diff --git a/app/views/play/level/hud_view.coffee b/app/views/play/level/hud_view.coffee
index 1e273b7ef..2b1c84531 100644
--- a/app/views/play/level/hud_view.coffee
+++ b/app/views/play/level/hud_view.coffee
@@ -66,8 +66,9 @@ module.exports = class HUDView extends View
     @clearSpeaker()
 
   onNewWorld: (e) ->
+    hadThang = @thang
     @thang = e.world.thangMap[@thang.id] if @thang
-    if not @thang
+    if hadThang and not @thang
       @setThang null, null
 
   setThang: (thang, thangType) ->