#call of duty meta

[illusivesoulgaming]

I tried the poison Charkov for the first time yesterday, and I am having feels for a minor npc once more lol

On my first playthrough, I did the option where you persuade the prisoner to kill Charkov, then on my second one I had Charkov framed so that Kravchenko goes and interrogate him. So to me, Charkov was just basically a random minor antagonist soviet general.

But yesterday I tried the poison Charkov route, and it really humanized Charkov for me. The way Belikov and him talk about their past missions together (one of which apparently only the two of them survived), their country, their love for flying and Charkov's wife made it clear that they've been friends for some time. Like Charkov says: "Two old warriours, still fumbling their way through the dark"

This makes the fact that Charkov knew all along that Belikov was the mole all the more heartwrenching, and then he says "Are you going to kill me for it?" (the bunker access key). And Belikov not only kills him, but he kills him with Nova 6, which is basically one of the worst and most painful ways to kill someone. Belikov saying "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend" was really the biggest emotional gut punch to me :(

It really isn't, Dimitri. It really isn't :(

[exfil]

always so fascinating to me that while none of the 141 ever directly disobey orders they do show insubordination by talking back but all in different ways.

while gaz shows his disagreement with sassiness (are we training right now, captain?) soap responds with rage (he's right here, you can't be serious.) while ghost mostly keeps his displeasure to himself and voices it off comms (bloody fucking hell).

but then these dynamics are so often flipped in fanworks (soap being sassy, ghost prone to anger and gaz devoted) which is so interesting and i think also because many people base their characterization of ghost and soap on the Alone mission which showcases their unique relationship rather than their usual rapport with the military hierachy and because most of the gaz back-talking happens not in the cut scenes but the actual play which is not easily accessible if you have not played cod yourself. anyway many thoughts on this

[sorrelchestnut]

My controversial CoD opinion is that every time I see another fic that features American soldiers being especially racist/sexist/homophobic in contrast to Our Enlightened SAS Boys, someone at the DoD Film Liaison Department gets an erection.

[blatantprinterpropaganda]

i'm losing my mind over the sheer number of layers of corniness and clever writing that keep interweaving as this show heads deeper and deeper into its actual idol romance plot, inevitably hitting levels of meta that will require a topic-relevant college degree to fully untangle

[joonebugg]

How can call of duty players be so homophobic when Soap and Ghost are literally right there lowkey flirting over the radio?

[raccoonbjorn]

Crossposting from my TT. Spread the word.

[piranhaincaps]

did you know that Gaz is also a demo expert?

[silverspleen]

HEY GUYS JACOB GELLER DROPPED A VIDEO ESSAY ON SPEC OPS: THE LINE TODAY!!!!!!

So enjoy my very haphazard personal powerpoint (continued under the cut) on Call of Duty video essays which you should watch (+ a touch of my personal history with the games). They're interesting and very sobering. I think. People forget. That the CoD fandom is technically the War Criminal Fandom. We forget. And it's important to remember and think about it! Lots of people do, I've seen some great fucking meta and takes, but some of you aren't.

Here's links to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and Doctors Without Borders.

As a North Carolinian I'd also appreciate support for Western NC!

Onto the good stuff!

Further Watching (Call of Duty)

War Games: The Military Entertainment Complex -By Data Male

MODERN WARFARE: How Call of Duty 4 Changed a Genre Forever -By Ahoy

Analyzing Every Torture Scene in Call of Duty – All 47 of Them -By Jacob Geller

Call of Duty doesn’t need you -By Julian -Ok this one is more about the history of multiplayer but it’s interesting, as someone who does not play multiplayer

Further Watching (not Just Call of Duty!)

Rationalizing Brutality: The Cultural Legacy of the Headshot -By Jacob Geller

Judaism and Whiteness in Wolfenstein -By Jacob Geller

Literally any video essay on Spec Ops: The Line -Just youtube search spec ops: the line -War Crimes: The Game -This is the game where you use white phosphorous on civilians and do, in fact, see the aftermath -Obviously this has created Discourse

Obviously I have lots of opinions on FPS games, but not in a normal gamer way. It would be easier if I cared about frame rates or multiplayer lobbies and not whateverthefuck goes on in my brain where I need to consume video essays to be sane when I play a game that literally all of my coworkers are just kinda like "yeah it's fun" about and I can't even participate in the fandom at large without being insane about it.

Somewhat inspired by a brief bit of CoD shipping/kink discourse I saw that made me realize that we are Not Engaging With The Text guys. There's many relevant conversations to have in the CoD fandom (racism! islamophobia!) and then there's being like "oooh I don't like the barest sniff of dubcon." FAM. THIS IS THE WAR CRIMINAL FANDOM GET SOME PERSPECTIVE. DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMEHOW IMMUNE TO THE PROPAGANDA??? ARE YOU WORRIED IF SOMEONE PUTS A DUBCON IN YOUR GHOAP FIC THAT IT WILL SOMEHOW BECOME MORALLY BAD? GHOST AND SOAP?? THE WAR CRIMINALS??

Anyway hopefully I've exorcised this particular demon.

and just in case you DID want to read (X)

[lurksunderthebed]

The Bloppiest Lore Dive™

A look into Frank Woods' history before the events of Black Ops 1 (circa Korean War era)

Aka, how I fell into the black hole that is cods most established character via inexplicable lore drops and a stupid military patch.

⚠️ Warning⚠️: this won't make much sense without being somewhat familiar with Frank Woods and the events of black ops 1, 2, 6 and somewhat cold war. If someone wants me to do a primer on the blops series or anything related to that, let me know. It's been awhile since I posted any meta here.

Right so let me preface this with the fact that this deep dive into Woods' pre black ops 1 history, all started with me snooping around the safe house in blops 6 and finding this one photo.

A photo that all the Mason/Woods shippers would recognise if they played blops 6 any time recently:

Here is what appears to be Woods' only personal touch to the safe house in black ops 6- a picture of him and Mason hanging out together in their black ops cold war getup (approx. 10 years ago in 1981).

The picture is interestingly located next to Woods' bed in a chest full of his things. Ostensibly the things he thought he would need/value most and would want to keep safe with him.

Let me note that outside of the chest with its Alex Mason picture (next to his bed dammit 😭), no other personal effects are present in the room. Woods only seems to have weapons, a well made bed cot and a ton of cigarette buds and flattened beer cans lying around.

Or is it ?

If we look closely we see three patches. One is Woods' name patch, a Macv-Sog patch (from Vietnam- blops 1 [it's the skull patch and fun fact, actually greatly resembles the irl macv-sog insignia]) and one unidentified shield patch.

So what does that tell us about Frank Woods? ~aka what the devs really thought the players should know about Woods~

Well we can say that there are apparently two things Woods cannot leave everything without taking with him.

1. A picture of his love best bud Alex Mason

2. His military patches

Clearly, there is a very strong implication that the things Woods seems to value the greatest, is his relationship with Alex Mason and his military service.

This is especially so, given the fact that it's the ONLY personal thing he decided to bring with him into a situation he suspects will get him in trouble with the CIA and potentially on the run from the US government. Our man Woods is only bringing the essentials. The essential being a pic of his best 🌈 buddy.

But that's beside the point.

What I was more interested in was this unidentifiable patch. ↓

Me being the nosy lore finder I am, wanted to know what this patch was supposed to be as we see it show up not only in BO6, but also in Black Ops: Cold War (the game made irl before black ops 6 but chronologically set in universe before certain past events in black ops 2- very confusing I know).

As we see here, Woods is actually wearing the patch on his left breast, the side might I add, that is closest to the heart and also significantly where a soldier would have their badges, insignia, ribbons etc on a dress/service uniform.

It's clear that the patch is something important (ie. being placed deliberately in two games) and has to be related to Woods' military service. It also must be something he treasures greatly to take it with him to the safehouse in BO6 as an 'essential' item.

So what is it and where exactly is it from?

Well. We have two choices for what time period it is. It's either during Woods' service in the Korean War, or an additional Macv-Sog RT(Recon Team) Patch from Vietnam outside of the generic one that is shown in the chest in BO6.

Fun fact: Woods was apparently leading RT California until Mason takes over as team leader during the events of BO1.

Well, we can first cross out the patch being related to Macv-sog as the Recon Team patches irl typically had some element of the macv-sog skull, the acronym CCC/CCN, and the unit name and none of that is shown on the shield patch.

Yes, it could be a completely made up patch for macv-sog but that again seems unlikely as cod game devs have historically been known to go out of their way to have somewhat realistic gear set ups/kit based on the real deal (this holds true since cods inception as a ww2 FPS game).

So that leaves us with the other option.

Seeing how Woods is described in the blops 1 classified file as a, "decorated veteran of [the] Korean War" and an, "old war horse" who wants to go out with a bang, it's apparent that Woods has spent a great deal of time in the military before the events of BO1 and would likely display at least 1 USMC company patch from before he was CIA.

Note- Woods wouldn't have been acting as a marine in Vietnam (blops 1) but rather as a CIA operative, therefore the patch being a Vietnam War specific USMC patch seems unlikely. Historically, Macv-sog was actually a clandestine hodgepodge of operatives from different American military units, "locals" and CIA. NOT specifically from one special forces org. but rather multiple groups, many containing but not always, special forces operators.

Woods not having a marine patch out of the 3 patches in blops 6 used to represent 'Things Important to Woods™' , would seem strange when it seems his identity centres around being a marine/military. Even his tattoos echo that with his devil dog tattoo, the words 'semper fi' - the marine motto, and the specifically Marine Sgt rank insignia on his arms.

Therefore it's most likely the unidentified patch is related to Korea which means we need to look at Woods' history to see what exact unit this patch is from. Finding that is however a bit tricky, given that there's nothing in game, in dialogue or not, that goes in depth about Woods' history aside from the fact that he's old and been to a lot of wars.

Or is it ? Lol.

Of course cod being cod, I found this:

A pseudo service record of sorts from the cold war multiplayer character selection of all places.

Not in some sort of secret lore email thing that was one of the coolest easter eggs in blops 1, nooo. They had to put interesting lore in the stupid character selection 😑.

I have also included the timeframe of black ops 1 to make clear what we see in game Vs extra lore.

Woods, Frank

Service Affiliation: USMC, CIA-SAD, MACV-SOG

Citizenship: USA

First language: English

Date of Birth: 03/20/1930

Blood Type: B-

Place of Birth:-

A self-reliant loner resulting from a youth spent on the streets, Woods trained as a marine before entering the CIA's Special Activities Division. Years spent as a POW in Vietnam prove his sheer resilience.

Background

SERVICE RECORD:

1948- Enlisted USMC.

1950- Selected for the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade- deployed at the start of the Korean War. Saw action in the Battle of Masan, the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter, and the 1st and 2nd Battles of the Naktong Bulge.

1950-1953- Folded into the USMC 1st Marine Division - Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle for Outpost Vegas.

1958- Recruited into the CIA - Special Activities Division.

- black ops 1 start (1961)

1961- [Redacted Paragraph]

1963- [Redacted Paragraph]

1965- Attached to Special Operations Group, charged with conducting unconventional warfare operations against hostile forces in Vietnam.

[Redacted Paragraph]

1968- Woods presumed KIA, following encounter with Spetznaz Colonel Lev Kravchenko in Sekong, Laos.

- black ops 1 end (1968)

1972- Repatriated and debriefed following his escape from a POW camp in Da Nang. Woods reports that he spent 6 months as a prisoner at the Hua Lò prison, before his transfer to Da Nang.

PEER ASSESSMENT:

Loner. Fiercely self-reliant, likely as result of his teenaged years spent of the streets of his native Philadelphia, Sergeant Woods exhibits a hostile attitude towards authority. However, his exemplary and extensive service record speaks for itself.

His tendency to self-isolate and his distrust of command may represent an interesting opportunity. Continue surveillance operations.

*

So we can now piece together Woods' pre blops 1 life.

-1930 born in Pennsylvania

-ran away from home to live on the streets in his teens (probably due to an abusive home)

-1948 enlisted USMC at the age of 18

-1950 deployed to Korea (start of war) in 1st provisional marines brigade

Battle of Masan

Battle of Pusan perimeter

1st battle of Naktong bulge

2nd battle of Naktong bulge

-1950-1953 folded into 1st Marines Div

Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle for Outpost Vegas

- 1953-1955 participated in defence of Korean DMZ *

-1955 relocated to Camp Pendleton*

-1958 recruited to CIA-SAD at the age of 28

*hypothesized events not stated in-game but following irl 1st marines div historical events in Korea*

Thus making Woods a veteran of 10 years at the time he joined the CIA (5 years overseas, 5 years stateside)

Right, so now that the game tells us Woods was 1st marines, that means the unidentified patch is referencing 1st marines div right ?

Yes and no.

The 1st marines division patch is lit just a diamond with a big 1 in it. The patch Woods has, has a 5 and other elements in it, so what is it referencing then ??

Well the answer is pretty simple:

This is the patch of the 1st bn, 5th marines. A battalion of the 5th marines regiment. Andddd most importantly, a regiment under the 1st marines division.

Here is a side comparison:

As we see, both patches have similar elements. The in game patch looking like a revised version with inverted colours yet keeping the important symbols.

It also lines up well with woods being a part of the 1st provisional marines brigade and the associated battles. According to wiki, the provisional brigade was solely made up of 5th marines (regiment) -which the 1st bn, 5th marines are from- which then got folded into a greater general 1st marines division.

This explains the 5 on the in game patch where one would think a 1 should be. The 5 obviously references the 5th marine regiment aspect of the 1st bn, 5th marines.

Even more impressively, if we consider the battalion words "Make Peace or Die", we even see that reflected in Woods' clothes in blops cold war.

The dove button is a straight up copy of a irl 1980s anti-vietnam war button, clearly referencing the "make peace" aspect while, the "or die" aspect is referenced by the grim reaper design on the back of Woods' vest.

The other button on Woods, (the headdress) also further reflects the 1st bn, 5th marines as it resembles the war bonnet headdress in the star of the irl 1/5 patch.

Interestingly enough, the headdress/indigenous aspect is also apparently an important symbol for the 5th marines as the companies within the battalion are each named after different native american tribes.

Even the nickname of the battalion which is "Geronimo" is actually named after Gerónimo/Goyaałé, a bedonkohe Apache military leader and medicine man.

So we can now conclude that Woods most likely served as a part of the 1st battalion, 5th marines. And proud of it, as his very clothes are symbolic of the battalion.

Mystery finally solved and we got to learn more about Woods' history !

I can rest easy now that I figured it out after much pondering and a surprising amount of research. Rip my Google algorithm 🥲

I hope you guys enjoyed my descent into madness lol as I went further into blops lore. I thought mw reboot had some interesting lore bits but black ops really takes it to the next level. I had a blast lol.

And if there's any message to take from this it's that

Frank Woods has to be the most sentimental person ever in the history of cod. Everrr.

Not only does he consistently keep lots of random pictures of him and his best lover bro Mason into his 90s (bro framed a pic of him and mason on a op, and showed it to Mason's adult son David who he pretty much adopted-- yoo blops 2 was wild) but also apparently likes to wear merch symbolising his military unit. Not to mention the very blatant borderline obnoxious military tattoos he has that screams 'Marine 4 Ever' to top it all off. Haha 😅. Subtle thy name is not Frank Woods.

And

2. I hope it also demonstrates how much thought and care went into developing Woods' character. Game Devs really didn't need to be replicating irl unit patches and creating a workable realistic-ish service record for their characters but they did and I thought it would be sad if no one appreciated that fact.

To whoever stuck it down here, thanks for reading and I hope this was interesting to you guys. Thanks 🙏👍❤️

[illusivesoulgaming]

I was today years old when I learned that Sergei, the big dude who helps you escape during the Vorkuta level, has a brief but tragic backstory.

[exfil]

something that has always fascinated me about the dynamic between ghost and soap is how their vices perfectly complement each other.

soap is a good soldier because he is a righteous and committed man (let's get ourselves a win) but has a tendency towards anger (i will blow your brains out i swear i will do it) and wrath (are you serious he is right fucking there) while ghost is a competent and confident man (choices have consequencea) albeit with a tendency towards pride (pay attention you just might learn something) and arrogance (i have seen better - who? - me).

both of these characteristics could lead to tension within a unit - but they make ghost and soap work together perfectly because they enable each other. soap gets to overkill for ghost (about to play rough with the shadows - i like the sound of that) and ghost shows off for soap (gonna do this one my way, watch - fucking brautiful, sir).

even in moments where they try to reign themselves in, the other makes sure they dont have to - ghost validates soap's anger (it was the right call at the time - at the time.) and soap validates ghost's ego (you want to be better than me - i got my work cut out for me then).

what a perfect pair they make.

[s0fter-sin]

in recon by fire when laswell gets abducted, did shepherd tip off al-qatala that she'd be there? bc wasn't it a cartel outpost? why was al-qatala there? i know they were working together but why is it al-qatala specifically that takes her instead of it being a group effort?

it would be a huge benefit to have laswell, and by extension price and gaz, out of the picture while he scrambles to fix his mess since she is pretty much his biggest obstacle (and knows it which is why he’s so quick to not let her near the missiles)

the way he tries to drag out her rescue - "we can't just send in the cavalry, these things take planning and preparation" - only to agree to send price and gaz by themselves, presumably thinking it would just be them (since he doesn’t seem to believe in allies or trust) and they'd either take a long time and be preoccupied or fail to get her back altogether and die in the process

it takes these huge pieces off the board; other than the missiles themselves his only obstacle is ghost and soap and his next step is to take them out. the way he doesn't hesitate to put them under a kill order makes you think he expected the other half of the 141 to also be dead

[to-the-all-blue]

Don't mind me I'm just thinking about how - besides with his mom who he barely saw - Sanji was never taught that love is freely given. The people who care for him are people on the other side of a transaction to him; he pays them back in some way. He works on the Orbit, he pays back a debt on the Baratie, he is The Cook on the crew. He gives something so that he can receive care in return. When he wasn't "good enough" as a child he learned that has to be able to provide something to receive the love he always yearned for.

[spectralarchers]

I hope this doesn't come off rude, I mean it genuinely.

Is there an actual plot to Call of Duty? I always thought it was just pvp battlegrounds, but does the game have a storyline or single player mode? I tried to Google this, but the results are ambiguous. I've see your fic for it and just wondered if the greater universe is a fanon construction.

Thank you!

Hi Nonnie!

Never be afraid to ask questions, there are no silly ones. Especially when it comes to my current hyperfixation, lol!

There is an actual plot to Call of Duty! The one I'm currently obsessing over is the "reboot" version of Modern Warfare which started with now has Modern Warfare I (the 2019 game), Modern Warfare II (the 2022 game) and Modern Warfare III (the 2023 game).

The obsession with Soapghost came from the Modern Warfare II (2022) game where those two idiots are hopelessly in love share a lot of scenes together and their banter is absolutely delicious.

There is a storyline and a singler player mode, where you play as different characters and do different missions.

Here's a list of links to the different "single player" games that contain most of the plot that fandom abides by (no commentary, so you just sit and watch someone play the game for 3+ hours):

Modern Warfare I 2019

Modern Warfare II 2022

Modern Warfare III 2023

Each of the games have smaller expansion packs that are also single player called seasons (which give a little background info). They're not absolutely necessary for the comprehension of the greater story! (I couldn't find playthroughs, but I know they exist).

The Call of Duty lore is a bit like Marvel though in that there are different games (Call of Duty: Ghosts is one, Call of Duty 4 is actually Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 from 2007 and Modern Warfare 2 from 2009 is-- anyways, you get the gist, lol!)

Fandom have taken some characters from the different franchises and storylines (like Roach, he's from 2009 and hasn't been in the reboot series, but we love our gremlin boy) and never let them go.

Most of the characters Modern Warfare focuses on is Captain John Price, the leader of task force 141, Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish and Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley. There are other characters (Kate Laswell who is CIA (also canonically has a wife!), Alex Keller, also CIA, Farah Karim, Urzikstan Rebellion, etc.) that we all love, but those are the main couple of characters.

Characters like König, Horangi, Krüger & the others are from multiplayer mode and do not appear in the main single player campaign. Most of the traits from those characters are fanon or fanbased, taken off what little information we have from them in their audios or operator bios.

Hope this helped, otherwise don't hesitate, I'd love to give more info ♥

[silverspleen]

Still gently bewildered by Hadir's motivations, like, obviously not when it comes to main plot beats, I totally understand his motivations with the lengths he'll go to to ensure his goals are met, but why specifically did he encourage Alex to be in the position he's in with Farah. He is so chummy with him!

I mean besides the fact that Alex + Gaz are the two MW19 PCs so like, they are legally obligated to be actively involved in the narrative to draw in the player and keep them informed via the avatar of two very pretty military boys, and the players needs to be in a position where Hadir "Alex we're brothers now" Karim betrays you to be like "GASP but we're bros."

But Hadir, sir, that man's job is not just "killing russians" it's also destabilizing small countries for the united states government it is only by the grace of him being a MASSIVE SIMP for your sister and her iron fucking will that he's stuck around for as long as he has. Hadir wasn't even there for Alex being like "lol I'm defecting" when Laswell tried to pull him out. He was gone! The betrayal had happened! Dude you were there for the "I don't decide where I go they just send me" rooftop conversation, Alex is a third party with very ulterior motives why are you playing so niceys with him!

This man's entire job is to be here on behalf of the us government hunting down chemical weapons and you, the man who has stolen the chemical weapons with plans to actively use them against your very bullheaded sister's wishes are like, making cute lil' guns for him and your sister like :) "Alex pls tell my sister when I betray her to not freak out and try to murder me, Alex do u promise? promise to explain?" like, dude this man's entire job in your country was to hunt you down???

"Alex why did you bring her here?" (Wolf's Den) Man, first of all you clearly know Farah is going to do what she wants and it should be obvious by this point that Alex will 100% support her. Second of all this is literally his mission.

Third of all you have known this man for exactly

(checks wiki)

THREE DAYS

anyway

I'm assuming it all has to logically come back to Farah and the fact that he's her older brother. Obviously culturally I'm not sure how the older+younger sibling dynamic goes when you spend your childhood in russian prison camp and your baby sister is your CO but like, he clearly still loves her so much despite their ideological differences. And it really seems like ideological differences are not a huge deal for him. There's the fact that later he is very much convinced (correctly) that Price will help him destroy the gas factory completely based on their shared history and relationship with Farah, so like, emotions are really driving his actions. He knew Farah would hate him and he wouldn't be able to be there for her and idk he's projecting something onto Alex a little methinks. Alex is helpful for like... three days and Hadir's brain gets to thinking. Probably reading into it too much but that's what I'm gonna stick to as some kind of character analysis.

It's all means to an end but idk it feels weirdly naive of him to be so lackadaisical with alliances??? which is both charming and deeply tragic in it's own right. Like, it worked out, it was a good idea to get Alex so involved considering I'm vaguely aware that by MW3 he is still Farah's second, but like, idk dude were there not any nice ULF guys you could have gotten to replace you when you defected to the faction Farah fucking hates???? No??? This fuckin'... All American CIA guy you've known for three days is your brother now and who you're going to entrust your sister to? ok then