When Hot Toys posted their preview image for next week’s 2015 Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC 2015), it looked suspiciously like a blue repaint of their just-released Iron Man Mark 3 die-cast figure. But having already released two exclusive Stealth Iron Man figures this year, surely Hot Toys couldn’t have another on deck… right? Wrong–the exclusive Hot Toys Stealth Iron Man Mark III figure is now up for order!

Considering I’ve already bought two Hot Toys Iron Man Stealth Armor figures this year (one a movie-based Mark VII repaint and one a Cosbaby with a bizarre 1/6 T-Shirt) for $400+, I was not at all keen on–or expecting–yet another limited Stealth Iron Man figure to come out this year as the sole 2015 Summer Exclusive Hot Toys Marvel figure.

But if there was going to be a third Iron Man Stealth Hot Toys figure released this year…? I would want this to be it. And thankfully–it is!

So what’s this Hot Toys Iron Man Mark III Stealth Edition sixth scale figure got going for it that makes me so willing to drop another $300+? Answer: Beautiful colors, glowing red LED lights, and comic book inspiration!

While this figure is technically a repaint of the movie Iron Man Mark 3, its colors are heavily influenced by the classic Stealth Iron Man armor seen in comic books, Minimates, video games, cartoons and action figure lines for decades!

I own a 1990’s Toybiz Iron Man animated series figure of this armor, a Bowen Designs mini-bust and statue of the blue Stealth armor and two 6″ Marvel Legends figures–and now, I’ll finally be able to own the greatest blue Iron Man collectible of them all–a die-cast Hot Toys Sixth Scale Stealth Iron Man Mark 3!

As soon as I saw this figure announced, I knew that naysayers we’re going to pop up to decry Hot Toys choosing to release yet another Iron Man instead of never-released characters like Drax, Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia and so forth. And I can totally understand the frustration of those fans (particularly those who have been waiting a half-decade plus for Ra’s).

But hey–Drax will be up for order soon enough, Ra’s and Talia require too much tooling and would never be summer exclusives, and as far as Iron Man repaints go, this is a pretty dang fun one. As much as I’m looking forward to the inevitable Blue Steel and Gamma repaints (and make no mistake, they are coming), I’m in love with the comic inspiration and pretty colors of this Iron Man Mark III Stealth Mode Version figure.

The Hot Toys Stealth Mode Iron Man Mark III figure will be up for order on Sideshow Collectibles later this month, and is expected to ship out in Q4 2015. The last 1/6 Stealth Iron Man sold out in under 8 hours, so if you’re intent on owning this new armor permutation (and I sure am), keep your eyes open for the alert I’ll post here and on the Marvel Toy News Facebook Page as soon as this goes up for sale.

While I’m super-stoked to own the beloved blue Stealth Iron Man figure in die-cast Movie Masterpiece Series form, I know this particular variant won’t be for everyone. How do you feel about this exclusive version, Marvel fans? Are you as psyched to add this to your collection as I am, or do you think Hot Toys is taking the Iron Man variants one step too far?