Midnight Crew

The Midnight Crew is a group of antagonists originally paid to appear in Problem Sleuth through a donation by Mayonaka, their original designer during a series of tabletop games. However, since their use in Andrew's following adventure Homestuck, they have grown to be major characters within the story.

In Problem Sleuth
First appearing in extra episode 13, they were summoned by Problem Sleuth to take on Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, but then changed their alliances to DMK's side due to a slight mishap with a set of some Hunk Rump cards. The crew members are all based on one of the four suits in a deck of cards respectively, with the exception of Mobster Kingpin, who was not an original member of the crew. After the conclusion of Homestuck: Act 3, the Midnight Crew was re-introduced as an intermission to the main adventure, where they are trying to get one over on a rival gang,.

In Homestuck
In Homestuck, the Midnight Crew were created from the same character templates as Jack Noir and his Agents in the trolls' Sburb session, and became exiled to the trolls' planet, Alternia. Spades Slick, possibly with the help of the rest of the crew, proceeded to HS 3115 (make this town), rebuilding society in the style of a noir cityscape, and began to run all types of criminal operations parallel to. The Midnight Crew were four of the exiles that helped the trolls with their session of the game.

Each member of the crew comes equipped with five weapon slots and one inventory slot, much akin to how Problem Sleuth characters would have five inventory slots and one weapon slot. Their hats default to having color-based candy stored inside of them already, and that slot is not shown when interacting with their inventory as it is assumed you would never want to take them out from the hat anyway. The five weapon slots all carry various weapons, and all the weapons suffer from that pretty annoying and kinda dumb glitch in the form of playing cards, which each crew member holds in their inventory slot. The deck of cards is used as a container for even more weapons, or sometimes it is used as a prison for those who need to be kept alive at a later date.

The ace card of each member's particular suit is their weapon of choice, which they often use in a very violent fashion. Curiously, other cards can be combined to make new items, such as combining the ten of spades and four of diamonds (Ten-Four) to make a communication radio that can be used to talk to other crew members.

Spades Slick
The leader of the group. He wields the Cast Iron Horse Hitcher. He has a low tolerance for a lot of things, but he especially hates clocks. He is violent and resentful, but very capable and extremely dangerous. He has no patience for 's Weird Time Shit, and although he does not appear to have a particularly well thought-out strategy in mind when dealing with complex conflicts, his methods are nevertheless effective. The exile of Karkat Vantas.

Hearts Boxcars
The tall, brawny-looking member of the group. He wields a TV antenna. He is the safe cracker of the team, opening safes using a less conventional method: tearing them right off the wall using his brute strength. His jaw can expand to a frightening degree, demonstrating this ability by biting and swallowing ' head right off of his shoulders. Hearts is also known for the fact that he ALWAYS ROLLS BOXCARS. The exile of Tavros Nitram.

Diamonds Droog
The tall, intimidating looking fellow of the group. He wields the Ultra-Violence Cuestick. Little is known about him, though he appears to have an extremely short temper. Despite his perceived anger issues, he is rather intelligent and cunning, being able to use the time powers of against them, and maintaining his composure and formulating an effective strategy while dealing with all of 's time bullshit. The exile of Aradia Megido.

Clubs Deuce
A short and stout crew member. He wields the Crook of Felony, along with an assortment of other clubs, including the notably spectacular Bull Penis Cane. He is also the Midnight Crew's demolitions expert, and carries a number of bombs on his person. He has an innocent, child-like personality, taking simple, purposeless tasks very seriously, though his ability to perform these tasks is up for debate. He appears to have a terrible memory. The exile of Sollux Captor.

Shadow Mobster Kingpin
Mobster Kingpin who has been enveloped in a shadow by Spades Slick, seeing as Spades Slick didn't think the original MK was "quite cutting it somehow" to join their group. He is not a part of the Midnight Crew in the Homestuck universe, probably to differentiate between the two adventures.

Trivia

 * The quickest way of dealing with the Midnight Crew would of course be to just let PS unsummon them. Nobody would ever think of doing that though.
 * In Homestuck, John Egbert, Dave Strider, and Jade Harley visit MSPA's website and look at the most recent adventure, featuring the Midnight Crew. The URL is clearly visible on the page HS 002012 (here), and if someone actually went to that page with their own browser, it features a spade caked in blood. An actual adventure featuring the Midnight Crew has ended for now...
 * The name "Midnight Crew" has been in use as early as 1909 in a song by ragtime-era singer Eddie Morton, entitled "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew" . It is unknown whether or not the thematic similarities shared with the song are a coincidence. The chorus of this song was sampled in the background music for HS 003568 ([S] Jack: Ascend) and can be found in its complete length in HS 5625 ([S] Terezi: Play records.) An a cappella version is a track on Volume Eight. This track was used in HS 6844 ([S] DD: Ascend more casually.)
 * Mayonaka's original idea about the Midnight Crew involved them having a leader, Prof. Mayonaka, who was the arch-nemesis of Lord English. After the Midnight Crew Intermission, Mayonaka created a non-canon Homestuck fanventure about the Felt which partially explored this idea. Mayonaka's pendant appears twice in-comic, once HS 3252 (here) and again in a chest HS 7298 (here); its appearance is likely just a shout-out to the Midnight Crew's original creator.