*A* Thing, not *the* Thing.
People keep mentioning *the* Thing. There is no *one* Thing; it doesn't jump from host to host, it reproduces. There was more than one Thing operating at the base. How can anybody not see that?
shareWell it's essentially like a virus which we refer to in a singular sense when referring to a specific kind of virus. It's kinda a technicality but correct to a point.
But yeah at any point in the film I believe there is up to 3-4 creatures lurking around. One thing I am not totally clear on is whether they thought uniquely or all cooperated and were aware of each others existence. At least one was out building a saucer ship while another was infiltrating the group. Either of them could have been the one that got to Blair in the shed.
I submit it that Blair was already A Thing before he was placed in the shed. He had already ransacked the vehicles for spare parts; he wanted uninterrupted isolation to build his little flying saucer, so he faked psychosis.
shareBlair was absolutely not a Thing when he was throwing his hissy fit with the ax. The Thing would not be drawing attention to itself the way he was by getting violent, kill all the dogs to be on the safe side, plus he was doing whatever he could to isolate them from the mainland, whereas the later construction of the craft to go "anywhere but here" would be contradicted by that action.
Some"thing" got to him while he was in the shed, likely at the same time MacReady's bloody clothes were planted and when Fuchs was murdered... I would guess either just before or just after the "it ain't Fuchs" scene when Blair is acting extra weird.
Well, it's a story, so you can spin just about any way you want, but I'd be willing to bet the writers had it in mind that Blair was already a Thing when he was hauled off to the shed.
shareIt's not just my opinion but also an objective FACT (as has been proven by dozens of "experts" and confirmed by Carpenter, Lancaster, and Brimley himself) that Blair was not a Thing when they put him in the shed. Case not just closed, but MEGA-closed.
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