When Cricket's face is first revealed in the episode "Psycho Pete Returns," the gang is taken aback by it. The prosthetic makeup is excellent, with all kinds of rippling and pulling of the skin that occur from severe burns, and it really drives home the damage the gang has done to poor Cricks. In season 11, however, the prosthetics were softened, and they've gotten even less extreme as time has passed. On the podcast, Hornsby, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day all discussed the intensity of the makeup, which Day described as "hamburger face." Howerton, however, had an even more apt description:

"Freddy Krueger. Like Freddy Krueger, half face, and I was like, I didn't see a problem with it. You guys were like, 'It's really disturbing to look at,' and I'm like, Yeah, it's f***ing amazing.' That was one of those things we could not agree on. But you guys were on the same page. I wanted it to be as grotesque as possible."

Hornsby was apparently on the team that wanted the whole look toned down a bit, which might have had something to do with the amount of time he had to sit in the makeup chair, and he explained that they "softened" the makeup over time because "it probably healed over a little bit over time." That's actually pretty realistic in a series that frequently goes into extremes, and it helps add to the overall continuity.