Just in time for a last minute dash before Christmas, the release of the third wave of
Skylanders: Giants toys is imminent in the United States. Unfortunately it doesn't actually appear to have any brand new characters unless you skipped the first Battle Pack.
What it does have is the LightCore version of Shroomboom, a single pack release of Series 2 Cynder, the regular Series 2 releases of Eruptor and Prism Break (they're not LightCore so they do have their Wow Pows this time), the regular Series 2 Stealth Elf and the debut of a Series 2 Lightning Rod.
And, according to advertisements, January 9th is when the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack with Hot Dog (and Series 2 Zap) is released. In the US it will be a one month exclusive for GameStop before becoming available at other retailers too.