Quote Originally Posted by Magnus View Post
As an aside, I recall reading that MP-1, despite its numbering, was actually meant to be a one-off, and that when it was decided to continue the line, it became too costly to make MPs so big and with so much metal, hence the resize and emphasis on plastic starting with MP-3. No idea where I read that, but it wasn't TFWiki.
That sounds about right. I remember when MP1 came out, a lot of official promotional photography from Takara showed MP1 interacting with Binaltechs. And MP1 came out around the same time as BT1 Smokescreen. Between 2004*-11, we had 5 MP moulds (Convoy, Starscream, Megatron, Grimlock, Rodimus); so 5 moulds in a 7 year period. Compare this with 13 MP moulds created from 2011 (starting from MP10) to 2015 (up to MP24); 13 moulds in 4 years or 12 if you don't count MP11 as a new mould, either way, it's a significantly higher volume of moulds than pre-MP10. I'd say that MP10 onwards has seen a significantly more concerted focus and drive in developing the MP line.

_______________________________
*Yeah, I know that MP1 came out in December 2003, but for all intents and purposes, it's really a 2004 toy because the box features the 2004 20th Anniversary logo. I'd say that Takara released it in December to capitalise on the Xmas shopping period. Besides, how many of us were lucky enough to receive our MP1s in December 03? I pre-ordered mine and didn't get it until January.