Different Proteus

So I have two Proteus for some time so I compare the models and found out that the inside of the boiler is different





This is the first I got just the name and the copyright and what looks like a number 2 in the indent area





The second one I got is different with now a "Made in China" and the idk marking in the indent area is different

Idk if these model are of different releases but if anyone knows why reply I would like to know more

Interesting. Based on the production date code on the bottom, they were both produced in factory E only five days apart in 2008, and the one with the added text is the older one and it doesn't look like the die was retooled, so I would conjecture that it is indeed related to tooling marks that look to be inside the indent - they probably either had two sets of metal molds or one larger mold that could make two boiler pieces at once (the numbers trace the pieces back to the machine so if some start failing quality control they know exactly which section of which machine the part came from) and for whatever reason die 1 did not have this text but die 2 did. I'll have to check if mine came from slot 1 or 2 next time I'm in storage. There could have been even more toolings, if other people's Proteuses (Proteusi?) have other number marks, but it seems like they probably wouldn't have bothered to buy more of the expensive toolings for a minor character like that

Very thorough Duck, honestly did even know what those numbers on the bottom meant at first.
But I do believe that these could've had the potential to be different releases still.
Proteus did have a New Friends release and a Little Friends release too, but I think these must both be New Friends releases if they're only 5 days apart.
And I believe the packaging of the New Friends releases could prove that.
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So here's what his New Friends Packaging looks like:

Here's what I believe is his very first variant, and essentially the Proteus model that could've been his first one with "Made in China" stamped on it.
I do own one myself, and this is what the second version of the box looks like:

The one difference is that his "New Friend!" Label is gone, which I think is a sign of which came first.
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So I think that the factory codes and dates definitely trace back only to his New Friends releases.
The "Made in China" one could be the Proteus with the "New Friend!" Label, and the one missing the label doesn't have "Made in China" stamped on it.
Based also on the information from the Thomas Motorized Wiki, The TOMY version first came out in November, and the Little Friends version only came out throughout 2009. So these Proteus models can't be either of those two. Leading me to think you've got two New Friends Proteusi (I like Proteusi quite a lot more than Proteuses) Hoser, only from two different types of packaging back in October. I think the switch of the packaging was possibly done at a different day, like October 5th or 6th maybe. And then they just re-printed the model from scratch. Why they would discontinue a version with the "New Friend!" Label is unknown to me, but I think this is what happened. If I had a used Proteus I could look at it much closer, but I've only got a BNiB one. So I can only use what I've got, and what I've got is one possibly without the "Made in China" print.

Interesting makes me wonder what other models have little changes like this

Well it's quite lucky for you Hoser because I do have a thread made for a subject like this already. Called "A "Den" of Differences", and I only aptly titled it as such because its first post was based on Den himself. I did also mention that any variant of any character could be posted on there too. In fact, I'll post on there about the New Friends range right now now that I'm thinking about it...

A note of caution.

The production dates are on the chassis.  We have no way of knowing for certain that the shells were made at the same times as the chassis, or even whether they were made in the same factory.

Can we please have an authoritative explanation of how to interpret the date stamps?  My understanding is that the first three numbers are the day of the year, so in 2008 (a leap year) 103 is 12th April and 108 is 17th April. Is this right?

If so, the three production dates given in the Alfie thread are wrong.

I guess, all my HiT toys have a 9, none have an 8

Indeed, and it does look like the days calculated in the Alfie thread were incorrect. The first letter differentiates which factory they were made in (a lot of stuff was made in "E"). What I'm unsure about is the R suffix, another difference between the two...

On Mattel trains they moved the factory to the end, its the three digit #of day in the year, then the last digit of the year, then the factory code
On Tomy-produced toys, the older letter + one or two digit codes are the month (letters position in the alphabet = number of month in the year) and then the last one or two digits of the year. Later on they sometimes include the day of the month inbetween the month and year, IE C2309 is March 23, 2009.

R was probably during the middle part of the lifespan of HiT, I guess E was during the beginning and end of HiT
@Duck do you have an idea of the oldest HiT toys model? My Edward from 2007 is labeled as 334W7