Pennywises's Transformation Troubles.

[Rand]

What I always got from the story is that IT, Pennywise was a physical being standing there in front of them. If IT wasn't really there and was just a telepathic projection how would The Losers have really hurt it for example when shooting the werewolf with the silver slugs and why would there be a popping sound each time IT vanishes( the air rushing to fill IT’s previously occupied space). When you shut off a hologram there is no sound of air rushing to fill that previously occupied space even though the holographic image has vanished suddenly. Also a telepathic projection couldn't really drag people off like Patrick Hockstetter. I'm not criticizing your view in any way so please don’t take this as an attack I just am stating my thoughts and I thought your take on IT being just a projection was interesting. Does anyone else have thoughts on this same matter? Is IT, Pennywise all projection or is he actually there?

No, of course I'm not taking it as an attack, this is a discussion.

What you posted does contradict my own interpretation, and it's been several years since I read the book, but I thought I remembered that IT can't physically leave it's den? Isn't it trapped between worlds, occupying both at the same time while not being fully manifested in either? But if it is projecting something, then from what you wrote it's obvious that something does have a sort of physical form that can manipulate, and be manipulated by, what's around it.

[rxgirl0503]

What I always gathered from the novel is that It's true form (or rather, its final physical form on earth) is the spider, but it sends out projections. Being a mystical creature, the projections take on solid form, but are not the REAL It. Another thing I gathered was that It uses fear to "season the meat". The reason why some of the children found were partially eaten is because whatever the nature of their fear is influences what It does to the child. So if a child fears a shark, the shark will eat them because that's what sharks do, if that makes sense. But the nature of the game is the fear.

It is also bound by the constraints of the form it takes. Which is why when it takes the form of a werewolf, silver will hurt it. Basically if the child truly BELIEVES its a werewolf, the child also carries the belief that silver kills werewolves thus making It vulnerable in that form.

I also believe that Ben was able to escape from the It Mummy because of the outside force. The children were already being put on the path to joining together so I believe that was why he escaped. It has probably used the same tricks over and over again with success, and the Losers were the only ones who managed to evade him. So it stands to reason that It would change into the Mummy while luring him because he figured it would be the same with all Its other victims, not counting on an Other to interfere somehow.

Or maybe I'm just babbling. lol.

[king family fan]

Messing with the minds of his victims. The evil Clown.What can we exspect from such a character? Just love pennywise.

[CaptainClaudius]

A few thoughts:

First and foremost the entire town of Derry was under It's influence. To what extent It controlled the day-to-day goings on is up for debate, but the town itself, as I see it, is under the influence of It, during its periods of waking and sleeping.

As for the transformations, in the beginning of the book the two guys who are being heckled see Pennywise and yet Pennywise remains consistent in clown form. Why, you ask? Because the mind of an adult is different than the mind of a child. I, as an adult, can remain focused and not allow my mind to wander fairly easily. When I want to daydream or lose focus I just let go and allow it to happen. The mind of a child, having been a child once, is very much prone to flights of fantasy, radical shifts in imagination so when It was dealing with kids it had a less consistent mind to work with and so if It was reading the mind of a child that was frightened and was losing focus then It's transformations simply accommodated what was being read. The mind of an adult, as evidenced in the beginning of the book and in the interludes when Pennywise appears, but differently for the individual telling the story, he remains consistent because he's dealing with adults.

A real practical example of this is trying to type out what someone is saying, transcribing essentially. I had to transcribe some personal interviews listening to the audio through earphones and I would constantly type not what I was hearing but what I was thinking, usually corrections or abbreviations of what I was hearing and I would have to go back and edit my transcripts to match was had actually been recorded. So my transcribing suffered from my mind translating something different to my fingers. Same thing with It and the transformation process. It simply accommodated whatever was occurring in the person's mind.

As for It's full extent: I think if It ever revealed itself in full display it would kill or destroy whatever was near. I don't think a human mind could approximate It's full power as it would devastate anything around it, just as Derry collapses when It has been killed. No slacking on the part of It.

[Robert Gray]

You are overlooking something. In most cases, the victim is so terrified by their own personal nightmare "up close" that they remain frozen and unable to flee until it is too late. The fear also seasons the meat for the monster. Ben was only jolted from being frozen by lucky ringing of a bell which also caught Pennywise by surprise. It broke the spell of terror which kept Ben frozen and allowed him to run. Mike might have been frozen too but the ground gave way and fighting the shifting dirt kept his mind otherwise occupied. Very few people are able to overcome their own personal monster by sheer force of will.

[Olivia Dunham]

First and foremost the entire town of Derry was under It's influence. To what extent It controlled the day-to-day goings on is up for debate, but the town itself, as I see it, is under the influence of It, during its periods of waking and sleeping.

The book says essentially this. That IT fills the empty spaces, like what happens with Beverly's dad. It just takes the tools that people leave lying around in their mind to kill. Something he uses to good effect in the story of Claude Hervouxe (sp?). Kind of like a form of possession. When IT uses its power to get Henry out of the asylum, he is told that it is because he can kill them regardless of their belief, he uses Henry as a tool. I also found it interesting about how children could see things adults couldn't like the blood in Bev's bathroom. I could never figure out how that would work. The blood is either there or not, right?

[Reactor]

Previously it was written that IT can't just stand there and change shapes to her heart's content, she grabs an image from the victim's mind, supposedly a frightening one, and turns herself into that being, let it be one big, or several smaller beings. While it is mostly true, not always.

For example, IT has several shapes, which shall be the same for everyone around, who can actually see IT. The great example of the Crawling Eye or the Werewolf. IT read Richie's mind, and after this, everyone have seen a gigantic eye or a werewolf. At Mike's encounter with Henry, it is not true, as Henry sees Victor's head on the spring, not Stan's.

IT is also capable of metamorphing directly in front of an eye. This was seen in Mike's photo album, or after the assault on 29 Neibolt street, when Beverly shot the werewolf with the silver ball. IT then started to "melt", and become a shapeless, squirming goo. So IT can transform herself into anything, even if she already morphed herself into a shape before.

However, this shapeshifting certainly has limitations, even for IT. As you could see, IT suffers from the same plague as the T-1000 from the Terminator series - it can't mimic machines, or overly complex stuff. Also, IT can't turn herself into a lifeless being, and (supposedly) a plant, although the interlude with the Bradley gang featured IT with a gun, I'm pretty sure it was not a real gun, it was just one of IT's bodyparts mimicking a gun. IT also can't render herself invisible.
I have to agree with ZBliss in the fact that IT very often took useless shapes, just to scare children, rather than actually catching them. Seriously, how could a leper race down a young lad, who can actually run pretty quickly? IT can actually teleport herself to smaller-bigger distances, but apparently, she decided not to utilize this very useful ability.

[bgheff]

Actually, it can appear to be different creatures or things at once to different people. When Patrick Hockstetter is killed It says to him "Hello and goodbye" Beverly notes that she heard her fathers voice say that, and was confused because her father was out of town at the moment. Another example is when Bill and Richie were fleeing from Neibolt street, Richie saw it as a werewolf, but Bill was confused and stated it was a clown.

The three times it appeared as one creature to them (Werewolf, eye and bird)all were when Richie (Stan for the bird) shouted out to them what he say. It then took on that form for all of them, since it was on their minds.

As for the original post, even when appearing as a monster most of it's victims could not escape. Ben got away due to the bell whistle breaking his trance. With Ben I believe he was so fascinated by the balloons not blowing with the wind he wasn't paying attention to the danger approaching.