Anet A8 "retracting" INTO print rather than out... Ideas...?

All right this one is something probs none yalls have seen but for some reason my printer injects filament into the print when retraction is on rather than take it out. Im wondering if any yalls have an idea on how to reverse this? I've disabled retraction which stops the blobbing but now I have strands galore. Its not a slicer issue since every slicer has the same effect, and I've tried setting a negative distance in the retraction distance setting in Cura but that doesn't do anything. Im pretty new to the whole thing so ideas would be greatly appreciated fam.

Thanks,
Spencer

*Update*

I've upgraded the firmware to version 1.1.9.1 and the problem PERSISTS. Very very strange. It is running on an arduino and ramps board but everything seems to be configured correctly. Its very odd