Flaky

## Character Bio

Flaky is a red porcupine whose quills are full of white flake-like dandruff, thus her name. She's one of the most popular characters in the series and she has the identifiable personality of a very cautious and timid character, which is understandable considering that Happy Tree Friends live in constant danger of being brutally killed.

Flaky is often seen as a coward and very shy in many cases. However, some of Flaky's actions in both the internet episodes and the TV series go against this, as she has been brave and on several occasions saved her own life. Flaky is actually one of the kindest characters on the show, doing things like saving a baby bird in *Take a Hike*. She's often seen around Lumpy, Sniffles, and Cuddles. Additionally, when hanging around with Cuddles, Flaky is often forcefully dragged into situations that lead to one or both of their demises, despite her warning Cuddles about possible dangers that could occur. This is seen in *Water You Wading For*, *Let It Slide*, and *The Wrong Side of the Tracks*.

Flaky seems to be somewhat mentally unstable, as seen in the episode *Snow Place to Go*. Near the end of the episode, she begins to go insane and treats a garden gnome as her companion, singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby" to her after being trapped in the Arctic with no food or civilization. This is also seen in *Without a Hitch*, where she suffers from fear-induced hallucinations over the course of the episode, culminating in her stabbing Flippy in the eye in imagined self-defense when Flippy pulls out a knife.

The episode *Party Animal* reveals that she's allergic to peanuts, as they give her a purple rash, big lips, and make her bloat up like a balloon. She's also prone to vomiting, usually triggered by her fear of heights and/or flying, as seen in *Wingin' It*.

The fact that she's a porcupine often causes trouble - her quills often impale other characters and destroy objects unintentionally. Fliqpy once even used her as a weapon to kill Cuddles with in *Keepin' it Reel*. They also sometimes lead to her being skinned, specifically in *Class Act* and *Let It Slide*, when she falls down a tight space, causing her quills to get caught on the way down, ripping her skin and fur off. When she comes out the other end, her muscles are exposed.

Her excessive dandruff has sometimes been exploited by other characters. In the *Second Serving* DVD, it was given its own breakfast cereal called *Flaky Flakes*, which resemble Cornflakes with red and white pieces mixed in. Her dandruff is also used to create a snowing effect for a play in *Class Act*. A running gag in the series is that whenever he runs, shakes, or is struck by something, her dandruff falls out.

A small portion of Flaky's kills were done after she had been killed. In the episode *Rink Hijinks*, when Disco Bear carelessly pushes her, she falls onto Lumpy's floor buffer, causing her quills to fly out of control and pierce Disco Bear to death, along with indirectly being responsible for Lumpy getting stuck in the crane machine. In *Party Animal*, after she gets popped like a balloon by The Mole, her quills pin him to the wall. In *Let It Slide*, he causes all of the bolts in a slide to fall out, causing Cuddles to get sliced in half when he slides down. In *Ski Ya, Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya!*, she indirectly gets Disco Bear killed by a nail in a piece of wood and **(debatably)** kills Giggles and Petunia with an avalanche she caused. So far the only characters she has killed without her being killed first are Cuddles, Mime, Lifty, Shifty, Handy, and Flippy.

Flaky has been killed by almost every character. She is the first victim of Sniffles, Handy, Toothy, Nutty and Flippy. Along with Cuddles, Pop, Mime, Nutty, and The Mole in the TV series. Her deaths tend to involve breathing problems, getting sliced up, burning, and getting eaten. She has been killed many times, but she survived in *Water You Wading For*, *Out of Sight, Out of Mime*, *I Get a Trick Out of You* (not seen but heard), *Happy Trails Pt. 1*, *Something Fishy*, *Random Acts of Silence*, *Stealing the Spotlight* (**Debatable**), *From A to Zoo* (**Debatable**), and *The Chokes on You* (**Debatable**). In the TV series, she survives *The Wrong Side of the Tracks*, *Ipso Fatso*, *A Change of Heart*, *Double Whammy Part I*, and *Easy Comb, Easy Go*.

## Gender Dispute

Much debate has been raised about the true gender of Flaky. Several fans assume that Flaky is male due to the lack of a distinguishing feminine appearance; female characters tend to have long eyelashes, whereas Flaky has none. Girls don't necessarily have eyelashes. Series creator Rhode Montijo once stated that he initially created Flaky as a Male, however, most of the creators at MondoMedia regard Flaky as a female character, whereas others simply don't know. Flaky's true gender has caused much confusion; even the Happy Tree Friends website is ambiguous about this. In the DVD commentaries, in fact, they regularly refer to Flaky as a "her", such as the commentary for *And the Kitchen Sink.*

Some even see the quills that distinguish that Flaky is a porcupine as the character having long hair, especially due to the dandruff and the way they respond to hair growth formula in *Easy Comb, Easy Go*. Flaky also carries a flower suitcase in *Wingin' It*, and the episode description refers to Flaky as "her".  Some voice actors of the show are ambiguous about Flaky's gender, while others think she/he is female.

In *Something Fishy*, Flaky is seen trying to decide whether to enter the Girls' or the Boys' bathroom. So she or he may be gender-confused as well, which has further contributed to the ambiguity many fans feel about Flaky. However, it should be noted that in the example to the right, Flaky ultimately ends up going into the Boy's room. This is backed up by the fact that there was no blood on the floor where both Giggles and Petunia were killed in the toilets. As well as that, Flaky would have heard the screams and fled. As well as that, in *Royal Flush*, Lammy, Giggles and Petunia are somewhat surprised to see Flaky. Initially confused, they hesitate, then let Flaky in, further indicating that Flaky could be male.

It has been previously stated that Rhode Montijo originally designed Flaky as male, hence the lack of eyelashes. However, the reason that the gender debate started was that Flaky's voice actor was Female. On the official website, however, Flaky's gender was originally listed as "Female", but was later changed to "Unknown" meaning that the viewer gets to choose the gender.

Disco Bear is seen presumably flirting with Flaky in *Ski Ya, Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya!,* although this is debatable as it's more subtle than his usual forms of flirty behaviour. And, in *See What Develops*, he shakes Flaky's hand and winks. However, this could have been Disco Bear simply grooving like he usually does.

Flaky's gender was apparently confirmed on April 28, 2012, on the Happy Tree Friends Twitter account, in reply to a tweet by @AngryBurdsNigga. However, a little while after the confirmation, Ken Pontac stated that Mondo still wishes for Flaky's gender to remain a mystery, leading some fans to question the reliability of the confirmation. Despite this, Graff still believes Flaky to be female.

It is also referred to as a "her" in some posts on the official Happy Tree Friends Facebook page  , and there is even a comment posted by the author in which they stated that "Flaky is a Girl". It is also stated by the producers and voice actors during the commentary for the *Third Strike* Happy Tree Friends DVD that Flaky is female.

To add to the gender debate, some Blurbs like in *Without a Hitch* use both male and female pronouns, even in the same bubble. Kenn Navarro, one of the main creators of Happy Tree Friends, has also stated on multiple occasions that Flaky's gender is very much open to interpretation, and the character can either be Male or Female to make Flaky a more interesting Happy Tree Friend.

In *Behind the Screams*, Micheal Lipman stated that Flaky is a "metrosexual" Happy Tree Friend, and her or his gender can go either way. In fact, just two years after Flaky was confirmed as Female, Kenn Navarro explained how the gender dispute started, stating that Flaky has no gender and could be a Male or Female in the process. He stated that, when they asked around the studio to find out what gender everybody thought Flaky was, the answer was split, so they *"left the issue unanswered"*.