Do you consider the ?friends? dolls to be their own doll, or part of the main girl?s collection?

In the ?what?s new? post someone mentioned Nellie didn?t get a new dress- but to me, Nellie is part of Sam?s collection- which is plenty large! Elizabeth is part of Felicity?s collection. Am I the only one who see?s it this way?

Maybe it??s just because I haven??t totally fallen in love with the friends, but I really just see them as an addition to the collection, not a new historical.