MONDO - THE THING

[Remembermyname]

Someone once said " The truth is out there"

 

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

Yeah, that was Fox Mulder from the X-Files. Which had an episode of its series called "Ice" , that was homage to The Thing in fact. I saw what you did there. Nice tie in.

 

[Remembermyname]

Never missed an episode, viewed in real time. The truth is still out there.

 

[histrionics]

Is this only available from Mondo? No other retailers seem to have it. I've never ordered from Mondo before - do they charge the full amount at the time of purchase or just a deposit? I hate dropping the full value for an item when it's months away.

 

[Kebron]

If this only available from Mondo? No other retailers seem to have it. I've never ordered from Mondo before - do they charge the full amount at the time of purchase or just a deposit? I hate dropping the full value for an item when it's months away.

The exclusive version is only avaiable on through Mondo.

They charge full amount, but they do have a couple pay in 4 options through third party like Afterpay and PayPal.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Honestly I think not. the movie shows it is a single cell organism and in its home environment it may not be high in the food chain, hence its need to imitate other cells. it is just that in large colonies it has a sort of hive mind which has limited intelligence. the infected if merely infected by a small amount (such as by a bite or whatever) are transformed slowly cell by cell and so are unaware they are infected until they "thing out". Those that are violently infected quickly may remember being attacked and so know they are infected. The instinct of the alien cell drives their behavior like how Cordyceps or Toxoplasma Gondii drive the behavior of hosts. The intelligence and knowledge of the infected are a by-product and their brains with all neural connections need to be intact for the colony to use language etc. That is why in the 2011 prequel the colony needed to reform a prior being (the alien pilot) to access its brain and body to try to pilot the ship. the knowledge of how to pilot it was in that brain. the pilots mind when reformed may not have realised thousands of years had passed and was trying to get its ship up and running again. Depending on how it was originally infected it may not have even been aware it was a thing and that its desire to return home/leave Antarctica was being driven by the thing cells.

Basically, colonies of the thing cells have a limited simple animal like intelligence (as evidenced by their behavior when in monster form) but when hiding as other beings a by-product of perfect imitation of everything down to neural connections is that the creatures behave normally, and intelligent sentient beings have knowledge that helps the colony survive when its instinct drives them. it is smart enough to know which brain needs to be reformed to achieve its goal so it must retain not only a genetic memory of previous forms and DNA profiles but also some collective memory of the actions those prior forms took (such as being a pilot steering a ship as it crashed (pilot was likely one of the last infected hence why the ship crashed so the Thing wouldn't know how to take off based on its own memory, only the portion of the journey toward the end when it had infected the pilot and the ship crashed, to know how to repair and start the ship it needed to reform the pilot so that it would do so to escape)

Those are good observations and lots of helpful information there, thanks for sharing that.

The last time I rewatched it, I tried to focus on Palmer and what he was doing/not doing in the background in some scenes. I was trying to assess if the argument between Windows and Palmer was some kind of strategy. (i.e. Palmer did not want to go with Windows, the surface premise being that Windows was near Bennings, however maybe the "Thing" wanted to neutralize Childs first, because he was stronger, more distrustful, and more skilled at violence. )

 

[dukefett]

Wait, what? I haven't seen that go up for order anywhere. It's already released?

It was probably a 30 day Target exclusive, it's up for PO at BBTS now:

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/259369?o=1

Someone else showed an example of their previous 1/6 scale "real human" type figure, and it wasn't great. Looked like something you would expect from Hasbro or Mattel, if that. To avoid disappointment, better to set your expectations low here in my opinion. Great that a figure of this character in this scale is being done at all, but I really question the prices of their stuff.

Their older figures were made many years ago. Their paint jobs generally matched what the preorder pics looked like. I like most of what I have gotten from Mondo lately so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

 

[a-dev]

It was probably a 30 day Target exclusive, it's up for PO at BBTS now:

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/259369?o=1

Their older figures were made many years ago. Their paint jobs generally matched what the preorder pics looked like. I like most of what I have gotten from Mondo lately so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Haha I had just placed an order. And now that you mention it at least one of the other Macready figures was solicited in this way aswell.

 

[JustinMP]

Those are good observations and lots of helpful information there, thanks for sharing that.

The last time I rewatched it, I tried to focus on Palmer and what he was doing/not doing in the background in some scenes. I was trying to assess if the argument between Windows and Palmer was some kind of strategy. (i.e. Palmer did not want to go with Windows, the surface premise being that Windows was near Bennings, however maybe the "Thing" wanted to neutralize Childs first, because he was stronger, more distrustful, and more skilled at violence. )

One of the creepiest things too is the interesting quandary of, are the hosts aware that they are infected prior to the organism attempting to protect itself? That’s kind of terrifying, being assimilated but not all at once, just slowly losing your sense of identity as all your cells are replaced. What do you guys think?

 

[MGS_OldBoy57]

One of the creepiest things too is the interesting quandary of, are the hosts aware that they are infected prior to the organism attempting to protect itself? That’s kind of terrifying, being assimilated but not all at once, just slowly losing your sense of identity as all your cells are replaced. What do you guys think?

It could go either way but I get the feeling the host is unaware. You definitely get a sense of that in the prequel movie.

 

[jaztermareal]

One of the creepiest things too is the interesting quandary of, are the hosts aware that they are infected prior to the organism attempting to protect itself? That’s kind of terrifying, being assimilated but not all at once, just slowly losing your sense of identity as all your cells are replaced. What do you guys think?

I think those assimilated slowly are unaware they are infected and believe they are just trying to protect themselves they are afraid of the monsters just as much as the non infected (in fact, in the old video game part of the game mechanics included keeping your team mates calm because if they panicked it could trigger them to transform if they were infected (obviously the chemicals released in the brain that signal fear/panic can trigger the Thing cells to react).
Even if assimilated fully in a quick and violent way, the reformed person may not believe they are infected (perhaps they may wake up believing it was a nightmare) while others may be aware but since they are driven by the Things instinct their will to survive and hide from being found out is just too powerful to overcome, none will set themselves on fire. The only suicide body seen in the original thing movie was someone who did not transform so likely was not infected)

 

[jaztermareal]

It could go either way but I get the feeling the host is unaware. You definitely get a sense of that in the prequel movie.

exactly. the thing copies since they are copied down to the level of cells the brains are copied too, so the hosts behave as normal even believing they are human (unless they explicitly remember being turned). Norris's heart condition was copied because the alien micro-organism didn't know there was a problem with the host heart. Once he died it didn't actually trigger a transformation until the electrical paddles were being used (being electrocuted will obviously trigger a transformation)

 

[Heavy Metal Spike]

.

Per all the recent posts - yeah - that's what makes the organism (and franchise) so scary, and so worthy of further exposure/examination . . . there is much that is unclear from the 2 movies, so there are many MANY ways the story could be taken with a clever/investigative script, instead of just rehashing or going for a "predictable" monster/horror movie.

I'm not sure Hollywierd is up to that these days though.

.

 

[davejames]

Something I really love about the movie is just how many times Carpenter cuts away from certain conversations or characters, and leaves you guessing as to what they're up to or talking about. And of course he's not afraid to make you question the hero at several points as well, which feeds even more into the sense of paranoia.

I can't remember any other movie doing something like that.

 

[davejames]

It could go either way but I get the feeling the host is unaware. You definitely get a sense of that in the prequel movie.

Ugh, can't believe all this Thing talk is actually making me want to check out the prequel again. Please, someone talk me out of it.

 

[MGS_OldBoy57]

Ugh, can't believe all this Thing talk is actually making me want to check out the prequel again. Please, someone talk me out of it.

Do it!!

The prequel isn’t so bad

 

[Ramman81]

Do it!!

The prequel isn’t so bad

The CGI is TERRIBLE. Nothing beats the magic of practical effects.

 

[Heavy Metal Spike]

Ugh, can't believe all this Thing talk is actually making me want to check out the prequel again. Please, someone talk me out of it.

I watched it again a few weeks back (that's perhaps the 9 or 10 times over the years) - I LOVE it - probably the best prequel I can think of - ever!

There are some inconsistencies with the 1982 movie, but it's still a great rollercoaster of a ride.

.

 

[jaztermareal]

I still hope against hope that in this era of streaming and "Snyder cuts" that the original cut of the 2011 movie with the practical effects etc will get released

 

[Remembermyname]

I think those assimilated slowly are unaware they are infected and believe they are just trying to protect themselves they are afraid of the monsters just as much as the non infected (in fact, in the old video game part of the game mechanics included keeping your team mates calm because if they panicked it could trigger them to transform if they were infected (obviously the chemicals released in the brain that signal fear/panic can trigger the Thing cells to react).
Even if assimilated fully in a quick and violent way, the reformed person may not believe they are infected (perhaps they may wake up believing it was a nightmare) while others may be aware but since they are driven by the Things instinct their will to survive and hide from being found out is just too powerful to overcome, none will set themselves on fire. The only suicide body seen in the original thing movie was someone who did not transform so likely was not infected)

I was not aware, infact I am sure even now.