Sleepy, cold, unsure of what to have for dinner

Since it's kind of a slow news day, I wanted to ask--about the Secret Life thing. I can't quite put my finger on when, but it's like it suddenly exploded a while back in terms of people getting really, really into it. I mean, I had some passing references to the dolls doing stuff as early as 2003. For whatever reason, I got whimsical last September and started writing about them on a more regular basis, so the series as you know it has been going on for like six months now. What happened? I mean, I'm curious to know from y'all's perspective--I know a lot of y'all kind of roll your eyes sigh indulgently and scroll past when I go on about them again, but for the people who have gotten invested, what was the tipping point? Was it when I started adding pictures? Was it a particular entry, a new character, a plot development, a specific storyline? I just don't know--I feel like interest increased a lot very suddenly, but I can't figure out why.

(While we're here--it looks like it's now going to be two more entries until The Package, so five entries total, rather than the four I had thought I would need instead of three. Uh. Sorry about that.)

Actual linkspam: ( Nerd Herd, Nerd Herd! )