diff --git a/libtransmission/rpcimpl.cc b/libtransmission/rpcimpl.cc
index 876c1d8b1..43bce8310 100644
--- a/libtransmission/rpcimpl.cc
+++ b/libtransmission/rpcimpl.cc
@@ -903,7 +903,6 @@ void addTorrentInfo(tr_torrent* tor, TrFormat format, tr_variant* entry, tr_quar
 char const* torrentGet(tr_session* session, tr_variant* args_in, tr_variant* args_out, tr_rpc_idle_data* /*idle_data*/)
 {
     auto const torrents = getTorrents(session, args_in);
-    tr_variant* const list = tr_variantDictAddList(args_out, TR_KEY_torrents, std::size(torrents) + 1);
 
     auto sv = std::string_view{};
     auto const format = tr_variantDictFindStrView(args_in, TR_KEY_format, &sv) && sv == "table"sv ? TrFormat::Table :
@@ -945,6 +944,8 @@ char const* torrentGet(tr_session* session, tr_variant* args_in, tr_variant* arg
             }
         }
 
+        auto* const list = tr_variantDictAddList(args_out, TR_KEY_torrents, std::size(torrents) + 1U);
+
         if (format == TrFormat::Table)
         {
             /* first entry is an array of property names */
diff --git a/libtransmission/variant.h b/libtransmission/variant.h
index 8031bec39..6953594b6 100644
--- a/libtransmission/variant.h
+++ b/libtransmission/variant.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <cstddef> // size_t
 #include <cstdint> // int64_t
 #include <optional>
+#include <numeric>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
 #include <type_traits> // std::is_same_v
@@ -102,9 +103,9 @@ public:
             return std::empty(vec_);
         }
 
-        void reserve(size_t new_cap)
+        void reserve(size_t const new_cap)
         {
-            vec_.reserve(new_cap);
+            vec_.reserve(std::max(new_cap, size_t{ 16U }));
         }
 
         auto erase(tr_quark const key)