I may have misread what you meant. You can still have the $strip function using $iif() and $()

on *:text:$($iif($strip($1) == !time,$1)):#:{

This is the same as

if ($strip($1) == !cmd) {

except it's coded within the match text section of the event. And last but not least, you can use regex

on $*:text:/^!time$/iS:#:{

where the /S will strip out all control codes.