Ugh, I've been meaning to respond to everyone's work and thoughts, but I've been really busy all week. I'm going to try to jump back into this conversation sometime this weekend when I have more time.
Also, I'm pretty sure Sagan doesn't have swirly eyes. Even if he did, the picture you referenced doesn't even show a swirl in his eye, it looks more like a circle. It's hard to tell since we don't have a lot of artwork pertaining to the matter, but the general consensus seems to be that his eyes are buttons (since he's a doll). The black lines in his eyes are often drawn as an X, to convey the yarn that's threaded between the button holes.