Triple-non-thunderbolt-display iMac -- would this work?

Consider the following:

I have a 12.5" (Mid 2011) iMac with a single Thunderbolt port that supports "two Thunderbolt displays". This means normally you would daisy-chain one thunderbolt display to the other; everything's supported, works great, end of story.

My problem is, I am convinced that 12.5" is the perfect screen size, and would like all of my displays to share the 1920x1080 resolution of the iMac. The Apple Thunderbolt display is only available in a 27" variety.

Now presumably, when using Thunderbolt displays, all displays are being driven by the iMac's internal graphics card (for Quartz Extreme support, this is non-negotiable). So theoretically, two smaller displays should be within the realm of possibility as far as graphics horsepower is concerned -- the issue is with the interconnects. There are a few solutions out there that allow you to effectively "merge" multiple displays into a single displayport connection, but that still appears to OS X as only one display -- I need OS X to be able to control all three displays individually. DisplayPort itself (and of course HDMI/DVI) does not support daisy-chaining, of course, so I believe this solution will require significant leveraging of Thunderbolt.

I came across the Elgado Thunderbolt Dock, which allows for daisy-chaining, AND provides an HDMI port. Some of the support documentation seems to indicate it may be possible to use TWO HDMI DISPLAYS with a single Mac supporting "dual thunderbolt displays" by chaining together TWO THUNDERBOLT DOCKS and connecting the displays to the HDMI port on each.

Is my suspicion correct that the Thunderbolt Dock replicates the Thunderbolt/display functionality that is otherwise only possible by purchasing a 27" Thunderbolt display?