Though I have not had that problem with the Dragon series - aside from one piece of coral that fell off of the Water Dragon.

The big $20 figures in the MacFarlane Dragons series are comparable in size to the $50 Red from WotC. And given that I generally do not use the standard D&D dragons anyway...

But either is a better bargain than the GW dragons.*

The Auld Grump

*As if I wasn't seriously tempted by a $79 dragon... Gauth by Reaper... then again Sandra Garrity is quite possibly my favorite sculptor.

Well, I can say that the Dragons 1 series has stood up fairly well in use as miniatures (though if you look at the back of most minis they will inform you that the contents is Not a toy, so if MacFarlanes figures are not toys they should work just fine... (Actually I am of the opinion that miniatures are indeed toys, but the kids are a bit bigger, older, and sneakier...)

In any event I just got another notice from Toys 'R' Us/Amazon informing me that it will be January before I can ravage the world with my draconic horde.

The Auld Grump

Hmmm, neither the dragon nor Conan series have many points of articulation, so that may be why they stand up better.

I just got a Conan figure that is going to be repainted as a giant -

Six dollars at Kay B Toys.

The Auld Grump

Heh, Yeah, I could do that, but I want this to be a young giant. (In Norse myth giants were suitable opponents for the gods, not mid-level adventurers.) So any giants that the party might face would be stripling beardless youths.

The Auld Grump

Okay, I lied... Conan's getting a beard. He just seems incomplete without one. And getting statted as a Frost Giant Barbarian/Ranger.

The Reaper Giant on the other hand is getting statted as a Hill Giant Druid/Ranger. (I added holly leaves to his bone club for use in the Christmas scenarios, and well, it does make him look vaguelly Druish...)

Meanwhile I am statting out the new McFarlane Dragons, the Water Dragon is getting called a Kelp Dragon, and gets a bonus to Hide rolls while in kelp beds. (Neatly equalling its size penalty.)

The Auld Grump

An observation on the Dragons 2 series - On the whole the figures are somewhat smaller than the last batch. Most also have bases that are easier to fit for the D&D standard sizes.

The Auld Grump

On the cheaper end of things (and on the subject of Dragons), the less-discriminating toys-as-models users still have a little bit of time left to get down to Jack-In-The-Box and pick up a kids meal, complete with small plastic toy dragon.

They're sized about right for D20 "Large" dragons, and even come with bits of armor. If you're lucky, you won't get one of the D&D-useless orange ones (although even that can be repainted).

Yes, they're cheap plastic poorly molded toys...but they're also rather cheap and easy to come by...for the moment.