You are correct my friend! The manufactured “03” stamp definitely turned out to be the lighter version. Thank you! 😁👍🏼

Just a follow up, finally found a "03" ecto1 in the wild and it is the non over spray version! Thanks, Jay!

The "black one" could be a mistake. Maybe they thought during the production "hey, this doesn't look that good" and changed the style for the rest of the cars.

I've been waiting for this video to drop before I pull the trigger on one. I'll def be looking for the '03 mark and will def let you know what I find. Thanks for the great detective work!

Early February I got an online order shipped to me, it was the charcoal Ecto 1 with 03161 stamped on the back of the box.

About the lack of paint on the front end, I painted and detailed mine and made a video comparing it next to a stock unpainted one. Check it out here if you guys like: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fN1hlMiUm6q2f3U.html

Tried 2 separate 03 versions I found in store. Both were "extra crispy". Rolled the dice on an 02, and bizarrely it was half way between your pair. Had the overspray but not as dark as my previous 2.

You rock man! I took a gamble and bought the 03 version at Target just now, and it is indeed the lighter version. Many thanks!

Mine is non-charcoal and it’s 03101. I ordered it for in-store pickup. Great videos man!

I was unaware of a variety until I saw this video. I had 2 ordered online and I checked the box both said 03, I just went to target and picked up one that said 02 and it was a charcoal version. The 03 are more movie accurate. Thanks for this video!

Nice vintage RGB ecto1 Modification. Do you have a video about it? I'd love to see more of it and how you made it so much better looking on the top!

Way back when i was looking out for variations myself with Star Wars figures i was discussing the datestamp with fellow collectors and people that actually work for or with Hasbro commented. It corresponds with the production run the item was produced in, month, day, year. So 03161 for example is March 16th 2021.

I agree with your theory that something happens to the ecto 1 in the movie

Every time you say “extra crispy” I think about chicken wings... lol

My Plasma series Ecto has semi-burnt looking front. it's not as dark as the charcoal version in the video. but there is a light burnt looking effect applied. the lot number on the box started with 03

I'm in Winnipeg, found (and bought) the first and only one I've seen at a local TRU, stamp number began with 03 but it is the charcoal version. I was more concerned with the cracked ladder it came with, especially since it's $70 Canadian.

I opened both of mine... 02, off the shelf, more burnt looking. 03, online order, cleaner looking. My burnt looking one is more dirty looking across the entire thing. That kinda dirt dusting that's over the whole thing is darker and more of it. Looks like a heavier over spray but it's also on the pieces that snap on also.

Thanks this is very helpful!

Got the charcoal version, 02 on the box too.

Bought mine off the shelf at a Target. Box is stamped 02, car is the burnt version. I found with some patients and careful use of rubbing alcohol I was able to dial the burn marks wayyyy back. I took a lot off the grille as well. now the black is just down in the cracks and crevices. I think it looks a lot better now.

So went to my local Target. Picked out the box with the 03. It’s true, non extra crispy hood. I didn’t want to touch other boxes with 02 on them.

To add to the confusion, I received one that was IN BETWEEN. Mine was an 03 (03161 to be exact).

Bought one in store when they first hit, it is in-between your two. Mine was missing parts so I ordered another online, it had very little spray.

My box begins with an "03" but is the darker charcoal version. It was also bought in store as compared to online.

Mine is also non-charred and stamped 03101. I bought it off the shelf near Fort Worth, Texas a few weeks ago.

Silver Rub and Buff on the grill will add enough "chrome" finish.

The five digit code is exclusive to Hasbro products, but it is on every Hasbro product, from these to even Magic the Gathering cards. It's a manufacturing date. The 0 represents the year the product was made. In the instance of both the variants, it's 2020 of course. The next three digits are the day of the year. So if you have 02451, it was manufactured on the 245th day of 2020. The last digit is a factory I believe, but it is essentially meaningless for anything of note. So, every single one of these that is 03xx1, was absolutely manufactured after the 02xx1 ones.

I bought 2 off the shelf and I noticed one was darker then the other. I summed it up to a factory flaw, but watching this my serial numbers on the boxes start with 02 and 03. Thats crazy!

Hey, I was able to get a 3.75" figure to fit behind the wheel. Granted it was a Marvel Universe Spiderman, he's rather slender and poseable, but keep in mind the new movie characters are children, so there's a decent chance that those figures *could* fit as well.

Confirmed 02, charcoal front end. But to be honest, I think they got cases that were 50/50 of each regardless of the stamped number.

I got 2 of them. The 2 stamp is light and cleaner than the 3 stamp which is super crispy painted and had a ton of splatter in the finish.

Picked mine up off the shelf at Target. 03221 Non Charcoal version. Ordered from Target online and received a Charcoal version stamped 03101. As some else mentioned, There's a video on KZfaq using Rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) which will remove the Black Charcoal without removing the hood ornament or rust paint.

Mine was a online order box was 03 the car had the burnt front. I can also fit GI Joe and DC Heroes Unite 4-inch figures in the car.

Do you know where this is available nowadays as I can’t find it anywhere. Thanks

I love these ectos...best ..toy version yet all i have right now is a super special hot wheels one. Its got rubber tires and a gray roof rack. And actual white walls and the right rims

Hey Geek! After doing some research and careful observation being that i bought 2 myself, i noticed the answer is right in front of our faces lol. If you zoom at the pic on the front of the box the burnt "charcoal" version is printed with a black ink vs the "non charcoal" version, the ink on the pic is more of a brown tone. Its even present on your thumbnail! Look at 2 diff versions and tell me if you can see a black tone on one and brown on the other, i dont know if its a coincidence but i even looked up the man # and sure enough the black is 02 and the brown is 03! Hopefully this helps! Grear vid as always! Take care

Mine seems to be an in between version....it's a little darker than the non-charcol but not nearly as dark of the other

I had no idea these were exclusives to target, didn't even know they were coming out. got out of work and went to target for something else, always wander down the toy aisle, just stumbled upon it and did an impulse buy, even though they were 50 dam dollars a piece! but glad I pulled the trigger...and thank you for the heads up. oh and I just checked, and it's an 03.

Mine is the darker version and has the "02" BUT it's not painted nearly as dark as this video. Its somewhere in between both of yours.

Mine is an 02, and it's the burnt one. I also prefer the other!

Just bought a 03... however while it wasn’t EXTRA crispy / charcoalish, the 03 I got was like in between... not super dark, but more on the medium to light. Doesn’t look as clean as your 03. Returning because it came with 2 rear antennas, instead of one of each. I guess this will give me the opportunity to try another 03. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have an 03 that is neither "Charcoal" nor as clean as the your 02. It is somewhere between the two. The codes are probably not factories (it's unlikely Hasbro tooled out multiple facilities to build these), and rather manufacturing runs. The paint probably goes from darker to lighter across the 02-03 range as a consequence of paint mix and viscosity on a factory line across batches. Take a look at the side front quarter panels of your Ectos, and you'll probably notice inconsistent spray even between those that are the same color.

The early reviews of this saved me 50 bucks and got that pre-order cancelled. I was totally disappointed that this was rendered obsolete by not fitting the very characters it shares a series name with. This paint variation is interesting, though, and I wonder which will wind up being the lower production number. Great comparison!

02 stamp version ordered from Target on-line, charcoaled version

ty so much for this video

After not being able to find the Ecto-1 in the target store. I had my wife order me one online and I got the burnt one and the stamp number is 02 . And I just barely got it on 5/12/2021

I just picked up one from the local Toys R us. A 3rd variant is out there now. My box is 11161 and the car has a darker dusting all over all 4 sides and roof with the front being the darkest like yours.

I'm not a "Mint In The Box" person when it comes to figures. To me anyway, what good are multiple points of articulation , sounds & lights if you never take the figure out of the box ?, you'd be better off just buying a statue . Dont hate me, it's just my opinion

Is this in scale 1:18 ? 🙂

Mine is 11161 and it looks slightly crispy, but like it's covered in dirt from being in a barn

My local Target in Chicago has two of the 02 series and two of the 03 series on the shelves. Hopefully the 03 is the cleaner one. Will let you know soon.

Update I got a 03 at target it seems to have a little charcoal on the hood but not as bad as the 02 charcoal, it's hard to tell if the one 03 you have has no charcoal at all or a little but 02 and 03 are at targets, I'm taking my 02 back that I got a few weeks ago and keeping the 03 cause it looks a lot better. But still a little curious if there's a ecto1 with no charcoal at all on the hood

Not only did I get a burnt one but the ghostbusters logo is missing from one of the doors!

When I first seen the charcoal version I thought it was designed to show the old paint job coming back through

re I'm not sure if I want one. Not really big on hunting for a specific one, and not big on the barn find look.

Yep same here the 02 on the box, charcoled

I have the chard version :( if only i would have know this sooner and also uh i think they did something like this for and at st from the starwars black series because when i got it the box advertised it withoud dirt on it and when i opend it. It had dirt on it and the driver was also diffrent on the box too

I bought both boxes. You are 100% correct.

Can the original Kenner figures fit in the after life ecto 1?

hey, i just got an Ecto-1 it has an '03' stamp and it's a lighter one

I bought an ecto 1, the same one you have, but the numbers start with "111" and the carbonized version came out

03, in store purchase. Non-burned/charcoaled front end. Thank god!

I don’t mind the Charcoal look on the Plasma Series Ecto, still a great collector’s piece!

Mine is 03, but looks to be in between the ones you have there. Not as dark or as light.

I just found these for 50% off I bought 2. I got one with 03 and that was the lighter one. The 02 was extra crispy. $50 for both was cool though

The stamp number on mine on the box is 03101 and I have the choral version Ecto 1

Just bough mine here in Aus. Now you can actually see the differences on the pictures of the Ecto 1 on the back of the boxes of which one is crispy & which isnt.

I bought mine in store. It's extra crispy with an 02 stamp.

The very burned front ecto is from when mucher shoots the metal at the ecto during the chase

My first one bought was a "charcoal" version and a few weeks later I bought another one and it wasn't a "Charcoal" version. I can verify both versions I bought are 03161. So the numbers don't determine the difference (at least at my Target).

my box number was 03161 and i got the barn find one with the darker tip hood...to be honest i dont mind it...i do have the playmobil ecto-1 and the new hasbro ecto-1 that u just did the review on..and the new one for $26.00 buck's was a great budget buy and a different type style ecto from the plasma ecto and playmobil ecto...

Its almost like Hasbro is trying to just bury this toyline. I never thought there would be an ecto1 I would pass on, same with this first wave of figures. Really disappointed outside of the Kenner re releases but they really need to step up and give us new characters, start with the IDW GB universe, so much great stuff there!

Hi! I think I got a 3rd variant.. Mine is burnt all around, not just the front end... on my box the imprinted number is 11161 (bought in toys r us in canada)

I hope I can find a 03 at target and see if it's the non charcoal

Mines an 02 bought in store and quite charcoal. Same store has two 03161 boxes...has anybody tested Targets return policies over this? Dont wanna buy the 03 and it turn our charcoal and be stuck with it or it be better and be stuck w my 02 charcoal one too.

I have an o3 and it looks to be in between 😂 it’s darker than your light one but not as dark as the charcoal one. So idk😂 still love it though!

It's a julian code aka datestamp. So 02161 for example was made on the 216th day of 2020. The 03161 were made 100 days later. The first number is the last number of the year. Next 3 numbers are the day number of that year. Last number is always a 1 on hasbro. This would be a running change. The earlier dates are too black. So the 03161 are fixed bc they were made later

I have the scorched version. It has the 02 stamp.

I have an non charcoal and it was 03. The number is also under the car.

Mines 02 and it’s darker 😢 but it’s alg it still looks awesome

Well it did not work for me....I got a 03 and it is very crispy. Just my luck....I was also shorted the front antenna, but I received an extra set of blue hoses instead. Thanks for the video comparison 😀

I like both

Yeah, I have the burnt one with it 02 code. Had to buy online as I’m in the U.K. so can’t pick :(

...i JUST found this at a Target! 03 for me = non-charcoal version with the tiniest hint of charcoal-ing spray on the front end.......

Target bought, 03101, has the "burnt" paint, but no were near as dramatic

I bought 2 the crispy one is "02" & the clean is "03" thank you

Do the wheels move?

I get the distinct, depressing feeling that this alleged "flaw" is,in fact,an intentional variant that is intended to show the Ecto-1 sometime later in the movie,likely during the climax,and anyone who "improves" upon the "battle-scarred" version for the purposes of collection and/or display will come to deeply regret the decision. Just get both versions and hold off on any drastic decisions on redecorating until you see the movie.

Man.. now I'm going to have to go home and check my box. I was going to leave it MIB. Maybe I'll open er up.

my charcoal version is 03

I have 11421 and it is the burned/charcoal version

Mine started with 11 and i got the burnt vatiant, idk how that happened

Mine is 02 from target online and is burnt looking

I got a crispy front in a 02..... box. True story.

my stamp on the box is 03101 and i got the charcoal version....

Online order launch target release. 03 box extra extra crispy. Almost black

i got the burnt one with a stamped number 03161 on the box

I tried your theory , mine was a 03 and has some black but not near as dark the 02. So it kinda was true, lol.

Mine is an online order from Toys 'R' Us Canada. The stamp is 03591. Too bad is a charcoal ver. though. Ended up I have to wipe out the 'Charcoal' by using 99% alcohol.

Is correct 03 note carbon y 02 carbon. Adquirí uno y es el 03 y no trae el carbón, esta genial asi.