Common Physical Traits

Buckteeth
A majority of characters in Happy Tree Friends have buckteeth. These are seen most prominently when characters have their mouths closed, though the buckteeth are still visible when they talk, scream, etc. The buckteeth usually cannot be seen when characters grit their teeth or scream with contorted facial expressions. Similarly, when characters grin widely, such the trademark grins of Lifty and Shifty, the buckteeth can become hidden amongst the characters' other teeth.

Buckteeth, though common throughout the show, do not appear on all characters. Of the 20 regular characters, Lumpy, Sniffles, Cro-Marmot, and possibly The Mole don't have buckteeth. Sniffles' obviously doesn't have buckteeth because of his trunk and Lumpy simply doesn't have them at all. It is possible that The Mole has buckteeth, though it's impossible to tell as his turtleneck always covers his mouth. Cro-Marmot is stuck in a block of ice, wearing an expression that doesn't show any buckteeth, though he also didn't have them in Dino-Sore Days when he was not encased in ice.

Though Generic Tree Friends are occasionally seen to have buckteeth, very few other characters (anthropomorphic or not) have them. None of the characters in Three Courses of Death or Mole in the City have buckteeth, though the Generic Tree Ninja have have buckteeth beneath their masks. In Operation: Tiger Bomb the only character to have buckteeth was Mouse Ka-Boom, which is odd considering that Flippy has buckteeth in the normal series. This could indicate that the animation of the Ka-Pow simply doesn't utilize the bucktooth drawing format and that characters from Ka-pow would have buckteeth if they were animated in a typical Happy Tree Friends way.

Toothy has buckteeth that are larger than those of the other characters, with a huge gap between them that some attribute to diastema. Toothy's name is derived from his larger than normal buckteeth, though there have been instances where his buckteeth were normal. In some episodes, like Treasure These Idol Moments and Class Act, Toothy's buckteeth change back and forth between normal and large and gapped several times. In other episodes, such as Eye Candy Toothy has normal buckteeth throughout the duration of the episode. This problem was said to be caused by laziness on the part of the animators, though this was fixed when Fatkat took over the animation for the television series.

Heart-Shaped Noses
The heart-shaped noses are clearly based on the similar facial concept of the Care Bears. Lumpy and Sniffles are the only main characters who don't have them. Most of the characters have pink heart shaped noses, but Flaky's nose is dark red and Disco Bear's nose is burnt orange. The Tiger General and his soldiers have blue noses. Sneaky from W.A.R. Journal doesn't have a nose because he is a reptile.

Pac-Man Eyes
Most of the characters have eyes with pupils the shape of an ovular Pac-Man. Lumpy and Nutty are the only main characters to not have Pac-Man eyes, while it is unknown whether The Mole or Cro-Marmot have the same eyes as the others. This is because The Mole wears typical shaded glasses and Cro-Marmot has fringe covering his eyes. The Rat and The Dark Shadow Lord don't have Pac-Man eyes. When Flippy flips out, his eyes go from Pac-Man to irises and his pupils are completely round. Similarly, Lifty &amp; Shifty sometimes lose their Pac-Man shaped pupils when they are plotting something or frowning.

Mitten Hands
Mitten hands are hands that are mitten shaped in appearance. Lumpy and Handy are the only main characters not to have mitten hands, although Handy's hands might've had them before they were amputated. Characters' mitten hands often change to hands with fingers whenever characters grip something, gesture at something, experience extreme pain, etc. Though Flippy and Splendid had mitten hands in Happy Tree Friends, they don't in the Ka-Pow! series.

Tummy Markings
Most of all the HTF characters have an oval-shaped tummy marking that is lighter than the character's real color. The only characters who do not have an oval marking are Lumpy, Sniffles, Cub, Disco Bear, and Cro-Marmot. It is unknown if Pop, The Mole, Russell, Mime, and Flippy have one due to fact they wear shirts concealing their tummies. Splendid's tummy marking used to be straight at the bottom in the internet series, but it became curved in the TV series.

Generic Body Shape
Most characters in HTF have a similiar body shape (small plump body, with a large oval head). Lumpy is much taller and skinnier than the other characters and has a smaller, narrower head. Giggles' Mom is also taller, but she is less lanky than Lumpy and has an oval head.