not trying to bump, problem is solved and i have no idea how.
so i gave up and started reinstalling apps and logging into gmail and the like when a notification popped up "apps in android 6.0 something something blah blah...." and my jaw hit the floor, heck to the no I told myself while immediately going into the phone info area. Yup, 6.0.
So, here's what I think happened... I figure my initial install failed at the VERY end of the install, so the reset, um, pushed it through or force finished sort of, maybe the error loop was an incompatible app or a setting that got reset during said reset.
So we can check this issue done or I do have one more question.... When you do a factory reset, would the phone not revert back to 5.1? This entire deal is just odd, I see very little GUI difference between the OS's considering it's an entire number/version higher and not just a point 5 or whatever.