If there’s one mass-release small-scale action figure company that we can count on to release some five-star figures for almost every Marvel movie released, it’s Diamond Select Toys. That said, fandom wasn’t exactly ablaze with love for the first Marvel Select Age of Ultron figure announced: a slightly retooled movie Hulk figure. Unfortunately, the second figure is unlikely to get folks much more excited–the Marvel Select Avengers Age of Ultron Thor figure is now up for order!

We may have to rename this week as “Avengers: Age of Ultron Merch Week”, as the announcements are now coming fast and furious for upcoming Avengers Age of Ultron figures and collectibles! We’ve seen the spring 2015 LEGO Marvel Avengers Age of Ultron sets, the Hot Toys Mark 43 Iron Man die-cast figure is now up for order, and now the second of three Avengers: Age of Ultron figures has now been revealed: Thor!

As soon as I saw the Avengers Age of Ultron Thor Marvel Select figure, I knew that Diamond Select Toys was in for some turbulence. I headed over to Facebook to see collectors’ responses to the figure, and sure enough, this figure isn’t getting a lot of critical love.

The Marvel Select Avengers 2 Thor figure is a 100% repaint of the previously-released 7″ Thor: The Dark World Marvel Select Thor figure, with the most obvious paint difference being that the gold areas on that figure have been switched to silver for the AoU Thor figure.

It’s not a particularly enthralling change to the paint deco, and as the Marvel Select Dark World Thor figure is still only selling for around $25-$30 online, fans are decrying the selection of Thor as one of the three Marvel Select Avengers Age of Ultron figures.

Even so, Diamond Select cannot contractually reissue Marvel Select figures from old movies, so this is likely the only chance DST will ever have to repaint/re-release that older Thor mold that not every collector has already.

Theorizing that the perception that this Age of Ultron Thor Marvel Select figure was “taking the place” of a new character like Black Widow, Quicksilver or Scarlet Witch, I asked Diamond Select Toys for clarification.

Here’s the response from DST: “There will be a third AoU figure, someone we haven’t made before. And we make what we can make — this figure didn’t replace another new character. We were able to bring back two figures, and we chose Hulk and Thor, updating them both to make them interesting to new collectors, but primarily satisfying unfilled demand for the previous limited editions.”

So there you have it, Marvel collectors. I have (and love) the Marvel Select Thor The Dark World Thor, so I’ll be passing on this repaint (unless the new base for the figure absolutely blows me away), but I’m glad he’ll be available again for those who need him. And for those who don’t need this Thor Age of Ultron figure–at least we’ll be getting one new Marvel Select action figure for Age of Ultron, right? (Please be Hulkbuster Iron Man. Please.)

The Marvel Select Avengers Age of Ultron Thor figure is now available for order, and is scheduled to be released in May 2015 (just in time for the Avengers AoU movie to hit theaters!). Sometimes Marvel Select figures do get delayed, but very rarely so for a repaint or a reissue, so I expect AoU Thor to hit stores right on time in the spring.

What do you think of this Marvel Select 2015 Thor figure? Are you happy to have an updated Marvel Select Thor action figure for next year’s Avengers Age of Ultron movie, or would you have preferred DST had passed on this repainted MS Thor?