What's a Pimp Daddy Desto ???
Great question! The Pimp Daddy Destro (PDD) is a nick-name given to an incredibly rare & valuable G.I.Joe 3 3/4" action figure of the character Destro, which was produced as part of the Cobra Command Team set in 1997. The PDD has an outlandish " leopard spot " paint scheme on it's collar and upper legs, which distinguishes it from the mass released 1997 Destros (commonly featuring all black paint on the collar & upper legs). This bizarre spotted paint scheme lead collectors to jokingly refer to this figure as the Pimp Daddy Destro. The name stuck...and the rest is history.
The Pimp Daddy Destro is truly is a rarity amongst the G.I. Joe toyline. Adding a PDD to your collection is certainly a pinnacle of a premier collection. Collectors can search their entire "collecting lives" and still not have the opportunity to acquire a PDD.
At the time of this writing, I personally know of less than 30 loose figures and less than 10 carded versions. This is a pretty solid estimate of known PDDs in collector's collections, as I've been trying to document number for awhile now. But of course...numbers can & do change all the time! And I can't/don't know all.
It's rarity makes the Pimp Daddy Destro a very valuable and highly sought after G.I.Joe action figure. In the past two years of this writing (2004-2006), there have been only a handful of PDDs auctioned through the online auction site Ebay. There was a time a few short years ago when a collector might have been able to acquire a loose PDD for less than $1,000 USD. But as evidenced by Ebay auctions over the last two years, those times are long gone.
A little over a year ago, a few of the first "known" carded Pimp Daddy Destro's attracted the notice of the collecting community as they were being auctioned on Ebay. These still-packaged versions sold for over $2,000 each. At that time, this was a very high amount for the PDD. But these WERE carded, and up to that point, were not seen before.
Since those auctions, there have been a few Ebay auctions for loose PDDs. The desire has increased, as even these loose figures have sold for approximately $2,000. A loose Pimp Daddy Destro just recently sold on Ebay (in April 2006) for just a few dollars shy of $2,000. And an 10/8/06 Ebay auction for a carded Pimp Daddy Destro (one owned by your's truly!) ended at $1,700 USD!
It seems the desire to own the Pimp Daddy Destro keeps strong as time passes. All for a figure that wasn't even released during the bonanza days of the G.I.Joe 3 3/4" line (1982-1994). Remember, the PDD was made as part of a commemorative edition in 1997 (15 years after the 3 3/4" G.I. Joes were released)!
