Wow! I’d never realized that the eye color differed, but my stripy male has got darker eyes than the black male. I like the darker shade of blue against the brown: the contrast compliments both the eyes and the paint colors. It may have been a factory booboo, but it’s a serendipitous one. 🙂 And as far as the pattern drift that produced the stripes: hooray for that one too! 😀 I adore the stripes and the darker brown shading that came with them. I’m so glad that the pattern shifted in that direction!