hamelin-born asked: I haven't seen It just yet (I'm a total coward when it comes to watching scary movies). BUT - I DID read the book! So I can discuss and worldbuild with you!
YES! My idea was partially inspired by the movie, partially by the book. Below there be spoilers.
Sorry about the delay in response; I was thinking through possible plot points, and considering various angles from which to approach this worldbuild. Please see below for content (and possible spoilers!
The thing is, when you consider things from all angles - I’m not certain how much it would change. And it depends upon a combination of factors - how much does the changed child really change? By which I mean - do they remember being human? Do they have their own memories? Is the change something that is involuntary, or do they have to agree with it? Because if Billy retains any sense of self, he’d be clinging to his sense of humanity with everything he had - and still turn against Pennywise. It’s very much a case of biting the hand that feeds; and consider. In the book, the Losers pretty much block out everything that happened to them that one fateful summer - due to a combination of trauma and magic-induced amnesia. So if it happened, there’s every possibility that they might have forgotten it happened.
On the other hand - the question remains. If Pennywise has done this before, then WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? It’s implied that Derry is the only town such events take place in; his former opponents/adopted kids are nowhere to be seen. ‘Survival of the fittest’ is a thing - and PART of that is, in some animal species, the eradication of potential rivals. (I think. I’m not a naturalist, and have limited training in animal behavior studies). Which makes me speculate - turning some kids into its own species could be done NOT out of the urge to procreate/reward/utilize former opponents for its own purpose, but as a means of inducing Pennywise’s ‘strongest’ attack - so to speak. Not only is the kid presumably driven insane form becoming ‘other’/the ‘enemy’, and perhaps even turned against its former allies - but Pennywise utilizes the opportunity to utterly annihilate them as only it knows how. It destroys its opponent/potential rival in the first bloom of their power - and taking that power for its own, almost incidentally.
…great, now my brain is trying to come up with an IT/FBaWTFT fusion where Graves, Newt, Tina, Queenie, Jacob, and Theseus are The Losers. (Credence can be Graves’ younger brother who was taken/devoured).
