I have mixed feelings about Call of Duty's 'Carry Forward' policy, but I'm glad Treyarch changed up this operator skin

An operator skin for the upcoming Call of Duty title has been given a more mature makeover following player feedback. The T.E.D.D. operator skin is part of a set of four cosmetics included in the Vault Edition upgrade for Black Ops 7 and was based on the nostalgic robot bus operator from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's TranZit zombies mode.

T.E.D.D., as a character, has reappeared throughout Black Ops history, but his apocalyptic aesthetic has remained pretty true, with a melted plastic face and bent metal armor.

However, the iteration that was intended to launch as an operator skin in Black Ops 7 was dubbed "cartoonish" by many in the COD community. This is likely due to its more youthful take on T.E.D.D.'s mannequin face, which was damaged but not melted.

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T.E.D.D. received enough disdain that the lead development studio, Treyarch, reworked the operator skin to give it a more daunting, gruesome look, complete with a newly melted face.

The rework has had mixed reviews, with many applauding T.E.D.D.'s redesign, while others complain that the remaining three models in the vault edition bundle are still too over the top for Call of Duty.

Carry Forward and losing the Black Ops identity

The hatred for the new T.E.D.D. model coincided with recent announcements from Activision that the previously announced Carry Forward policy for operator skins was no longer going to take effect when Black Ops 7 launches on November 14.

Carry Forward is a policy that Activision kicked off with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023), where skins and weapon bundles purchased or unlocked in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) would 'Carry Forward' to the next game, as they shared the same main storyline.

If you bought a skin for Simon "Ghost" Riley while playing Modern Warfare 2, for example, that skin would have previously only been usable in Warzone and Modern Warfare 2 once Modern Warfare 3 came out.

With Carry Forward, that same Ghost skin from Modern Warfare 2 could be used in Warzone, multiplayer for MW2, and multiplayer for MW3 — extending its life and giving you more time to use the bundles you worked hard to unlock or purchased.

Carry Forward was an unsurprisingly popular concept at its initial inception, to the point that many people were disappointed when it didn't return for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. At the time, Treyarch had stated that they had their own plans for the look and feel of Black Ops 6's multiplayer, including the long-term plans for in-universe operator skins.

Post-launch seasonal events, however, seem to have forgotten that notion as crossover bundles with cartoon characters like Beavis and Butthead and weed-themed bundles with Seth Rogen and Jay and Silent Bob characters dominated the COD store.

Now, Call of Duty's developers find themselves thrust into a state where the community is torn between the preferred aesthetic of the game itself. While there are plenty who enjoy the mash-up of art styles offered in operator skins, players have become more vocally opposed to the onslaught of weed-themed microtransactions and nonsensical crossovers.

Black Ops, more so than any other COD series, has always embraced a quirkier, brighter aesthetic. Even on older generations, when most games were awash in shades of brown and gray, Black Ops stood out for its brightly colored maps. One of the first unicorn-themed weapons available as a microtransaction was in a Black Ops title.

And I love me some unicorns.

I'm always the first in line to throw my hard-earned Call of Duty Points at the brightest unicorn skin and weapon pack in the store. So naturally, I love Carry Forward, because I want my disgustingly large collection of unicorn bundles to go with me to each annual multiplayer experience.

While a brighter, more arcade-friendly aesthetic has always been a part of Black Ops's chaos, it did feel like the crossover events that injected cel-shaded cartoons into the mix did erode the game's identity. Unicorn helmets in the Black Ops art style are one thing, cel-shaded cartoons are something else entirely.

I was disappointed to find out that Carry Forward was on thin ice when I visited Treyarch's office just before Gamescom, and not at all surprised a couple of weeks later to hear it had been canned completely.

Treyarch is responding to fan feedback by canceling Carry Forward and by reworking the T.E.D.D. model, but it might not be in a way that is in the best interest to fans and consumers over all.

Carry Forward protects the purchases we make in the Call of Duty store by keeping them available to us beyond the life of the game they're initially tied to. It makes the hassle of the slowly depreciating COD HQ worth it.

It helps bolster interest in Season 5 and 6 operator bundles and battle pass rewards, which are otherwise useless within a month or two of unlocking or purchasing.

Finding a solution in the settings menu

I previously wrote about 7 changes I'd like to see in Black Ops 7, where I mentioned wanting an option in the settings menu to give players more control over the operators they see on the battlefield. I still think that's a better solution than simply eliminating Carry Forward altogether, and based on some social media comments, it may be an idea that is gaining traction.

Call of Duty has a history of limiting which operator skins players can see. During its limited exclusivity period with PlayStation, players with PlayStation-exclusive Operator Skins were shown to players on other platforms as general mil-sim operators. A variety of toggle switches in the menu could give players the choice to turn on or off colorful and unnatural skins, crossovers, and drug-adjacent offerings individually.

In the meantime, we'll just have to say goodbye to the good skins from Black Ops 6 — few as there were — and hope that the T.E.D.D. rework is a step in good faith from Treyarch and the other Call of Duty studios working on Black Ops 7.