I'm with you. The Huge giants look pretty sweet, but the weapon variants are lame. I could understand making the variants ultra rare like the invisibles or promos in the vein of repaints, but it really feels like cheating on the part of WizKids, especially since the numbering includes the variants.

But ultimately, no dragons means no sale for me.

I find the use of two possible weapons a simple way of improving variety.

Despite the significance of giants to this set, I'm actually far more interested in (and impressed with) many of the smaller figures.

Finally, we have a decent Hell Hound.

Extra Bandits are always useful.

And, at long last, we have Sprites & Giant Frogs; the fact that they're actually good sculpts is doubly amazing!

In fact, the sculpting quality of this set is impressive, particularly when compared to how poor it often was when this line began. (Granted, the Homunculus is pretty crappy.)

Alas, someone thought the world needed yet another little brain on legs...

Oh, yeah...I'd forgotten about that Deathknell abomination.

Ya know, if this was the Pathfinder line, they'd repaint the Giant Frog brown and offer it as a Giant Toad promo (available in their store for $5 - $10).

Quality of these figs is so much better than previous releases. Haven't found one broken stand/pole.

Excellent point. I've gotten several Sprites, and not a broken sword, wing, nor stand in the bunch.

The sprites are just about the best mini in the set. I understand that larger minis always draw a crowd, but the sprites are quite fantastic as well as needed! Love them!

I like the variants for, well, variety, especially when one is using a ranged weapon and the other a melee--it's cool to be able to swap out a figure at the table when the kenku pulls out his bow or whatever.

But it does feel a little "cheap" that they are same figure with just a different weapon. A nicer alternative might have been to have them be same creature but in a different pose, in addition to wielding a different weapon.

I have to say, though, that I prefer these alts to the invisible minis. The invisible minis are cool, but they don't see much (if any) use at my table. If an enemy is invisible, then the PCs/players can't see it, so I just pull the miniature off the table.

Invisibles are useful, though, when it's a PC who's gone unseen. Makes it obvious, so no one forgets (especially the poor overworked DM!).

But, yeah, the quantity of invisibles has been a bit overboard (not to mention some of the bizarre choices for the base mini...).

I'm not a fan of invisible minis. It's impossible to create minis for all the types of PC's or creatures that could go invisible. I have thousands of minis and I'd need about a good 2/3's to be represented with an invisible minis if I really wanted to represent the need. In order to represent invisible minis, which doesn't happen that often, I have the Game master Invisible Character Pack which serves my infrequent needs fine. I'd much rather they make another great mini in place of the invisibles. Here is a link to check out what I use.

http://static1.paizo.com/image/product/catalog/LTK/LTKTS128_500.jpeg

I like a lot of this set but, am I alone in being bothered by the huge discrepancy in scale between this an previous sets? Particularly as it pertains to giants? I also dislike the vastly differing design aesthetic between the stone giant here and the elder in the tyranny of dragons set.

BTW, I also find invisible truly less than useless. I am absolutely fine with them being the Chase figures for collectors to pursue so that can remain completely different about them.

I'm led to understand that there have been some in-game changes to the sizes of various giants (not to mention the fact that giant scaling has never been consistent among the figures).

I think a handful of general-body-type invisible monsters can be useful, since PCs might have spells that reveal invisibility (& possibly not for the entire party).

If invisible minis work for you brontoceratops then great. I'd just rather have a "regular" mini that I'd probably get much more use out of than the few times at best when someone goes invisible in the party or the creature they fight goes invisible. I guess the best invisible mini they did was the blink dog as it can dimension door to another spot, but even then you probably don't need an invisible mini as it's so quick. The only minis I don't have are the invisibles.

I can appreciate that position. Despite my belief in Invisibles having some utility, I actually only own 4 or 5 of 'em.