's kind of wild, but circuses died down a lot when I was young, I don't think my son even had an opportunity to go to one.

Yep, exactly. I think we've had a circus come through once in the past 10 years, and I don't live in a low-population area.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Also from 1978, but US; I certainly recall plenty of scary clown imagery, but clowns as funny circus performers was still pretty prevalent. I don't think a Simpsons that released in the 2020s would have Krusty the Clown as a character, just as an example, the idea of clowns as funny performers just doesn't appear in modern media nearly as often.

I think it is because the sources of non-ironic clown imagery have died off thus only the scary stuff remains.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Ronald McDonald as BBEG?

 

[Tutara]

I think there are some interesting ways to spin this outside of Juggalos/It. I remember Terry Pratchett’s Fools Guild was headed by a legitimately terrifying Pierrot clown called Dr. Whiteface. I think going down the Warhammer Eldar Harlequin route might work too if you wanted something less gonzo. That said, I like gonzo.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it is because the sources of non-ironic clown imagery have died off thus only the scary stuff remains.

I think that's correct, and it's kind of self-perpetuating, because the more clowns are a scary thing, the less they're a fun/non-ironic thing. It's a bit like animatronic stuff in general, particularly Chuck E. Cheese-type stuff, which used to be beloved but is now widely seen as creepy as hell.