How do i know if i've gotten Black Hole Badges or not?

you should really add the commas on the actual badges, just saying...like how it says "200000"? kinda hard to read. :) 

i have also told the system to check for new avatars and badges like all last week, which was when i first noticed this confusion, btw

There are many visual ways to see if you have a badge or not. But if you want to make sure you have them or not go to your profile and specifically to your showcase. You should be able to put 5 badges you want to flex about. You specifically don't have any black hole badges. To get them go to KA wiki. Spoiler alert you can no longer get them as far as we know. So yeah, try that. 

ok, i'll try that! thanks!

The Maelstrom badge is in the Badge Page too. It's a Black Hole badge. You have to reach a course level of 100 to earn it.

You need to reach a global level (visible on your dashboard) to earn it. When the last post was made, Maelstrom didn't exist yet.