Nice to see Spyro getting some love. Yes, the game figures are a terrible rip off. I'm not convinced that the content isn't entirely on the disc, and you are just paying exorbitant prices to unlock what most developers give away.
But as toys the expansion characters are very well made, are a cool way to store and transport your in-game progress, and perfectly capture the collectible fever that kids (even grown-up kids) love to indulge in. If the Skylanders games weren't so well done I'd have a very hard being so positive about this obvious cash grab... but they are well done and worth playing.
Between this and DJ Hero, it's almost enough to make me regret my comments about Activision being by far the worst publisher of crap this generation.