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1'''As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3* Okay, how do the characters resurrect every episode and how do they have so many jobs?
4** Maybe each episode is set in a different universe.
5** Chalk it up completely to NegativeContinuity. It is nothing more or less. Characters like Flaky seem to remember previous deaths and some events like Flippy's backstory or "Dino-Sore" would make absolutely no sense if they took place in different universes.
6* Why is Splendid's evil twin Splendont? Logically according to the rules of grammar it should be splendidnt, splendont would be the evil twin of splendo.
7** He's... uh... [[VoodooShark such an opposite, that he... changes the tense?]]
8** Maybe because Splendidnt sounds too much like Splendid. At least Splendont has a different vowel sound to really differentiate the two names while still sounding alike, where Splendidnt is a quick 'nt' away from Splendid. And "Splendid and Splendidnt" sounds a bit awkward to say rather than "Splendid and Splendont".
9* The fact that Handy has bandages over his arm stumps implies that he lost his arms, as opposed to being born without them. But wait a minute, the characters often lose body parts, and manage to show up in the next episode in one piece. So, why couldn't Handy completely regenerate after... [[NoodleIncident whatever caused him to lose his arms]]?
10** A common theory among the fanfics I've read is that the [[NegativeContinuity regenerating and returning from the dead]] is an effect of the setting (as in, once you leave the setting, your next death [[{{Permadeath}} will be your last]]). As such, it's implied that injuries such as Handy's amputated arms and Russell's peg legs for that matter occured before the characters came to live in the setting of the show and thus those injuries could not be reversed upon their deaths. Whether or not this works for ''mental'' ills such as [[ShellShockedVeteran Flippy's]] remains to be seen. Granted, [[FridgeLogic this theory doesn't hold]] for ''W.A.R. Journel'', but whatever.
11** Or how about this theory: His arms ''do'' grow back every day, he's just so clumsy that he is constantly losing them.
12*** If that's the case, it must apparently be in such horrible ways that they can't show it, and that... [[FridgeHorror Lord]].
13** Time always resets to a specific point, and by that point Handy already had no hands.
14** The NegativeContinuity could also be explained as each episode taking place in an alternate universe and we simply haven't seen one where Handy or Russel didn't go through these past accidents.
15** There isn't really any logic to the way injuries in Happy Tree Friends work. Certain characters have permanent injuries that never heal-Handy always has no hands, Russell is always missing both legs and one arm, Cro-Marmot is always stuck in a block of ice-while other characters suffer the same injuries and come back in the next episode-Petunia loses her hands in "I Nub You", Sniffles gets frozen in "Tongue Twister Trouble"-and it's all dependent on what the plot requires.
16** I like to think he really was born without them and the bandages are for keeping his nubs warm. As for his profession, it could be a family thing or simply an aspiration.
17* Is This Troper the only one who noticed that the Happy Tree Friends seem to have no bones? I mean, some of the deaths in the series wouldn't have been completely possible if they did have bones. I'll list examples below.
18** Mime's death in Party Animal. He is shoved into a blender and turns into some kind of drinkable fluid, because Flippy drinks it at the end of the episode. If Mime had bones, there would have been some kind of fragments of it left in the drink, and Flippy wouldn't have been able to chug the whole thing with no problem.
19** Oh they have bones; skeletons pop out (of them) all over the place. RuleOfFunny is firmly in place, is all.
20* This is more the fandom rather than the series itself. As a YaoiFangirl, I understand entirely about making the human representations of the Happy Tree Friends characters bishounen. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Japanese Fandom.) And of course, as the most prominent EnsembleDarkhorse of the series, Flippy is one. The problem is... if the theory about him fighting in UsefulNotes/VietnamWar was right, Flippy should be around 40 years old. ''Freaking 40 years old,'' '''not a teenager with {{BishieSparkle}}'''. I seem to be contradicting myself for saying that I'm a YaoiFangirl, but I'm one that don't mind an older guy in the gang. My point is, why can't they just make him a lot older?
21** It's anime. It's ''Flippy''. The most popular character in the series and probably in the cartoon fandom. He ''has'' to be handsome, cute, gorgeous or whatever you want him to be so you can fantasy about him. The sexy psychopath is the standard image for the popular EnsembleDarkhorse - DracoInLeatherPants character. Or else he wouldn't be Flippy. That's how most fans think. Sad, but true.
22** Young fits him better to most people (I can't really picture him being a senior either, he acts and looks too young), and he needs to be handsome. He could technically still be fifty (I've seen some nice looking sixty - seventy year olds, in a non-sexual way but still pretty fit and young looking). I'd say he's in his thirties at best, most likely fifty. 40 year olds can look pretty young.
23** Also, he was never in the Vietnam War. This troper wrote more on this on the next Headscratcher. Just scroll down a bit.
24* How old is Flippy? If he's a Vietnam war veteran instead of some random made-up war for the series, he should be in late 30s to mid 50s. His birthday cake had him as six years old, unless each candle refers to a set of numbers (maybe five for each? ten?). But that's in animal years. He seems pretty young, but at time acts like either a pre-70s father or a senior.
25** Okay, let's put this clear: Flippy wasn't in 'Nam. He was in the W.A.R., fighting Tiger General. They never said they were fighting in Vietnam - I don't think there is such thing as Vietnam or even the United States in the HTF universe. So, he may just have fought in a war just a few years ago, so he would be in his late twenties, since he looks very young in the W.A.R. Journal.
26** Why?
27** I'm guessing a parent complained about his/her son/daughter watching it.
28*** Personal guess - if Pop can exist as a stereotypical 50s parent, then Flippy can exist as an adult too. He was indeed looking very young in the W.A.R. Journal, which would add to having problems with PTSD.
29* In ''A Clause for Concern'', if Cub wasn't in that bag that Pop took with him when he acted as Santa, why does it end up all bloody?
30** It's [[ABloodyMess paint]]. One of the things Pop pulls out of the bag is a dirty paint pallet with a busted paint tube.
31* Does Flippy have PTSD or split personalities? Or is it both? He apparently isn't conscious when he's flipped out, since he doesn't remember anything when he was on a killing spree. Also he seems to have created Evil Flippy by his desperation to live in the WAR Journal.
32** He has a combination of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Multiple Personality Disorder (when he acts like his evil self he is an entirely different person, and he doesn't remember what he has done after that, when he changes back to his normal self) and Schizophrenia (he has vivid hallucinations of his evil self). On short: he is truly, madly, deeply insane.
33* I agree that Flaky is most likely a girl. But why are there so many humanizations portraying her wearing feminine clothing, sporting a visibly womanly figure, having TertiarySexualCharacteristics, and generally appearing obviously female? It's not that I think RealWomenNeverWearDresses, it's just that AmbiguousGender is such an integral part of Flaky's character.
34** I'd say she should be more androgynous looking as a human. But fandoms don't really care about this sort of stuff - look at the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' fandom.
35** It could be that the more artistic fans didn't really find it confusing - at least one person was surprised to hear that there was a debate about her gender.
36** She has been confirmed as a true female already, multiple times. One example is [[https://twitter.com/happytreefriend/status/214484145429155840 here]].
37* Why aren't there any avian tree friends? Are birds too difficult to animate?
38** Probably to avoid further FurryConfusion. That one bear is the only time a species has been on different points of the scale.
39*** Plus there were non-anthromomorphic birds in some episodes such as ''All Flocked Up''.
40** Assuming Mr. Pickels is imaginary, it seems all Happy Tree Friends are mammals.
41*** He's not a Tree Friend, but Sneaky is an anthropomorphic lizard. There are also The Ants, though whether or not they count as anthropomorphic is debatable.
42* Did Sneaky and Mouse Ka-Boom die permanently? It's doubtful there are going to be any more KA-POW! episodes, but if there were, would they have come back to life, like in HTF, or is Ka-Pow dark enough to have characters KilledOffForReal?
43** Since they never show up again, I'm inclined to say the that they are dead, but since Flippy's hands were cut off in that episode and they've grown back by now, its possible that they came back.
44** On the [=HTF=] wiki, it says that [[WordOfGod Navarro]] said that they would be back for the sake of tongue and bad hearing-related gags if there were more KA-POW!-episodes.
45* Just what exactly is with Mole? His severe incompetence can't be attributed to just his blindness. While the blind do have a difficult time doing things that people who can see take for granted, those born visually impaired can still navigate their surroundings without much trouble and with a basic awareness of what's around them. The way Mole acts seems like he just got blinded yesterday. Also, is Mole deaf too? Alot of loud stuff happens around him but acts completely oblivious to it as he continually walks toward danger.
46** RuleOfFunny.
47* So, what was Pop's name before Cub was born? And what would Cub's name be once he's full grown and therefore no longer a cub?
48* Why doesn't Handy get prosthetics? It would definitely make his life easier...
49** Probably for [[RuleOfFunny comedic purposes]].
50* If being reminded of war is what [[{{Pun}} flips Flippy]], then why does he wear his uniform all the time?
51** [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian]] explanation: he probably clings to his service out of pride. Military personnel, even in the infantry, aren't in combat situations 24/7. It's the ''war'' that flips him, not his service. Doylist explanation: RuleOfPerception, it's to better characterize him so a viewer will understand "he's batshit insane because of the war", not "he flips for no reason".
52* Let me ask this here. How exactly did Handy lose his arms?
53* Why is Fliqpy just referred to as Flippy in the show and by the creators, even after the episode name-dropped him? I understand the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness earlier episodes]] as they likely didn't come up with Flippy and Fliqpy being different from each other but after Operation Tiger Bomb, you'd expect the name to stick.
54* Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the episode ''In A Jam'' but here's what I don't get: at the climax of the episode, all of the flashing lights cause Handy (who is revealed to be epileptic) to have a seizure but Cuddles (who is revealed to be epileptic in the ''Seize the Day'' short) doesn't have one at all, despite also having epilepsy like Handy. That doesn't make any sense.
55** 1) He already lost one eye, which reduces the chances of epilepsy, and 2) he wasn't focusing on the lights when he was fiddling with the controls.

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