A "Den" of Differences

Decided to make this thread based on my practically new condition Den I recently acquired, this item is just such an oddity as to how many times and ways it was released I knew there had to be a whole thread about it.

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So this variant of Den that I own seems to be from 2011, but also seems to be his VERY first release in 2011. He got like 2 different releases that year but both were the exact same pack, the version that I own looks like this BNiB: 

As you can see, this version weirdly has fake brown F-P track on the bottom, and also has those pre-painted orange side rods on him.

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Now here is this version released around October of 2011, which from what I can tell, begins the holes-in-the-wheels era of these toys:

This version still has the orange side rods, but now with holes in the wheels.

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Now here's the last version, released in 2012, and is definitely THE most common version of the pack out there, seen it a TON of times:

This to me is just the weirdest, most WILD Greatest Moments pack that exists across all of these types of packs, just knew there needed to be a place to discuss it in full and see what you all think about this oddity of a 2011 toy set made for a D-Tier film. I just don't understand why Den has THIS many releases, let alone one WITHOUT ORANGE SIDE RODS, WWWHHHHYYYYY!!!???
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I will say this thread is open to anyone with questions about variants of TrackMaster models and packaging, I do know I have a lot of other versions of engines that I I, and many of you all could talk about. So here is a place to discuss it!

[Super]

Looking closely that last version you picture without the orange side rods is strange to me as...it looks to be seated low in the packaging which indicates, to me, that it is held in place with the plastic rods thus having holes in the wheels yet it has a form fitted clear plastic packaging dome which is why before the holed wheels, they weren't needed like in the pictured version 1. The version 2 pictured...shows an open clear plastic dome that without a way to hold the train in place would flop around in the packaging. What blows me away now is that they still use holes in the wheels even today when the trains aren't being held in place with the plastic rods.

I think @MuddyPoppins should have a look at this.

absolutely fascinating spots! I now feel the urge to make a video about it...after all ive already covered Dart!

Alright, here comes the first non-related Den post on here, but this is about two New Friends releases I have in just the strangest packages, like what even are these???

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So lemme start with my first one being much less confusing, Whiff:

Now this looks quite normal at first, but the bottom of the box tells a different story:

Again, it does look normal, but the reason it's weird is because of the most insignificant detail...
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This is the 2008 version of the pack, and basically every single New Friends item released in 2008 isn't supposed to have track so...
why does mine come with track???
Here's what it's supposed to look like, pretty much the completely normal version of the pack without track:

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Mine's gotta be a rare variant if this is the case, because I looked on WorthPoint and didn't find a single Whiff that looked exactly like this.
(The one that's on there that looks exactly like this one is the one I own and the one you see in these photos btw.) What do you all think?
Is this a rare variant, or was HiT just generous to this ONE 2008 Whiff release I so happen to have.

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Next one I got is Hank, arguably the rarest New Friends release next to maybe Proteus to find BNiB (I gottem too)
Now this one's a little more obvious to point out the differences in, because his packaging style, and releases are SO WEIRD to me, almost as weird as Den, but a LOT weirder in terms of releases too.
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So here's Hank's boxes, I'd say these coincide with the way he was released showing how confusing it is:

His regular New Friends box, pretty typical with the engine, a caboose, and no track.
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His... Target release?? Wait, AND HE HAS TRACK!? Where was that with his New Friends release??
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And here comes one of the worst goofs in HiT Toys history that got massed produced like "Brendham" Docks:

His Funny Box. This has the following:
- His New Friends box style missing the "New Friend!" Label.
- His Target release blister, which clashes so horribly with this packaging style because it literally derails the freaking caboose on the inside.
- 3 PIECES OF TRACK!
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I have no idea how this even got mass produced, as well as be the MOST COMMON BOX VARAINT OF HIM TOO! LIKE WHO OPERATED AT HIT TOYS AT THAT TIME!? This just blows my mind a little too much tbh, I knew I HAD to discuss it here. Along with my weird Whiff box too.

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(Posting this reply as a follow-up to what was supposed to be at the end of the last one):

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Well this certainly won't be the last of these in-depth spot the difference posts I make on here, and btw, any posts about any differences are completely welcome on here, I'm just setting an example of what one of these posts looks like, obviously it shouldn't be THIS detailed, more just simply pointing out the difference and asking everyone I guess. But hey, I don't run anything on here besides the forums I post I guess. So post freely with no restriction of course. 

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(I still just wonder how they slipped the track in there... weird.)

Imagine with all the luck you have you get the rare white deck Thomas and Hector pack!
We have no idea if this was produced btw