Came here to ask this same question. I'm guessing Blair was already infected. Why else would he be preventing everyone from leaving? Quaker Oats. Diabetes.
shareIt's up for debate because he could've just been trying to get locked up.
I think he was human and was the most sane one there. He knew how dangerous The Thing was and that the base was essentially already dead, so he went on his rampage to ensure nothing escaped. I believe he was assimilated later in the shack, possibly around the time Fuchs is lured into the snow.
e3e, I also agree that he was assimilated later.
shareThere are two things (ha) that provide evidence that he is still human and is assimilated later on.
1) After Blair destroys the radio room he is detained and then placed in the toolshed. Macready tries to console Blair and takes a sip from the same bottle of Vodka Blair is drinking from. If Blair was infected, then drinking from anything that Blair had would spell doom for Macready. But later on Macready passes his own blood test.
2) In the script it says that Blair was hearing strange noises coming from under the toolshed. In the movie, when Macready asks Blair if he's seen Fuchs, Blair tells Macready he is hearing strange things out there but as the audience we arent sure he is even Blair anymore. Even Macready doesnt fully trust him as he doesnt let him back inside. From how big the cavern is under the toolshed, it makes sense that something had been digging it for some time. So it could very well be that a thing was under that toolshed digging in order to make room to build a small flying saucer in secret. Blair is placed in the shed and the thing hiding under the floor boards assimilates him.
You may be wondering, where was this extra "thing" from that could hide and dig under the toolshed? Well we see how the thing can split off when being damaged. Norris' head comes off and grows legs when burned on the medical bed. When the guys first respond to the dog-thing in the kennel, it grows large arms and breaks the ceiling lifting itself up. Whose to say when they torched it a small part didnt come off into the ceiling to escape the fire? Its plausible and a theory I came up with when analyzing the film.
I agree that Blair is not the thing until after he's been placed in the toolshed.
No, I think he destroyed it so they would remain isolated, and so The Thing could not make it to civilization.
shareyeah I'm with SoCrates
the Thing wouldn't want to destroy the radio -- it would want to be rescued ASAP and go about its business in civilization
But the OP's question raises an interesting thought: maybe he WAS infected and felt the Thing taking him over, which is why he took such drastic action so abruptly
Nah, I'll stick with the party line ... Blair was Thinged while locked up, presumably before he was able to hang himself with that noose. He was already the Thing when Mac checked in on him.
This has been debated for years but most people agree that it's more likely that he was assimilated at some point by Norris or Palmer thing while locked in the shed. The Thing pretending to have a mental breakdown & destroying its means of escape would have been too much of a counterproductive, desperate move at that early stage. The theorizing required to make it make sense is always convoluted. The Thing getting to him in the shed is the more straightforward & probable scenario.
shareThreadKiller, I agree 100%.
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