#jkjk I adore this show. nobody else is allowed to criticize it but me 🙅‍♀️ /j

[a-concert-just-for-me]

Okay in response to this post I’m going to “Erm Ackshully 🤓☝️” y’all’s arguments (but really, this is for shits and giggles and I find y’all’s ideas and this conversation so interesting!!!)

(And logically, yes, I know the show wants you to believe that Hunter’s just immediately scarred/has no pain because they likely didn’t want to fit a healing arc into their limited storytelling time. I get it. I do. I’m just making the argument why it would be easy to argue that they are actually open wounds/why I feel like if they were going to do this arc, they should have considered giving a fraction of the proper weight to to the horrifying consequences of such a severe injury.)

Okay so without further ado! We have Hunter pre-Belos. When we look at him, his original scar is on the left side (his right cheek, but I’ll use left for our argument from now on for simplicity’s sake)

Next, we have Belos leaving Hunter’s body. Notice how the big goop scar on the left side overtakes the original left side scar.

In addition, the small scar on the right is shown to be caused by Belos’s goop.

Therefore, I think it’s safe to say from this double evidence that the scar on the right isn’t just an animation error of his original scar being on the wrong side.

Keep this in mind for later!

Next, here’s Hunter after Belos leaves his body. Note the size, color, and shape of his scars here:

“Calaiti,” you might say to my argument, “Flapjack healed him! That’s why his scars aren’t open wounds and/or why they don’t cause him pain!”

OBJECTION! Evidence:

Remember when I said to remember that one photo? Here’s where that comes into play. Hunter’s scars before and after Flap reviving him have been shown several times to be the same size, shape, and color. Absolutely nothing changes!!! They look the same before and after consistently!!!

Also, notice how Flap’s magic only ‘heals’ the left side of his face and neck. The small scar on the right doesn’t light up at all. Then, the left side scars STILL match the ‘unhealed’ wound on the right after Flap dies!!! Shouldn’t there be a visual difference between the healed and unhealed wounds, then?

I’ll admit, this whole section of the episode has a bunch of animation mistakes. See an example below, where the animators forgot the scars on Hunter’s ears during this scene. Therefore, you could use the argument that the animators just forgot to draw the right side lighting up during the revival sequence if you feel so inclined. Sure!!!

BUT to that, I’ll propose this thought: If the animators wanted to show that Flap was actually healing the scars, wouldn’t it be visually more telling to have the scars be darker and/or bigger before Flapjack reviving him, and lighter and/or smaller after, to show there was some kind of resulting change there? Just because they lit up during the revival sequence doesn’t necessarily mean that was Flap healing him. Visually, again, they look exactly the same consistently before and after Flap ‘heals’ them.

~~~

Moving on to the argument of why Hunter doesn’t have any pain after all this, sure, maybe Hunter was running off adrenaline and the pain hits him later. I suppose that’s fair! Doesn’t mean I like it!!! Doesn’t mean I think he shouldn’t have received medical attention even though he said he was okay!!! If we have time for a whole Hexside arc, I think even if he was in shock (which would likely come with a whole host of medical issues which he is not shown to have imo! (Look up ‘burn shock’)), they should have at LEAST insisted on checking him over instead of taking his word that he’s okay!!! He would have been pissed about it lol but idc, show them sitting his ass down and having a healer look at him to show as writers, you’re treating this life-changing injury with the seriousness it deserves.

And if they didn’t feel like doing it before the Belos fight, I would have even accepted them making time to acknowledge the physical and psychological trauma of TTT somewhere else in the last episode. The most we get is Hunter looking sadly at Willow reuniting with her parents before Darius comes along and starts talking to him. It feels like a huge missed opportunity to skip over any negative consequences or closure for Hunter. We just skip to him being healed and happy with no further lines in the show, and that’s a shame to me!

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED Talk on me defending my goofy headcanon thesis and why I (seriously) think this whole scene should have been handled with a bit more care and consideration to realistic consequences of such an injury.

(This is still my favorite episode though 🤭)