People often wonder just how many MPs get made in a run. I think we can try and figure this out, very roughly. First of all, I'm basing this on a comment by phamduc, who knows people working in the Vietnam factory: The idea is that 1000 units of an MP (the example, MP-45) could be made in three days. Sounds like ideally it might be less, so that workers can take their time to better assemble them. So perhaps the average is 300 per day? This is MP-45, a reasonably small MP with I'm assuming fewer parts and less paint coverage than a release like MP-44. Each MP has a production stamp, located somewhere on its body, with a 5 digit code. The first value is a letter, designating the month of production (A is January, B is February, and so on). The second two digits represents the day of production, while the final two represent the year. So, J0218 represents October 2nd, 2018. The aim of this thread is to get an idea of the spread of the production of each MP. For example, J0218 is the code on my copy of MP-29+. Perhaps some people have a production date of J0518, perhaps other have I2919. If we can get an idea of how many days each production lasted, then we can at least start to get a rough estimate of how many MPs were produced. So, to get the ball rolling, we're gonna need everyone's help. Check on your MPs, (sorry, but you have to look on the actual toy, not the box dates. For example, my MP-29+ box is stamped J2218, 20 days later). Post a list of all your MPs, with their date stamps. I'll update this post with a complete list of the spread of days, so we can try to establish how many days production lasted for each run of MPs. For your own ease, there's no need to post the date stamp if it already falls within the range we've seen. We're trying to find examples of the earliest and latest production numbers. I know some MPs had multiple runs, and I'll update them in the list once we start to get some data. I think it's worth starting from MP-10, since it's when the MP line really picked up its pace. I don't know the location of the date stamp on every MP (and I don't have all my MPs with me right now), so if people can post those it would be helpful to others. Date Stamp Locations MP-10, above the right foot, on the underside of the leg (thanks to @Nems) MP-11 and repaints, underside of wing (thanks to @chchchch) MP-12 and repaints, back of leg MP-13 Soundwave, outside of knee (thanks to @chchchch) or left lower leg stereo kibble panel (thanks to @Robotmonkeys) MP-15/16 Frenzy and Rumble, printed on back (also printed on side of Buzzsaw, thanks @chchchch) MP-17 and repaints, inside of lower left leg MP-20 and repaints, bottom of foot MP-21, inside the torso under the head (thanks to @Nems) MP-27 and repaints, inside of lower leg panel MP-28, recessed area at base of 'spine' (thanks @chchchch) MP-29 and repants, inside of lower leg panel MP-33 and repaints, on the inside of the panel forming the sole of the foot (thanks to @chchchch) MP-36, inside of the right butt plate (thanks to @Nems) MP-39, underside of car hood panel (thanks to @chchchch) MP-10 Convoy 2011 Takara 2013 Hasbro Asia 2015 Takara from 20th April to 20th April 2017 Takara MP-10B Black Convoy Takara 2013 from 25th February to 25th February Takara 2017 from 28th October to 28th October MP-11 Starscream 2012 Takara 2013 Hasbro Asia 2018 from 19th August to 19th August MP-11S Sunstorm 2012 Takara MP-11SW Skywarp 2014 Hasbro Asia from 23rd October to 23rd October 2016 Takara from 5th October to 5th October MP-11T Thundercracker 2015 Takara from 10th October to 10th October MP-11NR Ramjet 2016 Takara from 23rd February to 23rd February from 31st May to 31st May MP-11NT Thrust 2016 Takara from 18th August to 18th August MP-11ND Dirge 2017 Takara from 25th April to 25th April MP-12 Lambor 2012 Takara from 28th September to 28th September 2013 Takara 2014 Hasbro Asia from 25th February to 24th February MP-12T Tigertrack 2012 Takara from 24th May to 24th May MP-12G Lambor (G2 Ver.) 2014 Takara from 18th January to 28th January MP-12+ Lambor 2017 Takara from 20th September to 20th September MP-13 Soundwave 2013 Takara from 24th December to 24th December 2017 Takara from 6th April to 6th April MP-13B 2014 Takara from 25th February to 25th February MP-14 Alert 2012 Takara from 15th November to 23rd November MP-14C Clampdown 2015 Takara from 10th November to 10th November MP-14+ Alert (Anime Color Edition) 2016 Takara from 8th August to 8th August MP-15 Rumble and Jaguar 2013 Takara 2014 Hasbro Asia from 24th March to 24th March 2017 Takara MP-16 Frenzy and Buzzsaw 2013 Takara 2017 Takara from 20th March to 20th March MP-15/16E Stripes, Nightstalker, Wingthing and Enemy 2017 Takara MP-17 Prowl 2013 Takara from 5th August to 13th August to 27th August MP-17+ Prowl 2018 Takara from 13th August to 13th August MP-18 Streak 2013 Takara from 9th September to 12th September to 18th September MP-18S Silverstreak 2014 Takara 2016 ??? from 27th May to 27th May MP-18B Bluestreak 2015 Takara from 27th June to 27th June MP-19 Smokescreen 2013 Takara from 28th October to 12th November MP-20 Wheeljack 2014 Takara from 25th July to 4th August 2016 Takara MP-20+ Wheeljack 2019 Takara from 2nd January to 2nd January MP-21 Bumble 2014 Takara from 6th October to 16th October 2018 Takara MP-21G Bumble (G2 Ver.) 2015 Takara from 5th May to 5th May MP-21R Bumble (Red Body) 2015 Takara from 3rd November to 3rd November MP-22 Ultra Magnus 2014 Takara from 17th November to 1st December 2015 Takara 2017 Takara from 22nd November to 22nd November MP-23 Exhaust 2015 Takara from 12th January to 12th January MP-24 Star Saber 2015 Takara from 20th January to 20th January MP-25 Tracks 2015 Takara from 24th August to 24th August MP-25L Loud Pedal Takara 2016 from 18th April to 18th April MP-26 Road Rage 2015 Takara from 12th October to 12th October MP-27 Ironhide 2015 Takara from 10th December to 10th December 2016 Takara from 18th July to 18th July 2018 Hasbro Asia MP-28 Hot Rodimus 2016 Takara from 4th January to 4th January MP-29 Destron Laserwave 2016 Takara from 22nd January to 22nd January 2016 Hasbro Asia MP29+ Destron Laserwave 2018 Takara from 2nd August to 2nd August from 2nd October to 2nd October MP-30 Ratchet 2016 Takara from 18th January to 18th January 2018 Hasbro Asia MP-31 Delta Magnus 2016 Takara from 20th June to 20th June MP-32 Convoy (Beast Wars) 2016 Takara 2018 Hasbro Asia 2019 Takara MP-33 Inferno 2016 Takara from 13th October to 31st October MP-34 Cheetus (Beast Wars) 2017 Takara 2019 Takara MP-34S Shadow Panther 2018 Takara MP-35 Grapple 2017 Takara from 9th January to 9th January MP-36 Megatron early 2017 Takara from 23rd February to 28th February late 2017 Takara from 22nd November to 22nd November MP-36+ Megatron 2018 Takara from 7th November to 7th November MP-37 Artfire 2018 Takara from 21st April to 21st April MP-38 Convoy (Beast Wars) Legendary Leader Ver. 2018 Takara MP-39 Sunstreaker 2017 Takara from 2nd November to 8th November 2019 Hasbro Asia MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rodimus 2017 Takara from 25th December to 25th December MP-41 Dinobot (Beast Wars) 2018 Takara 2019 Hasbro Asia MP-42 Cordon Takara 2018 from 3rd September to 3rd September MP-43 Megatron (Beast Wars) Takara 2019 N.B. I have labelled regular releases as Takara. In the event of a TTMall exclusive with a wider Hasbro Asia run, I've also labelled the release Takara. The Hasbro Asia label will refer to runs which were not released in any form by Takara at that time, and thus Hasbro Asia exclusives.
Here's what I've got so far. I wasn't able to quickly find the date stamp on the other molds I own (I'll look harder soon) and Soundwave+cassettes are currently packed up, but I can get them out at some point: MP-12+ Lambor 2017 Takara - I2017 MP-14+ Alert (Anime Color Edition) 2016 Takara - H0816 MP-17+ Prowl 2018 Takara MP-20+ Wheeljack 2019 Takara - A0219 MP-27 Ironhide 2015 Takara - L1015 MP29+ Destron Laserwave 2018 Takara - J0218 (same date as yours @Sam?!) MP-30 Ratchet 2016 Takara - A1816 MP-33 Inferno 2016 Takara - J3116 (inner bottom foot panel) MP-35 Grapple 2017 Takara - A0917 (inner bottom foot panel)
Interesting idea. Do we know if it is safe to assume that the factory focuses on producing one MP at a time as opposed to, say, working on more than one figure on a given day?
MP29 Destron Laserwave Takara 2016 - A2216 MP 29+ Destron Laserwave Takara 2018 - J0218 I haven't located the stamp on MP36+
MP-36's stamp is on the inside of the right butt plate. Mine is B2817, first run. MP-10B's, and I'm assuming MP-10's, is above the right foot, on the underside of the leg. B2513, first run.
Thanks, added! Btw you forgot to put in the date for MP-17+ there. I'm not sure if the first run cassettes actually have date stamps anywhere (not sure which ones you have). I'm assuming that they produce as many figures as they stamp in the same day, but I could be wrong and they stamp all of the parts that contain stamps on the same day, and assemble the figures over subsequent days. Maybe @Phamduc can give us a little more insight into how the production process works, to see if it's actually worth doing this project. I am pretty sure that each factory usually only has a run of one MP at a time, though. Thanks! So far all three 29+s were on the same day. I'll add the location of those stamps to the first post too, thanks!
Unless someone here has access to the real production numbers and can provide them to us, I totally think this is worth doing.
Yeah that was my thinking anyway, let’s see what kind of spreads we can get from these MP releases. At least it’ll give us a better idea than we had before, assuming there actually is some kind of variation!
Oops, that's because I couldn't find the stamp on 17+ and I forgot to delete it from the list Also, the Inferno/Grapple date stamps are on the inside of the panel forming the sole of the foot
Ah gotcha. Added MP-33 to the list. You can make just about make out the stamp on the inside of Smokescreen's lower leg, here: But I guess it's moved since they moved to Vietnam? Not visible on MP-17+ anymore there, wonder where they've moved it to...
MP-18: I1213 MP-21: J0614 (I think, the stamp is a little messed up), inside the torso under the head MP-24: A2015, inside of the right gray flap of the large torso MP-25: H2415, inside the front of the left shin MP-29: A2216 MP-35: A0917, inside bottom of right foot MP-17+ is on the inside of the bottom of the left foot. ...And the number is not consistent with the others, it's 82571. I might be able to get to more later.
Did some more sleuthing (i.e., played with my toys), and found the rest of the numbers for the ones I own, except MP-22! I can't find it anywhere for the life of me, I even transformed the thing for heaven's sake!!! MP-11NR Ramjet (location: underside of wing) 2016 Takara - E3116 MP-11NT Thrust (location: underside of wing) 2016 Takara - H1816 MP-11ND Dirge (location: underside of small wing) 2017 Takara - D2517 MP-13 Soundwave (location: outside of knee) 2017 Takara - D0617 MP-15 Rumble and Jaguar (I believe this is HA because it came with two instruction manuals in different languages) 2014 Hasbro Asia - C2414 MP-16 Frenzy and Buzzsaw (also printed on side of Buzzsaw) 2017 Takara - C2017 MP-17+ Prowl (strangely, mine DOES follow the established format unlike @Nems's) 2018 Takara - H1318 MP-25 Tracks 2014 Takara - H2415 (should this be 2015??) MP-28 Hot Rodimus (location: recessed area at base of "spine") 2016 Takara - A0416 MP-36 Megatron late 2017 Takara - K2217 MP-39 Sunstreaker (location: underside of car hood panel) 2017 Takara - K0217
Thanks guys, just finished editing, will add the locations of stamps to the post a bit later. So we have our first spreads! MP-18, from 12th Septmber to 18th September (6 days!) MP-36 first run in 2017, from 23rd February to 28th February (6!) [edited] Also weird thing, I thought Ramjet came out in April or May 2016 - how does he have production dates for 31st May? Late second run?
One little thing, I think the 2017 Takara here is really my MP-16 date! Hmmm, I'll double check my Ramjet tonight and make sure I got that right!
Okay I'm too lazy to look through my autobot or diaclones but I did my 'Cons Megatron B2317 Megatron+ K0718 ShockwaveA2216 Shockwave+H0218 Dirge D2517 Ramjet B2316 Thrust H1816 Dirge and Thrust I got directly from TT Mall Both pluses I got from smaller Japanese vendors off of yahoo jp.
Thanks for the contributions. It's quite strange how your MP-17+ has a different serial number. Where did you purchase it from, was it in a Hasbro sleeve? (Perhaps the Hasbro release is an entirely separate run, with a Hasbro serial number) I made a mistake here. The MP-36 reissue didn't have such a long run (we only have one example so far, I got confused with MP-36+!), but we do have a spread for the first run of MP-36, from 23rd to 28th February so far. Very little variance in numbers so far though, we need more data! Tell your friends Thanks! Hope you get the time for the rest eventually So this has to confirm two separate runs for Ramjet, then. One made in February for TTMall, and another made at the end of May for Hasbro Asia (I do seem to remember getting my TTMall Ramjet a good few weeks before the people who ordered from Hasbro Asia). Right, I'm tagging some of the usual speculation thread suspects here as a call to action - this should be interesting to us lot! @Ikkstakk, @GearsRollo, @Emperor Bruticus IV, @kibble, @Toddimus, @lord ginrai, @Booster Gold, @DPrime, @Prime135, @Prime of Shadows, @SunSwipe5, @TylerB, @mcart, @Phamduc, @HolyCulture, @Dean ML - help us out! (names randomly pulled from the last couple of pages of the speculation thread )
Does all stock from the same run have the same number? I guess my question is does it receive the stamp after it's assembled or is it given when it comes out of the mold? If the former, they might have different numbers. If the latter, I'd think most or all from the same run would have the same number even if they were built over the course of a few weeks. Interesting exercise, though. Doubt I'll get a chance to check tonight, but I'll try to remember to gather some numbers in the next few days.
