The main difference, the one that bothers me, is that the first release had the gradient done in the plastic, the plastic itself went from mostly see-through to white, and the second release has the white painted on. This means that the joints will get scratches really fast as well as the arms and legs if they come in contact with anything mildly sharp. Most of the Spectras I saw today already had scratches on their legs.

I have two first edition Spectras, and they are both definitely painted.  I must have missed out on the cool ones! 

As for Nefera and Operetta, I saw them in Targets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts across four stores, so they are definitely hitting New England!!  Yay!

I totally want one!