Requiem Art

I caved. Noir is my weakness, and I got a regen doll on the chance that she would be awesome. Here she is with my Vrai (real noir) and Faux (custom noir)
Faux was my version of Noir. She wasn’t supposed to look exactly like Noir, she was supposed to improve on the design of the original, while keeping that Noir feeling. ReNoir is supposed to be a reissuing of Noir using current technology/supplies (like the type 4 body, 2-part head, newest eye mech, and a wig instead of rooted hair). And Noir is, of course, Noir.

Side by side: New Noir (MSRP $149) and Original Noir (MSRP $62).
For that much of a price increase (Japan is suffering from DEflation, not inflation, for anyone keeping track), one would think that she would have a wig that wasn’t absolute shit!
…but anyway.

I don’t think that Regeneration Noir/ReNoir has any of the original doll’s personality. She looks cute, friendly, and vacant. Just like every other single release in the last… well, since I stopped buying new pullips. Let’s move on.

Closer up, there are a few small detail-y differences aside from old doll/new doll differences. ReNoir’s eyebrows are slightly less slanted/evil, and her eyeshadow spreads further. The lip chain is also of a larger link and longer length, hanging down to her shoulder where it is sewn to her dress.

The piercings are also different. ReNoir has an inner ear cartilage piercing, and Noir has an outer ear cartilage piercing.

Now let’s talk about the difference between the original type 1s, and the newest type 4s. Type 1s had a different body, rooted hair, and their eyes could only blink, not stay shut. Type 4s have a taller, skinnier body, a 2-part head that can only take a wig, and huuuuuuuge pupils. Also, their eyes can stay shut, and their eyelids recede completely into the head, showing no ‘eyeliner’ gap. This really shouldn’t cause that much difference, but it does.

The biggest problem is that with the new larger eyes, the mechanism is not ‘gaze correct’. As in, when you turn the eyes, they don’t focus. Byuls had the same problem, because they took an existing Dal mech and just made the holes bigger, which is what I think was done here as well.

This is the best ‘straight on’ shot I got of ReNoir. Even if you focus her eyes so that they are looking straight at you, they don’t really look at you. Not like Noir’s do!

Here’s an angle shot, with both Noirs ‘looking’ in the same direction. Again, Noir looks like she is looking AT something, and ReNoir is just sort of staring off into space.

I haven’t decided if I’ll keep her. I really, really wanted to like ReNoir, and I might trick her out with an older eye mechanism, new chips, and possibly a new wig because at the very least those things are just unacceptable, quality-wise. But do I want to spend another $60+ ‘fixing’ a $150 doll?