The Plasma Series Ecto 1 Burnt Variant Mystery! : Hasbro's Ghostbusters 

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!

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

Thanks this is very helpful!

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.

Got the charcoal version, 02 on the box too.

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.

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: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Fw1aec6DROA.html

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. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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

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!

ty so much for this video

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

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

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

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.

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

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 RU-vid using Rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) which will remove the Black Charcoal without removing the hood ornament or rust paint.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

I bought both boxes. You are 100% correct.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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 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 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

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

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

I like both

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!

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

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).

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

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.

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

Is this in scale 1:18 ? 🙂

She happy with either one

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...

Do the wheels move?

It could be a marketing ploy to get knuckleheads like ourselves to buy as many as possible, until someone figured out there is a "trick" to it. Years from now the crispy version will be like tall Snaggletooth from kenner Star Wars lol.

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

So i checked the one i did as an in-store pickup and it has 03 and it was the burnt one

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 :(

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

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

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

Mine is 02 from target online and is burnt looking

My theory is paint is wearing away revealing the old black ambulance paint from when ray bought it

The blue plastic on the lights looks lighter on one too eh

I personally like the darker better it’s more unique

I received the very crispy version. The whole vehicle looks like it came out of a fire. They definitely over sprayed.

I feel like the charcoal version will be the real collectors version.

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

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

mine is the 03 box and smokey hood

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.