Nice writeup!

IMO, the MCX is the best heli to get to introduce yourself to this hobby. It gives you instant gratification and is tough as nails when you get out of control and crash. You can learn so much about flying from it. Orientation, air flow dynamics (ie ground effect, ceiling suction, attraction to walls / furniture), minor maintenance, etc. You can fly it year round in the smallest indoor places.

The drawback of the MCX is that it is so easy to fly, you can outgrow it pretty quickly.

The next step is a good quality Coax. The CX2 is a great example. It is much larger than the MCX and flies a bit differently. It takes more attention / skill to fly it. It will break if you crash it. This will introduce you to the second part of the hobby.... maintenance. You will need to learn how to fix and replace items on the heli. You will also need to learn how to adjust and setup the heli correctly for good flight. As you get better at flying and progress to faster flying and maneuvers, you will find the limits of the factory heli. At this point, you will either get frustrated by blade strikes and settling under power or you will learn the third part of this hobby... tinkering / modifications.

From this point, it is up to you if you are ready for the next step. The single rotor heli is not for everyone....