[JWait]

I have an idea for you.

It appears you are using only the product thumbnail as the product image. If you load a larger image (say one of the ones you are using for your detail images) then it will appear larger on the product detail page.

Then load the larger detail images as you variant images instead of the thumbnail image you have now.

What will happen is your main product page will load, displaying whatever the default product variant is, then when the customer chooses a different color the large image will change to that color. No need for detail images or popups.