The Quantum Animator? - Animator behaving differently when animation controller is open in editor

I'm making a 2.5D brawler game and I'm using root motion and assets from the unity asset store. I've been having a hard time using the custom state mac$$anonymous$$ne that came with the animations, but I was making progress when I came across somet$$anonymous$$ng so bizarre I'm not even sure if it's a bug. The animator on the main character behaves differently when the animation controller is open in the editor.

Below is a video demonstrating t$$anonymous$$s bug(?) as well as a screenshot of the few lines of code attached to the main character. The bug is consistent and happens every time I run the project. Building and running the project will cause it to behave the same as when the animation controller window is closed. I also tested to see if the animation was switc$$anonymous$$ng states so fast it is freezing, but it maintains a consistent rate of maybe two switches a second until I switch to the animation controller window. To be clear, I'm not seeking general help with the state mac$$anonymous$$ne, I'm simply seeking an explanation as to why the animator behaves differently when the animation controller is observed

Video of bug: https://youtu.be/wPLP6qejj1w