It's always fun to see new dolls when they are introduced. Certainly as a doll store owner, seeing the new dolls in person for the first time was always a thrill. That was part of what made owning a doll store fun.
The not fun part was having to deal with the cancelled pre-orders or layaways that inevitably occurred when new dolls were introduced.
We all change our minds sometimes. Being a collector myself, I tried to be sensitive to that when folks wanted to cancel their pre-orders for the new Elfdoll, for example, to pre-order the newest Elfdoll. Some folks would change their minds more than once if something newer still showed up. Eventually we had to put a stop to those "repeat offenders" by limiting the number of times their orders could be changed without a restocking fee. Each time an order was cancelled or changed, time had to be spent undoing the transaction and doing a new one, and of course it made keeping inventory straight and knowing order quantities difficult, to say the least.
The other part of the "dolly bandwagon" is perhaps more familiar to you. There are folks who jump on the latest doll trend repeatedly, no matter what the new doll is or if they even like it. If everybody else is getting a Mini-Fee, for example, then they are also determined to do so. Call it a dolly version of keeping up with the neighbors. It's a way of attaining or maintaining status, or fitting in with the rest of the crowd. We saw this with the Unoas, then the Narae, then the Pukis, and now the Mini-Fees.
Feel free to break away from the crowd and get a doll just because you like it. Avoid it if you don't. And please keep the sanity of your favorite doll store owner in mind when pondering which dolls to order, just as a matter of courtesy. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
I don't think I'm guilty of the bandwagon-jumping, I go out of my way sometimes not to do it. Most of the dolls I have are not popular and no one goes ga-ga when I post a photo (could be that my photography sux, I freely admit it does) but I get the ones I like and can afford without going into dollie-debt. If I can't pay the cc off at the end of every month-- that doll won't be living on our shelves (although there IS layaway and you well know I've been guilty of laying away a few-- but never-ever-EVER canceling one!)
But I've sure seen it and you can easily follow the trends by reading the message boards and watching the same sculpt or company take over for awhile and then disappear when another sculpt or company becomes the hot, new item.
As a side note: My favorite doll store owner was already quite insane when I found her, so it didn't matter much what I ordered and then she quit on me and I can't find another to take her place. :( bummer, but I also have more money to overindulge in other obsessions. :)