So here we are final week of Round 3 and quality here will set us up well for what's to come. There are some stunning ties here and a proper local derby to really add some flavour - I was so chuffed when this one was drawn as it's a right good tie (you'll only have to wait until Tuesday...). Round 4 will be coming soon (Monday next week I imagine!) and it's going to start to get super tough... or tougher at least!
It could be said that John Smith Thrills have had a bit of a rough ride over the last couple of rounds, losing out to tough draws. Surely that can't happen here? Firekind has seen off American Reaper, but Mean Team, which smashed Rain Dogs in the skull, is a different level... for some (personally not a fan at all). So we'll see how this one progresses.
Firekind - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=firekind)
Vs
Mean Team - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=MEANT)
Just reply in this thread naming your favourite thrill of these two series at the beginning of your post (or use Bold tags so I can spot it easily) and say what you like about these wonderful stories after that.
Match ends early on the morning of Friday 1st July and the winner gets a place in Round 4 (of 9!!!).
What on Earth is ALL of this? (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=48011.0)
For those that need 'um and can be bothered to follow 'um there's some simple rules (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=48011.msg1070150#msg1070150)
Any questions, just ask as ever - and have FUN
Firekind
Firekind.
There's no contest here for me against a John Smith classic. Firekind all the way.
Mean Team
I never saw the appeal in Mean Team, which felt like a B-list future sports strip that just went on forever. Firekind wasn't still quite a tier-one thill when I re-read it in the UC, but it's still a quality one-shot. For me, it's easily the winner here.
Firekind.
Mean Team. Whilst there's a lot about it that's crap but still have a great affection for it. Henry Moon ftw!
Firekind
neither has a place in my heart... but if I had to chose: Mean Team.
Look, I get that Firekind is totally beautiful and unlike any other 2000AD strip, and it's a fun world to dip into.
But the nostalgia goggles are firmly on for Mean Team Book I and 7 year-old AlexF, and it's gonna take a lot to cut through the gonzo charm of death sports, telepathic panthers, booby traps and Belardinelli delivering the goods.
Mean Team! Mean Team! Mean Team!
Mean Team! Mean Team! Mean Team!
(that's 6 votes in 2 posts, right?)
Firekind stands out for me as one of the superior, classic stories in 2000AD. A great story, and Paul Marshall's best art.
Firekind
Quote from: The Mind of Wolfie Smith on 28 June, 2022, 12:15:21 PM
Mean Team! Mean Team! Mean Team!
(that's 6 votes in 2 posts, right?)
And I'll still make sure its not enough!
Firekind is an all-time classic. Mean Team has nice art.
Firekind, without a shadow of a doubt. Sci-fi perfection, and one of the best strips Tharg has to offer.
Massimo Mean Team madness wins.
Mean Team just wasn't very good. Happy to see it get some love, though.
Firekind
Quote from: Funt Solo on 28 June, 2022, 04:16:05 PM
Mean Team just wasn't very good. Happy to see it get some love, though.
Firekind
(https://images.rebellion.click/productImage/fb/24/00.large.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/zX4QZ9Py/40658017-7-D3-A-4-F19-A0-F7-957-D6-C7-C69-FF.gif)
Incredibly gauche to quote myself but this is what I wrote on another thread last year
Quote from: gogilesgo on 22 April, 2021, 04:51:13 PM
Those seven pages of Mean Team's first episode are a masterclass in storytelling: peerless world building; multiple character sketches; team hierarchy explained; Bad Jack's motivation hinted at; a full semi final that shows us rules of play then a phenomenal ("Now pick up the flag and let's hit the showers") cliff hanger.
Incredible.
The final frame of
Return of the Mean Team let down that whole arc but
Survivor is a fun coda.
Mean Team for the win.
Quote from: gogilesgo on 22 April, 2021, 04:51:13 PM
Those seven pages of Mean Team's first episode are a masterclass in storytelling: peerless world building; multiple character sketches; team hierarchy explained; Bad Jack's motivation hinted at; a full semi final that shows us rules of play then a phenomenal ("Now pick up the flag and let's hit the showers") cliff hanger.
Incredible.
Wagner/Grant pull the same trick with Ace Trucking. By the end of the first episode, you know the whole set-up and have a pretty good (if rough) idea of every respective character.
Regend writers ought to take note.
Quote from: BPP on 28 June, 2022, 04:51:52 PM
(https://i.postimg.cc/zX4QZ9Py/40658017-7-D3-A-4-F19-A0-F7-957-D6-C7-C69-FF.gif)
Because I still think I'm right, I'm just seeing you as Dewey in this scenario. I did say "Happy to see it get some love, though." So, y'know ... try to be nice.
My grud, I haven't seen those Mean Team pages in years! I was only 11 when they came out and I remember really enjoying the absolute carnage contained therein. Brilliant stuff (and also the introduction of the prototype of Batman's Ventriloquist).
The sequel was a bit lame though, and Avatar Firekind kept me reading through the prog's bad years, so I'll stick.
Tough draw. Too very good stories but totally different.
Firekind was probably the best thing 2000ad printed in the whole of '93 but... I'm going to have to go with
Mean Team
Perfect example of how to write for a weekly. Each episode had a cool set piece plus some new awesome development. Belardinelli was also at the top of his game.
the sequels of course never happened.
Wow. A couple of draws have surprised me, but to see the (IMO) terrible Mean Team hold up against Firekind (which, I'll concede, is not Smith's best work and shines largely due to great Marshall art and because it ran in the company of some terrible strips in the prog at the time) is genuinely baffling...
Don't get me wrong — I'm not slating anyone for liking what they like, but I'm just, well, surprised that a chunk of certainly-not-terrible Smiffy is getting a run for its money against a complete pot-boiler that Wagner/Grant bailed on after the first series. Anthologies, eh...?
Might be a timing thing - by the time I got to Mean Team I'd already read quite a few future sports stories (even though Mean Team is only that for a short time), and I'd already enjoyed tons of excellent Belardinelli art. As has been mentioned before, his out-there space craziness and inventive biology was always riding high, but then his human figures could often come over as a bit static (as in the fourth panel posted up by BPP).
So, for me, Mean Team seemed like a not-as-good template remix of things that had come before, from the same creators, who had shone more brightly. I don't know how I'd feel if it was my first future sport story, and my first Belardinelli. I remember I wanted to like it, but ultimately it fell flat. It's better than Beyond Zero.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 June, 2022, 11:30:44 PM
Wow. A couple of draws have surprised me, but to see the (IMO) terrible Mean Team hold up against Firekind (which, I'll concede, is not Smith's best work and shines largely due to great Marshall art and because it ran in the company of some terrible strips in the prog at the time) is genuinely baffling...
I know right - it baffles me, it really does. Mean Team is one of my least favourite thrills ever. Firekind one of my favourites. I tell you what if this carries on I'm going to scrap all the votes that have gone before, start again and we'll do that until you all get it right!
Quote from: Funt Solo on 28 June, 2022, 06:44:48 PM
Quote from: BPP on 28 June, 2022, 04:51:52 PM
(https://i.postimg.cc/zX4QZ9Py/40658017-7-D3-A-4-F19-A0-F7-957-D6-C7-C69-FF.gif)
Because I still think I'm right, I'm just seeing you as Dewey in this scenario. I did say "Happy to see it get some love, though." So, y'know ... try to be nice.
I'm a delight, thank you.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 June, 2022, 11:30:44 PM
Wow. A couple of draws have surprised me, but to see the (IMO) terrible Mean Team hold up against Firekind... is genuinely baffling...
Never bet against nostalgia...
"better than Beyond Zero" is now my favourite quality benchmark.
It's a fair shot at being the most middling thrill of all time! (This may not be how you intended it...)
Firekind is one of the top 5 Thrills of all time. Mean Team isn't even the best Belardinelli strip with a talking cat.
The Word for World is Forest
Quote from: I, Cosh on 29 June, 2022, 10:53:03 AM
Mean Team isn't even the best Belardinelli strip with a talking cat.
🤣
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 29 June, 2022, 06:26:42 AM
I tell you what if this carries on I'm going to scrap all the votes that have gone before, start again and we'll do that until you all get it right!
Democracy in action! ;-)
Mean team for the ending
Wow, I loved that first series of Mean Team as a kid. LOVED IT! The carnage, the art... I was young enough that things like [spoiler]Bilk dying[/spoiler] seemed like major events. Bilk! Waited YEEEEEARS to read the second series, knowing only what an older lad had told me, that Steelgrip 'died on the moon' - heartbreaking!
Yeah, it's Firekind all the way.
I mean you have been warned, we will do this all, I mean ALL of it again if you don't get this one right and its looking close, without having done a fun count. Get those vote in today.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 June, 2022, 11:30:44 PM
Wow. A couple of draws have surprised me, but to see the (IMO) terrible Mean Team hold up against Firekind (which, I'll concede, is not Smith's best work and shines largely due to great Marshall art and because it ran in the company of some terrible strips in the prog at the time) is genuinely baffling...
Likewise. The strip that killed the Extreme Edition and that rocked up in the UC mostly to groans is set to possibly boot a quality one-shot out of the running. I think on reflection, I liked Survivor more than the main run.
You're mixing up 'Team' with 'Arena' there I think - It's Mean Arena wot took up 3 issues of Extreme Editions and 2 volumes of Hachette.
But yes, even as a staunch Mean Team voter I understand that it's a shame for Firekind to get booted off. Not changing my vote though!
Firekind
SBT
VOTING CLOSED
Well normal I'd love and applaude a fiesty, interesting debate like the one we had here... but its HERE in a tie that should have been as cut and dry as any we've had. Firekind, done in one classic, Mean Team utterly meandering pap ... and we got to this???!!! You lot, some times. Anyway some of you can count yourselves very luck that it wasn't quite as close as I feared, but still
Firekind
TO BLOODY RIGHT IT'LL BE IN ROUND 4!!!
(https://i.imgur.com/nYpS3Ht.gif)