Voicething The Sequel: Just a glance...

Some of you may remember when I bought a scalped Catrine and it didn't go well. I decided rather quickly that another Catrine, with full paint on both her eyes, would be in my future. Well, the future is here because that second Catrine has made her way to my home! I didn't pick a second Catrine up right away. I almost didn't pick one up at all because, despite the flaw, I totally dug the first one! But eventually I came across a Catrine who "spoke to me", in large part because she was noticeably different from my first one. Can you tell what the difference is?

Catrine 2, Catrine 1

On the day I took these pics, using this old sheet from the 70's (maybe early 80's)

seemed like a neat idea. In hindsight... not so much.

Well, it kinda sticks out to me, but I'll go ahead and make it clear just in case: my second Catrine's eyes are looking in a different direction than my first one. Catrine 1 is glancing to her right, as if she's in a constant state of distraction... or aggravation... or beguiling artistic inspiration. Catrine 2 is looking straight ahead, strong, determined, fierce. Now you probably know by now that I love me some fierceness, but I gotta say... I kinda prefer Catrine 1's appealingly odd sidelong approach to the art of the glance. Then again, I do love Catrine 2's direct take on how to (literally) look. The inner strength her forward gaze conveys is certainly admirable and looks great. But considering Catrine is a character we hear nary a word of dialogue from in the Scaris special, Catrine 1's evasiveness seems much more fitting than Catrine 2's fierceness. Plus, the sideways glance just seems more like that of an artist. Speaking very broadly, it's just more French. In my opinion.

Gah! I love these two so much! So pretty!

Catrine 2

Catrine 1

I'm guessing this difference in gaze direction is the result of a minor alignment issue when they were printing these dolls' faces. To be honest I love when stuff like this happens! I like seeing the subtle differences that can arise for dolls that are supposed to be exactly alike, right down to, well, everything. What I love even more is seeing how these subtle differences can inform the dolls' personalities, to the point that they could almost pass for different characters. To me, these two Catrines look pretty damn different! Or at the very least, their general vibes are considerably different.

These two do share one more noteworthy difference, and that's hairstyle. They both have the same basic style, but if you look closely you can spot a difference in the behavior of their parts. Catrine 1's part swoops dramatically to her right, then winds upwards and backwards over the curl of the rest of her hair. It's very structured. Catrine 2's part also lands to her right, but it doesn't swoop so much as lay, curving inward and under the rest of the hair. It's not as structured as Catrine 1's part. Again, I gotta say I prefer the more dramatic look of Catrine 1 and her more polished part. Catrine 2 looks gorgeous, of course, it's just not quite as interesting a look, to me.

One last difference is actual hair texture, and this one is on me rather the factory. I used a very wide-toothed comb to brush out Catrine 1's hair. For Catrine 2 I rinsed it out with warm water, let it dry, then combed it. Here I'll give Catrine 2 the edge, because rinsing it first definitely left it with a much smoother texture overall than simply combing it out.

Bottom line: I love both dolls. I love Catrine as a character in general and feel her doll is a true success for Mattel. I still find her as gorgeous today as I did when we first saw pics of her last year. She's a total knockout! And not in some cheap, flashy way. Catrine is classy. Sophisticated. An artist. I absolutely adore her whether she's looking away or staring right at me. But overall I have to give the edge to Catrine 1. Basically for the reasons I detailed in that second paragraph up there. She just comes across as a little more ethereal, a little more flirty, a little more intriguing, than Catrine 2. What's even more remarkable about this is that Catrine 1 is the doll I had to go brandishing a fine point Sharpie on to "fix". Really, though, there's no loser here. Both dolls are stunning; I love them and am glad to have two that are so different from one another.

I've decided to post this little "behind the scenes" look at the two Catrines here at The Sequel instead of the main blog. I guess I'm kind of looking at it as a small thank you to you guys who've been super cool and followed me over here. I truly appreciate it!